From Broadway to Texas

Dallas and Fort Worth get kinky with upcoming Broadway seasons

With world-class theater venues at their disposal, it makes sense that Dallas Summer Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth would team up to bring bigger and better shows to the area. Their respective 2014-2015 seasons do just that, while each maintaining their own identities.

The two organizations will each stage the first national tours of four different shows — Kinky Boots, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Dirty Dancing and Pippin — with all but Kinky Boots transferring directly from Music Hall at Fair Park to Bass Performance Hall.

Each group will start its season with a little holiday flair, with Performing Arts FW hosting the Dallas-Fort Worth premiere of Elf the Musical November 18-23, 2014, while DSM's season will kick off with the musical adaptation of everybody's favorite holiday film, A Christmas Story, running December 2-14, 2014.

DSM's late winter show will be Kinky Boots, which will make its way to Fort Worth in October.

Performing Arts FW will put on a couple of productions before DSM gets started again in 2015. Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which played at Winspear Opera House in April, will be a special add-on show, running January 14-18.

They've also nabbed Once, the 2012 Tony winner for Best Musical, running February 18-22, about two months after it plays at the Winspear as part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center 2014-2015 Broadway season.

DSM's late winter show will be Kinky Boots, which won the 2013 Tony for Best Musical. It will play February 24-March 8 in Dallas, travel elsewhere for almost eight months and finally make its way back to Fort Worth October 27-November 1.

DSM's next show, Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, running March 20-April 5, will be unique in that DSM is producing its own version of the show, just as they did with The Little Mermaid earlier in 2014. In so doing, they will be able to take more ownership of the show.

Performing Arts FW will stage a brief production of Chicago on April 3-4 as another non-season show, while DSM will move directly from The King and I to The Illusionists, running April 7-19, a magic show that features seven of the best illusionists the world has to offer.

Summer 2015 will be the season of sharing: Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella comes to DSM June 9-21 before going to Performing Arts FW June 23-28; Dirty Dancing stays in Dallas June 23-July 5 before moving to Fort Worth July 7-12; and Pippin, which won the 2013 Tony for Best Musical Revival, runs July 7-19 at the Music Hall and July 21-26 at the Bass.

Performing Arts FW will also stage two add-on shows in the smaller McDavid Studio at Bass Performance Hall: the return of Dixie's Tupperware Party, running April 8-19, 2015; and Robert Dubac's The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?, May 27-31.

Season tickets for both Dallas Summer Musicals, which run $140-$775, and Performing Arts Fort Worth, which start at $226.60, are now on sale through their respective websites. Individual tickets will go on sale at to-be-determined future dates closer to each show.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast will play at Bass Performance Hall as a special season add-on show in January 2015.

Photo by Amy Boyle

Disney's Beauty and the Beast will play at Bass Performance Hall as a special season add-on show in January 2015.

unspecified

shop local

Cool Deep Ellum shop named one of America’s best indie bookstores

Deep Vellum Books, independent bookstores in Dallas

Deep Vellum Books/Facebook

Dallas' Deep Vellum Bookstore claimed bragging rights as one of the 20 best independent bookstores in America

Dallas' Deep Vellum Bookstore is claiming new bragging rights as one of the 20 best independent bookstores in America, according to a new guide from Condé Nast Traveler.

The list was published in celebration of Independent Bookstore Day on April 25 — but every day can be Indie Bookstore Day when you're supporting your local shop rather than a national chain like Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Indie bookstores and physical media have been having a much needed renaissance in today's digital (and AI slop-filled) era. More than 400 new bookshops opened in 2025 alone, the American Booksellers Association reported, and local bookstores are welcome third spaces for many literature loving individuals.

Deep Vellum won the title as the best indie bookstore in the Lone Star State, outshining several other popular Texas booksellers. Located at 3000 Commerce St. in Dallas' Deep Ellum neighborhood, Condé Nast said the bookshop serves as "one of the country’s premier translators of contemporary global literature."

"As esoteric as its collection may seem, the bookstore itself makes exploration approachable," wrote editorial assistant Kat Chen. "Crack into a can of craft beer, gaze at the wall plastered with polaroids of smiling patrons, and tuck into an engrossing read on one of the tweed armchairs."

Deep Vellum was founded by Will Evans in 2013 as a community-focused literary arts center and nonprofit publishing house for diverse international literature, as well as local Dallas writers. The bookstore soon followed in 2015, and operations have now expanded to five publishing imprints that produce half English-original works and half international literature.

This mighty bookshop and publishing house has long proved its staying power even after its federal funding was axed last year. In early April, the organization revealed it would launch its inaugural Deep Vellum Music and Literature Festival from July 10-12, 2026.

"Through literary readings, author panels, spoken word, live music performances, and community activations this festival will bring voices from across Texas and around the world," a press release said.

Until then, Condé Nast provided some recommended reading for Dallas bibliophiles that want to check out some (new-to-you) literary and psychological fiction: Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila (translated by Roland Glasser) and Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young.

dallas indie bookstore deep ellum bookstores conde nast traveler