Best Bets the Week of September 11-17, 2025

If you’re still trying to decide what to do this coming week, look no further. Below you will find our picks for the best bets over the next seven days. We’ve got a Tony Award-winning musical stopping by on its national tour, a stage legend visiting Miller Outdoor Theatre, and much more. So, keep reading before you finalize any plans.

Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha will make his Miller Outdoor Theatre debut on Friday, September 12, at 8 p.m. when the orchestra drops in for Valčuha Conducts West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein himself “extracted nine sections” from the score to his hit Broadway musical to create Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which will be joined on the program by dances from Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia, originally commissioned in 1941 to be a ballet “based on Argentine country life”; Mexican composer Silvestre Reveultas’s Sensemayá, based on a poem inspired by “an Afro-Cuban snake sacrificial ritual”; and Maurice Ravel’s rousing crowd-pleaser Boléro. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, September 11. Or, as always, you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required.

In need of a dance teacher, a man with Asperger syndrome hires an injured Broadway dancer in Mark St. Germain’s Dancing Lessons, which will mark Lionwoman Productions’ second season at 8 p.m. on Friday, September 12, at the MATCH. Houston actor Brad Goertz told Houston Life the play “explores a lot of the common traits that many people with Asperger’s may have. There’s a lot of directness and honesty and candid behavior that is common with that that creates a lot of comedy.” Performances are scheduled through September 21 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and September 15, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, with a second Sunday performance at 6 p.m. on September 14 and a second Saturday performance at 2 p.m. on September 20. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $35.

A traveling preacher in the Jim Crow South sets out to save his hometown church, free the cotton pickers working under the abusive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, and recover some money in Ossie Davis’s 1961 play Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch, which will open Main Street Theater’s 50th anniversary season on Saturday, September 13, at 7:30 p.m. Director Errol Anthony Wilks told the Houston Press that the play is “a farce, a comedy” and “all the actors get in on the fun onstage,” but added, “I dare say that there’re going to be times that the only thing that’s going to be comfortable about this piece of art is the seats that you’re sitting in.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through October 12. Tickets are available here for $45 to $64.

Whether you know her as musical theater royalty from classic performances in shows like Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, or from her status as the singing voice behind two Disney princesses, you’re sure to enjoy the vocal prowess on stage when Lea Salonga performs at Miller Outdoor Theatre on Saturday, September 13, at 8 p.m. The star is bringing her Stage, Screen & Everything In Between tour to Houston, courtesy of Asia Society Texas, and has said of the tour, “I just want folks to come, sit in the dark for a couple of hours with me, and we’ll just have a wonderful, wonderful time.” Like all performances at Miller, the show is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. Friday, September 12. Or you can sit on the no-ticket-required Hill.

Performing Arts Houston is bringing Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, September 14, at 7:30 p.m. to play a one-night-only set of classic jazz, big band tunes, and American Songbook standards. The actor, well known for roles in films like Jurassic Park, Independence Day, and Wicked, has been playing with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra – so named for a family friend who lived to be 100 – for 30 years, with their most recent album, Still Blooming, featuring appearances from folks like Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Scarlett Johansson, coming out this past spring. In previous shows, Goldblum has been noted for his commentary, “a merry blend of comedy and jazz,” and “his singing voice.” Limited tickets remain and are available here for $49 to $149.

For some folks, lightning doesn’t strike twice, but on Monday, September 15, at 7:30 p.m., you can celebrate those memorable musical one-offs when Paul Hope Cabarets presents One Hit Wonders and Minor Music Makers at Ovations Night Club. During the program, you can expect to hear songs like Bob Merrill’s “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round” from the 1961 musical Carnival, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion’s “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” from the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha, and Meredith Willson’s “Seventy-Six Trombones” from the 1957 musical The Music Man, among many other recognizable works. The concert will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 22, and Monday, October 6. Tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $26.50 to $41.80.

Fifteen going on 16 isn’t as exciting for Kimberly Levaco as for other teens, because she has a rare genetic condition that causes her to rapidly age in the five-time Tony Award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo, which will open on Tuesday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m., courtesy of Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center. Ann Morrison, who is playing the role of Kimberly on the national tour, told the Houston Press the character is “very optimistic no matter what’s going on,” and that the musical’s message is “life is short so just enjoy the ride. Make positive choices with your life not negative ones.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday, and 1:30 p.m. Sunday through September 21. Tickets can be purchased here for $55 to $131.

Houston-based choreographer Cynthia Garcia will debut her own dance take on the Mexican game lotería at the MATCH on Tuesday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m., when she and The Pilot Dance Project present El Baile de Loteria, a series of ten short dances that double as a game of lotería that will win one lucky audience member a prize. Garcia recently told the Houston Press that one lotería card inspired her to create a dance in honor of her grandfather, which “then went on from there like, ‘Okay, what other cards are found in this game? How can I bring those cards to life through movement?’” El Baile de Loteria will be performed a second time at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17. Tickets to either performance can be purchased here for $15 to $20.