• October 2: More Than Song and Dance: Rock of Ages and Sister Act with Paul Hope


• October 5–17: Rock of Ages


• October 22: Lights Up Gala


• November 2–14: Sister Act

Explore the music eras of our upcoming shows with these custom playlists.

Rock of Ages

Sister Act

Hi and welcome to our first ever issue of The Observatory, TUTS new donor publication, designed with you in mind!

It’s been more than 500 days since we last welcomed an audience to share in the magic of musical theatre with us, and we’ve spent this time apart creating new and exciting ways for you to have a deeper TUTS experience all year ‘round, including this publication. 

Four times a year, The Observatory will be delivered to your inbox, full of behind-the-scenes insights, details of upcoming events and productions, and pictures of you and your friends at TUTS events. To kick off this first issue, we’re thrilled to share: 

• Insider details about the Homecoming Season from associate artistic director Monique Midgette 

• Photos from what we’ve been up to during the pandemic, including our first in-person event and education Summer Camps 

• An introduction to our new annual memberships and donor benefits 

• Profiles of our Lights Up 2021 chairs and honorees 

• And more! 

I hope you enjoy this new benefit, exclusively available to you as a donor to Theatre Under The Stars, and that you’re looking forward to even more TUTS fun in the coming months. We can’t wait to see you soon! 

Your friend under the stars, 

Christine Ann Stevens 
Development Director 

P.S. We’d love to hear your feedback or ideas for upcoming issues – please send them to Emily Manck White, Manager of Donor Stewardship, at emily.white@tuts.com 

Greetings theatre lovers! I am so honored to be included in the inaugural edition of the Observatory! I’m Monique Midgette, TUTS new Associate Artistic Director. Before I dive in to sharing more about our Homecoming season, a little bit about me: 

I first visited Houston in 2012 as a performer in  The Lion King’s national tour and producer-creator of a musical at The Ensemble Theatre. After being blown away by the creativity, generosity, and support of this town, I knew Houston would always hold a special place in my heart.

Nine years later, while navigating theatre during a pandemic, I started chatting with TUTS Artistic Director Dan Knechtges. We agreed arts organizations need to help move our world forward by allowing diverse casts and creative teams to portray the American musical theatre canon in new, exciting, and dynamic ways. We both also believed in great theatre education and its ability to create a world of thoughtful empathetic humans and theatre goers. This summer, it was my humble pleasure to join this award-winning team and continue the great work TUTS is known for.

I look forward to seeing all of you this season and welcome your thoughts and feedback on how to make TUTS more inclusive, more entertaining, and a place you can call home!  

Now, on to the season! 

• Rock of Ages  is set in the 1980s – the Big Hair Band era – and tells the story of a young woman who left her midwestern town to chase fame and fortune on the Sunset Strip (could have been me, except she doesn’t have my jherri curl…) This show brings back crowd-favorite choreographer Jessica Hartman (TUTS Mamma Mia!) as director-choreographer, so you know this show is going to be a party! Grab some Aqua-Net and a Journey t-shirt, and I’ll see you there! 


• Sister Act  brings us to the era of disco! This show is set Philadelphia where we meet Deloris Van Cartier (made famous by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie) – another woman who feels destined for stardom but is instead forced to hide out in a convent after witnessing a crime. Sister Act is a feel-good musical about friendship, believing in yourself, and not judging a book by its cover. You won’t want to miss Simone Gundy (NBC’s “The Voice”; TUTS Memphis 2017, The Wiz 2018,  Elf 2019) as Deloris, directed and choreographed by TUTS own Dan Knechtges. 


• Disney’s The Little Mermaid  is a great show about love, friendship, and family, just in time for the holidays! With the songs and characters you know and love, every performance will be a sing-along with Ariel, Flounder, and Ursula (and between you and me, if you hear anyone singing Poor Unfortunate Souls in the lobby, it might be me…) It’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for kids and adults alike! 


