Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

If you wanted, you could camp yourself at Winspear Opera House this weekend and see four wholly different types of events, including a concert, dance performance, a unique film screening, and an appearance by a famous scientist. Other options include two local theater productions, four other concerts, and a well-known comedian.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, January 13

Outcry Youth Theatre presents Pippin
Pippin is the story of one young man's journey to be extraordinary. A mysterious performance troupe, led by the Leading Player, tells the story of Pippin, a young prince in search of the secret to true happiness and fulfillment. He seeks it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh, and the intrigues of political power, but nothing seems to satisfy him. After unsuccessfully trying to find happiness in the unextraordinary moments that happen every day, the Leading Player proposes a finale to Pippin's story the likes of which the world has never seen before. The production will run at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre through Sunday.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Ehnes Plays Elgar"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents violinist James Ehnes and conductor Fabio Luisi with the orchestra. Selections for the concert, playing on Thursday and Friday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will include Elgar's Violin Concerto, Adolphus Hailstork's Epitaph for a Man who Dreamed (a solemn orchestral homage to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.), and Schumann's Symphony No. 1, “Spring.” (Note the DSO's new COVID-related entry requirements.)

Rover Dramawerks presents Love Loves a Pornographer
Lord Loveworthy has a problem. His only daughter Emily is soon to be married, and to an Earl. The only way Lord Loveworthy can afford pay for her wedding is to blackmail the next-door neighbor, who happens to be seducing his wife. But how does a Victorian pornographer commit extortion, without inordinate discord, at tea? Love Loves a Pornographer is a clever homage to classic drawing room comedy that would doubtless please past wit masters Wilde and Coward. The production will run at Cox Building Playhouse in Plano through January 22.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Pink Martini featuring China Forbes
Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world, crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop, Thomas Lauderdale founded Pink Martini in 1994 to provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for political fundraisers for causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education and parks. They'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Joshua Radin in concert
Folk rock musician Joshua Radin is the epitome of a music lifer. He earned acclaim in the early 2000s, getting his songs played on TV shows like Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. But he's never truly achieved breakout status, with his biggest success coming on the Billboard Indie or Folk charts. But he remains undaunted, continuing to churn out music like 2021's The Ghost and the Wall, in support of which he'll play at The Kessler.

Friday, January 14

Deon Cole: "Coleology Tour"
Comedian Deon Cole has come a long way from being a staff writer for Conan O'Brien. He's appeared on ABC's Black-ish and its spinoff series, Grown-ish, as well as the TBS comedy Angie Tribeca. He's also hosted the BET game show, Face Value and had a supporting role in the recent Netflix movie, The Harder They Fall. He'll perform a stand-up comedy show at Majestic Theatre.

TITAS/Dance Unbound presents Ballet Hispánico
Ballet Hispánico fuses Latin dance with classical and contemporary techniques, creating a new style of concert dance where theatricality and passion are at the core. The choreographers represent rich Latinx cultures and nationalities, including Venezuela, Cuba, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. They will perform at Winspear Opera House as part of their 50th anniversary tour.

Saturday, January 15

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live comes back to Dallas with an all-new production. Emily Connor and the world’s greatest, and only, movie riffing robots, Tom Servo, Crow, and GPC, will take audiences on an rollercoaster ride through the film Making Contact, imposed by Mad Scientist, Mega-Synthia. The event will be at Winspear Opera House.

Sarah Jaffe in concert
Singer/songwriter Sarah Jaffe has been on the verge of stardom for more a decade. After getting her start in Denton, she's gone on to release four acclaimed albums, including 2017's Bad Baby, and has toured with the likes of Norah Jones, The Polyphonic Spree, and Old 97's. Her latest release was the 2019 EP, SMUT. She'll perform at The Kessler.

Sunday, January 16

AT&T Performing Arts Center Presents Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson is considered to be one of the foremost astrophysicists in the world. He's become well-known not just for his wide breadth of knowledge about the universe, but for his outgoing and charming personality that makes a deep subject fascinating. In this talk at Winspear Opera House, Tyson will talk about the search for life in the universe.

Bell Biv Devoe in concert with Jagged Edge and Tony! Toni! Toné!
For anybody who came of age in the late '80s/early '90s, R&B/New Jack Swing groups like Bell Biv Devoe, Jagged Edge, and Tony! Toni! Toné! still loom large. Each of their runs to the top of the music world was relatively short, but the impact they had remains to this day. They, along with groups like 112 and 702, will play a special concert at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Monday, January 17

MLK Celebration Week: Virtual Parade
The 2022 MLK Celebration Week Virtual Parade will be pre-recorded and broadcast on public access channel 16 (over-the-air), Spectrum 16, or AT&T 99. It will feature a compilation of videos and pictures depicting MLK Day parades of the past. There will also be interviews discussing the 2022 theme: “40 Years Strong: A Look Toward the Future.”

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will appear at Winspear Opera House on January 16.

Courtesy photo

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will appear at Winspear Opera House on January 16.

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Movie Review

Film sequel Avatar: Fire and Ash is a technical and visual feast

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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