Weekend Event Planner

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

There is no one big event to unite people in and around Dallas this weekend. Instead, you have a variety of interesting choices, including two theatrical productions, a pair of unique comedians, classical music on a small and large scale, great dancers, a Chinese New Year celebration, a Groundhog Day celebration, and both the opening and closing of various art exhibitions.

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 30

The Firehouse Theatre presents The Drowsy Chaperone
With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life and The Drowsy Chaperone begins as the man in the chair looks on. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theater producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan, and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. The Firehouse Theatre in Farmers Branch will present the production through February 23.

Theatre Three presents Imagine Broadway
Four of Dallas' top vocal talents — Marisa Diotalevi, Blake Hackler, Quintin Jones, and Cherish Robinson — will perform a concert showcasing Broadway's best musicals, including some familiar favorites from Theatre Three's history. The foursome will sing everything from classic show tunes to contemporary hits, with plenty of creative twists and turns along the way. All proceeds from the concert, playing three times through Saturday, will benefit Theatre Three’s programming.

Tim and Eric: 2020 Mandatory Attendance World Tour
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim — aka Tim and Eric — are a comedy duo best known for their Adult Swim show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show. Their brand of surreal and absurd comedy is an acquired taste, but it has won them many fans over the years. The Tim and Eric Mandatory Attendance Tour, coming to Majestic Theatre, will be filled with more spoofs, goofs, and insanity, including some very special surprises.

Friday, January 31

Eisemann Center presents Piano Battle: Andreas Kern vs. Paul Cibis
The brainchild of internationally accomplished pianists Andreas Kern and Paul Cibis, the Piano Battle sees the duo go head-to-head on stage, entertaining the audience with a variety of classical pieces. The two artists, with distinctly different performance styles, take turns to perform pieces by composers such as Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy, or improvise based on the tunes the audience requests. The performance will be at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Salome
The scandalous subject of Salome put Richard Strauss’ opera-writing career on a fast, if not notorious, track. It’s about the depraved teen who, in exchange for a dance with seven veils, gets what she asks for, the head of John the Baptist, on a silver platter, then pays for it. In the hair-raising final scene, a crazed Salome sings some of the most spine tingling music you’ll ever hear. There will be two performances — one Friday and one Sunday — at Meyerson Symphony Center.

TITAS/Dance Unbound: Delfos Danza Contemporánea
Delfos Danza Contemporánea is Mexico’s premiere contemporary dance company, ranking among the best in Latin America. Cuando los Disfraces se Cuelgan (When the Disguises are Hung Up) is an evening-length reflection on appearances and the disguises we put on in order to navigate a world. This one-night-only performance will be at Winspear Opera House.

Saturday, February 1

Crow Museum of Asian Art presents Chinese New Year Festival (This event has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns)
Celebrating the Year of the Rat, the Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas will present the 21st annual Chinese New Year Festival. The signature event will feature dragon and lion dances, musical and martial-arts demos, art making and calligraphy, specialty booths, wellness activities, colorful entertainment, and cultural performances. The event will be at NorthPark Center.

Dallas Museum of Art presents "My|gration" opening day
"My|gration" is an installation of works that will trace the migration of people, objects, and ideas in art across times and cultures. Composed of works from the DMA’s collection, "My|gration" highlights the contributions of artists who immigrated to the United States, examines how the movement of people is expressed through art, and illuminates ways cross-cultural connections inform artistic production. The exhibition will be on display through January 3, 2021.

DMA Arts & Letters Live: Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts comes to the Dallas Museum of Art for an evening of O. Henry Prize-winning stories. A selection of award-winning stories — Midrash on Happiness by Grace Paley, Nayla by Youmna Chlala, A Permanent Member of the Family by Russell Banks, and Oh Shenandoah by Maura Stanton — will be brought to life on stage through readings by acclaimed actors, including two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Wendie Malick.

