Weekend Event Planner

These are the 8 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

If culture has been missing from your life, this will be a very good weekend to remedy that. Among the offerings around Dallas are a national tour of a Tony Award-winning play, two separate but equally impressive dance ensembles, a conversation with a renowned author, and student tributes to a civil rights icon.

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

Thursday, January 12

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Beethoven Symphony No. 8
It's always interesting when the Dallas Symphony Orchestra takes on Beethoven, so this concert series — taking place through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center — should be a memorable one. Led by conductor Karina Canellakis and featuring David Cooper on horn, selections include Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, Strauss' Horn Concerto No. 1, and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.

Second Thought Theatre presents Grounded
Questions of empathy and moral responsibility in the face of impossibly difficult choices live at the heart of Grounded, a moving portrait of a young woman confronted with the harsh realities of modern warfare. The production, playing through February 4 at Bryant Hall, explores the clash between a career in the typically masculine world of war and the more traditional role of wife and mother.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Winner of five 2015 Tony Awards, including Best Play, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time features 15-year-old Christopher, an autistic boy who is exceptionally intelligent but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbor’s dog, he sets out to identify the true culprit, which leads to an earth-shattering discovery and a journey that will change his life forever. The production plays through January 22 at Winspear Opera House.

Friday, January 13

25th Annual Gardere MLK Jr. Oratory Competition
The annual MLK Jr. Oratory Competition challenges students to deliver original three-to-five-minute speeches in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, students answer the question, "If Dr. King were alive today, what would he say about Muhammad Ali’s contribution to society?" The event takes place at Majestic Theatre.

TITAS presents Shadowland by Pilobolus
A mix of shadow theater, dance, circus, and concert, Shadowland incorporates moving screens to create a performance experience that is full of magic and wonderment. Pilobolus’ Shadowland was the first show of its kind to combine shadow theater with dance and has since inspired many similar productions around the world. It plays at Dallas City Performance Hall on Friday and Saturday.

Avant, Dru Hill, and Jagged Edge in concert
R&B lovers will be in heaven at the Music Hall at Fair Park on Friday night, as Avant, Dru Hill, and Jagged Edge team up for this special concert. Avant is appearing in support of his 2015 album, The VIII, while Dru Hill and Jagged Edge are performing a variety of their biggest hits.

Saturday, January 14

Arts & Letters Live: Zadie Smith
In her first-ever event in Dallas, Zadie Smith is in conversation with KERA’s Krys Boyd to discuss her new novel, Swing Time. The book is a story about friendship, music, and stubborn roots, and how we are shaped by these things and how we can survive them. The event takes place at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Red Bull Flying Bach
Urban culture fuses with high society as the Red Bull Flying Bach tour comes to Dallas. The award-winning and globally recognized dance crew the Flying Steps perform to a genre-bending mix of classical, hip hop, and electronic music. There are four performances through Monday at Majestic Theatre.

Red Bull Flying Bach is at Majestic Theatre January 14-16.

Photo by Carlo Cruz/Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull Flying Bach is at Majestic Theatre January 14-16.

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Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

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