See the latest performing arts productions and theater happenings opening across Houston from Monday, September 22 to Sunday, September 28, 2025.
One of the things that I think doesn’t get enough attention is the incredible artistry we have in Houston at our two major universities. This week you can see what I mean with performances by orchestras and ensembles at both the University of Houston and Rice University. Seeing performances on college campuses is an excellent way to support the young performers who will go on to be tomorrow’s super stars. It also helps those curious about what might be an unfamiliar art form see a performance at a more attractive price point. Win-win.
City Ballet of Houston offers a season preview this week. There are also new works from 6 Degrees and Kinetic Ensemble at MATCH.
I write often about how much I love ROCO’s mission of bringing music to venues all over Houston. It’s what drives the orchestra’s desire for connection and demonstrates that classical music is alive and thriving. You can catch them at two spots this weekend.
I have a vivid memory as a little girl of borrowing a friend’s copy of the fairy tale Thumbelina. I can see the cover of that book, with this tiny girl sitting in a red flower, its swirling green petals meandering off the cover. I don’t speak Russian, but I love that Houston has a Russian theater company that is bringing the story to life this week.
I loved 4th Wall Theatre Co.’s season opener, Eureka Day, when I saw it last week. The ensemble cast is terrific, and the show is both funny and timely. You’ve still got time to see Main Street Theater’s Purlie Victorious, where TiMOThY ERiC is leading an impressive cast in a story about a preacher trying to save a church, and free people from an oppressive system.
This week, I’m at Stages for The Lehman Trilogy and The Ensemble Theatre for Akeelah and the Bee.
Go see performing arts, Houston!
Top Live Theater & Arts Performances This Week: September 22 to 28, 2025
Showtime! New Openings & This Week Only Shows
City Ballet of Houston: 2025-26 Season Opener at MATCH | Wednesday – Get a sense of what the ensemble has on tap this season in this performance featuring excerpts from upcoming works. $20. 7pm. Get tickets.
6 Degrees: Testimony at MATCH | Thursday to Sunday – The new contemporary work blends aerial dance and music in an artistic response to the events surrounding artist Shahzia Sikander’s sculpture Witness. $30. Times vary. Get tickets.
UH School of Theatre & Dance: Circadian Project at Studio 208 | Thursday to Sunday – Catch a performance by the university’s incoming MFA Acting cohort and select undergrads as they build a project that embodies the idea of “leap and the net will appear.” This world premiere combines creative storytelling, expressive movement and soulful artistry. $20. Times vary. Get tickets.
Kinetic Ensemble: Notes Unspoken at MATCH | Friday – The chamber ensemble launches its 2025-26 season with a concert featuring Benjamin Britten’s 1932 work, Double Concerto for Violin and Viola with Kinetic’s founder and artistic director, Natalie Lin Douglas, and core violist Sebastian Stefanovic as soloists. Also on the program: the premiere of a new string arrangement of Unstrung by Rice graduate Alex Berko, which pays homage to the bluegrass traditions of Kentucky, and American composer Libby Larsen’s String Symphony. $35. 7:30pm. Get tickets.
Moores Jazz Orchestra in Concert at Moores Opera House | Friday – The University of Houston’s jazz students open their concert season with a performance of swinging rhythms and bold improvisations. This is a terrific chance to hear young players who will shape the future of the genre. $20. 7:30pm. Get tickets.
ROCO in Concert: Feels Like Home Around Houston | Friday & Saturday | FREE on Friday – The full 40-piece chamber orchestra conducted by Delyana Lazarova offers two events to kick off their 21st season. Experience the ROCO-commissioned world premieres by Kevin Lau, GRAMMY-winning composer Starr Parodi, and Heather Schmidt – plus Emilie Mayer’s Symphony No. 4 in B minor. There is a free performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre on Friday, followed by a pay-what-you-wish show at River Oaks’ intimate Church of St. John the Divine on Saturday. Times vary. Get tickets.
Houston Symphony: Eschenbach Conducts Mozart & Bruckner at Jones Hall | Saturday & Sunday – Maestro Christoph Eschenbach leads the orchestra in the vast, expansive sound-world of Bruckner’s stunning and immense Symphony No. 7, while Mozart’s sparkling Concerto for Flute and Harp Showcasing the artistry of flutist Stathis Karapanos and Houston Symphony Principal Harp Allegra Lilly. $59+. Times vary. Get tickets.
