Best Bets the Week of October 17-23, 2024

We finally got a taste of fall weather-wise, and though it's not sticking around, we hope it will be back soon. In the meantime, we have plenty to do that will keep you indoors and just a couple of things that we think are worth braving the elements. Keep reading for this week's best bets, which include world premiere dance works, '70s music, and much more.

The four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy – will come to the Moores Opera House stage at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 17, when the University of Houston 's Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts presents composer Mark Adamo 's take on Louisa May Alcott's . Adamo has previously said that " the opera's strengths are the novel's strengths: I just refined and rendered into another medium the art and wisdom that was, and is, already in the text. If the opera sends even a few listeners back to Alcott, I'll take that as high praise indeed. " An opening night reception will follow the opera, with additional performances scheduled for 7:30 p.m. October 18 and 19 and 2 p.m. on October 20 (with a pre-show talk set for 1 p.m.). General admission tickets can be purchased here for $20 to $25.

In Giuseppe Verdi's , two rivals find themselves in love with the same woman, one of which was raised by a Romani woman, Azucena, who once made a terrible decision (and mistake) in the name of vengeance. On Friday, October 18, at 7 p.m., Houston Grand Opera will open a newly commissioned staging of the opera at the Wortham Theater Center . Mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis , who will sing the role of Azucena, recently told the that her role " gives you a lot to work with ," saying that " Azucena drives the plot " and is " the crux of where bel canto beautiful singing meets drama. " Performances will continue at 2 p.m. Sundays (October 20 and November 3) and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 26, and Tuesday, October 29. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $280. Two of Houston's top dance companies join forces on Friday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. for at Asia Society Texas . The program is named for the world premiere of , choreographed by Annie Arnoult of Open Dance Project . Set to music by Michael Wall, the piece explores the hows and whys of people handling situations differently. Rounding out the program is a second premiere from Arnoult, which visits some of the Bard's most famous moments during , and an excerpt of Yue Yin 's , an ensemble piece set to music by Juliane Jones and Doug Beiden. The program will be performed a second time at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 19. Tickets for either performance are available here for $35.

Contemporary chamber music and visual art come together for a live performance on Friday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. when Musiqa visits Miller Outdoor Theatre to present Sound & Light . For Anthony Brandt 's , both conductor and pianist will wear brain-body imaging caps, and the live EEG data will be displayed on screen via visualizations by multimedia artist Badie Khaleghian . In the program's second half, audiences will experience two silent film-inspired works, Karim Al-Zand 's and Pierre Jalbert 's . The performance is free, as are all shows at Miller, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, Thursday, October 17, or you can plan to sit on the Hill (no ticket required). If you can't make it, the performance will be livestreamed on the Miller Outdoor Theatre website , YouTube channel , and Facebook page . Two lawyers, one white and one Black, are asked to defend a white businessman accused of sexually assaulting a Black woman, and tensions arise, to say the least, in David Mamet's , which Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. will open at the MATCH on Friday, October 18, at 8 p.m. It's been said that the issues raised by Mamet's 2009 legal drama, " particularly on the ethnic varieties of shame and the universal nature of guilt, should offer ample nutrition for many a post-theater dinner conversation. " Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Monday, October 28, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through November 2. Tickets are available here for $30, with pay-what-you-can tickets available for Sunday and Monday performances.

Cone Man Running Productions will open the world premiere of Houston playwright Bryan Maynard's , a collection of six short plays, each playing off tropes from different horror subgenres, on Friday, October 18, at 8 p.m. Maynard recently told the that the show is " for anybody who has even a passing familiarity with horror movies or Halloween in general " as they are " taking those tropes that we all recognize and inverting them or taking them to some illogical degree. " Additional performances are scheduled 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (October 26 and November 2) and October 28 and 31, and 3 p.m. Saturday, October 19, and Sunday, October 27, through November 2 at Spring Street Studios (Studio 233). Tickets can be purchased here for $12 to $20.

If you're anything like us, there is never a bad time to revisit the era that brought us disco, funk, soul, glam rock, and more. Yes, we're talking about the 1970s, and whether you are old enough to have lived through the era or not, dust off your bellbottoms on Saturday, October 19, at 7:30 p.m. and dive deep into the decade that gave us hitmakers like the Bee Gees, ABBA, and the Jackson 5 with the Houston Chamber Choir during I Just Want to Celebrate! Songs from the '70s at Miller Outdoor Theatre . Like all performances at Miller, the concert is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 18, or you can grab a blanket or lawn chair and head for the un-ticketed seating on the Hill .