Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do when Dallas thaws this weekend

While many events in and around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, organizations have pivoted to virtual or socially distanced events to continue offering the masses some entertainment while we need it the most.

The weather's expected to warm up this weekend. So, below are the best ways to spend your free time. While not every event is out of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, February 18

Kitchen Dog Theater presents CRAFT: Art of the Hooch & Pooch(UPDATE: This event has been pushed back one week to February 25.)
In celebration of their 30th Anniversary, Kitchen Dog Theater will be looking back at a few of the world premiere plays they’ve produced over the years written by Artistic Company Members, starting with Pompeii!! with creators Cameron Cobb, Michael Federico, and Max Hartman. Virtual episodes will begin with a mixologist walking viewers through the creation of an original craft cocktail, followed by a deep dive conversation into the craft behind the creation with artists from the productions. There will be other episodes monthly through June.

Dance @ the J presents The Power of Dance
The Dance @ the J Virtual Series will let viewers experience The Power of Dance with four different companies, each with their own unique style. The first of four intermittent sessions, taking place through March 25, will feature Israeli-born Igal Perry, founder and artistic director of Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, with moderator Jeff Friedman, an associate professor in the Department of Dance at Rutgers University. Viewers can gain insight into the life of the artistic director concerning their vision, process, and how they continued to create during the pandemic. They can also view pieces from their repertory followed by a Q&A.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Mozart & Strauss"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present an evening of Mozart and Strauss, from the gracefully ornate Violin Concerto to Strauss’ complex storytelling in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Suite. Maestro Fabio Luisi shines the spotlight on DSO Concertmaster Alexander Kerr for Mozart’s G Major violin concerto, a work filled with operatic Viennese passages designed to showcase the soloist’s virtuosic technique. There will be four performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Friday, February 19

Gaylord Texan presents The Jason Bishop Show
Fresh off his second Off-Broadway run in New York City and featured act on CW’s Masters of Illusion, Jason Bishop comes to the Gaylord Texan to perform state-of-the-art magic and illusions. Each show features amazing sleight of hand, exclusive grand illusions, and close-up magic projected onto huge screens. There will be eight more performances through February 28.

Second Thought Theatre presents Second Thought Emerging Playwrights
Second Thought Theatre's inaugural new playwriting series, which lets audiences experience a behind-the-scenes look in creating a play from the ground up, comes to an end with a performance of a portion of the final play at STT’s annual gala fundraiser, Second Thought State of Mind. This third event is a celebration of the artists’ hard work to bring something to life during the STEP experience.

Gaylord Texan presents Four Day Weekend
While they've been unable to perform in their regular theaters, the award-winning Four Day Weekend comedy improv troupe will perform a limited series of their interactive shows at the Gaylord Texan. The show, which is recommended for adults 18 and up, will have two more performances on Friday and Saturday.

Saturday, February 20

Dallas Arboretum presents Dallas Blooms: “America the Beautiful”
The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden's Dallas Blooms, the largest annual floral festival in the Southwest, will open as scheduled on Saturday, but due to the cold weather, the floral component will be delayed until February 27. With the theme “America the Beautiful,” the spring festival showcases an explosion of color from 100 varieties of spring bulbs and more than 500,000 spring-blooming blossoms, thousands of azaleas and hundreds of Japanese cherry trees. Each week, Dallas Blooms will focus on one of the six regions in the United States with food, music, flowers and activities. The festival, going on through April 11, includes special events, live music on the weekends, and children’s activities. Tickets for the first week, February 20-26, will be just $5.

State Farm College Baseball Showdown
For the first time, college baseball is coming to Globe Life Field in Arlington. The 2021 State Farm College Baseball Showdown will feature games between six Big 12 and SEC teams — the University of Texas, Texas Tech University, Texas Christian University, University of Arkansas, University of Mississippi, and Mississippi State University. Originally slated to take place Friday through Sunday, the tournament will now go Saturday through Monday, with each team playing three games over three days. All games will also be streamed live by FloSports, the exclusive broadcast partner for the tournament.

Dallas Theater Center presents Something Grim(m)
Dallas Theater Center gets back to creativity with this spin on Grimm’s fairy tales, taking place around the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre. Guests will take a self-guided outdoor tour through various locations. Patrons will start their storybook journey in the Lexus Silver parking garage. From there, the story is told in several segments, each step along the path revealing a new part of the story. The production, taking place on various dates through March 6, will include comic strips, pop-up story books, as well as pre-recorded video and audio elements.

Las Colinas Symphony Celebrates Beethoven
Guest conductor Juan Carlos Lomónaco will lead guest violinist Madeline Adkins in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor. The concert will also feature Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Schumann's Overture, Scherzo and Finale, and Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. Viewers can choose to go in person at Irving Arts Center or watch the performance online.

Magician Jason Bishop will perform at Gaylord Texan in Grapevine on various dates through February 28.

Photo by Matt Bishop

Magician Jason Bishop will perform at Gaylord Texan in Grapevine on various dates through February 28.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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