Who doesn’t love a federal holiday and the chance for a day off? This coming week is Labor Day on September 6 – not to mention National Lazy Mom’s Day on September 3 and the great Beyoncé’s birthday on September 4, though most workplaces don’t offer days off for these occasions – and we’ve got a whole list of ways to spend your holiday weekend. Keep reading for theater, music, dance, and barbeque.

Tonight, Thursday, September 2, at 6 p.m. join the Moody Center for the Arts to say farewell to artist Sondra Perry’s yearlong installation “Ocean Modifier” at the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion on the Rice University campus. The site-specific installation, which has wallpapered the Pavilion since October 2020, “addresses the centuries-old linkages between water and Black bodies,” with its title drawn from the “computer software that digitally simulates the color and appearance of water, which the artist used to create a monumental image of a murky seascape.” The closing reception, Off the Wall: Sondra Perry, "Ocean Modifier," will also feature a performance from jazz musicians Daleton and Brandon Lee. You can register for the free event here.

Every so often, the media points out and questions our continued nostalgia for the 1980s. But we firm believers that you don’t need to question your love for new wave, hair metal, and power ballads. If you’re one of those lovers of the ‘80s, you’ll want to check out The Music Box Theater – winner of Best Cabaret from the Houston Press – this weekend when they present Totally 80’s, an evening of Reagan-era tunes from artists like Pat Benatar and Bruce Springsteen. Shows are scheduled for Friday, September 3, and Saturday, September 4, at 7:30 p.m. and will continue through October 9. Tickets can be purchased here, $35 for general admission and $48 for reserved seating.

This weekend, TEATRX will present a touring production of Melinda Lopez’s Sonia Flew at The MATCH for the first of three stops around town. The play is a family drama that “artfully explores the choices made by one generation on behalf of another” by drawing parallels between the story of a young Cuban girl sent alone to the United States on the eve of a revolution and the same woman’s son who wants to enlist following the terrorist attacks on 9/11 years later. The shows, presented in honor of the upcoming 20th anniversary of September 11, are scheduled at The MATCH for 7:30 p.m. Friday, September 3; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 4; and 2 p.m. Sunday, September 5. Tickets can be purchased starting at $10 here on a pay-what-you-can scale (suggested price $25).

The production will then move to Holocaust Museum Houston for a free in-person (and livestreamed) performance on Saturday, September 11, at 6 p.m. MECA @ TBH will serve as the final stop with shows set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, September 17, and Sunday, September 19. Tickets for these two shows are $20 here with proceeds to be split between the two organizations.
Can you imagine Disney’s 1992 animated classic Beauty and the Beast without its iconic songs like, well, “Beauty and the Beast”? Of course not, and a big reason for that is Alan Menken, who with lyricist Howard Ashman is responsible for the music you love from both Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. This weekend, the Houston Symphony will pay tribute to Menken’s extensive work during Once Upon a Time: Alan Menken’s Broadway. Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke – joined by vocalists Matt Doyle, Montego Glover, Katie Rose Clarke, and Jordan Donica – will open the Symphony’s 2021-2022 season with songs from not only the Menken’s Disney musicals, but also shows like Little Shop of Horrors, Newsies, and Sister Act. Performances are scheduled for Friday, September 3, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, September 4, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, September 5, at 2:30 p.m. You can purchase tickets here for $29 to $140. Read more about the program here.
Asia Society Texas Center brings a little Bollywood to town – by way of California – this Friday, September 3, at 8 p.m. with Asia Society Presents: Electrifying India – A Night with Karmagraphy. Founded in Los Angeles by owner and director Kavita Rao, the “Indian fusion entertainment company,” has since travelled all around the world performing not only Bollywood, but Bharatanatyam, Bhangra and Garba for adoring audiences. Seated tickets are available now here. Or, if you are more of a picnic-type of person, you can bring a blanket or lawn chair and scope out a place to enjoy the show on the un-ticketed seating on the Hill. And, for the homebodies, you can catch the livestream broadcast on the Miller Outdoor Theatre website, YouTube channel, or Facebook page.

Main Street Theater is gearing up to open their MainStage season with a play that transforms “the argument between science and creationism into a comedy” with some pretty interesting featured players: “Charles Darwin; his staunch defender Thomas Huxley; and the voice of organized religion, Samuel Wilberforce, the bishop of Oxford” all together “on a sundeck in Malibu, Calif., along with a comely young woman named Sarah.” It’s Crispin Whittell’s Darwin in Malibu and on Saturday, September 7, at 6:45 p.m. you can join Main Street for a free, read-thru – their first – of the play during their Part of the Art series. Note that masks and proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within 48 hours of the event will be required for entry.
On Saturday, September 4, at 8 p.m. Mercury Chamber Orchestra will take to the Miller Outdoor Theatre stage to present one of Antonio Vivaldi’s “greatest contributions to the Western classical canon,” The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni). These four concertos, the first four of Opus 8, are each divided into three movements that “portray the drama (or peace) and scenes of spring, summer, autumn and winter in a pastoral setting.” Listen for the bird singing and branches rustling in “Spring,” the storm that hits during “Summer,” the harvest celebration in “Autumn,” and the “biting winds and idyllic images by the fire” in “Winter.” Seated tickets to the free show go live at 9 a.m. today, September 2, here. If you can’t snag a ticket, you can always head to the un-ticketed seating on the Hill (don’t forget a blanket or lawn chair), or you can also watch live from home on the Miller Outdoor Theatre website, YouTube channel, or Facebook page.

Labor Day – it’s our first national holiday since July and you can thank the unions of New York for publicizing the idea back in 1882. That’s when they decided to celebrate their members with a parade that drew at least 20,000. There was also “a lot of beer,” per the National Constitution Center. Now, we can’t guarantee how much beer will be present at the Labor Day Weekend Backyard BBQ over at Market Square Park on Monday, September 6, from 4 to 7 p.m., but we can say there will be cold brews. Also, live music from Danny Ray & the Acoustic Production, lawn games, a watermelon-eating contest and, of course, barbeque. We can also say whether you want vegan, Korean, or traditional, your barbeque needs will be covered.