Best Bets: Freud’s Last Session, The Music of Elvis, and Hasan Hates Ronny

It’s officially October (i.e., Halloween month), and yes, bits of horror (gothic) are starting to seep into our best bets. But we’ve also got an imagined clash of intellect between historical figures, an evening of Elvis Presley tunes, and a screening of a classic surrealist film. Keep reading for these and more below.

If you love the Halloween spirit, and spirits (i.e., alcohol), don’t miss Drunk Shakespeare Society’s latest boozy take on a classic, Drunk Dracula, at The Emerald Theatre on Thursday, October 2, at 7:30 p.m. Joey Herrera, who is playing the titular vampire in the adult-only show for the second time, recently told the Houston Press, “As Dracula, drunk or not, I like to lurk around the audience. And by the end, you won’t know who’s bit or not bit.” Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and October 28; 7 and 9 p.m. Fridays, with an additional 5 p.m. performance on October 31; 3, 5, 7, and 9 p.m. Saturdays; and 5 and 7 p.m. Sundays through November 15. Tickets are available here for $49 for $199, with a special “Royal Experience” also available for $500.

What if, on the day England declared war on Germany in 1939, psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud invited author and born-again Christian C.S. Lewis to his home for a conversation? That scenario is exactly what Mark St. Germain imagined for his 2009 play, Freud’s Last Session, which A.D. Players will open on Friday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. Director Christy Watkins told BroadwayWorld Houston the play “models a respectful dialogue between two people with opposing viewpoints, where both individuals engage honestly and openly with one another, even in the face of profound disagreement. That level of respect and mutual understanding is something I deeply admire and am excited to bring to life on stage.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through October 19. Tickets can be purchased here for $30 to $85.

For many, Elvis Presley has never left the building. Baz Luhrmann, for example, is currently touring his second Elvis-themed picture in four years around the festival circuit. If you’re one of those fans, you won’t want to miss Houston Symphony’s latest concert, King for a Day: The Music of Elvis, on Friday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Jones Hall. Vegas mainstay Frankie Moreno will join the orchestra, helmed by Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke, to perform songs like “Suspicious Minds” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” alongside professional dancers Josh Bradford and Lacey Schwimmer. The concert will be performed again at 7 p.m. Saturday, October 4, and 2 p.m. Sunday, October 5. Tickets for the in-hall performances are available here for $29 to $142. Saturday night’s show will also be livestreamed, and you can purchase access here for $20.

July 4, 2026, will mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and on Saturday, October 4, at 7 p.m., Apollo Chamber Players will open its American Story series with Declare, a musical and spoken-word program reflecting on the founding document, at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The ensemble will be joined by current Houston Poet Laureate Reyes Ramirez as well as five past Poets Laureate – Robin Davidson, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, Leslie Contreras Schwartz, Outspoken Bean, and Aris Kian Brown – and former Texas Poet Laureate Lupe Mendez for works that explore American identity, including topics like the right to dissent, equality, and the responsibility to act. Evergreen Quartet will perform before the concert at 6:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here for $10 to $75.

If Disney’s 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy tale (classic though it is), you will want to visit The Menil Collection on Saturday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. when the museum presents a screening of Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête on the Menil lawn. With the 1946 surrealist fantasy, called “one of the most magical of all films,” Cocteau “was not making a ‘children’s film’ but was adapting a classic French tale that he felt had a special message after the suffering of World War II: Anyone who has an unhappy childhood may grow up to be a Beast.” The screening, co-presented with Villa Albertine in Houston, is free and open to all.

Musician, vocalist, and composer Amanda Ekery will visit Asia Society Texas on Saturday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. to play music from and talk about her latest album Árabe, “a jazz, folk, pop-infused album that serves as a tribute to Ekery’s Syrian-Mexican roots and hometown of El Paso, Texas.” (An album that also comes with 60 pages of essays about each track on the album.) Of her music, Ekery has said, “I think you can hear the jazz influence in what I write, but jazz isn’t all that influences me. For Árabe in particular, I drew inspiration from classical Arabic music, norteño, country, Americana folk and jazz. These styles are filtered through my personal style, but you can hear moments of each.” Tickets to the concert can be purchased here for $25.

Two Daily Show correspondents, Hasan Minhaj (former) and Ronny Chieng (current), are bringing their joint tour, Hasan Hates Ronny | Ronny Hates Hasan, to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, October 5, at 6 p.m. The two comedians will take their on-air frenemy status to the next level, performing onstage at the same time in a “debate to the death” format. Ahead of the tour, Minhaj told Deadline, “I’m not giving you a pull quote saying how excited I am. I’m not excited, I detest Ronny Chieng and I resent his career.” Chieng said back, “I hope after this show people can finally stop listening to this uneducated fraud.” Few tickets remain for the 6 p.m. show, but there’s more availability for the second performance on Sunday, October 5, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here for $69.50 to $293.30.

A father turns to grave robbing to save his daughter in The Body Snatcher, Katie Forgette’s Robert Louis Stevenson-inspired play set to officially open at the Alley Theatre on Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m. Alley resident acting company member David Rainey told the Houston Press that not only does the production have “all kinds of cool effects,” it is “a tremendous love story – a father’s love. And the passion he has to try to save her. It raises the question of what lengths would you go to in order to save the person you care about the most.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through October 26. Tickets can be purchased here for $45 to $85.

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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