Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It is an absolutely massive weekend for theater in Dallas, with no fewer than five new productions starting, ranging from national tours to local outdoor plays. If theater is not your bag, there will also be a film festival, a celebration of summer, a concert featuring movie music, a big boxing match, and a concert from a performer whose name has been heard a lot lately.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, June 14

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The Lion King
The stage version of The Lion King is visually stunning, technically astounding, and with a musical score like none you’ve ever heard. Giraffes strut, birds swoop, gazelles leap. The entire savannah comes to life and as the music soars, Pride Rock slowly emerges from the mist. The Tony-winning musical, featuring songs like "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?," plays at the Music Hall at Fair Park through July 8.

AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series: Bright Star
From Dallas native Grammy Award-winning Edie Brickell and Grammy, Emmy, and Academy Award-winning Steve Martin comes the five-time Tony-nominated Broadway musical Bright Star. Inspired by a real event, this original musical tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and ‘40s. The production plays at Winspear Opera House through June 24.

Second Thought Theatre presents Enemies/People
Loosely adapted from Ibsen’s classic political drama An Enemy of the People, and starring STT Artistic Director Alex Organ, Enemies/People is a timely world premiere about the search for truth in the age of alternative facts. Tom, an intrepid urban planner, suspects that a new city-sponsored hot springs project may be more dangerous than the local government is willing to admit. But when Tom speaks out against the project, he is met with resistance from several unexpected sources. The play will run through July 7 at Bryant Hall at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Oak Cliff Film Festival
The 2018 edition of the Oak Cliff Film Festival features opening night film, the Joan Jett documentary Bad Reputation; closing night film, the locally made Never Goin' Back; a screening of the newly restored 1928 silent film classic The Passion of Joan of Arc with live score accompaniment; the Zellner Brothers' Damsel, starring Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson; and a retrospective screening of Dudes with filmmaker Penelope Spheeris in person. Screenings will take place through Sunday at Texas Theatre, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Wild Detectives, Better Block, El Sibil, and Kessler Theater.

Uptown Players presents Broadway Our Way
The Uptown Players divas return for another entertaining weekend of Broadway music with plenty of twists, laughs, and surprises. The evening features many favorite actors from past Uptown Players seasons performing selections from Broadway shows, both past and present, all done with an Uptown Players twist. The show will play at Kalita Humphreys Theater through Sunday.

Shakespeare Dallas presents Taming of the Shrew
Following the opening of The Comedy of Errors last week, Shakespeare Dallas will start their second Shakespeare in the Park production, Taming of the Shrew. Set in Padua, the play centers around the merchant Baptista and his two daughters. Suitors pursue the younger, prettier daughter, Bianca, who cannot be married before her strong-willed sister, Katherina. Once Kate is married off, her husband devises a plan to “out-shrew” her and turn her into an obedient wife. The play will run in rep with The Comedy of Errors through July 13.

Friday, June 15

Dallas Arts District Summer Block Party
The Dallas Arts District Summer Block Party closes down Flora and Harwood Streets, showcasing the area's three museums. The Crow Collection will have a variety of deals, Nasher Sculpture Center will have a concert by This Will Destroy You and a screening of Love, Simon, and the Dallas Museum of Art will celebrate arts and culture in the Dallas-Fort Worth LGBTQ community.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Hollywood at the Symphony
Summer is the time for blockbuster movies, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to those types of films with this special pops concert. Audiences can expect to hear many of their favorite movie scores as the orchestra is directed by conductor Jeff Tyzik. The concert will be put on three times through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

The Comedy Get Down featuring Cedric ‘The Entertainer’, Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley, and George Lopez
There will definitely be plenty of laughs when the Comedy Get Down comes to Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, as it will feature performances by Cedric 'The Entertainer,' Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley, and George Lopez. But it will also be bittersweet, as they'll be without former tour member Charlie Murphy, who passed away in April.

Saturday, June 16

IBF Welterweight Championship: Errol Spence Jr. vs Carlos Ocampo
The sport of boxing is years past its heyday, but it's not often the Dallas area gets to host a championship fight, so it can still be a big event. This fight at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco will feature undefeated welterweight champion, Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr., defending his IBF world title against unbeaten challenger, Carlos Ocampo. It will be the first boxing event inside Ford Center and Spence’s first hometown fight as world champion.

Sunday, June 17

Yanni in concert
New Age composer and pianist Yanni got a bit of a boost back in May when the whole "Laurel vs. Yanny" debate swept the Internet, allowing him to poke fun at the auditory trick. This concert at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his bestselling 1994 album, Live at the Acropolis, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 charts.

The Lion King will play at the Music Hall at Fair Park through July 8.

Photo by Joan Marcus

The Lion King will play at the Music Hall at Fair Park through July 8.

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Movie Review

Jodie Foster brings depth and wit to French thriller A Private Life

Photo by Georges Lechaptois

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Jodie Foster has been a member of the Hollywood community for almost 60 years, first as a child actor on TV, and then branching out into movies. She earned an Oscar nomination at the tender age of 14 for her role in Taxi Driver, and she’s gone on to be nominated five times, winning twice. Now, at age 63, she’s showing she’s still capable of surprises by fluently speaking another language in the French film, A Private Life.

Foster plays Lilian Steiner, a psychiatrist who sees patients out of her Parisian apartment. When she learns of the death of one of her patients, Paula (Virginie Efira), she’s sad but otherwise unaffected until a few suspicious things start happening. This includes the robbery of her apartment, in which a recording of Paula’s last session with Lilian goes missing.

With the help of her ex-husband, Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), Lilian becomes an amateur private detective, tracking the movements of Paula’s husband, Simon (Mathieu Amalric), whom she increasingly suspects of murder. At the same time, Lilian must navigate a tense relationship with her son, Julien (Vincent Lacoste), along with an unexpected rekindling of romance with Gabriel.

Written and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, and co-written by Anne Berest, it is a psychological thriller that at times feels like an Inspector Clouseau movie. With little to go on but her own perhaps misguided suspicions, Lilian digs herself deeper into a situation of her own making. And she further clouds her mind by indulging in a tryst with Gabriel, who’s all too eager to help Lilian pursue her criminal theories. While the film is not a comedy, there are elements of humor that pop in to keep the story light.

Zlotowski plays with the competing tones of the story well, keeping viewers on Lilian’s side even as she indulges in things that might not be the healthiest for her. Lilian’s various eccentricities - an adherence to recording on old-fashioned mini discs instead of fully digital, keeping an emotional distance from her son and grandson - make her a fascinating character whose vacillating motivations keep viewers guessing as to what she’ll do next.

In a lot of ways, the film is a study of how Lilian needs to try to find ways to heal herself. The possibility of Paula being murdered wakes Lilian up to the idea that she has not been as attentive a doctor as she should be. The sessions with different patients that Zlotowski shows give the impression that there’s a general level of dissatisfaction with her, with one patient outright breaking up with her.

Foster is no less compelling speaking mostly in French than she is in English language movies. Her fluency is never in doubt, and she fits in seamlessly with the actual French actors in the film. Auteuil is a fun counterpart for Foster, showing an unexpected chemistry with her that keeps their scenes crackling with energy. Amalric, a Wes Anderson favorite, has a relatively small role but still stands out when he gets a chance.

A Private Life is not the type of thriller that American audiences might be used to, but its slow, methodical storytelling and subtle humor make it an interesting watch from beginning to end. The film is not up for any awards, but Foster’s performance shows she remains a top-tier actor.

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A Private Life is now playing in select theaters.

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