Theater Critic Picks

Spanish puppets + Shakespeare under the stars: 16 DFW shows for June

Shakespeare Dallas presents The Importance of Being Earnest

Shakespeare Dallas kicks off its summer season with Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."

Photo by Jordan Fraker

We have all sorts of creatures and characters roaming Dallas-Fort Worth this month, from dancing cats and lions to Greek muses, heavenly workers, and Spanish-speaking puppets. You also get the choice of glorious air conditioning or spreading out your picnic blanket at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater to see Shakespeare under the stars. Summer theater season has begun!

Here are the 16 shows, listed in order of start date:

Cats
Casa Mañana, through June 8
Casa Mañana's Cats will have magic, mystery, and a Texas twist on the Broadway classic. This production of Cats maintains the original script and score while reimagining the setting in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

The Lion King
Broadway Dallas, June 4-July 3
Giraffes strut. Birds swoop. Gazelles leap. The entire Serengeti comes to life as never before. And as the music soars, Pride Rock slowly emerges from the mist. More than 100 million people around the world have experienced the visual artistry, the music, and the uniquely theatrical storytelling of this Broadway spectacular. Right across the parking lot, the American American Museum is hosting a special — and free — exhibition of masks and puppets from The Lion King.

Ain't No Mo
Soul Rep Theatre Company, June 5-8
This is the North Texas premiere of Fort Worth native playwright Jordan E. Cooper's work, which premiered on Broadway in 2022 and was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Play. Through a blend of sketch, satire, avant-garde theatre and a dose of drag, Ain’t No Mo’ answers the incendiary question: What if the United States government offered Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa? This production kicks off Black Broadway Summer, a partnership between three DFW theaters to celebrate and promote recent Broadway plays by Black playwrights.

Xanadu
Theatre Three, June 5-July 6
This high-energy, roller-skating extravaganza brings the 1980 cult film to life on stage. Set in Venice Beach, California, the musical follows Sonny Malone, a struggling artist who encounters Kira, a beautiful Greek muse. With Kira's guidance and a touch of divine inspiration, they embark on a mission to revive a rundown roller disco and reignite Sonny's artistic passion.

The Fall of Heaven
Jubilee Theatre, June 6-July 13
Set in a captivating realm where celestial beings navigate the complexities of human existence, the enchanting The Fall of Heaven offers a fresh perspective on love, laughter, and the pursuit of happiness. As the heavenly bureaucracy faces a crisis of cosmic proportions, audiences are treated to a delightful blend of wit, wisdom, and wondrous imagination.

Open
Echo Theatre, June 6-21
Open is a one-woman show that asks the audience to believe in the magic of love. The Magician must perform the impossible to save the life of her partner, Jenny. The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and this magician’s act may offer our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Broadway at the Bass, June 10-15
Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. The production is a theatrical celebration of truth, beauty, freedom, and — above all — love.

The Importance of Being Earnest
Shakespeare Dallas, June 11-July 18
This witty romantic comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed in 1895, tells the story of two men who assume the identities of a fictional man named Ernest. This leads them to each fall in love and encounter an assortment of comical problems along the way.

An Iliad
Undermain Theatre, June 12-29
This encore presentation of a modern-day retelling of Homer's classic revives the landmark production from 2012 and 2019, all starring Bruce DuBose. The setting is simple: the empty theater. The time is now: the present moment. The lone figure onstage is a storyteller, possibly Homer, possibly one of the many bards who followed in his footsteps. He is fated to tell this story throughout history.

Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Fallen Soufflé
Stage West Theatre, June 12-29
It’s the eve of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but her son, the playboy Prince of Wales, and French chef Auguste Escoffier have just turned up at 221B Baker Street in the thick of scandal and blackmail. Royal vice, priceless gems, and gourmet food abound in this new action-packed whodunit. Noted sleuth Sherlock Holmes reunites with his beloved Irene Adler and his partner Dr. Watson for their tastiest and most bizarre case yet.

SparkFest
Amphibian Stage, June 13-22
Amphibian Stage's SparkFest is annual celebration of live entertainment. This year, SparkFest shines a spotlight on the Native American and Indigenous community, offering an array of events, including theater, live music, storytelling, and poetry.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Dallas Theater Center, June 13-July 13
This classic Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice is based on the Bible’s Book of Genesis. It tells the journey of Joseph, son of Jacob, his 12 brothers, and his coat of many colors.