Sunday, February 2

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Arboretum Annie
Pennsylvania may have Punxsutawney Phil, but Dallas has Arboretum Annie, the groundhog meteorologist that will return to predict the weather based on if she sees her shadow or not at the Dallas Arboretum's sunrise ceremony. Guests can enjoy a full day of fun, starting with complimentary coffee or hot chocolate, breakfast food vendor sales in the garden, and a screening of Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.

Art exhibit closings
Both Nasher Sculpture Center and the Dallas Museum of Art will close exhibitions on Sunday. Sightings: Anne Le Troter at the Nasher isa a sound piece based on Le Troter's research on fertility tourism and the history of sperm banks in the U.S., where the lack of governmental regulation has resulted in the rise of so-called “designer babies." Concentrations 62: Wanda Koop - "Dreamline" is the first U.S. solo museum exhibition for Koop, an established Canadian painter whose practice depicts how modern urban society intersects with the natural environment.

The Firehouse Theatre will present The Drowsy Chaperone through February 23.

Photo courtesy of The Firehouse Theatre

The Firehouse Theatre will present The Drowsy Chaperone through February 23.

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Movie Review

Lust eclipses romance in new adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights'

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights.

Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights is one of those classic books assigned in high school English classes, and it has received a number of film adaptations over the years, each of which differ in numerous ways from the source material. Purists won’t receive any reprieve from Emerald Fennell’s 2026 adaptation, with a title that is stylized as "Wuthering Heights” for good reason.

Cathy (played as an adult by Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) have known each other their entire lives, with Cathy’s alcoholic and inveterate gambler father (Martin Clunes) taking in Heathcliff on a whim when he was a boy. The two bond as they grow up together, although Cathy always seems to have an eye on moving up in society from their relatively impoverished lifestyle.

Cathy finally gets her wish when the rich Linton familyled by Edgar (Shazad Latif), moves in down the road, Despite discovering she has feelings for the now grown-up Heathcliff, Cathy sees Edgar as her way out and agrees to marry him. A scorned Heathcliff flees, returning years later as mysteriously wealthy. His reappearance ignites something in Cathy’s soul, and the two engage in a perhaps unwise affair.

Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn) infuses the dusty material with an energy that’s not typically present in stories set in this particular time and place. Aside from the occasional Charli XCX song (the singer created a whole concept album for the film), the film looks and feels like a period piece, albeit one that doesn’t get bogged down in the drudgery that can sometimes come from films set in the distant past.

Much of that has to do with the lust the filmmaker puts into the story. Even if you’re not familiar with Brontë’s book, you can rest assured that Fennell has strayed far from the text, giving Cathy and Heathcliff thoughts and actions unthinkable in the 19th century. Fennell plays with expectations by opening the film with audio featuring creaking noises and a man grunting, conjuring up a situation far different than what is actually happening, and she also makes liberal use of rain, sweat, and tears to make the actors enticing.

What she can’t do, however, is make the two lead characters compelling. Cathy is a striver who never seems to know what she wants out of life, and Heathcliff goes from a bore to a brute over the course of the film, with no clear indication that he likes anybody, much less Cathy. Anyone expecting some kind of grand romance will be disappointed as Fennell is much more interested in making the film weird, like having the walls of Cathy’s room look like her skin, complete with freckles.

Robbie and Elordi do well enough with the material, and it’s clear that both of them are committed to bringing Fennell’s vision to life. Their styles tend to balance each other out, and if the story had been committed to their characters’ relationship, they might be lauded for their chemistry. In the end, though, the supporting actors feel more interesting, including ones played by Hong Chau, Alison Miller, and Clunes.

This version of Wuthering Heights should never be construed as an alternative to reading the book for any high schoolers out there. While Fennell makes the film interesting with her technical filmmaking choices, the story never finds its footing as it fails to sell the one thing that it seems to promise.

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Wuthering Heights opens in theaters on February 13.

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