Weekend Event Planner

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

Theatre Arlington presents Sister Act, March 25-April 16.

Photo by Eric Younkin

This weekend in and around Dallas is heavy on the arts, including three local theater productions, a classical music concert, a dance production, and two opera events. Other choices include a live event from a beloved sitcom, two well-known comedians, a film and music festival, a unique expo, and the closing of a traveling art exhibition.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, March 24

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents All-Mozart Concert
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to one of the greatest composers of all time with this All-Mozart Concert, featuring conductor Bernard Labadie and pianist Benedetto Lupo. Selections for the concerts, which will have three performances through Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will include Mozart's Chaconne from Idomeneo, Piano Concerto No. 23, and Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter.”

Letterkenny Live!
The makers of the sitcom Letterkenny are living the dream for a show that started on YouTube. Star/creator Jared Keeso and his team have taken it from those small roots in 2013 to a show that's now had 10 seasons and is distributed by Hulu. This show at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie will be a 90-minute comedy experience will feature nine of the cast members along with never-before-seen sketches and more.

Thin Line Film and Music Fest
Thin Line Fest is a blend of documentary film and multi-genre music that has been Texas' international documentary film festival since 2007 and one of Dallas-Fort Worth's largest music festivals since 2014. Taking place at Movie Tavern Denton and various Denton music venues through Sunday, the festival will feature over 50 documentaries and performances by over 50 bands.

Friday, March 25

Theatre Arlington present Sister Act
Sister Act is the feel-good musical comedy smash based on the hit 1992 film. When disco diva Deloris Van Cartier witnesses a murder, she is put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won’t be a found: a convent. Disguised as a nun, she finds herself at odds with both the rigid lifestyle and uptight Mother Superior. Using her unique disco moves and singing talent to inspire the choir, Deloris breathes new life into the church and community but, in doing so, blows her cover. Soon, the gang is giving chase, only to find them up against Deloris and the power of her newly found sisterhood. The production, featuring original music by Alan Menken, will run at Theatre Arlington through April 16.

John Mulaney: "From Scratch"
Comedian John Mulaney has, shall we say, a unique sense of humor, as anybody who has seen one of his hosting jobs on Saturday Night Live can attest. A former writer for SNL, Mulaney has had his own eponymous sitcom on Fox and starred on Broadway in Oh, Hello with Nick Kroll. He'll bring that same energy to his From Scratch tour, which will be at American Airlines Center.

Richardson Theatre Centre presents Present Laughter
At the center of his own universe sits matinee idol Garry Essendine: suave, hedonistic, and too old, says his wife, to be having numerous affairs. His line in harmless, infatuated debutantes is largely tolerated but playing closer to home is not. Just before he escapes on tour to Africa, the full extent of his misdemeanors is discovered. And all hell breaks loose. Noel Coward's Present Laughter will run at Richardson Theatre Centre through April 10.

Dallas Theater Center presents The Sound of Music
A country under attack. A family paralyzed by loss. And a woman who is afraid to love. Dallas Theater Center boldly reexamines The Sound of Music, one of the most exhilarating musical theater classics ever written. The inspirational story follows a young postulate who is dispatched to serve as governess for the seven children of an imperious naval captain, bringing joy and music to the household. But as the forces of Nazism take hold of Austria, Maria and the entire von Trapp family must make a moral decision. The production will run at Wyly Theatre through April 24.

Saturday, March 26

The Oddities and Curiosities Expo
The Oddities and Curiosities Expo, featuring over 150 local and national vendors, is a "one part horror convention, one part dark arts" expo show will feature vendors and small businesses showcasing taxidermy, preserved animal specimens, original horror and Halloween-inspired artwork, antiques, handcrafted oddities, quack medical devices, creepy clothing, odd jewelry, skulls, bones, and funeral collectibles. The event takes place at Centennial Hall at Fair Park.

Hyena's presents T.J. Miller
T.J. Miller is driven by the altruistic mission statement that life is fundamentally tragic and the best thing he can do is provide an ephemeral escapism from that tragedy which permeates everyday life by doing comedy. Miller, best known for starring in Silicon Valley, the Deadpool series, and the How to Train Your Dragon series, will perform three times through Sunday at Hyena's Dallas.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents "Dancing Beyond Borders - North"
The dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre will travel north to Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson for this special event. DBDT: Encore! dancers appear to levitate across the stage as they perform Opaque, a mysterious and majestic work choreographed by Nycole Ray. In Nineteenth, another Ray showpiece, the dancers portray a historic tug-of-war for power.