Othello
Shakespeare Dallas, June 18-July 20
In this Shakespearean tragedy, Othello is at the peak of his powers: not only Venice's greatest general but also husband to the noble and beautiful Desdemona. But he does not know that in passing over his servant Iago for promotion, he has created a deadly but brilliant enemy. This production is set in an alternate-history version of the 1990s in which the Venetian empire is the predominant political, military, and economic power.

A Strange Loop
Circle Theatre, June 19-July 12
This is the regional premiere Michael R‭. ‬Jackson‭'s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, which also took home the 2022‭ ‬Tony Award for Best Musical‭. It ‬offers a bold and exhilarating dive into the life of Usher‭, ‬a Black queer musical theater writer navigating his identity‭, ‬creativity‭, ‬and personal challenges as he crafts a show about his own complex journey‭.‬

The Billy Club Puppets
Hip Pocket Theatre, June 20-July 13
A mixture of commedia del arte, flamenco dancing, and puppetry, The Billy Club Puppets (Los títeres de cachiporra) is a poignant farce by Federico Garcia Lorca. Will Rosita marry her love, Cocoliche, or be whisked away by the miserly Don Cristobol? The broad tragicomedy is told in Lorca's original Spanish with English translations.

The Addams Family
Broadway at the Center, June 26-28
Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. A man her parents have never met. And if that weren’t upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before: keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.

Lawsuit news

Artist sues FIFA for $25 million over painted-over Dallas whale mural

Facebook/Wyland

Artist Wyland's Whaling Wall mural being painted over for a FIFA World Cup-related mural in Dallas.

The artist who painted a giant mural on a building in downtown Dallas of life-sized swimming whales has filed a $25 million lawsuit against soccer's international governing body and others, saying they illegally painted over his work to promote the city's upcoming World Cup matches.

The artist Wyland says he hand-painted the sprawling mural that covered roughly 17,000 square feet (1,580 square meters) across two of the building's walls.

The mural stood for nearly three decades before workers began painting over it last month, causing an uproar among residents who admired the mural's grand scale and message of ocean conservation.

The area’s World Cup organizing committee said in a statement that, in place of Wyland's mural, new artwork is planned "that captures this current historical moment and reflects the energy, unity, and global spirit surrounding the World Cup 2026.” It said a portion of Wyland's mural would be preserved.

Wyland filed suit Monday, June 1 in U.S District Court in Dallas saying that World Cup organizers, along with the building's owner and management company, painted over his mural without his consent or even notifying him. He says their actions violated a 1990 federal law passed to protect visual artists from destruction of publicly displayed works.

Wyland is seeking at least $25 million in damages. His lawsuit says world soccer's governing body, FIFA, and other defendants “hastily and irrevocably destroyed a civic landmark” to promote the World Cup.

“Though FIFA claims they were working to develop art for the host city, in truth, they defaced an historic fixture of the host city,” the artist's lawsuit says.

A FIFA spokesperson said Tuesday the federation “has no involvement in this whatsoever” and referred a reporter to the tournament's local organizing committee.

A spokesperson for the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee declined to comment. The committee isn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Slate Asset Management, which manages the building where the mural was painted over, said in a statement that local World Cup organizers asked Slate in March to donate the mural space for “a new public art installation.”

“Slate is not being compensated in any way for the use of the wall space and was told by the local groups that Mr. Wyland had been notified,” the management company's spokesperson said in an email.

Dallas is hosting more World Cup matches than any of the other sites in the event co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with nine matches set to be played at AT&T Stadium in suburban Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Wyland's Dallas mural, titled “Whaling Wall 82,” was finished in 1999 and is among more than 100 similar murals known as Whaling Walls the artist painted around the world to promote the conservation of ocean life.

An online petition protesting the mural's destruction and calling for protecting of public artwork in Dallas has received more than 2,600 signatures.

Wyland's lawsuit alleges violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act, a 1990 federal law that protects artwork of “recognized stature” even if someone else owns the physical artwork.

A judge cited that law in 2018 when he ordered a property owner to pay a group of New York graffiti artists $6.7 million for whitewashing dozens of their spray-painted murals on buildings that once housed a factory in Queens. The ruling was upheld on appeal.

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