• South Pacific , from Broadway legends Rodgers and Hammerstein, was the Hamilton of the 1950s. This show is chock-full of classic tunes like “Some Enchanted Evening”, “There Is Nothing Like a Dame”, and “Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair”. We’re bringing in the glitz for this Tony- and Pulitzer-prize-winning musical, including a 25-piece live orchestra! 


• Then, join us for the national tours of Come From Away and Jersey Boys this Spring! These Tony-award winning shows are sure to touch your heart while you laugh, cry, and sing.

TUTS: How did you first get involved with TUTS?

Marsha Taylor: Our first date was to see Singin’ in the Rain on stage, so musical theatre has been a big part of our relationship! Before we married, David purchased season tickets to TUTS shows, and we have been attending for over 30 years. David has served on the Board of Directors for 20 years, and I’ve volunteered in many capacities, co-founding the Leading Ladies and serving on the scholarship committee and adjudicator for the Tommy Tune Awards.

Martha Benham: I moved to Houston from a small town in Louisiana to provide my daughter, Jessie opportunities only a big city could offer a child with disabilities. In 2010, I was invited to the TUTS Gala with no idea part of the entertainment was going to be this group of kids with special needs who were performing in wheelchairs with “typical” kids. I sat there dumbfounded, trying to hide my tears. I never dared to dream a child with a disability could perform on a stage in front of a large audience, especially not in the Hobby Center! The rest is history: Jessie was signed up for Saturday classes and eventually made it to the Performance Troupe.

Guy Benham: Having never really be involved with a special needs community, I remember being dumbfounded and amazed at the fantastic performances put on by these kids with intellectual & developmental disabilities from The River when Martha and Jessie introduced me to the group. They were mesmerizing to watch even if only at a small school festival or farmer’s market.

TUTS: How do you enjoy TUTS as a family?

David Taylor: Our two girls have attended shows with us regularly. They’re adults now, but when our girls were young, we purchased walk-on roles to be in Beauty and the Beast, and our younger daughter joined HSMT and was in several mainstage shows, including being cast as “Louisa” in The Sound of Music.

MB: We typically buy season tickets to the Saturday afternoon matinees which allows us family time to enjoy the shows. We love the whole experience and make a real event of it: playing the soundtrack in the days leading up to the show, getting dressed up, going out for a nice meal, watching the excitement on Jessie’s face when she buys a keepsake from the kiosk, and of course trying to eat M&Ms quietly during the performance. (Music & M&Ms are just the best thing ever!)

TUTS: What have been some of your favorite TUTS experiences?

GB: Our favorite family experience has been Public Works Houston – Seussical the Musical at Miller Outdoor Theatre! We went to every show. This production did such a fabulous job of bringing a community together out on a show with kids from HSMT and The River working alongside professional actors and community members. My only gripe was that it took 7 weeks to get those tunes out of my head!

MT: We love the Tommy Tune Awards in how the thrill of competition and support for high school musical theatre programs has encouraged area schools to work toward excelling in musical theatre education. In a community where football seems to be “king,” we have loved seeing schools not only support their sports programs, but also grow to support the arts.

TUTS: You’ve been very generous donors to TUTS and our programming; what motivates you to support TUTS?

DT: We believe that any financial support that we give toward any non-profit or charitable organization must make a direct impact on the lives of people. We see that in the TUTS programs, especially in benefitting the lives of children – children in HSMT find valuable training, children in the Tommy Tune schools find validity and community, and children through The River find an avenue to express their voices freely whether on their own or through the assistance of a buddy.

MB: We look forward to the mainstage shows every year, but what motivates us to be involved with TUTS is their education programming. We have now seen Jessie, that little girl that her mom was told might not ever walk or talk, on-stage in Sarofim as a member of the ensemble in two mainstage productions. Just WOW! We are involved and we are here because we want to ensure that continues into the future for other children with disabilities.

GB: TUTS has really developed to make inclusivity normal – no questions, just the way it should be done. Helping TUTS continue to do that and become a shining light of how inclusivity should be done is something we’ll never stop supporting!

TUTS: We’re so grateful you are leading Lights Up 2021 as our co-chairs; why was it important for you to be involved with this event?