Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Two of Dallas' most well-known venues will be in heavy use this weekend, with American Airlines Center hosting three straight nights of big-name concerts and Winspear Opera House somehow cramming five events into four days. There will also be a film festival, classical music, unique ballet, a dance festival, a harbinger of spring, a famous comedian, and more.

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, February 27

Best of Fests Film Festival
Film festivals based in Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas have joined forces to present the second edition of the Best of Fests. The one-of-a-kind event will include 11 feature films and 25 short films that either were popular with their audiences or represent their programming aesthetics. The festival will run through Sunday at Texas Theatre and Alamo Drafthouse Cedars.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Music of Tchaikovsky & Jongen
Inspired by Lord Byron’s “dramatic poem,” Tchaikovsky’s brooding Manfred Symphony portrays the solitary hero searching for peace and redemption. Organ phenom Cameron Carpenter shows off the Lay Family Concert Organ with Jongen’s tour de force Symphonie concertante. The concert, which will be conducted by Kirill Karabits, will be performed three times through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Verdigris Ensemble presents Dust Bowl
As part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, Verdigris Ensemble will present Dust Bowl. Setting texts exclusively from newspaper articles, diaries, and first-hand oral accounts of survivors, Dust Bowl pieces together nearly a decade of human struggle, hopefulness, and perseverance in the face of constant catastrophe. The event will take place three times through Saturday at Hamon Hall inside Winspear Opera House.

Il Volo in concert
Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo, who call their style "popera," have won fans all over the world thanks to their unique style. Their versions of "O Sole Mio" and "Grande amore" reached the top of the classical charts in the United States, and four of their albums have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Classical charts. They'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Friday, February 28

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Jeanne Robertson
At 76 years young, Jeanne Robertson continues to charm audiences with her humorous observations about life around her. This former Miss North Carolina, standing tall at six-foot-two, has a vivacious personality, heart and sense of humor. Robertson, who tours nationally and appears regularly on the Grand Ole Opry, will perform at Winspear Opera House.

Ballets With a Twist presents Cocktail Hour: The Show
Drama, mystery, humor, romance — Cocktail Hour: The Show by Ballets With A Twist has it all. This acclaimed floorshow-to-stage experience reinvents the glamour and excitement of classic entertainment with an original mix of charismatic choreography, intoxicating music, and exquisite costume design. The performance will be at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

TITAS/Dance Unbound Festival
TITAS/Dance Unbound is starting a new tradition, a Festival of Dance celebrating the dancemakers living and working in North Texas. This “preview” is a prelude to a larger festival TITAS will be producing later this year. The event, taking place at Moody Performance Hall on Friday and Saturday, will feature four local dance companies: Texas Ballet Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance, and B. Moore Dance.

Marc Anthony in concert
Marc Anthony has been breaking down the barrier between English language and Spanish language music for almost 30 years. He's only had a couple of bona fide hits — 1999's "I Need to Know" and 2000's "You Sang to Me" — and after an extended break from music-making, he's touring in support of his 2019 album, Opus. He'll perform at American Airlines Center.

Saturday, February 29

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Dallas Blooms: The Sounds of Spring
Dallas Blooms is one of the largest floral festivals in the Southwest, with over 100 varieties of spring-blooming bulbs exploding with color and 500,000 tulips, plus hundreds of thousands of other spring flowers. The six-week celebration also features tasting and cooking classes, live music and entertainment, children’s activities, wine and beer pairings, book signings and speakers, Easter events, and more. It will take place through April 12.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Paula Poundstone
Paula Poundstone is one of the country’s pre-eminent comedians, known for her smart, observational humor and legendary spontaneous wit. She is a popular panelist on NPR’s No. 1 show, the weekly comedy news quiz, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Her weekly podcast for Maximum Fun, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, is a comedy field guide to life. She'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Chris Tucker in concert
Chris Tucker is an international award-winning actor and comedian best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series. He became a favorite on Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Comedy Jam in the 1990s and came to prominence in his first starring role, the 1995 film cult classic Friday starring alongside Ice Cube. He'll perform at The Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Eagles in concert
Eagles, with the lineup of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Deacon Frey, and Vince Gill, will come to Dallas as part of their limited Hotel California tour. Each night’s concert will feature them playing their iconic album Hotel California in its entirety, accompanied by an orchestra and choir. After an intermission, they'll return with an entire additional set of the band’s other greatest hits. They'll perform on both Saturday and Sunday at American Airlines Center. If you can't get in to either one of those concerts, they'll return for one more on March 17.

Sunday, March 1

Lightwire Theater presents The Ugly Duckling
Lined with electroluminescent wire, the beloved story of The Ugly Duckling plays out on stage through a cutting-edge blend of puppetry, technology and dance. With dazzling visuals, poignant choreography and the creative use of music ranging from classical to pop, this production brings this story into a new and brilliant light. The production will be at Winspear Opera House.

Il Volo will perform at Winspear Opera House on February 27.

Photo by Julian Hargreaves

Il Volo will perform at Winspear Opera House on February 27.

movies festivals concerts event-planner theater dance

Ooky and spooky

A Halloween-season list of the most famous ghosts of Dallas

Vecteezy.com

Scary ghost like character on a foggy night.

