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.

John Mulaney will bring his From Scratch tour to American Airlines Center on March 25.

Courtesy photo

John Mulaney will bring his From Scratch tour to American Airlines Center on March 25.

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Animal News

Latest animal to die at Dallas Zoo is young male gorilla named Zola

Dallas Zoo

Zola RIP

Another animal at the Dallas Zoo has died an untimely death: Zola, a young Western lowland gorilla, died on Wednesday, November 5, at age 23.

The zoo does not know why Zola died. According to their post, he showed symptoms of lethargy, reduced appetite, and signs of discomfort at the end of October. A necropsy will be performed.

"Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to begin breathing on his own afterward, despite the extraordinary efforts of our veterinary and animal care teams," their post says. "With his comfort as our priority, we made the difficult decision to let him go peacefully."

The zoo did not announce Zola's death immediately, instead waiting two days until Friday afternoon at 3 pm. Politicians and government agencies prefer to choose Friday afternoons to post news that is negative or controversial, since fewer people, and definitely fewer journalists, are online on Friday afternoons. It's called the "Friday news dump."

The death is very inconvenient for the Dallas Zoo since they were just about to ship off their male gorillas, which also include Juba, B'Wenzi, and Zola's half-brother Shana, to the San Antonio Zoo. Animals are very dear to the zoo — until it's time to ship them off to another zoo.

For now, the relocation of the other three male gorillas is "temporarily on hold" but the zoo says they will be moved "when the time is right," and that is all you need to know about that.

The zoo has already said that they'll be shipping in other gorillas to replace them — although we do not know which gorillas and from where. The Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the overseeing body for zoos, only divulges that kind of intel on a "need to know" basis. Right now, you and I do not need to know. If we did know which gorillas were coming and where they were coming from, we might ask questions that would force the zoo to explain what it's up to.

Zola was born at the Bronx Zoo in 2002 and became internet famous as the "breakdancing gorilla" for splashing in pools and puddles. Some animal experts attributed his actions to frustration at being locked inside a zoo. He was relocated to the Calgary Zoo in 2009 when he was only 7 years old — zoos always play up what great bonds and family ties their animals have, until it's time to ship them somewhere else, and then suddenly the bonds and family ties don't matter.

Unfortunately, Zola did not "integrate well" at the Calgary Zoo, so he got shipped off to the Dallas Zoo in 2013.

At least now he won't have to be relocated again.

Death count
Zola's death is one more in a long-running series of deaths at the Dallas Zoo in recent years, the most previous being Jata, a 7-year-old painted dog who died in June 2024. Jata also showed signs of lethargy and decreased appetite, reportedly due to kidney disease.

Whenever a death occurs, they always wax on about their "extraordinary" veterinary and animal care teams — and yet, so many of these deaths were either unexplained or completely caught their teams by surprise.

Zola the Western lowland gorilla is the latest to join this death march of animals at the Dallas Zoo:

Jata, one of the zoo's three African painted dogs, died in June 2024, at seven years old.
Ferrell, a 15-year-old giraffe, died in December, 2023, following "an unexpected fall in the barn" that injured the giraffe's jaw so badly, they were forced to euthanize him.
Ajabu, a 6-year-old African elephant who died on May 8, 2023, from the herpes virus.
Pin, a 35-year-old lappet-faced vulture, died on January 22, 2023, cause unknown.
Jesse, a 14-year-old giraffe, died on October 29, 2021, cause unknown.
Auggie, a 19-year-old giraffe, died in late October 2021 of liver failure.
Marekani, a 3-month-old baby giraffe, sustained a mysterious injury and was euthanized on October 3, 2021.
Kirk, a 31-year-old chimpanzee, died in August 2021 due to "surprise" heart disease.
Keeya, a 6-year-old Hartmann's mountain zebra, died in March 2021 due to a mysterious unexplained head injury.
Subira, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla, died suddenly in March 2020, due to a cough, or maybe cardiovascular disease. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hope, a 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla, died suddenly in November 2019 after being at the zoo for only two years.
Ola, an 8-year-old female African painted dog, was killed in July 2019 by two other painted dogs, less than a month after she was transferred to the zoo.
Witten, a 1-year-old giraffe, died in June 2019 during a physical exam under anesthesia when he suddenly stopped breathing.
Adhama, a baby hippopotamus, mysteriously died in 2018.
Kipenzi, a baby giraffe, died in 2015 after running in her enclosure.
Kamau, a young cheetah, died of pneumonia in 2014.
Johari, a female lion, was killed in front of zoo spectators in 2013 by male lions with whom she shared an enclosure.

And in February 2021, they lost a crow called Onyx who was part of their "animal ambassador team," "participating in a training session" for a bird show. He was never found.

animals