Weekend Event Planner

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

There are a lot of interesting events to take in this weekend in and around Dallas. There are no fewer than five new theater productions, including a national tour of a Broadway favorite. There will also be a film festival of Asian movies, an art film from Solange Knowles, an Apollo 11 celebration, an appearance from a big comedian, and two big-name concerts.

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

Thursday, July 18

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Hello Dolly!
The bold and enchanting Dolly Gallagher Levi, played by inimitable Betty Buckley, is a widow, matchmaker, and professional meddler. When she decides the next match she needs to make is for herself, she weaves a web of romantic complications for her newest client, the cantankerous “half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder, his two clerks, a pretty hat maker, and her assistant. Hello Dolly!, playing at the Music Hall in Fair Park through July 28, features Broadway classics like “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment,” “Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” and the title number.

Asian Film Festival of Dallas
The Asian Film Festival of Dallas celebrates its 18th year with its largest amount of documentaries, comedies, and women-directed and produced films. Fifty-four films will screen throughout the week, including six short blocks (Drama, Experimental, Women’s, Students’, Late Night, and Documentary) and 32 feature films. The festival will take place through July 25 at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

Nasher Sculpture Center presents Solange Knowles: When I Get Home
Visual artist and singer/songwriter Solange Knowles presents an extended director’s cut of her interdisciplinary performance-art film When I Get Home, featuring new scenes and musical arrangements. The film is an exploration of origin and spiritual expedition that confronts how much of ourselves we have taken or left behind in our evolutions, and how much of that is determined by fear. The free screening is at Nasher Sculpture Center.

Cry Havoc Theater Company and Kitchen Dog Theater presents Crossing the Line
Based on interviews conducted in Dallas, via Skype, and at the border, Crossing the Line is an original documentary-style performance focusing on the immigration debate and the situation at the border. The co-production from Cry Havoc Theater Company and Kitchen Dog Theater will play at Trinity River Arts Center through August 4.

WaterTower Theatre presents Godspell
WaterTower Theatre in Addison will present a special, limited-engagement run of Stephen Schwartz’s beloved musical Godspell. Inspired by parables taken from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Godspell offers a fun, modern take on classic stories mixed with a vibrant score of pop, folk, and gospel music that brings these iconic stories to life for audiences of all ages. The production will run through July 28.

The Firehouse Theatre presents Mamma Mia!
In Mamma Mia!, ABBA's hits tell the hilarious story of a young woman's search for her birth father. The sunny and funny tale unfolds on a Greek island paradise where, on the eve of her wedding, a daughter's quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother's past back to the island they last visited 20 years ago. The musical will play at The Firehouse Theatre in Farmers Branch through August 11.

Friday, July 19

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas presents Boeing, Boeing
In Boeing, Boeing, it’s the 1960s, and swinging bachelor Bernard couldn’t be happier. He has a fantastic flat in Paris and three gorgeous stewardesses all engaged to him. Of course, the ladies know nothing of each other ... yet. Bernard’s perfect life gets bumpy when his pal Robert drops in for a visit and a new and speedier Boeing jet throws off all of his careful planning. The farcical play will run at Irving Arts Center through August 3.

Saturday, July 20

Frontiers of Flight Museum presents Moon Day
The Frontiers of Flight Museum will present Moon Day, the largest annual space-themed exposition in Texas. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 on the day it happened, the event will feature a full day of family-friendly, entertaining programs and activities and more than three dozen exhibitors. The first 200 students will receive a special lunar sample bag.

Hyena's presents Andrew Dice Clay
Andrew Dice Clay is proud to be one of America's most controversial and outrageous comics. Over the last few years, Clay’s career has experienced a resurgence, with roles in movies like Blue Jasmine and A Star is Born, and recurring roles on Entourage and Vinyl. He'll perform stand-up comedy at Hyena's Comedy Club in Plano on Saturday and Dallas on Sunday.

Chris Young in concert with Chris Janson and Jimmie Allen
Country singer Chris Young has been a star since his 2009 album, The Man I Want to Be, and 2011 album, Neon, yielded five No. 1 hits in a row, including "Gettin' You Home," "Voices," and "You." He hasn't hit No. 1 again since, but he's always been near the top of the charts. His new album, Raised on Country, will come out soon, but fans can enjoy all of his old songs in this concert at Dos Equis Pavilion.

Sunday, July 21

Korn and Alice in Chains in concert
Hard rock legends Korn and Alice in Chains will be in Dallas to co-headline their North America Summer Tour. Korn's most recent album was 2016's The Serenity of Suffering, while Alice In Chains released Rainier Fog in 2018. They will be joined at Dos Equis Pavilion by opening acts Underoath, Ho99o9, and FEVER 333.

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas presents Boeing Boeing at Irving Arts Center through August 3.

Photo by Mike Morgan

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas presents Boeing Boeing at Irving Arts Center through August 3.

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Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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