Dallas may lack the bones and brooding of a classic ghost story — no cliffside mansions, rolling fog, or lonely swamps — but we’ve still managed to attract a few hauntings between the freeways. If you’re in the mood for a local ghost story, here are a few of Dallas’ most classic spooky tales:

The Lady of the Lake, White Rock Lake
Dallas’ take on the vanishing traveler legend is perhaps its best-known ghost story. A young woman in evening wear — sometimes said to have come from “The Store,” better known as Neiman Marcus — is spotted walking near the lake after dark. A couple in a passing car stop to offer her a ride. She gives an address — Oak Cliff in some accounts, Lakewood in others — then vanishes when the good Samaritans arrive, leaving only a puddle of water.

When the motorists knock on the door to explain, an older man or woman — sometimes a couple — reveal that the description of the girl matches their daughter, who drowned in a boating accident. “It happens every year on this night,” they say. “The girl was our daughter, who died in a car accident on her way to a dance.” It’s one reason — along with stunning fall sunsets over the water — that I always feel drawn to the lake this time of year.

Karl Hoblitzelle, Majestic Theatre (1925 Elm St.)
Step into the Majestic Theatre and you’re transported to its glamorous heyday, when the venue hosted stars like Mae West, Jimmy Stewart, and Duke Ellington before converting to a concert and comedy venue in the 1980s. Built in the early 1920s, the Renaissance Revival-style movie palace was the grand dame of Dallas’ now-vanished Theater Row, rich with baroque detailing and romantic flourishes, including an auditorium ceiling of clouds and twinkling stars.

The Majestic was the crown jewel in a chain of theaters owned by vaudeville impresario and philanthropist Karl Hoblitzelle, whose spirit, some say, still keeps watch over his masterpiece. Employees and visitors have reported scenery shifting on its own, an office door unlocking and swinging open, phone lines lighting up without cause, and a sudden chill in the air. Perhaps some incidents can be explained by old wiring and vivid imaginations, but I like to think Karl is still in his happy place, enjoying the never-ending applause.

The Miller Ghosts, City Park (1515 S. Harwood St.)
It doesn’t get more classically haunted than the Civil War-era Millermore Mansion at City Park, where tales of cold spots, an uneasy sense of being watched, and a mysterious woman in a long brown dress have circulated for decades. Some say the Greek revival-styled mansion with the troubled past is haunted by the spirit of a former caretaker; others believe the woman is one of the three wives of cotton planter and slave owner William Brown Miller, the home’s original owner.

Replete with period furnishings, marble-top tables and original fireplaces, Millermore is one of several 19th-century preserved buildings across the 22-acre City Park.

The Jilted Bride, The Adolphus Hotel (1321 Commerce St.)
The disappointed bride of the Adolphus, said to haunt the hotel since the 1930s, is a must-include on any list of Dallas ghosts. Stories recount incidents of disembodied crying and footsteps, elevator doors that open on their own, faint strains of unseen music, and a figure in a white gown drifting about.

Opened in 1912 as Dallas’ first European-style luxury hotel, the Adolphus quickly became the city’s grandest destination — and for a time, its tallest building — hosting presidents, tycoons, and entertainers. The vintage opulence is wonderful: ornate exterior gargoyles, artwork, hardwood floors, the famed French Room, and sweeping views of downtown.

The Spirits of Hermann, The Sons of Hermann Hall (3414 Elm St.)
Home to the Dallas chapter of the German fraternal organization of the same name since 1911, the Sons of Hermann Hall is the city’s oldest bar. The historic venue is an excellent destination for swing dancing, beer drinking, and live music — and, according to Deep Ellum lore, for ghosts. In addition to the usual cold spots and spooky feelings, people have claimed to witness objects move or disappear, doors slam, phantom footsteps echo, and children’s laughter drift through empty rooms.

One legend tells of a woman whose spirit lingers after she fell from a staircase. Another claims that long-departed members of the Sons of Hermann still show up for meetings. My favorite story involves a couple in Victorian dress who walked past a group of people and climbed the stairs toward what was assumed to be a themed wedding rehearsal. When they failed to reappear, someone went to check — only to find the door upstairs locked and no one inside.

Haunted Burgers, Snuffer’s Restaurant & Bar (3310 Greenville Ave.)
The original Snuffer’s building is gone, but the ghosts of the beloved burger joint are believed to carry on. In both its original and current buildings, staff and guests have noticed strange disturbances: echoing voices, flickering lights, objects moving on their own, and children’s laughter late at night. Some believe the eerie activity traces back to a murder that allegedly took place decades ago, when the property was still a neighborhood pool hall; others claim the site was built atop a children’s cemetery.

Whatever the back story, Snuffer’s has embraced its friendly haunted ambiance — which may be why I wasn’t too spooked one New Year’s Eve in college when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder while walking to the powder room, even though I turned to find no one there. Maybe the ghost just wanted to know if I planned to finish my cheese fries.

Rhonda Aghamalian is a North Texas freelance writer and lover of local history and spooky stories.

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Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

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