Weekend Event Planner

Kinky Boots and Meghan Trainor headline best weekend events in Dallas

It's all about that bass ... and theater and ideas this week in Dallas-Fort Worth, as an up-and-coming pop superstar, a Tony Award-winning musical and a festival for big thinkers come to town. Add in a music legend, a celebration of what will soon be spring and one seriously funny man, and you have what should be a great weekend.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, February 26

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Kinky Boots
The great thing about theater is that you never know what will resonate most with critics and audiences. That a musical about a shoe factory owner and a drag queen teaming up to making thigh-high stiletto boots could win the Tony Award for Best Musical and draw in huge crowds is proof of just that. The production, with music from Cyndi Lauper, is presented by Dallas Summer Musicals at Music Hall at Fair Park through March 8.

Diana Ross in concert
The name of Diana Ross brings up thoughts of greatness even if she hasn't put out any new music since 2006. That's because Ross, who performs at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, became a legend long ago thanks to her time with The Supremes and solo songs like "Touch Me in the Morning" and "Endless Love." She treats fans to songs from throughout her 55-year career.

Second Thought Theatre presents Bull
While Dallas Theater Center takes over Kalita Humphreys Center for a spell, Second Thought Theatre gets the run of Wyly Theatre as it presents Bull as part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project. The savagely funny play that probes the dark sides of office politics runs through March 14.

Friday, February 27

Meghan Trainor in concert with Sheppard
Love it or hate it, but Meghan Trainor and her hit song "All About That Bass" have been unavoidable over the past year. But with the release of her debut album, Title, in January 2015, music lovers finally got the chance to see that Trainor was much more than just a one-hit wonder. Enjoy this concert at the Granada Theater, as she's sure to be playing bigger venues soon.

For the City: The Dallas Festival of Ideas
There are many people dedicated to making Dallas a world-class city for decades to come, and this new event is full of such people. Speakers from here and around the country discuss what Dallas looks like as a physical city, cultural city, innovative city, political city and an educated city. The introductory event on Friday takes place at Dallas City Performance Hall, while the main event on Saturday is at Winspear Opera House.

Saturday, February 28

Dallas Arboretum presents Dallas Blooms: Deep in the Hearts of Texans
With an ice storm virtually shutting down Dallas-Fort Worth earlier this week, celebrating the forthcoming arrival of spring may not seem like the best timing. But it's never a bad time to check out the glorious gardens at the Dallas Arboretum, and with more than half a million bulbs blooming over the course of this 44-day event, you're guaranteed to see one of the best floral displays anywhere.

George Lopez in concert
Comedian George Lopez has had an enviable career, even if not all of his projects have been long-lasting. His biggest success came with the mid-2000s George Lopez show, but he's maintained a high profile thanks to a string of supporting roles and a solid work ethic as a stand-up comic. He demonstrates the latter when he appears at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Sunday, March 1

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus Live!
The struggle between men and women to understand each other has raged since the beginning of time, a fact that was exploited by the early '90s book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. More than 20 years later, the impact of the book is still being felt thank to a forthcoming movie adaptation and this one-man show that blends theater and stand-up. The show starts Friday at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson and ends with two performances on Sunday.

2015 South Asian Film Festival: Rough Book
The first-ever South Asian Film Festival, running Friday through Sunday at Angelika Film Center Plano, exposes filmgoers to a variety of issues facing those who live in one of most populated areas on Earth. This closing-night film takes a hard look at the education system in India, which faces a host of issues despite being acknowledged as one of the finest in the world.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Kinky Boots at the Fair Park Music Hall through March 8.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Kinky Boots at the Fair Park Music Hall through March 8.

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Movie Review

Spanish film La Bola Negra showcases unique slice of gay history

Photo by Carla Oset/Netflix

Miguel Bernardeau and Guitarricadelafuente in La Bola Negra.

For a long time — too long — gay characters in movies tended to appear as either side characters with no real stories or as tragic figures who were usually unable to express their true selves for fear of what the world at large would think. That has changed in recent years, but the remnants of the past can still haunt, as the new film La Bola Negra demonstrates.

The film takes shape in storylines involving three different men: Carlos (Milo Quifes), a young man in Granada, Spain in 1932 who wants to join an exclusive casino (aka social club); Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente), who unwillingly joins the military during the Spanish Civil War in 1937, only to have desires aroused in him when he’s asked to guard an enemy detainee; and Alberto (Carlos González), an out gay man in 2017 whose inheritance from his recently-deceased grandfather opens up a world he knew nothing about.

The film goes back and forth between each man, detailing how they handle their individual situations and the complications that arise in their individual lives. Along the way their stories are deepened through people they meet who either welcome them with open arms or shun them for various reasons. While tragedy bonds their stories, so too does hope, resistance, and love.

Co-director/co-writers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, along with co-writer Alberto Conejero, have expanded Conejero’s play, La Piedra Oscura, which was inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s unfinished play, La Bola Negra. Lorca, who was killed during the Spanish Civil War, had only finished four pages of the work, his first to feature an openly gay protagonist. It’s clear there’s a desire by the filmmakers to honor the legacy of Lorca as both a playwright and a gay man, and the seriousness of their pursuit is evident throughout the film’s 160 minutes.

Calvo and Ambrossi do little handholding to guide viewers through the three distinct stories, an approach that mostly works but occasionally leads to confusion, especially as more characters are added to the equation. None of the stories are overly complicated, but they take their time with each, making the long film feel even longer. Only Alberto’s story contains any kind of development that might be considered surprising, making it tough to fully engage with the other two.

Where the film does come alive is when it brings in two well-known actors for brief-but-fascinating stints. Penélope Cruz plays Nené Romero, a singer who entertains the troops and further expands Sebastián’s mind. Glenn Close pops up as Isabelle Durand, a scholar of Lorca who helps Alberto with a unique discovery he makes in his inheritance. Both actors bring up the level of the film significantly through their performances.

Quifes, Guitarricadelafuente (the stage name of Spanish singer Álvaro Lafuente Calvo, no relation to Javier), and González all put in good work in their roles, even if none are overly engaging. They are often overshadowed by supporting actors like Cruz and Close, as well as Miguel Bernardeau as Rafael Rodríguez Rapún, the captured soldier; Julio Torres as Alberto’s partner, and Alberto Cortés as Lorca, who brings a symmetry to the film as a whole.

La Bola Negra — which means “the black ball,” represented both literally and figuratively in the film — is an ambitious film that becomes a slight victim of its filmmakers’ aspirations. Although each of the three stories contain interesting elements, a strong emotional connection is lacking overall despite good-to-great performances.

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La Bola Negra is now playing in select theaters; it debuts on Netflix on December 2.

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