World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Houston  - Culture
Culture

Houston has an impressive 17-block Theatre District, with a total of 12,000 seats. Only New York has more seats concentrated in one geographic area. It is also one of the few US cities with permanent ballet, opera, symphony orchestra and theatre companies.

Tickets for concerts and theatre can be purchased from Ticket Stop (tel: (713) 526 8889; website: www.ticket-stop.com ) or the Ticket Center (tel: (281) 842 5387). Ticketmaster (tel: (713) 629 3700; website: www.ticketmaster.com ) is another good source for tickets to cultural events around the city. For up-to-date information on what is on each week get a copy of the free listings paper, The Houston Press, which is published on Thursdays.

Music:
The Houston Grand Opera is based at the Wortham Theater Center, Texas Avenue (tel: (713) 237 1439), and has a reputation for presenting groundbreaking new operas. It has also won Grammy, Tony and Emmy awards. The Houston Symphony Orchestra has its home at the Jesse H Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, Louisiana Street (tel: (713) 224 7575), and its reputation extends worldwide.

Theatre:
The Alley Theatre, Texas Avenue (tel: 713) 228 8421 or (800) 259 2553, toll free USA and Canada only), is one of the oldest resident professional theatre companies in the country. It began its life literally in an alley in 1947. The Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) (tel: (713) 558 2600 or (800) 678 5440, toll free USA and Canada only) performs musical theatre. It currently brings a touch of Broadway to the Wortham Theater Center (see above), as well as the Arena Theatre in the southwest of the city. However, from 2002, it will be the resident company at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, which is currently under construction. The Miller Outdoor Theatre (tel: (713) 284 8350) is an outdoor amphitheatre located in Hermann Park, which presents free performances from April until October, including ballet, Shakespeare, musicals and the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Dance:
The Houston Ballet (tel: (713) 227 2787or (800) 828 2787, toll free USA and Canada only) also has its home at the lovely Wortham Theater Center (see above), where it puts on lavish productions. It is the fourth largest dance company in the USA with international acclaim following several overseas tours.

Film:
Mainstream films can be viewed at many cinemas throughout the city, such as Cineplex Odeon/Spectrum 9 at 2660 Augusta Drive; Cinemark/Hollywood 20 at 2101 East Beltway 8; Cinemark/Tinseltown-Westchase at 3600 West Sam Houston Parkway South, and Magic Johnson Theatre/Northline Mall at I-45 and Crosstimbers Street. Arthouse films can be seen at the Angelika Film Center in Bayou Place. Several films have been filmed in Houston, many using its link with space travel as a theme. These include Armageddon (1998), directed by Michael Bay, and Apollo 13 (1995), directed by Ron Howard. Terms of Endearment (1983), directed by James L Brooks, and Robocop II (1990), directed by Irvin Kershner, were also filmed in Houston.

Cultural events:
The Fourth of July celebrations draw thousands of Houstonians to the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park for their ever-popular rendition of classical favourites, culminating in a spectacular firework display. The annual Houston International Jazz Festival in August transforms the city one weekend each year into a mini New Orleans, with performances from national and international stars in front of the City Hall. The free performances of Shakespeare's plays at the Miller Outdoor Theatre during the annual Houston Shakespeare Festival in August are a real crowd pleaser.

Literary Notes
For a city the size of Houston, remarkably it does not have any leading literary authors - and a recently compiled list of 200 prominent Houstonians highlights this absence.
Interestingly enough, for a city that has a rather hard-nosed commercial feel about it, having grown up on the strength of the oil business, Houston is the home to the Romance Writers of America. The city is the base for many bestselling historical romance authors, including Barbara Dawson Smith, Christina Dodd and Judith McNaught, who each have millions of fans worldwide. Dawson Smith's books, such as Once Upon A Scandal (1997), are mainly historical romance set in nineteenth-century Britain. Dodd is a prolific writer whose titles, such as A Well-Favoured Gentleman (1998) and A Well-Pleasured Lady (1997), hint at the nature of her romances. McNaught's work tends towards the romantic suspense style, with her most recent bestsellers being Night Whispers and Water's Edge. The endless list of romance writers in Houston is evidence of a softer side to a city long associated with oil barons and astronauts.



Copyright © 2001 Columbus Publishing
    
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