Curated Texan
The best plays, musical performances, and exhibits in Texas are enjoyed by record-breaking crowds, according to our cultural arts arbiter Leanne Raesener, who shares Curated Texan’s favorite recommendations for what to enjoy across the state during this sunny spring season...
AUSTIN: NOW PICTURE THIS
The Blanton Museum of Art has opened two new galleries as part of an institution-wide initiative to expand its focus on art by Latino artists. Its inaugural rotation is the exhibition Cara a Cara/Face to Face: Portraits by Chicano Artists from the Gilberto Cárdenas and Dolores Garcia Collection. It features artists who have chosen portraiture as a form of personal, cultural, or political affirmation. Through September 10. At BlantonMuseum.org.
AUSTIN: TIMELY & TRUE
All rise for Academy® Award winner Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork To Kill A Mockingbird. Tony® Award winner Bartlett Sher directs, andEmmy® Award-winning actor Richard Thomas plays the lead role of Atticus Finch. It’s a landmark production of an American classic and one of the most poignant novels of all time…an evening not to be missed. May 9-14. At TexasPerformingArts.org.
AUSTIN: BROADWAY’S BONUS
Spend an evening with a true Broadway legend, three-time Tony® Award and Grammy® Award winner Patti LuPone as she takes the stage with her acclaimed one-woman show. In Don’t Monkey With Broadway, LuPone explores indelible interpretations of classic Broadway show tunes by Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and more. Also, her lifelong love affair with Broadway and concern for the Great White Way are highlighted.May 1. At TheLongCenter.org.
DALLAS: WILD, WILD WEST
Spring 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Richard Avedon, a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. As part of a national celebration led by The Richard Avedon Foundation, the Carter is showcasing 13 works of art from the acclaimed project In the American West. Over the course of six years, Avedon traveled through 13 states and 189 towns throughout the western U.S., conducting 752 sittings and photographing a range of everyday people in the now-iconic style that he’d formerly applied to celebrities and politicians. Through Oct. At CarterMuseum.org.
DALLAS: ALL THAT’S JAZZ
We love a performance by a dynamic jazz artist, don’t you? That’s why we can’t wait for Dee Dee Bridgewater, one of the best singers performing today, who will soon ignite her talents with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, thanks to the organization’s Jazz At Symphony Center program. May 22. At DallasSymphony.org.
DALLAS: BELOVED NATURE
Dallas Theater Center presents Into the Woods, a set of whimsical, timeless classic, masterfully intertwining beloved fairy tales with contemporary challenges into a critically acclaimed musical masterpiece. The show is adapted from the book by James Lapine, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and direction by Joel Ferrell. Through April 30. At DallasTheaterCenter.org.
HOUSTON: NO PROBLEM
Ballet Houston is bringing Aszure Barton’s Angular Momentum to the stage once more. Barton pays homage to Space City, with its hybrid orchestral-electronic score and influences ranging from the city’s architecture to the moon landing. The program will also feature a new work by world-renowned choreographer Justin Peck, fresh off choreographing the Golden Globe®-winning musical West Side Story. Stanton Welch’s Divergence is a popular and explosive audience favorite, and with its mixed repertoire program, it’s sure to be a showstopper. May 25-June 4. At HoustonBallet.org.
HOUSTON: A FRIEND INDEED
In this madcap sleuthing caper, Sherlock Holmes and the Case Of The Jersey Lily, Wilde’s muse, actress Lillie Langtry (a.k.a the Jersey Lily), presents Holmes with an open and shut case. But Sherlock wastes no time exposing a more sinister conspiracy. Meanwhile, Oscar Wilde is in the throes of writing the acclaimed novel the Importance of Being Earnest. In a fast-paced ride full of surprises and disguises, Holmes and Watson must do whatever it takes to help their friends…while facing their greatest foe. Through May 14. At AlleyTheatre.org.
HOUSTON: DANCE, MEET YOUR ROMANCE
DANCE AND ROMANCE
From Singin’ in the Rain to La La Land, Hollywood has a flair for movie musicals, and in Broadway Hits Go to Hollywood, the Houston Symphony will salute some of the very best. Audiences will hear favorite songs from My Fair Lady, The Music Man, West Side Story, Cabaret, and more. The show will include I Dreamed a Dream, I Could Have Danced All Night, The Impossible Dream, and more. May 5-7. At HoustonSymphony.org.
SAN ANTONIO: WOMEN’S WORLD
The McNay Museum’s new exhibition, Womanish: Audacious, Courageous, Willful Art, features artwork by women acquired by the museum from 2010 to the present. In 2010, the McNay presented the landmark exhibition Neither Model Nor Muse, which celebrated artwork by women from the museum. The artwork in Womanish includes over 70 artists, spans over 90 years, and includes portraiture, abstraction, landscapes, and more. Both Neither Model Nor Muse and Womanish demonstrate McNay’s ongoing commitment to women. Through July 2. At McNayArt.org.
SAN ANTONIO: A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Giant living sculptures will make their Texas debut when Imaginary Worlds: Once Upon a Time comes to the San Antonio Botanical Garden. The show features larger-than-life, whimsical sculptures created by Mosaïcultures® Internationales de Montréal. Across the Garden’s 38 acres will be a massive dragon towering nearly 25 feet, a mermaid lounging in the Hill Country, and a parading peacock in the Rose Garden. May 6-October 29. At SABot.org.
SAN ANTONIO: LONG, LONG AGO
The San Antonio Museum of Art presents Roman Landscapes: Visions of Nature and Myth from Rome and Pompeii. The mythological paintings reveal landscape scenes as settings for hazardous encounters between humans and the gods. The exhibition, with artworks that have never been shown in the United States, includes a variety of media, including wall paintings, sculptures, mosaics, and vessels from archaeological sites in Italy. Through May 21. At SAMuseum.org.
