Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

For the third time in four weeks, many people will enjoy a long weekend thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday. Since Americans are encouraged to make that day "off" a day of service, take time to enjoy activities like new plays, a dinosaur exhibit, a performance of Chinese music and dance, and a visit from one of the biggest pop stars on the planet during the rest of the weekend.

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, January 11

Second Thought Theatre presents Hillary and Clinton
Hillary and Clinton is “a work of total fiction” about a woman named Hillary, a man named Bill, and the distance between who we are and who we’re meant to be. The woman who would be president finds herself questioning, for the first time, whether her dream will ever become her reality. Second Thought Theatre will present the play through February 3.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2
The latest concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will feature pianist Behzod Abduraimov and organist Bradley Hunter Welch under the direction of Christian Mācelaru. Selections for the concert, performed through Saturday at the Meyerson Symphony Center, will include Barber’s “Toccata Festiva” and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and "Symphonic Dances."

Theatre Three presents I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
For the 18th and final time, Theatre Three will present I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, which details the joys of falling in and out of love. Eighteen years ago, Theatre Three birthed this baby of a play, and now it’s all grown up and ready to move out of the house. Expect some surprises and special events as the theater says goodbye to this annual favorite, which will run through March 4.

Friday, January 12

Jurassic Quest
Jurassic Quest features over 80 ultra-realistic, life-size animatronic dinosaurs. Visitors can interact with these huge creatures, learn about them, and even ride a few. The exhibit also includes lots of fun activities for kids of all ages, including fossil digs, a “Dino Bounce” area, face painting, dino crafts, and more. The exhibit will be open at Fair Park on weekends, including MLK Day, through January 21.

Epic Waters Grand Opening
Friday is the first day the general public will be able to get into Epic Waters in Grand Prairie, billed as a “cruise ship on land.” It features three “first-in- the-industry” water slides, a climate controlled-interior, 600-foot lazy river, children’s area, 10,000-square-foot outdoor wave pool, surfing simulator, 45-game arcade, and more. The water park will open at 5 pm on Friday.

Chippendales 2018: About Last Night Tour
The Chippendales Touring Show is a worldwide whirlwind of sexy goodness featuring a variety of male dancers. Dallas is one of four Texas stops the tour is making this weekend, and each will feature not just the regular lineup of dancers, but also a special guest, model/actor Tyson Beckford. The bumping and grinding will take place at House of Blues Dallas.

Saturday, January 13

Music Hall at Fair Park presents Shen Yun
At Shen Yun, guests can visit a lost civilization. To make this journey possible, the group has pushed the boundaries of performing arts. They combine ancient legends with technological innovations, and historically authentic costumes with breathtaking animated backdrops. They let classical Chinese dance do the storytelling, and share beautifully diverse ethnic and folk traditions. They'll perform at the Music Hall at Fair Park through January 21.

Sunday, January 14

Katy Perry in concert with Carly Rae Jepsen
Between 2008 and 2013, Katy Perry was unassailable at the top of the pop charts, churning out hit after hit like "I Kissed a Girl," "Teenage Dream," "Firework," and "Dark Horse." While she hasn't exactly fallen on hard times, given that her latest album, 2017's Witness, went to No. 1, her lack of recent hits might be one reason she'll be headlining the upcoming reboot of American Idol. She'll attempt to show she's still got it with this concert at American Airlines Center. She'll be joined by Carly Rae Jepsen of "Call Me Maybe" fame.

Béla Fleck in concert with Brooklyn Ryder
The 15-time Grammy Award winner Béla Fleck has been nominated in more categories than any other artist in Grammy history, and remains a powerfully creative force globally in bluegrass, jazz, classical pop, rock, and world beat. He'll be joined by Brooklyn Ryder, which offers an eclectic repertoire of classical, world, and rock music. The concert will take place at Majestic Theatre.

Second Thought Theatre presents Hillary and Clinton through February 3.

Photo by Evan Michael Woods

Second Thought Theatre presents Hillary and Clinton through February 3.

event-planner

Movie Review

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere sees rock star at his lowest

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.

Music biopics are notoriously tricky to pull off because the stories of well-known musicians/bands tend to follow similar trajectories. Some — like the Amy Winehouse film Back to Black — have followed the discovery-to-star arc. Others, like the Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown, have kept the focus tighter to try to reveal something richer about a particular artist.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere takes the latter track, meeting up with Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) when he’s already an established star, finishing up his tour for his 1980 album, The River. Exhausted, he retreats to his New Jersey home, where he soon starts writing songs for what will become his next album, Nebraska, featuring stripped-down tunes that are a far cry from previous hits like “Born to Run” and “Hungry Heart.”

Working with producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) and guitar tech/friend Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser), Springsteen records songs in his bedroom with equipment that is purposefully not state-of-the-art. In his spare time, he also starts dating single mother Faye Romano (Odessa Young) while trying to fight off feelings of depression that affect how he views his music, his family, and the world around him.

Written and directed by Scott Cooper, and based on the book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes, the film comes off as kind of like the Nebraska of music biopics in that it has a variety of effective moments but also others that are head-scratching. As documented by Zanes and in the film, Springsteen wrote the songs for Nebraska and many of those for his most iconic album, Born in the U.S.A., at the same time, and the process of seeing them come to life is interesting if slightly mundane.

However, Cooper’s focus appears to be more on Springsteen’s mental state at the time, which often overshadows the music. Cooper brings in flashback scenes detailing Springsteen’s abusive father (Stephen Graham), which play well except when it comes to connecting his memories with how he’s currently acting. Too often it seems as if Springsteen is merely a stereotypical temperamental artist experiencing mood swings instead of something more complex.

It’s also unclear why Cooper created the fictional character of Faye, as her relationship with Springsteen never adds anything to his personal or musical story. The better relationship depicted in the film is the one Springsteen has with Landau, who serves as a guiding force and protector. In fact, a deeper dive into why Springsteen trusted him so much and why Landau was so devoted to him might have been warranted.

White doesn’t particularly resemble Springsteen in any way, but he still turns in a good performance, especially when he’s emulating his singing style. Strong once again shows his commitment to inhabiting a particular role, although he’s required to be much more subtle than in projects like Succession or The Apprentice. Graham, so good in the Netflix series Adolescence, also does well here in limited scenes.

Bruce Springsteen is an iconic musician whose impact on music history is obvious, but it’s difficult to connect with this particular story about his life. Much like Nebraska itself, Deliver Me from Nowhere is a less-than-crowd-pleasing film that will likely only appeal to hardcore Springsteen fans.

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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere opens in theaters on October 24.

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