Weekend Event Planner

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

The first weekend in March brings a variety of interesting events to the Dallas area. Among your choices are some truly theatrical magic acts, the best of Broadway done in a unique way, a celebration of all things Irish, a collaborative version of a Shakespearean play, a concert from one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, and more.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, March 2

The Rustic presents 2017 Texas Independence Day Bash
The Rustic is throwing a huge bash to celebrate Texas Independence Day, featuring live music from Raised Right Men and Shinyribs. Also on hand are Texas-themed vendors like Tumbleweed TexStyles, which sells Texas T-shirts, and All the Wire, which sells custom Texas-themed jewelry. The event also includes cornhole games and a photo booth with Texas props.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Rachmaninoff & Rachmaninoff
Anyone who loves the compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff will be in heaven at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's latest concert. Two of the composer's classics, Piano Concerto No. 4 and Symphony No. 1, are being featured during the four performances, taking place at Meyerson Symphony Center through Sunday. Pianist Garrick Ohlsson is the featured musician.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The Illusionists
It's no musical, but The Illusionists is a mind-blowing spectacular that showcases the jaw-dropping talents of seven of the most incredible illusionists on earth. The nonstop show, packed with thrilling and sophisticated magic, is presented by Dallas Summer Musicals at the Music Hall at Fair Park through Sunday.

Uptown Players presents Broadway Our Way
Now in its 15th year, Uptown Players’ annual fundraiser, Broadway Our Way, light-heartedly pits the men against the women to determine who the true Divas of the Dallas stage really are. The production, playing at Kalita Humphreys Theater through Sunday, features many favorite actors from past Uptown Players seasons performing selections from Broadway shows both past and present, done with an Uptown Players twist.

Friday, March 3

Southwest Celtic Music Association presents 35th Annual North Texas Irish Festival
The North Texas Irish Festival, one of the largest Irish festivals in the U.S., returns to celebrate 35 years of music and Irish culture. This year’s theme, "Texas Grown — Irish Roots," celebrates the music, dance, and cultural talent in and around the region and incorporates the tradition of Irish and other Celtic influences. The event, taking place at Fair Park through Sunday, also features whiskey tastings, blacksmithing demonstrations, horse displays, Celtic storytelling, animal rescue groups, food, children's activities and entertainment, and chef demonstrations.

Cara Mia Theatre presents Yemaya's Belly
A Cuban boy is born into a humble farming family, but after his first taste of cold Coca-Cola, he dreams of a world beyond his family's meager acre. Naively yearning to meet the "President of America," Yemaya’s Belly follows his epic journey into manhood and materialism, from farm to city, to a raft sailing to the New World. Cara Mia Theatre presents the play, performed in English, at Latino Cultural Center through March 19.

Dallas Theater Center presents The Tempest
Dallas Theater Center and Ignite/Arts Dallas at Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts presents the inaugural production of Public Works Dallas’ The Tempest. The 90-minute musical adaptation of the play features 200 actors and community members, only five being professional actors. There are four performances through Sunday at the Wyly Theatre.

Saturday, March 4

2017 Lantern Fest
The Lantern Fest is an unforgettable spectacle, taking place at Texas Motorplex in Ennis. Before sundown, friends and families can enjoy food, live music, a stage show, familiar princesses, face painters, s'mores, balloon artists, and more. Then, when the time is just right at absolute dark, the sky will be lit up with thousands of lanterns, symbolizing attendees' highest hopes, fondest dreams, and/or memorials of loved ones.

Dita Von Teese: The Art of the Teese
International Queen of Burlesque Dita Von Teese takes audiences on an opulent evening of fantasy and seduction in her new striptease spectacle, Dita Von Teese: The Art of the Teese. The show treats audiences to show-stopping numbers like a brand-new version of her iconic “Martini Glass” routine, which features a beautiful art-deco style cocktail glass, crystallized from top to bottom with over 250,000 Swarovski crystals. She performs twice at the House of Blues Dallas, on Saturday and Sunday.

Green Day in concert with Against Me
It's hard to believe, but Green Day can now be considered a classic band. It's been over 30 years since they first started and over 22 years since their breakout album, Dookie. Their success has also led to them being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. They play at American Airlines Center in support of their 2016 album, Revolution Radio. They'll be joined by opening act Against Me.

Sunday, March 5

The Best of Second City
Chicago’s legendary sketch and improv comedy theater comes back to Dallas with “The Best of the Second City,” a must-see show that features the best sketches and songs from the Second City’s 55-year history. The troupe was made famous by superstars like Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and more, as well as their trademark improvisation. They perform at The Kessler.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The Illusionists at the Music Hall at Fair Park through March 5.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The Illusionists at the Music Hall at Fair Park through March 5.

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Movie Review

Remake of Schwarzenegger classic The Running Man stumbles

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Glen Powell in The Running Man.

For all its cheesy ‘80s greatness, the original version of The Running Man starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was a very loose adaptation of the novel by Stephen King. For the new remake, writer/director Edgar Wright has tried to hue much closer to the story laid out in the book, a decision that has both its positive and negative aspects.

Glen Powell takes over for Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards, a family man/hothead who can’t seem to hold a job in the dystopian America in which he lives. Desperate to take care of his family, he applies to be on one of the many game shows fed to the masses that promise riches in exchange for humiliation or worse. Thanks to his temper, Ben is chosen for the most popular one of all, The Running Man, in which contestants must survive 30 days while hunters, as well as the general population, track them down.

Given a 12-hour head start, Ben earns money for every day he survives, as well as every hunter he eliminates. Since he only has a relatively small amount of money to use as he pleases, Ben must rely on friendly citizens who are willing to put their own lives on the line to help him. That’s a task made even more difficult as the gamemakers, led by Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), use advanced AI to manipulate footage of Ben to make him seem like a guy for which no one should root.

Co-written by Michael Bacall, the film is shockingly uninteresting, working neither as an exciting action film, a fun quippy comedy, or social commentary. The biggest problem is that Wright seems to have no interest in developing any of his characters, starting with Ben. Our introduction to the protagonist is him trying to get his job back, a situation for which there is little context even after we’re beaten over the head with exposition.

The situation in which Ben finds himself should be easy to make sympathetic, but Wright and Bacall speed through scenes that might have emphasized that aspect in favor of ones that make the story less personal. The filmmakers really want to showcase the supposed antagonistic relationship between Ben and Dan (and the system which Dan represents), but all that effort results in little drama.

Ben has a number of close calls, and while those scenes are full of action and violence, almost every one of them feels emotionally inert, as if there was nothing at stake. It doesn’t help that Wright doesn’t set the scene well, making it unclear how far Ben has traveled or who/what he’s up against. There are times when Ben feels surrounded and others when he can walk freely, weird for a society that’s supposed to be under almost complete surveillance.

Powell has been touted as a movie star in the making for several years following his turn in Top Gun: Maverick, but he does little here to make that label stick. With no consistent co-star thanks to the structure of the story, he’s required to carry the film, and he just doesn’t have the juice that a true movie star is supposed to have. Nobody else is served well by the scattershot film, including normally reliable people like Brolin, Colman Domingo, Michael Cera, and Lee Pace.

The Running Man is a big misfire by Wright and a blow to Powell’s star power. On the surface, it has all the hallmarks of an action thriller with a side of social commentary, but nothing it does or says lands in any meaningful way. Schwarzenegger’s one-liners in the original film may have been goofy and over-the-top, but at least they made the movie memorable, which is way more than can be said of the remake.

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The Running Man opens in theaters on November 14.

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