How to describe the musical Chess … I’ve been a fan of this work — the rock/classical/pop brainchild of lyricist Tim Rice and the Bs from ABBA, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus — for 20 years now. Before that, when I was in college, I had no idea that the radio hit “One Night in Bangkok” was excerpted from a Cold War musical about a world chess championship...

Now this is what I call a good morning. Barely had time for two swallows of my grande Americano before it was off to Park Place Bentley Dallas with associate publisher Margaret Stafford, where we were handed the keys to a brand-new Bentley Mulsanne sedan — one of just a half-dozen press cars making their U.S. tour. Spoiler alert: Park Place didn't let us keep the car — but in our 17-m...

The honor of celebrating the very first soirée this fall belongs to the Houston Symphony, earning high notes for its intimate, clubby cocktail underwriter party at the art-filled contemporary aerie of Nancy and Erik Littlejohn, she the new Symphony League president. The evening served as the kickoff for this Saturday’s Opening Night Gala, a fete that gets its inspiration from 18th-...

The Grammy-nominated score of Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría soars as high as the aerialists — which is perhaps why it’s the best-selling Cirque du Soleil album to date. The music accompanies gorgeous visuals and dazzling acrobatics in the arena version of this renowned production, which creates the perfect marriage of art, abstraction and skill. Experience the magic for y...

Husband-wife jewelry designing duo Jamie and Jeremy Joseph will be at YLang 23's Galleria Dallas boutique today for a trunk show and personal appearance from 10 am to 4 pm. Matrimonial bliss for these two means a fusion of Jeremy's stellar stone-cutting techniques plus Jamie's craftsmanship skills and exceptional eye for color. The result is a colorful collection brimming with labradorite, tourma...

Rediscover why "life's a banquet" when  Sally Edmundson plays the title role in Stages Repertory Theatre’s fall revival of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s Auntie Mame. Nine multi-talented actors will portray more than 45 roles in Stages’s reinterpretation of the play, which originally starred Rosalind Russell on Broadway and was adapted into the classic film (and l...

How is it possible that I’ve gone all summer long without getting my eyelashes dyed? To remedy that (and avoid having to wear eye makeup, natch), I booked some chair time with Houston makeup artist and skincare consultant Heidi Schulze with Solution for Hair.   Besides being the person who opened up this whole new world of lash dying to me with a safe, vegetable-based dye, s...

When Christine Nagel, master perfumer, was commissioned to create Jo Malone’s newest fragrance, set to debut early this fall, she simply couldn’t get her nose out of a book, namely John Keats classic poem “Ode to Autumn”.   Conjuring the ripe fruits of the season, Nagel brought a studied focus on the humble pear (in this case the very British sounding King Wi...

Already loving what I'm finding out about the return of Gordon Gekko — and, more succinctly, Gekko's new muse, played by Shia LaBeouf. The boy's got style. And a private helicopter. And, clearly, some capital to work with. I'm also hearing names like Gucci, Ducati and Hermes — plus Leonard Logsdail custom suits, Anto shirts and Moscot eyeglasses. Yes, indeed, this movie may call for t...

Set your DVRs: On Wednesday, September 18 — tonight, as I type — Live From Lincoln Center on PBS will broadcast Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific live from the stage in New York City.This isn't the concert version that ran on PBS a few years ago. Nor is it the Glenn Close TV movie. It's the actual stage revival that won all the Tonys. Perhaps you saw the national tour of this ...