Houston Matters

Society for the Performing Arts Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary

Posted on · (Above: The interior of Houston’s Jones Hall. Image Courtesy: SPA Houston) The Houston-based Society for the Performing Arts is somewhat unique in the region’s arts scene because it features, well, a little bit of everything. SPA performances range from musical acts to puppetry shows to dance companies to appearances by authors. This year, SPA celebrates […]

Houston Matters

“The Sweet Potato Queens” Musical Makes its World Premiere in Houston

Posted on · Perhaps you're familiar with The Sweet Potato Queens series of books by Jill Conner Browne. They tell the story of a woman and her closest friends and how they learn to grab life by the horns. Well, the books have now been turned into a musical that last week (March 17, 2016) made its world […]

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Atlantic Drilling Halt and 12th Man Trademark: Thursday’s Show (March 24, 2016)

Posted on · Last year, the Obama Administration floated a proposal to auction off drilling rights to parts of the Atlantic Ocean in 2021, but earlier this month — amid outcry from coastal communities and environmentalists about tourism, safety and wildlife — the administration reversed that position and pulled drilling in the Atlantic off the table. While some […]

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Property Tax Cuts, Parks, and ‘Once’ on Stage: Tuesday’s Show (March 10, 2015)

Posted on ·   Tyler Republican State Sen. Kevin Eltife is working to build support for a combination of bills he believes will provide both a property tax cut and set a path to spend money on deferred road maintenance and paying off some pension liabilities, among other state needs. Eltife argues that while the state is unusually […]

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Apathy About Police, Charlas, and Immunotherapy: Houston Matters for Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014

Posted on · We learned this past summer about a Houston Police Department staffing study commissioned by the city, which indicated 15,000 burglaries and thefts, 3,000 hit-and-run crashes and 3,000 assaults in 2013 were set aside without follow-up. Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland, at the time, noted "There has never been a time that I have been employed […]

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Adopted Children & Birth Parents, and a Stephen Schwartz Revue: Houston Matters for Friday, August 1, 2014

Posted on · According to the State Department of Family and Protective Services, more than 13 hundred children in Harris County were waiting to be adopted last year. Many such children will likely come to a point in their lives when they consider searching for their birth parents. Some adoptees simply want to learn more about their medical […]

Houston Matters

Xanadu: Campy 1980 Cult Film is Revived as a Musical

Posted on · There are some movies that are so bad, they’re good – in a campy, goofy sort of way. And then there are movies that are so bad, they’re just really, REALLY bad. The 1980 musical fantasy film Xanadu probably lies somewhere in-between. Critic Roger Ebert called it “mushy and limp” and “so insubstantial it keeps […]

Houston Matters

Houston Loves Patrick Swayze: Turning the Movie ‘Ghost’ into a Musical

Posted on · This week, the Hobby Center's Sarofim Hall will feature Ghost: The Musical. Yes, you heard us right. A musical based on the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore/Whoopi Goldberg film. No word if attendees in the front row have to worry about getting splattered with clay. Houston Public Media Arts and Culture correspondent Troy Schulze learns how this […]

Houston Matters

‘Into the Woods’ Picks Up Where Fairy Tales End

Posted on · This is the final week to head to the Rice Village playhouse and catch Main Street Theater’s production of Into the Woods. The beloved Stephen Sondheim musical interweaves the telling of several classic fairy tales, like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Jack and the Beanstalk – stories we all know, and in which the […]