Shepherd School Orchestra: Beethoven, Rossini & Brandt at Stude Concert Hall | Saturday – Experience the world premiere of Anthony Brandt’s Chamber Concerto for Cello and Orchestra commissioned in honor of the Shepherd School’s 50th anniversary this year. The orchestra also performs Rossini’s La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) and Beethoven’s rhythmic seventh symphony. Pay-What-You-Wish. 7:30pm. Get tickets.
Houston Russian Theatre: Thumbelina at MATCH | Sunday – The ensemble brings the fairy tale—about the tiny girl born from a flower who must evade a series of unsuitable suitors on the way to her own happy ending—to life in Russian. $30. 3pm. Get tickets.
They’ve Got Legs! Ongoing Shows
Paul Hope Cabaret: One-Hit Wonders & Minor Music Makers at Ovations | Monday | Closed Monday, October 6 – The incredible cabaret performers turn their talents to performing songs from shows by composers who only had a few, or less, show stopping Broadway hits. Think selections from The Music Man, Hair, 1776, Man of La Mancha and more. $25+. 7:30pm. Get tickets.
The Da Vinci Code at Alley Theatre | Tuesday to Sunday | Closes Sunday, October 19 – Based on Dan Brown’s mega-bestselling novel, the play follows symbiologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu in a race across Paris and London, attempting to solve a deadly puzzle that could alter the course of history. $53+. Times vary. Get tickets.
Stages: The Lehman Trilogy at The Gordy | Wednesday to Sunday | Closes Sunday, October 12 – Hayum Lehmann arrives in New York in 1844 and changes his name to Henry Lehman…and sets about building an empire. Three actors play more than 50 characters in this sweeping saga – with two intermissions – that charts the spectacular rise and fall of a powerful financial firm, and the disaster left in its wake. $25+. Times vary. Get tickets.
4th Wall Theatre Co: Eureka Day at Spring Street Studios | Thursday to Sunday | Closes Saturday, October 11 – This play about a progressive school dealing with an outbreak of mumps calls into question how we explore what’s true and how to achieve consensus when no one seems to agree. $50+. Times vary. Get tickets.
Catastrophic Theatre: Endgame at MATCH | Thursday to Sunday | Closes Saturday, October 11 – Samuel Beckett’s tragicomedy is the story of a blind, domineering despot in a post-apocalyptic world. He’s dependent upon his weary attendant. Together with his parents, they await the inevitable. Pay-What-You-Can. Times vary. Get tickets.
Purlie Victorious at Main Street Theater | Thursday to Sunday | Closes Sunday, October 12 – The play by Ossie Davis tells the story of traveling preacher Purlie Victorious Judson. He returns to his small Georgia town hoping to save Big Bethel, the community’s church, and emancipate the cotton pickers who work on oppressive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee’s plantation. $45+. Times vary. Get tickets.
Akeelah & the Bee at The Ensemble Theatre | Thursday to Sunday | Closes Sunday, October 12 – Akeelah is a young African-American who possesses a remarkable talent for spelling and is set to compete in the National Spelling Bee. With the support of her family and a dedicated teacher she must overcome personal challenges and societal obstacles before she gets there. $45+. Times vary. Get tickets.
The Glass Menagerie at Island Etc. | Thursday to Sunday | Closes Friday, October 10 – The Galveston theater company presents Tennessee Williams’ American theater classic, telling the story of a Depression-era family struggling in a small apartment whose lives are transformed forever when a gentleman caller comes for dinner. $30. Times vary. Get tickets.
Man of La Mancha at Stageworks Theatre | Friday to Sunday | Closes Sunday, October 12 – Set during the Spanish Inquisition, the classic musical tells the story of Don Quixote, on a quest to right the wrongs of the world. You’ve certainly heard its most famous song, “The Impossible Dream.” $28+. Times vary. Get tickets.
Independence Day at Happy Meadows at Theatre Suburbia | Friday to Sunday | Closes Saturday, October 18 – The women of Happy Meadows Nursing Home are fed up with the rules, regulations, and especially the food. So Holly and her comrades-in-arms hatch a plot to break out. $20+. Times vary. Get tickets.
Curtain Call: Closing This Week
Theatre Southwest’s Incident at Vichy seals its fate on Saturday, which is the same day that the mood passes for Music Box Theater’s Feelin’ Groovy at Queensbury Theatre.
And on Sunday, Houston Ballet’s Rock, Roll & Tutus hangs up its dancing shoes on Wortham Center.
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