Weekend Event Planner

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

If you're a fan of artist Vincent van Gogh, this is your weekend as there will be not one but two separate events featuring his artwork in Dallas. There will also be the return of Broadway to the area, a trio of big concerts, two local theater productions, a great comedian, a celebration of a local hero, and the closing of a notable art exhibition.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, August 5

Galleria Dallas and Dallas Museum of Art present "Van Gogh and the Olive Groves" preview
Galleria Dallas will partner with the Dallas Museum of Art to offer a “sneak peek” of "Van Gogh and the Olive Groves," which opens at the DMA on October 17. The preview offers families a glimpse into the artistic and educational exploration through select reproductions of Van Gogh’s works from the olive groves series; the originals will be presented in the museum’s exhibition. The display will provide links to online resources allowing people to further explore the exhibition. The preview will be located on Level I on the gallery wall across from Apple through August 31.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Wicked
Broadway makes its return to Dallas with Wicked, which looks at what happened in the Land of Oz … but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin — smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships … until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.” The musical will play at the Music Hall at Fair Park through September 5.

Blackberry Smoke in concert with The Allman Betts Band, The Wild Feathers, and Jaimoe
Blackberry Smoke will come to Irving as part of their "Spirit Of The South Tour: A Celebration of Southern Rock and Roll." They'll be joined by special guests The Allman Betts Band, The Wild Feathers and founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, Jaimoe. The show at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory will conclude with a unique collaborative finale, which will feature Blackberry Smoke, The Allman Betts Band, The Wild Feathers, Jaimoe, and additional surprise guests showcasing the inspirations of Rock, Blues, Gospel, and Soul music.

Improv Addison presents Maz Jobrani
Comedian Maz Jobrani is a founding member of The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, which first aired on Comedy Central. He has had three Showtime specials: Brown and Friendly, I Come In Peace, and I’m Not a Terrorist but I’ve Played One on TV. He is also a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. He'll perform five times through Saturday at Improv Addison.

Junior Players presents 12th Night: A Rock Musical
In collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas, Junior Players presents 12th Night: A Rock Musical. Illyria is the new Coachella when The Bard becomes the new sensation as his text is mixed into original infectious rock/pop style melodies in a new production out of California of this classic gender-bending comedy. The madness for love unfolds after a shipwrecked Viola falls onto the Illyrian Shores. The production will play at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre through Sunday.

Pegasus Theatre presents Death on Delivery!
In Death on Delivery!, the setting is City Hospital where Lt. Foster’s wife has just given birth to their first child, Harriet. But danger lurks around every corner. The intrepid trio must solve a mysterious string of murders before a madman claims one of their own. The production by Pegasus Theatre uses RadioVizion, which focuses on evoking the experience and glamour of being in a live radio studio of the 1930s and 1940s. It will run through August 21 at Bath House Cultural Center.

Friday, August 6

Cypress Hill in concert
Hip hop group Cypress Hill has been around for 30 years, releasing nine albums, but they're still best known for their 1993 No. 1 hit "Insane in the Brain" off their triple platinum album Black Sunday. They recently released a new single, "Champion Sound," their first new music since their 2018 album, Elephants On Acid. They'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit in concert (UPDATE: This concert has been canceled. Isbell is still scheduled to perform in Fort Worth on August 13.)
Country singer Jason Isbell is an old-school musician in that he's taken the long road to success. He's been paying his dues for the past 20 years, slowly but surely building a fan base. That hard work has paid off, as his last three albums have each landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts, as well as the top 10 of the Billboard 200. He and his band, The 400 Unit, will play at The Factory in Deep Ellum.

Saturday, August 7

Immersive Van Gogh
Immersive Van Gogh is a digital art experience that invites audiences to enter the works of van Gogh, evoking his highly emotional and chaotic inner consciousness through art, light, music, movement, and imagination. The exhibition merges state-of-the-art technology, theatrical storytelling, and world-class animation, transporting guests inside the artist's most famous paintings. It will take place at Lighthouse Dallas through October 31.

