Best Bets the Week of August 28-September 3, 2025

It’s National Bow Tie Day, and in the spirit of the made-up day, why not add a snazzy little accent piece to your ensemble as we mark the transition from August to September? You can add a little style to your wardrobe as you head out to any of our best bets. This week, we have world premiere stage and dance works, a night of famous showtunes, a sumo tournament, and more. Keep reading to see all of our picks for the best things to do this coming week.  

A conversion therapy summer camp is the setting of writer-composer Aaron Alon’s new musical The Chosen Ones, which is making its world premiere at the MATCH on Friday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m. courtesy of Thunderclap Productions. Of the six LGBTQ+ teens sent to camp in the story, Alon recently told the Houston Press, “Despite how horrible this place might be for them, there’s still something really beautiful about coming together with other people who share these LGBTQ identities.” Performances are scheduled through September 6 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and September 1, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and September 6. Tickets are available here for $15 to $25. An additional pay-what-you-can ($1 minimum) preview performance is scheduled for tonight, August 28. The show is recommended for teens and adults.

Broadway fans will want to go to Miller Outdoor Theatre on Friday at 8 p.m. for Broadway on the Hill, a night of popular songs from hit shows. The lineup of talent, all hailing from Houston, includes Anthony Boggess-Glover, who you may have caught last year in shows at The Ensemble Theatre; DeQuina Moore, who played the Hobby Center’s Founders Club last month; and Ashley Támar, a Grammy nominee who appeared on Broadway in Motown the Musical. Jarvis B. Manning Jr., known for Broadway shows like Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations; Jennafer Newberry, who performed in Wicked on Broadway and the touring production; and Mikey Wolfe, a local singer-songwriter, round out the lineup. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, August 28. Or you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required.

During her one-term as Texas governor, the “witty and flamboyant” Ann Richards left an indelible mark on the Lone Star State, and on Friday, August 29, at 8 p.m., you can see a portrait of the politician when The Garden Theatre brings Holland Taylor’s one-woman show Ann, starring Nora Hahn, back to the MATCH for a limited return engagement. Prior to the show’s last run in February, Garden Theatre Artistic Director Logan Vaden told Houston Life the show is not “just for democrats or republicans; it’s really for everyone. It shows that she was for the people, which we so rarely see these days.” Performances will continue at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, August 30, and 2 p.m. Sunday, August 31. Tickets are available here for $25 to $30. A pay-what-you-can (minimum $10) preview performance is also set for tonight, August 28, at 7:30 p.m.

Experience the first collaboration between Group Acorde and interdisciplinary artist Jasmine Hearn on Friday, August 29, at 8 p.m. during REpurpose at Houston Met Dance. The evening will feature the premiere of “A cave in the moon,” a duet danced to an original sound score for bass and cello by Group Acorde Musical Director Thomas Helton and performed on a set of recycled materials designed by former Houston Ballet first soloist Allison Miller. Roberta Paixão Cortes, one of the founding members of Group Acorde, recently discussed the performance and Hearn’s “unique voice” with the Houston Press here. Tickets are $20 and are still available here for opening night and a performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, August 30. If available, tickets can be bought at the door, but advance purchase is recommended as each performance is limited to 25 seats.

Houston’s Shōgeki Sumo Dojo and Asia Society Texas will once again present the 19th Annual Texas Classic Sumo Tournament on Saturday, August 30, from 1 to 5 p.m. Each ticket to the open-weight sumo tournament, which will be emceed by former professional sumo wrestler Koomah of Kise Beya and feature a special half-time performance by Houston Kendama Dojo, will include two complimentary drinks, access to vendors, and a post-tournament reception and meet and greet with the wrestlers. If you are not familiar with sumo, Nicholas Ton of Shōgeki Sumo Dojo told the Houston Press last year that the goal of the tournament is to show “the athleticism of [sumo], and how real the matches can be, how fast they are, how much balance is involved, [and] how much technique is involved.” Tickets are available here for $30.

F.W. Murnau “had a bold visual imagination, distinctive even during the era of German Expressionism.” His 1926 film Faust, inspired by the oft-retold German folktale about a man who sells his soul to the devil, is one of two of the greatest supernatural films ever made by Murnau – the other being Nosferatu – and on Saturday, August 30, at 7 p.m., you can experience the film in a new way, with live heavy metal music at River Oaks Theatre. The Silent Light, a Los Angeles-based project led by multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Mike Formanski, has composed and performed metal scores for multiple classic German films from the silent era, and now turns its talents to Faust, the greatness of which Roger Ebert noted “resides in its majestic opening scenes and its horrifying conclusion.” Tickets can be purchased here for $21.

In 1717, George Frideric Handel debuted Water Music, three suites commissioned for a royal boat trip down the Thames – and King George I loved it so much, according to guest Louis Frederick Bonet, he had it “played three times in all, twice before and once after supper, even though each performance lasted an hour.” You can hear Water Music on Saturday, August 30, at 8 p.m. when Mercury Chamber Orchestra opens its 25th season with Handel & Vivaldi, a free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Joining Handel on the program is Antonio Vivaldi, with the ensemble also set to play his Concerto for Four Violins in B minor and “Summer” from The Four Seasons. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. Friday, August 29, or you can plan to sit on the Hill, where no ticket is required.

Patrick Bateman, the protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, is getting a rewrite when Duncan Sheik and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s American Psycho: The Musical makes it to the Hobby Center stage on Tuesday, September 2, at 7 p.m. When Houston Broadway Theatre opens the show on Tuesday, it will be in previews, with the script getting adjustments each night until the show officially opens on September 5. Playing the titular psycho in the production, which is getting retooled in the hopes of making it back to Broadway, is Robert Lenzi, who told the Houston Press the show has “dark elements, but there are also things about the absurdity of life that are truly hysterical.” Performances will continue at 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through September 14. Tickets can be purchased here for $33.80 to $148.20.