Houston Ballet has just wrapped a very special homecoming: Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, one of the most celebrated story ballets in history, returned to the Wortham Theater Center stage September 24 through October 4, 2026 — its first Houston appearance in more than a decade.
Created during MacMillan’s tenure as Artistic Director of London’s Royal Ballet and set to a sweeping arrangement of music by Jules Massenet, Manon follows the captivating antiheroine Manon and her devoted but impoverished Des Grieux through a world of luxury, temptation and heartbreak — from the gritty streets of Paris all the way to the bayous of Louisiana. Houston audiences first fell for this production in 1994, and it became a defining piece of the company’s repertoire before its last staging in 2015.
“Manon asks dancers to be actors first,” said Artistic Director Julie Kent. “Every gesture has to carry the weight of desire, ambition, and consequence. Bringing it back after all this time feels like reintroducing Houston to one of its great love stories.” The title role is considered one of the most demanding in the international repertoire, taking a ballerina from naive convent girl to scheming Parisian courtesan to a woman undone by desperation — all in a single evening.
Manon is part of Houston Ballet’s 2026–2027 season, which balances ballet’s foundational voices with new commissions and world premieres at the Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Avenue. Founded in 1969, Houston Ballet is one of the nation’s leading ballet companies and reaches more than 85,000 people each year through its education and community programs across the Houston region.
Photo: Houston Ballet