The City of Grapevine presents Wally Funk Community Celebration Parade
The City of Grapevine will honor resident and hometown hero, Wally Funk, for her history-making experience aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital space tourism rocket. The event will feature a parade along Historic Main Street, immediately followed by a presentation by aviation leaders, peers, Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate, and Grapevine City Council. The parade will then head south on Main Street from Wall Street toward Dallas Road, and will culminate on Peace Plaza at Grapevine Main Station, with remarks by dignitaries and Funk.

Sunday, August 8

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Concentrations 63: Julian Charrière - Towards No Earthly Pole" closing day
Sunday will be the final day to view "Concentrations 63" at the Dallas Museum of Art. Berlin-based French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière creates work that bridges the realms of environmental science and cultural history. This focused exhibition — Charrière’s first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. — provides immersive encounters with the artist’s melancholic and beautiful portraits of nature in the human era, culminating with his most recent video project, Towards No Earthly Pole.

Blackberry Smoke will play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on August 5.

Photo by Joe Lopez

Blackberry Smoke will play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on August 5.

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Movie Review

Lust eclipses romance in new adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights'

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights.

Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights is one of those classic books assigned in high school English classes, and it has received a number of film adaptations over the years, each of which differ in numerous ways from the source material. Purists won’t receive any reprieve from Emerald Fennell’s 2026 adaptation, with a title that is stylized as "Wuthering Heights” for good reason.

Cathy (played as an adult by Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) have known each other their entire lives, with Cathy’s alcoholic and inveterate gambler father (Martin Clunes) taking in Heathcliff on a whim when he was a boy. The two bond as they grow up together, although Cathy always seems to have an eye on moving up in society from their relatively impoverished lifestyle.

Cathy finally gets her wish when the rich Linton familyled by Edgar (Shazad Latif), moves in down the road, Despite discovering she has feelings for the now grown-up Heathcliff, Cathy sees Edgar as her way out and agrees to marry him. A scorned Heathcliff flees, returning years later as mysteriously wealthy. His reappearance ignites something in Cathy’s soul, and the two engage in a perhaps unwise affair.

Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn) infuses the dusty material with an energy that’s not typically present in stories set in this particular time and place. Aside from the occasional Charli XCX song (the singer created a whole concept album for the film), the film looks and feels like a period piece, albeit one that doesn’t get bogged down in the drudgery that can sometimes come from films set in the distant past.

Much of that has to do with the lust the filmmaker puts into the story. Even if you’re not familiar with Brontë’s book, you can rest assured that Fennell has strayed far from the text, giving Cathy and Heathcliff thoughts and actions unthinkable in the 19th century. Fennell plays with expectations by opening the film with audio featuring creaking noises and a man grunting, conjuring up a situation far different than what is actually happening, and she also makes liberal use of rain, sweat, and tears to make the actors enticing.

What she can’t do, however, is make the two lead characters compelling. Cathy is a striver who never seems to know what she wants out of life, and Heathcliff goes from a bore to a brute over the course of the film, with no clear indication that he likes anybody, much less Cathy. Anyone expecting some kind of grand romance will be disappointed as Fennell is much more interested in making the film weird, like having the walls of Cathy’s room look like her skin, complete with freckles.

Robbie and Elordi do well enough with the material, and it’s clear that both of them are committed to bringing Fennell’s vision to life. Their styles tend to balance each other out, and if the story had been committed to their characters’ relationship, they might be lauded for their chemistry. In the end, though, the supporting actors feel more interesting, including ones played by Hong Chau, Alison Miller, and Clunes.

This version of Wuthering Heights should never be construed as an alternative to reading the book for any high schoolers out there. While Fennell makes the film interesting with her technical filmmaking choices, the story never finds its footing as it fails to sell the one thing that it seems to promise.

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Wuthering Heights opens in theaters on February 13.

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