Best bets of the week of June 6 to 12, 2024

It’s officially June, and June – if you didn’t know – is National Outdoors Month. There’s very little reason to want to be outside so far this month, so rest assured that most of this week’s best bets will keep you in a nice, air-conditioned building and out of the rain. Keep reading to see our selection, which includes jazzy films, glow-in-the-dark art, and a “scandal” at the Symphony.

The Barricade Boys will visit the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, June 6 at 7 p.m. to sing songs from musicals like Wretched, The Phantom of the Opera And Wicked, as well as pop tunes, Motown hits and even “Bohemian Rhapsody” during The Barricade Boys West End evening! The Barricade Boys Kieran Brown and Scott Garnham recently described their Broadway show World Houston, with Brown saying the set is a mix “of almost everything” and Garnham noting it’s called “a Broadway party, and there’s a reason for that,” adding that they want “people to come and get involved” by singing, dancing and clapping. The show will be presented a second time at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 7. Tickets for either performance can be purchased here for $54 to $124.

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Houston Ballet Artists at Disha Zhang flowwho returns to the Houston Ballet stage this week.

Photo by Amitava Sarkar, courtesy of Houston Ballet

Houston Ballet’s latest mixed repertory program, Four Seasons, begins Thursday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m. with dance works by George Balanchine, Disha Zhang, Dwight Rhoden and Stanton Welch, whose “The Four Seasons” will feature a familiar face . . Former principal dancer and current ballet master Amy Fote, whose role in Welch’s work marks her return to dancing on the Houston Ballet stage after more than a decade, recently told the Houston Press that the ballet tells “the story of a woman through… four different artists who dance in each of the seasons”, and that it is “a rather special story with iconic and charming music”. Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and June 8, and 2 p.m. Sundays through June 16 at Wortham Theater Center. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $215.

Did you know that Vaseline and ripe bananas glow blue under a black light? A black light emits ultraviolet light and the things that glow beneath it are called phosphors, and phosphors will be everywhere at Hardy & Nance Studios on Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m. when Insomnia Gallery presents Near Dark: An Art Exhibition of black light. The free, all-ages show returns for the fifth time, so get ready to admire the works – all fluorescent – ​​by local artists. Have fun and adorn yourself in neon colors or be ready to light up with highlighters that will be provided on site. Food trucks will also be there and Eureka Heights Brewing Company, Bad Astronaut Brewing Co., Equal Parts Brewing and City Orchard will serve (free) drinks.

A restoration of Bruce Weber’s 1988 documentary Let’s get losta “shimmering, decadent and mesmerizing portrait of West Coast jazz legend Chet Baker,” will open Jazz on Film, a film series curated by Peter Lucas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m. On weekends, the series will feature films that sit at the intersection of jazz and cinema, including the Houston premiere of Elis and Tom, about the 1974 collaboration between Brazilian artists Antonio Carlos Jobim and Elis Regina; a special 50th anniversary screening of the Afrofuturist classic, Sun Ra’s Space is the place; two short documentaries dedicated to women (International rhythm lovers And Maxine Sullivan: Love to be in love) and more. You can view the full schedule here and also get individual tickets for $7-$9.

Haruki Murakami’s “literary world is allegorical”, making him “arguably the most experimental Japanese novelist ever translated into English” as well as “the most popular, with sales in the millions worldwide”. The latest program from the ISHIDA Dance Company, mutability, includes two original works by Brett Ishida, one of which is the female-centered “Green Apples” and the second, which gives its name to the program, is inspired by Murakami. In true ISHIDA fashion, the program, which opens at Asia Society Texas on Friday, June 7 at 8 p.m., will also include works by international guest choreographers that you’re unlikely to see anywhere else in the United States. The program will also be performed at 8 p.m. on Saturday June 8 and 3 p.m. on Sunday June 9. Tickets can be purchased here for $40 to $120.

Emperor Wilhelm II deplored the “scandalous” behavior of Richard Strauss. Salome, an opera based on Oscar Wilde’s equally “scandalous” play, fearing it would do “a lot of damage” to Strauss. Instead, “Salome performed in sold-out opera houses around the world,” and on Friday, June 7 at 8 p.m., the Houston Symphony will produce the opera with costumes, projections, lighting and more during the Festival Strauss: Salome in concert at Jones Hall. Soprano Jennifer Holloway will sing the title role of the opera, which includes the (in)famous “Dance of the Seven Veils,” which Salomé performs in exchange for whatever she wants – and what she wants is is the head of John the Baptist. Salome will be played a second time on Sunday June 9 at 7 p.m. Tickets for either can be purchased here for $34 to $125.

Taste Caribbean and Latin American culture, including music from Argentina’s most iconic dance and Venezuela’s most traditional (and national) dance, without spending your savings on a round-trip plane ticket to Miller Outdoor Theater on Saturday, June 8 at 8:30 p.m. during Tango, Joropo, Danzas y Mas! produced by Aperio, Music of the Americas. Conductor Marlon Chen of the Manila Symphony Orchestra will lead the Aperio ensemble, joined by clarinetist Ernesto Vega, Venezuelan violinist Eddy Marcano and tango pianist Pablo Estigarribia. As with all shows at Miller, the program is free and you can reserve tickets here starting at 10 a.m. Friday, June 7, or you can sit on the hill without a ticket.

Experience the summer of 1969 and the days leading up to the moon landing through the eyes of a Houston fourth grader named Stan in Richard Linklater’s film. Apollo 10 ½: A childhood in the space age, an animated coming-of-age film that will be screened on the lawn outside The Menil Collection’s main building on Saturday, June 8 at 8:30 p.m. The film, co-presented with Friends of the River Oaks Theater, is “a lively and charming stroll down memory lane”, loosely based on Linklater’s own childhood with a “meticulous eye for detail” and a “tolerant, laid-back spirit”. The event is free, and before the film at 8:30 p.m., you can enjoy music from DJ Vincent Priceless at 7:30 p.m. and talks from the film’s co-producer, Craig Staggs, at 8:15 p.m. (and don’t forget to bring a picnic blanket- fuck).