{"id":392282,"date":"2025-11-20T13:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/392282\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T13:21:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:21:23","slug":"best-bets-houston-greek-film-festival-birdy-and-a-little-night-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/392282\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Bets: Houston Greek Film Festival, Birdy, and A Little Night Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s National \u2018Have a Bad Day\u2019 Day<\/a>, so be sure to wish your loved ones the worst as you head out the door to check out our best bets. This week, we have the return of a popular film festival, a deep dive into the life of a pioneering political figure, and quite possibly \u201cthe finest American play ever written<\/a>,\u201d according to Edward Albee. Keep reading for these and more. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Writer-director Antonis Tsonis has described his 2024 film Brando With a Glass Eye, about a method actor who attempts armed robbery to make his dream of studying in New York come true, as \u201clayered like a babushka doll with meta-narratives<\/a>,\u201d acknowledging it\u2019s \u201cbold, risky, maybe even strange<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0The film will open the Houston Greek Film Festival<\/a> at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, November 20, at the MATCH<\/a>, marking the start of a weekend featuring ten films and almost a dozen shorts. The lineup includes 14 Gulf Coast premieres, three U.S. premieres, and one world premiere. Tickets to the individual screenings are available for $15, with a $30 reception-only ticket available, along with a 5-ticket pass for $60, and a VIP all-access pass for $90. The full schedule can be found here<\/a>, and tickets can be purchased here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The story of Barbara Jordan, Texas\u2019 first Black state senator and the first Southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, began right here, in Houston\u2019s Fifth Ward. On Friday, November 21, at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston<\/a>, you can learn more about the pioneer in Angela Lynn Tucker\u2019s documentary The Inquisitor<\/a>, named for the moniker Jordan earned for her questioning as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during President Richard Nixon\u2019s 1974 Watergate hearings. Stay after the film for a discussion with special guests, including Tucker. Two additional screenings are scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, November 22, and 2 p.m. Sunday, November 23. Tickets to any of the screenings can be purchased here<\/a> for $7 to $9.<\/p>\n

Contemporary dance, martial arts and tai chi, and Peking opera (the symbolic, stylized, and traditional Chinese performing art) come together in Lai Hung-Chung\u2019s Birdy<\/a>, a work set to electronic and Chinese classical music that will be performed by Hung Dance<\/a> at the Wortham Theater Center<\/a> on Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m. Lai founded the Taiwanese contemporary dance company, which is named for the Chinese word meaning \u201csoar\u201d \u2013 a theme that will also be at play in Birdy \u2013 in 2017, and Performing Arts Houston<\/a> is bringing the ensemble to town as part of the Tudor Family Dance Series to make its Houston debut with the piece. Birdy will be performed a second time on Saturday, November 22, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to either performance are available here<\/a> for $44.85 to $79.35.<\/p>\n

Visit Grover\u2019s Corners, New Hampshire, circa 1901 to 1913, to spend time with the Gibbs and Webb families in Thornton Wilder\u2019s classic 1938 play Our Town<\/a>, which 4th\u00a0Wall Theatre Company<\/a> will open at Spring Street Studios<\/a> at Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m. Skyler Sinclair, who plays Emily Webb in the production, told the Houston Press<\/a> the play is \u201calmost like a magic trick,\u201d saying that Wilder \u201clays everything out so beautifully,\u201d resulting in a story that is \u201cuniversal\u201d and \u201ctranscends time.\u201d Sinclair added that, \u201cThis play has a message that every human being needs to hear\u2026It asks the audience if you could put a price on your most basic memory of life, what would that be.\u201d Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through December 20. Tickets are available here<\/a> for $40 to $70.<\/p>\n

