Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Valentine's Day weekend around Dallas will be full of events centered on romance, black history, and big names. They include two different odes to star-crossed lovers, two theater productions focused on African American characters, a visit from a popular presidential candidate, insight from a big-name actor, and a day of wellness with a woman so famous she only goes by one name.

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. Still looking for Valentine's Day dinner plans? We have a list for that, too.

Thursday, February 13

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet
Just in time for Valentine's weekend, Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present one of Tchaikovsky’s most beautiful scores. The timeless story of Romeo and Juliet is told through the interlaced threads of the feuding Montagues and Capulets, the heavenly harp arpeggios of Friar Laurence’s chorale, and the impassioned theme of the star-crossed lovers. The concert, which will also include Martinu’s Fourth Symphony and the world premiere of Chickasaw composer Jerod Tate’s new concerto, will play four times through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Kitchen Dog Theater presents Alabaster
Alabaster is about Alice, a noted photographer who sets out to explore the topography of “scars.” Her subject is June, an artist who lost her entire family in an Alabama tornado who is now covered from head to toe with scars, and suffers from agoraphobia and crippling PTSD. But Alice is carrying scars of her own and is desperately trying to outrun her own pain. Kitchen Dog Theater will present the play at Trinity River Arts Center through March 8.

Friday, February 14

Sesame Street Live: Make Your Magic
In Sesame Street Live: Make Your Magic, Elmo discovers that magic can be found anywhere when you believe in yourself. The audience will join the furry friends on a journey filled with surprising and spectacular illusions. The family-friendly show will play six times through Sunday at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.

Lyric Stage presents Abyssinia
Lyric Stage celebrates Black History Month with the rarely-produced Abyssinia. Based on the novel Marked by Fire by Joyce Carol Thomas, the musical centers on Abyssinia "Abby" Jackson, who is blessed with the gift of song and a voice that thrills and delights the entire community. Like Job, Abby is fated to undergo a series of trials, and she must learn to heal herself before she can help others. The production will have four performances through Sunday at Majestic Theatre.

Avant Chamber Ballet presents Romeo and Juliet
Paul Mejia’s romantic and tragic Romeo & Juliet features live music which brings the famous Tchaikovsky score and the timeless story to life. Also featured during the performance will be George Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations, a world premiere collaboration between ACB director Katie Cooper and local composer Quinn Mason, and a guest company appearance by Ballet Frontier from Fort Worth. There will be two performances — one Friday and one Saturday — at Moody Performance Hall.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Cultural Awareness
Dallas Black Dance Theatre's annual Cultural Awareness program will navigate culture and an eye-opening window into the human spirit through music and dance. Celebrating 20 years with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as a dancer and choreographer, featured choreographer Hop Boykin combines her words with her movements to describe and display a heart's longing. There will be three performances through Sunday at Wyly Theatre.

Rally in Dallas with Bernie Sanders
In what will likely be the first of a number of public appearances in the Dallas area by candidates hoping to secure the Democratic nomination for president, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will hold a free rally at Mesquite Arena. The local rally will cap a busy day for the politician, as he will hold two rallies earlier in the day in North Carolina.

Theatre Arlington presents A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check, and each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with the money. This landmark play was the first play on Broadway written by an African American female, Lorraine Hansberry. The production will run at Theatre Arlington through March 8.

Saturday, February 15

Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus
This special event at American Airlines Center will feature Oprah Winfrey and high-profile guests bringing a full-day wellness event to Dallas. Attendees will spend the day with Oprah as she shares the personal ups and downs of her wellness journey and guides them to develop their own 2020 action plan through motivating conversations, the latest in wellness research, and insightful interactive workbook exercises. Oprah will also sit down for an intimate one-on-one conversation with actress Tracee Ellis Ross.

WinStar World Casino and Resort PBR Global Cup
The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo ended last weekend, but the rodeo action continues this weekend with the fourth edition of the PBR Global Cup, the only nation vs. nation bull riding competition. Taking place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on both Saturday and Sunday, the event will feature six teams representing five competing nations: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

William Shatner Live on Stage with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan screening
Capt. James T. Kirk himself, William Shatner, will be on hand at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving to participate in a conversation and Q&A following a screening of the classic movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Shatner will be sharing stories from his career spanning over 50 years as an award-winning actor, producer, director, and writer. Fans will have a chance to ask questions during the Q&A.

Sunday, February 16

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Flores Mexicanas: Women in Modern Mexican Art" opening day
"Flores Mexicanas: Women in Modern Mexican Art" will survey representations of women in Mexican Modernism, featuring works by Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Frida Kahlo, María Izquierdo, Diego Rivera, and Francisco Dosamantes, among others. The highlight of the presentation will be the monumental painting Flores Mexicanas by Martínez, being shown for only the second time in nearly a century. The exhibition will be on display at the Dallas Museum of Art through September 20.

Oprah Winfrey will present Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus at American Airlines Center on February 15.

Photo by George Burns/Harpo Productions Inc.

Oprah Winfrey will present Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus at American Airlines Center on February 15.

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Movie Review

Great acting and directing drive The Christophers to artistic heights

Photo by Claudette Barius

Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen in The Christophers.

Director Steven Soderbergh is one of those filmmakers who — aside from the Ocean’s series — never seems to make the same kind of movie twice. He is somehow able to adapt his abilities to all sorts of different stories, making each of them as compelling as any other. His latest masterclass is in the London-set film, The Christophers.

Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), who restores art for a living, is approached by brother and sister Sallie and Barnaby Sklar (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) with a scheme. They want her to become the new assistant for their aging father, Julian (Ian McKellen), a famous artist known for a series called “The Christophers,” in order to gain access to unfinished paintings from the series and complete them herself.

Lori accepts the deal despite having some uneasy feelings about Julian, with whom she had a bad interaction years ago. Julian is just as wary, both because he knows of his children’s interest in the unfinished works, and because he would prefer to be left in peace. Although the trepidation on both sides continues for the bulk of the story, a grudging respect arises between two artists who know skill when they see it.

Directed by Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon, who last collaborated on No Sudden Move, the film is astonishing in its ability to be compelling with such a small story. Much of the film is spent inside Julian’s multi-story home as Julian and Lori have low-level confrontations about a variety of things, including the meaning of his art, her abilities, the fate of the remaining “Christophers,” and more. Each conversation brings out more detail about their worldviews and their thoughts about their lot in life.

Much of the success of the film lies in the performances of McKellen and Coel. The 86-year-old McKellen has not lost his ability to astonish with the spoken word, and the monologues he delivers are engrossing even when they’re about mundane things. Coel, best known for the 2020 HBO show I May Destroy You, is a great foil for McKellen, never backing down from his challenges and giving her own unique takes on her lines.

While the film can be enjoyable for non-art lovers, those who appreciate the vagaries of the art world will have a lot to chew on. Soderbergh and Solomon debate a lot of aspects of art, including whether it’s possible to separate the art from the person making it, why some art is valued more than others, the ethics of forgery, and more. Because the film is about a fictional artist, it gives the filmmakers a bit more freedom in their criticisms.

Aside from McKellen and Coel, Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and Corden are the only other two people who get significant screen time in the film. Both of them are, let’s say, acquired tastes, and each gives an elevated performance that matches the energy of their respective characters. Tilly Botsford makes a nice impression in a small role as Julian’s masseuse.

Soderbergh’s last three films — Presence, Black Bag, and now The Christophers — have nothing in common other than the expert filmmaker helming all of them. When you can make a ghost story, a spy film, and a small film about artists equally interesting, you know you’re doing something right.

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The Christophers is now playing in theaters.

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