Weekend Event Planner

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

It will be quite the varied weekend in and around Dallas, with a couple of genuine superstars in concert, a national tour of a Broadway musical, celebrities in town for a horror convention, and more. On the local side will be a chance to enjoy the NFL draft with fellow Cowboys fans, a special block party, new local theater, a mini film festival, and more.

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, April 28

Dallas Cowboys presents Cowboys Draft Party
The Dallas Cowboys' Draft Day Party will give football fans the opportunity to see previous and current Dallas Cowboys players, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and mascot Rowdy, enjoy games and entertainment, and cheer for whoever the Cowboys pick in the NFL Draft. Thursday will feature a variety of activities on the Tostitos Championship Plaza, including coverage of the first round of the draft; Friday will feature a free youth camp and Draft weekend specialty menus at participating restaurants; and Saturday will feature the Draft Day 5K followed by The Star Draft Fest. All events take place in and around Ford Center at the Star in Frisco.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Mozart & Prokofiev"
The latest concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will be "Mozart & Prokofiev," featuring conductor Leonidas Kavakos, violinist Alexander Kerr, and violist Meredith Kufchak. Selections for the concert, which will have three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will include Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364 and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6.

Bon Jovi in concert
Over an illustrious career spanning more than three decades, Bon Jovi has earned their place among global rock royalty. They have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, sold over 130 million albums sold worldwide, and have an extensive catalog of hit anthems. They'll play at American Airlines Center in support of their latest album, 2020's 2020.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
In Summer, three actresses play the role of musical icon Donna Summer at different points in her life — “Diva Donna,” “Disco Donna,” and “Duckling Donna” — while an inexhaustible ensemble of almost entirely women tear up the stage. The musical takes audiences through her tumultuous life and tempestuous loves, and includes a mega-watt dream list of musical hits, including “Bad Girls,” “MacArthur Park,” “She Works Hard for the Money,” and “Last Dance.” The production will play at Winspear Opera House through Sunday.

Friday, April 29

Texas Frightmare Weekend
The annual Texas Frightmare Weekend features celebrity appearances, autograph signings, screenings, exclusive parties, and horror memorabilia vendors from all over the country. Celebrity guests at the event, taking place at Hyatt Regency DFW Airport through Sunday, will include Scream stars Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, and Jamie Kennedy; Robert Englund, Brooke Bundy, and other stars of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3; Carl Weathers; Lance Henriksen; and many more.

Dallas Arts District presents Changing Perspectives Block Party
Dallas Arts District will present the annual Changing Perspectives Block Party: A Cultural Festival, featuring the Brooklyn Jumbies, Afro-Caribbean stilts dancers with Dallas’ Bandan Koro African Drum and Dance Ensemble. Their focal piece, Intervention Ocean Blues, is a work inspired by all forms of life that make the ocean their home. The event, taking place in Sammons Park, will also feature family-friendly activities including bubble sculptures, a photo booth, a community art project, and more.

Dallas International Film Festival presents Spring Preview Weekend
The Dallas International Film Festival will return with a full event in the fall, but they're offering this Spring Preview as a way to feature film premieres, film festival favorites, and upcoming new releases from around the world. Headlining the preview is opening night film Cha Cha Real Smooth, written and directed by Dallas native Cooper Raiff, and starring Dakota Johnson, Raiff, Leslie Mann, and Brad Garrett. Five other films will be screened through Sunday at Alamo Drafthouse Cedars.

Avant Chamber Ballet presents "Legacy of Diaghiley"
To finish their season, Avant Chamber Ballet presents an evening of world premieres and commissions with live music. The program is an homage to Serge Diaghilev and his company, the Ballet Russes, which changed ballet forever with groundbreaking commissions of music, score, and design in the early 1900s. Featuring the premiere of Fernanda Oliveira's Jeux and Katie Puder’s new production of Igor Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, the production will have performances at Sammons Center for the Arts on both Friday and Saturday.

Garland Civic Theatre presents Wait Until Dark
In 1944, Susan Hendrix, a blind Greenwich Village housewife, is imperiled by a trio of men in her own apartment. As the suspense builds, Susan discovers that her blindness just might be the key to her escape, but she and her tormentors must wait until dark to play out this classic thriller's chilling conclusion. Garland Civic Theatre will present the production at Granville Arts Center through May 15.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats in concert
Nathaniel Rateliff was mostly a locally-known musician in Denver until he formed the band The Night Sweats, with which he released a self-titled album in 2015. Two singles off that album, "I Need Not Ever Get Old" and "S.O.B.," garnered them national attention, and they've maintained that popularity through their most recent album, 2021's The Future. They'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory.

Saturday, April 30

Celtic Woman: Postcards from Ireland
Celtic Woman will celebrate 15 years of music-making with this special concert at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie, bringing together their favorite songs from the journey so far, including "Orinoco Flow," "Teir Abhaile Riuf," "You Raise Me Up," and "Danny Boy." The tour, featuring Celtic Woman soloists Mairéad Carlin, Éabha McMahon, Megan Walsh, and Tara McNeill, is in support of their latest album, Postcards from Ireland.

Henry Rollins in concert
Henry Rollins spent a good portion of his life as a musician, either as a solo artist or with bands like Black Flag and Rollins Band. But he hasn't put out any new music since 2002, instead devoting much of his time to spoken word material. At this event at The Kessler, Rollins will faithfully recount the events of his life in the brief pre-COVID period since his last tour and when things got even stranger over the last several months.

Sunday, May 1

Justin Bieber in concert
It's been a long journey getting pop superstar Justin Bieber back to Dallas. The last time the Beebs was in town was 2016, but that's only because he canceled a 2017 date that was at the tail end of a long tour, and had his 2020 date at AT&T Stadium postponed twice due to the COVID pandemic. This date at American Airlines Center is technically a rescheduling of that 2020 concert, although he now has a new album to promote, 2021's Justice.

Bon Jovi will play at American Airlines Center on April 28.

Photo by Norman Jean Roy

Bon Jovi will play at American Airlines Center on April 28.

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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