American Baroque Opera Co. presents Acis & Galatea
Acis & Galatea received its premiere in 1718 in the gardens at Cannons as a one-act pastorale, or semi-opera, with a cast of only five singers. It was later revived by Handel in 1732 for the Italian troupe in London, and again in 1739 with changes to the original version, creating the two-act English version known today. The story is drawn from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and tells the story of the shepherd Acis, and his love, the nymph Galatea. The production will have two performances — one Saturday and one Sunday — at Wyly Theatre.

The Dallas Opera presents Javier Camarena
Internationally acclaimed Mexican tenor Javier Camarena will make a rare one-night-only appearance in Dallas in a special event for The Dallas Opera. The Mexican-born tenor superstar is just one of three singers in the last 70 years at the Metropolitan Opera to be called upon by audiences to give an encore of his aria during the opera. The program at Winspear Opera House will include beloved Neapolitan and Latin songs, and famous arias by composers including Verdi and Donizetti.

Sunday, March 27

"Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel - The Exhibition" closing day
Sunday will be the final day to view "Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel - The Exhibition" at Irving Mall. This unique immersive event re-creates one of the world’s greatest artistic achievements, Michelangelo’s renowned ceiling frescoes from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, reproduced photographically and artfully displayed in their original size. Visitors are given a chance to engage with the artwork in ways that were never before possible: seeing every detail, every brushstroke, and every color of the artist’s 34 frescoes.

Theatre Arlington presents Sister Act, March 25-April 16.

Photo by Eric Younkin

Theatre Arlington presents Sister Act, March 25-April 16.

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Movie Review

New film The Plague turns tween bullying into chilling drama

Photo courtesy of IFC

Everett Blunck in The Plague.

Anybody who’s attended elementary school in the last 100 years knows the concept of “cooties,” a fictional affliction that is typically caught when touched by a member of the opposite sex. A more updated version of the same idea is featured in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, this time called the “Cheese Touch,” making anyone who touches a moldy piece of cheese on the school’s basketball court an outcast.

A much more menacing version of this “disease” is on display in The Plague, which takes place at a summer water polo camp for tweens. The film focuses on Ben (Everett Blunck), a slightly awkward boy who struggles to fit in with the “cool” crowd led by Jake (Kayo Martin). That group has no problems making fun of others that they deem to be different, especially Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), who has been ostracized because of a rash he has that the kids call “the plague.”

Ben wants to be part of the main group, but his natural empathy leads him to reach out to Eli on more than one occasion despite Eli engaging in some uncomfortable behavior. With the camp’s coach (Joel Edgerton) not much help when it comes to the bullying tactics by Jake and others, especially those that take place at night, Ben is left to fend for himself. His vacillations between wanting to be accepted and wanting to do what’s right continue until his hand is forced.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Charlie Polinger, the film has all the feel of a horror movie without actually being a horror. The staging used by Polinger gives the film a claustrophobic feel as Ben can’t seem to escape the psychological torture inflicted by Jake and others no matter where he goes. He also employs a jarring score by Johan Lenox to great effect, one that’s designed to keep viewers on edge even when nothing bad is happening.

No matter how far removed you are from middle school, the film will likely bring up feelings you thought you had left behind. Much like with Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, Polinger finds a way to tap into something universal in his depiction of tweens, an age when everyone is still discovering who they really are. Some go along to get along, others don’t even attempt to fit in, but no one truly feels settled.

Whether the plague is real or not in the world of the film is up for debate. While most of the time it comes off as something made up to underscore the feeling of otherness felt by Ben, Polinger does literalize it to a degree. He even tiptoes up to the line of body horror before wisely retreating, although what he does show will still make some viewers squeamish. However, because he seems to be leaning one way before pulling back, there’s the possibility that some will be disappointed by the tease of something more intense.

The film’s biggest success is in its casting. Finding good child actors is notoriously tough, and yet Polinger and casting director Rebecca Dealy found a bunch who sell the story for all it’s worth. Blunck, Martin, and Rasmussen get the most play, but everyone else complements them well. Edgerton is the only well-known actor in the film, but he’s used sparingly and isn’t asked to do much, leaving the kids to carry the story on their shoulders.

Fitting in as a tween is hard enough without others actively trying to find ways to cast someone out. The Plague is an effective demonstration of the dynamics that can play out in a competitive environment that also includes a group that has yet to develop into fully-rounded people. It features discomfort on multiple levels, marking an auspicious debut for Polinger.

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The Plague is now playing in theaters.

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