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Taiwanese twin brothers and percussionists Jen-Ting and Jen-Yu Chien, known as Twincussion<\/a>, will end their U.S. concert tour at Asia Society Texas Center<\/a> on Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m. with Twincussion: \u2018Twin Beats\u2019 \u2014 Melodies and Rhythms From Taiwan<\/a>. During the program, presented in partnership with Taiwan Academy, the instrumentalists will play a program that includes new arrangements of Taiwanese folk melodies, such as \u00a0\u201cDark Sky (Tian Hei Hei)\u201d and \u201cLonging for the Spring Breeze (Wang Chun Feng)\u201d; a Taipei-flavored take on Wayne Siegel<\/a>\u2019s 42nd Street Rondo; George Frideric Handel\u2019s Passacaglia, arranged by Johan Halvorsen; Tomasz Goli\u00c5\u0084ski<\/a>\u2019s Layered Elements, a piece commissioned by the brothers and premiered in 2018; and more. Tickets can be purchased here<\/a> for $10 to $30.<\/p>\n

Director Hal Prince famously described A Little Night Music<\/a>, Stephen Sondheim\u2019s adaptation of Ingmar Bergman\u2019s 1955 film\u00a0Smiles of a Summer Night, as \u201cwhipped cream with knives<\/a>.\u201d The Sweden-set musical, a romantic farce revolving around a pair of couples, premiered in 1973 and went on to win multiple Tony Awards, including Best Musical \u2013 as well as spawn the hit song \u201cSend In the Clowns,\u201d performed since by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Grace Jones \u2013 and on Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m., you can see it when Opera in the Heights<\/a> opens a production of the show at Lambert Hall<\/a>. A Little Night Music will also be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 22, and 2 p.m. Sunday, November 23. Tickets are available here<\/a> for $35 to $85.<\/p>\n

In Beautiful Princess Disorder<\/a>, playwright Kathy Ng<\/a>\u2019s script specifies the play\u2019s main character, Triangle Person, \u201cto be wearing a very geometric, triangle-shaped head and a no-nonsense navy blue swimsuit<\/a>\u201d as they wait in \u201cthe parking lot of heaven<\/a>\u201d with other inhabitants \u2013 specifically, Mother Teresa and Tilikum, the orca with three fatalities to his name featured in the 2013 documentary Blackfish. You can meet these curious characters on Friday, November 21, at 8 p.m., when The Catastrophic Theatre<\/a> world premieres Ng\u2019s 75-minute, one-act at the MATCH<\/a>. Additional performances of the play are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Monday, December 1; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through December 13. Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $40 and can be purchased here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Marsh as Kitty and Lindsay Ehrhardt as Georgiana in Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley. Credit: Pin Lim, Forest Photography<\/p>\n

Step into the world of Jane Austen on Saturday, November 22, at 7:30 p.m., when Main Street Theater<\/a> brings its holiday Pemberley play tradition back to the stage with the opening night of Lauren Gunderson<\/a> and Margot Melcon\u2019s Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley<\/a>. Elizabeth Bennet\u2019s sister, Kitty, and Mr. Darcy\u2019s sister, Georgiana, share the spotlight in the \u201ccomedy of manners<\/a>,\u201d the third installment of Gunderson and Melcon\u2019s Christmas at Pemberley series. Following Main Street\u2019s 2023 production of the play, the Houston Press<\/a> noted \u201cfew plays blend the antique with the new with such finesse, delicate touch, and laugh-out-loud repartee.<\/a>\u201d Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and November 26, and 3 p.m. Sundays through December 21 (with no performance on Thanksgiving Day). Tickets can be purchased here<\/a> for $45 to $64.<\/p>\n

This article appears in Jan 1 \u2013 Dec 31, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s National \u2018Have a Bad Day\u2019 Day, so be sure to wish your loved ones the worst as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":392283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[10929,1020,12054,4345,43511,44449,186472,9221,358,3187],"class_list":["post-392282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-dance","tag-film","tag-film-festival","tag-houston","tag-jane-austen","tag-musical","tag-percussion","tag-stage","tag-texas","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115582237863205678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}