Arts & Culture in La Porte

The Comedy Shrine draws out unstifled snorts with standup sets and performances from a house company of improvisers culled from laugh institutions such as Second City, iO, and ComedySportz. Inspired by the hit TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Whose Line? puts together an ensemble of professional improvisers for a night of word games and spontaneously created scenarios and characters. Whose Line? The Naughty Show spices up the proceedings with raunchy profanity, spicy innuendo, and adults-only humor. Billed as an interactive drinking game, the ad-libbed proceedings of The Bar Show govern quaffs more effectively than paying a friend to throw pinches of salt into your mouth. The Raw Talent Showcase gives up-and-comers a chance in the spotlight, impressing audiences with fresh material.

At the dine-in movie theater Star Cinema Grill, concession stands are obsolete. By pressing a button, customers signal a server and are able to order restaurant-style without disrupting their viewing experience or screaming at an usher for a lobster bib. From angus sliders to ice-cream floats, Star Cinema Grill's menu appeases all ages with its gourmet-pub cuisine served amidst the glow of screenings and first-run film releases.

Today’s Groupon offers an upgrade from your biography audio books. For $20, you’ll experience legendary lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s candid confessions at The Society for the Performing Arts on Sunday, October 25, a $42 value. New York Times columnist and former chief drama critic Frank Rich will prompt the esteemed composer to reflect on his career, collaborations, and creative process during the 7:30 p.m. performance at Jones Hall. Gypsies: “Boy, I was pretty sure I was going to get sued for this one. To make the lawyers happy, I added a scene where giant robots fight each other and changed that song to ‘Everything’s Coming Up Robots’.” A Different West Side Story: “You can’t copyright a part of town! The story is basically the same as the regular West Side Story, but some of the characters in mine are giant robots who have forbidden love.” Sweeney Ted: “I didn’t change much in this case because the original seems to also be about robots. A huge hit!”

Stages Repertory Theatre stages innovative performances of new plays and classic works in an intimate setting. Revel in the riotous hilarity of Auntie Mame, as the 12-actor cast weaves in and out of more than 45 characters (runs September 15–October 10). Or delight in a modern take on a literature classic with Panto Pinocchio, which shares the hilarious story of a robot boy looking for love (runs November 23, 2010–January 9, 2011). Consult the full season schedule to find a show of interest, and let Stages Repertory Theatre light you up with the luster of live theater. Free parking is available for ticket holders.

For $25, today's side deal scores you a ticket to see the Masquerade Theatre's production of Camelot at Zilkha Hall in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts (an up to $56 value). Seating will be in the orchestra section.

Ibsen's Ghosts, a blistering commentary on 19th-century morality and hypocrisy, centers on a woman's efforts to keep her philandering husband's wealth out of the syphilitic hands of her son (who is in love with a maid who bears more than a passing resemblance to his father) by sinking it into an orphanage. The play’s shocking subject matter was hailed by Victorian-era fuddy-duddies as "revoltingly suggestive and blasphemous," praising its "gross, almost putrid indecorum." For a less scathing and more insouciant send-up of the same time period, George Bernard Shaw's Candida centers on an enchanting clergyman's wife as she finds herself torn between her upstanding but dull husband and the persistent advances of their romantic young houseguest. Shakespeare's beloved comedy As You Like It follows the meanderings of Rosalind and Orlando as they fall in love against a mystical woodland backdrop of cross-dressers and courtly intrigue—speaking such immortal lines as "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" and "NOOOO!" along the way.