Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It's another music-heavy weekend in Dallas, as seven out of the 10 events we're featuring having some kind of musical element. They include a cabaret festival, a day full of rock, the return of a long-lost star, a much-maligned band, a throwback to the '90s, and one of musical theater's biggest stars. What don't they include? Justin Bieber, who suddenly canceled his July 29 concert at AT&T Stadium.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Monday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, July 27

Denise Lee Onstage presents Dallas Cabaret Festival: Life Is a Cabaret
The Second Annual Dallas Cabaret Festival takes place over the course of three days at the Women's Building at Fair Park. The festival leads off on Thursday with a performance by Cynthia Scott, who is debuting her new show, All About Love. She'll be followed on Friday by Tarnecia Durham and Simone Gundy, and finally by a review show on Saturday featuring Samuel James, Denise Lee, Kevin Haliburton, Willie Welch, Calvin Roberts, and Stephanie Brehm.

Friday, July 28

2017 Vans Warped Tour
Rock fans are in full day of fun at Starplex Pavilion when the Vans Warped Tour comes to town. The tour includes performances from Sick Of It All, CKY, GWAR, The Adolescents, T.S.O.L, Hatebreed, Emmure, The Ataris, Andy Black, American Authors, Beartooth, Dance Gavin Dance, Jule Vera, I Prevail, Neck Deep, New Years Day, Memphis May Fire, War On Women, and more.

IMomSoHard — Mom's Night Out: Summer Break Tour
IMomSoHard is a popular web series on Facebook where two best friends talk the good, the bad, and the funny about motherhood. Now the two will leave the playroom and take the stage at Majestic Theatre for IMomSoHard LIVE with a performance that reflects the casual conversations about motherhood that have entertained so many.

Michelle Branch in concert
Michelle Branch had two big albums in the early 2000s with hits like "Everywhere," "All You Wanted," and "Are You Happy Now?" In the ensuing 14 years, her output has slowed to a crawl, both by choice and through record label issues. But she's finally released her fourth album, Hopeless Romantic, which she's playing in support of at The Kessler.

WaterTower Theatre presents Hit the Wall
Hit the Wall is a riveting story that brings the audience back to the very flashpoint of the infamous 1969 riot that erupted at Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn, considered the first major battle of the modern gay-rights movement. A group of unlikely revolutionaries are thrust onto the frontline of history when a routine police raid on a gay bar becomes a full-scale riot that ignited one of the most influential social and political movements of the 20th century. WaterTower Theatre presents the play through August 20.

Saturday, July 29

Nickelback in concert with Daughtry and Shaman's Harvest
The term "Nickelback" has somehow become synonymous with "overrated," since the group's breakout in 2001. And yet each of the band's seven albums, including 2017's Feed the Machine, have reached the top 6 on the Billboard charts, so it's obvious they still have plenty of fans out there. They'll show why at this concert at Starplex Pavilion, which includes opening sets by Daughtry and Shaman's Harvest.

Reunion Tower presents Reunion Lawn Party
After the initial Reunion Lawn Party was canceled due to rain in June, July's event will serve as the kickoff for the 2017 series. The event features a performance by Special Edition Band; lawn games; food trucks such as Ruthie’s Rolling Café, Parrot Icce, Butcher’s Son, and What’s Da Scoop; a beer garden hosted by The Nodding Donkey; and a takeover by the Dallas Stars.

I Love the '90s Tour featuring TLC, Naughty by Nature, Mark McGrath, and more
Anyone who grew up or came of age in the 1990s will want to be at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie on Saturday when it hosts The I Love the '90s — The Party Continues Tour. The festival-style concert will feature performances by TLC, Naughty By Nature, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, Tone Loc, C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams, and SNAP.

Sunday, July 30

Big3: 3-on-3 Basketball League
Three-on-three basketball seems like it might be the next big thing, as it's been accepted into the Olympics and is currently touring the country as part of the new Big3 league created in part by Ice Cube. There will be four games at American Airlines Center featuring former NBA players both on and off the court, including Chauncey Billups, Brian Scalabrine, Allen Iverson, Corey Maggette, Mike Bibby, Jermaine O'Neal, and Rashard Lewis.

Idina Menzel in concert
From Rent to Wicked to Frozen, Idina Menzel has been part of some of the most iconic musical moments over the last 20 years. At this concert at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, Menzel will lead audiences through a special journey of songs from her new album, idina., as well as other classic pop hits, musical theater favorites. and her own personal catalogue.

Idina Menzel performs at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie on July 30.

Photo by Natasha Desai

Idina Menzel performs at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie on July 30.

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Movie Review

Wicked: For Good loses cinematic magic in rushed second-act sequel

Photo by Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked: For Good.

Splitting the film adaptation of the musical Wicked into two parts makes a certain kind of sense beyond the financial incentive of making fans pay for two films. Like most stage musicals, there’s a definitive break between the two acts, and it’s hard to resist going out on the high note of “Defying Gravity” for the first film. And expanding the story for the films puts the entire story at around 5 hours, much too long for one sitting.

However, separating them puts a spotlight on the strengths and weaknesses of each act of the musical, and it's a popular opinion that the second act is inferior to the first act. In the awkwardly-named Wicked: For Good, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is firmly ensconced as the Wicked Witch of the West, striking fear in people across Oz. Meanwhile, Glinda (Ariana Grande) has ascended as the protector of the land’s citizens, even as she hides the fact that she doesn’t possess the powers that Elphaba does.

The story speeds through a number of different arcs, including Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), becoming governor of Munchkinland; Glinda essentially forcing Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) to commit to marrying her; even more bad revelations involving the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh); and more. Hanging over all of it is the tenuous bond between Elphaba and Glinda, which is tested on multiple occasions.

Director John M. Chu, working from a script by original musical writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, leads the way on the faithful adaptation that is perhaps a bit too faithful. Chu helmed the memorable adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights that brought more life to an already lively production. He accomplished similar results in Wicked part one, but For Good often feels less than cinematic, with many scenes coming off as static and too much like a stage production.

The second film contains a lot of story movement, including the vague or explicit introduction of the four main characters from The Wizard of Oz, providing plenty of opportunity for creative staging or deeper storytelling. Instead, things just sort of happen, with Holzman and Fox failing to see the necessity of connecting story dots in a movie setting. With lots of extra time to work with (the run time is 2 hours and 17 minutes), giving more information about significant events shouldn’t have been an issue, and yet the filmmakers rarely give the audience that luxury.

The songs, as they should be, are the showcase of the film, and yet none of the sequences measure up to the ones in the first film. The rushed storylines make it difficult to connect with emotionally-resonant songs like “As Long As You’re Mine” and “No Good Deed.” “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble,” new songs created for the film for Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, are decent but lack power. “For Good” is the one everyone is waiting for, but it too fails to land properly.

Erivo and Grande certainly give it their all, and when they’re allowed to dig deep into their characters, they make as much of an impact as they did in the first film. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as often, and their characters’ bond suffers. Most of the other actors are done no favors by the whirlwind storytelling, but Goldblum still stands out in his various scenes.

Creating a whole film for the second act of Wicked gave Chu and his team a perfect chance to slow things down and give the events it contains extra meaning. Unfortunately, they turned For Good into something that feels less like an expansive movie and more like a slightly more interesting version of the stage production.

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Wicked: For Good opens in theaters on November 21.

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