Weekend Event Planner

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

It's a theater-heavy weekend in and around Dallas, with no fewer than seven different local or national productions starting their run. You can also catch concerts from two well-known female singers, spend an evening with a singer-turned-reality star-turned-author, or catch the inaugural game of a new football league.

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, February 6

WaterTower Theatre presents Harvey
Harvey is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play that follows Elwood P. Dowd, a polite man with a very strange best friend. Elwood’s sister, Veta, is concerned her brother’s friend will interfere with her life as a socialite. And who can blame her? Elwood’s friend is a 6-foot-3 1/2-inch invisible rabbit named Harvey. The production will run at WaterTower Theatre in Addison through February 23.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The Band's Visit
In an Israeli desert town where every day feels the same, something different is suddenly in the air. Dina, the local café owner, had long resigned her desires for romance to daydreaming about exotic films and music from her youth. When a band of Egyptian musicians shows up lost at her café, she and her fellow locals take them in for the night. Under the spell of the night sky, their lives intertwine in unexpected ways, and this once sleepy town begins to wake up. The Tony Award-winning musical will play at Winspear Opera House under Dallas Summer Musicals through February 16, and under the AT&T Performing Arts Center banner at the same venue, February 18-23.

Bishop Arts Theatre Center presents Loving and Loving
Inspired by the true love story between Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple from Virginia who were arrested in 1958 for being married, this play examines the landmark Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia. Beginning in the present day and flashing back to the 1950s and '60s, this historical story is told from a 21st century perspective and puts a human face on this famous court case and the ongoing legacy in a multiracial America. The production will run at Bishop Arts Theatre Center through February 23.

Friday, February 7

Dreamworks presents Trolls Live!
It'll be a hair-raising adventure when Poppy, Branch, and all their Trolls friends come to life on stage in Trolls Live!, their first ever live tour. The Trolls’ Hug Time is unexpectedly put at risk, and knowing that the only way to save it is by doing what the Trolls do best, Poppy hosts a toe-tapping, Trolls-tastic show. The production will be at The Theatre at Grand Prairie through Sunday.

Dallas Children’s Theater presents Andi Boi
Dallas Children’s Theater will present Andi Boi, a world premiere production focused on one transgender teen's journey. Andi is entering his first day of high school identifying as a male. Former classmates recall his last name when they hear it, but there is something different about Andi that keeps the dots from connecting clearly in their minds. As they learn more about each other, Andi and his classmates bond over a popular virtual game called Biddybeasts. The production will run through February 16.

Dallas Theater Center presents Little Women
Just as the latest film version of Little Women is about to compete for Best Picture at the Oscars, Dallas Theater Center will present its own stage version. Jo March is ambitious, rough around the edges, headstrong, and yearns for a future she can’t yet articulate. As the nation is torn apart by civil war, Jo and her sisters struggle with what it means to grow up. The production will run at Kalita Humphreys Theater through March 1.

Sarah McLachlan in concert
Like many singers, Sarah McLachlan has had a long career but a relatively short heyday. For McLachlan, that was the mid-to-late '90s, when she released her monster albums, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and Surfacing, which featured songs like "Hold On," "Good Enough," "Building a Mystery," and "Angel." McLachlan will bring "An Intimate Evening of Songs and Storytelling" to McFarlin Auditorium.

An Evening with Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson has led a multi-faceted life, releasing seven albums and starring in movies and TV shows. You can now add author to that list. As part of her Open Book tour, Simpson will reveal for the first time her inner monologue and most intimate struggles. Guided by the journals she’s kept since age 15, and brimming with her unique humor and down-to-earth humanity, Open Book is as inspiring as it is entertaining. This event will take place at Wyly Theatre.

Saturday, February 8

Miranda Lambert in concert with Randy Rogers Band and Parker McCollum
Country singer and Texas native Miranda Lambert has had quite the career, with all but her debut album reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts thanks to hits like "The House That Built Me," "Heart Like Mine," "Over You," and "Somethin' Bad." She'll play at American Airlines Center in support of her new album, Wildcard, joined by Randy Rogers Band and Parker McCollum.

Ochre House Theater presents Mrs. Haggardly
In Mrs. Haggardly, a world premiere written and directed by Artistic Director Matthew Posey, Mrs. Haggardly’s Home For Wayward Children is an orphanage that sits on the outskirts of the Great Brutal War, and each day the drums of war draw closer. Mrs. Haggardly and her two companions, Madame Pigslips and Mrs. Busybottom, are the matrons of the orphanage who cunningly use their wiles to resist the pillaging fascists who have come to recruit the orphans for soldiers. The production will be at Ochre House Theater through February 29.

Sunday, February 9

Dallas Renegades Inaugural XFL Season
Now that the Super Bowl is over, it's time for ... more football? The Dallas Renegades will be one of eight teams to compete in the inaugural season of the rebooted XFL. The team will play a total of 10 games during the regular season, with five coming at home at the reconfigured Globe Life Park in Arlington. The first of those games is on Sunday versus the St. Louis BattleHawks.

Miranda Lambert will perform at American Airlines Center on February 8.

Photo by Michelle Watson/Catchlight Group

Miranda Lambert will perform at American Airlines Center on February 8.

concerts event-planner theater sports celebrities

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.

---

The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

movies film