Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

While many events in and around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, organizations have pivoted to virtual or socially distanced events to continue offering the masses some entertainment while we need it the most.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time. While not every event is out of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, February 25

Junior Brown in concert
Country singer Junior Brown is a true original, best known for his signature instrument, the "guit-steel" double neck guitar that is a hybrid of an electric guitar and lap steel guitar. Active since the early '80s, Brown has released 11 albums in his career, including 2018's Deep in the Heart of Me. He'll play two shows on Thursday at The Kessler.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents The Concert Truck
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present the residency of The Concert Truck, collaborative community concerts across the city featuring musicians of the DSO and other arts organizations. Concerts will be held outdoors at various locations through March 14, with audiences and performers able to maintain a safe distance while enjoying live performances. Locations this weekend include Medical City Medical Center – Children’s Hospital on Thursday, Nasher Sculpture Center on Friday, and Klyde Warren Park and The Sound at Cypress Waters on Saturday.

Kitchen Dog Theater presents CRAFT: Art of the Hooch & Pooch
After a false start due to weather last week, Kitchen Dog Theater will celebrate their 30th Anniversary with this series that looks back at a few of the world premiere plays they’ve produced over the years written by Artistic Company Members. The series starts with Pompeii!! with creators Cameron Cobb, Michael Federico, and Max Hartman. Virtual episodes will begin with a mixologist walking viewers through the creation of an original craft cocktail, followed by a deep dive conversation into the craft behind the creation with artists from the productions. There will be other episodes monthly through June.

Cirque Italia presents Paranormal Cirque
After two other stops in the area, Cirque Italia's Paranormal Cirque heads north to Denton. Under the black and red big top tent of Paranormal Cirque exists a crazy yet fun fusion between circus, theater, and cabaret in perfect harmony with the evolution of a show that brings audiences back to when they dream ... and when they had nightmares and fantasies. The show, continuing through March 7 at the North Texas Fairgrounds, is only for teenagers and above; no kids under 13 will be admitted.

Friday, February 26

The Dallas Opera presents Tosca
Since the Dallas Opera is still unable to present live productions, they are going back into their archives again to stream the company’s 2015 production of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. The passionate, star-studded production was originally presented in 2015, including a live simulcast at Klyde Warren Park. The stream will be available to view at any time through March 27.

Improv Addison presents DeRay Davis
Comedian DeRay Davis has been killing it on stage, in movies, and on TV for years. His film credits include Semi-Pro, both Barbershop movies, and Johnson Family Vacation. On the small screen, Davis has appeared in HBO's Entourage, Comedy Central's Reno 911, and provided numerous voices on The Boondocks. He'll perform five times through Sunday at Improv Addison.

Saturday, February 27

Jonathan Tyler in concert with Desure
Jonathan Tyler is a Dallas-based musician who has received national attention, opening for major acts like Erykah Badu, Leon Russell, Deep Purple, The Black Crowes, Kool and the Gang, and more. Tyler and his band, the Northern Lights, have released three studio albums in their career, including 2015's Holy Smokes. He'll perform at The Kessler, with Desure as the opening act.

Sunday, February 28

New exhibitions at Dallas Museum of Art (UPDATE: The opening of these exhibits is being postponed one week to March 7.)
The Dallas Museum of Art will open two new exhibitions on Sunday, most notably "Frida Kahlo: Five Works," which gives visitors the rare opportunity to see five exquisite works by the acclaimed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Also opening is "Devoted: Art and Spirituality in Mexico and New Mexico," which features devotional works drawn from the DMA’s Latin American collection, exploring interrelated artistic traditions in the two regions. The Frida Kahlo exhibition will run through June 20, while "Devoted" will remain on display through January 2, 2022.

Bruce Wood Dance presents WOOD/SHOP
Bruce Wood Dance presents the first installment of the virtual series WOOD/SHOP. The first event will feature two premieres: Gabriel Speiller's Roses in December, an emotive trio of dancers winding through the twisting terrain of loss, grief, and hope; and Megan Storey's The Silence That Wakes Us, a riveting rush of movement with a compelling play of sound and silence inspired by reflections of her personal experiences with loss. It also includes a unique film project made by Cole Vernon.

Bruce Wood Dance presents the virtual series WOOD/SHOP on February 28.

Photo by Sharen Bradford

Bruce Wood Dance presents the virtual series WOOD/SHOP on February 28.

museums symphony theater event-planner opera concerts

Movie review

Over-the-top The Bride! makes other Frankenstein movies seem subtle

Photo by Niko Tavernise

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in The Bride!.

The story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster is now over 200 years old, with Mary Shelley’s book having been adapted or referenced in close to 500 films. Less common is the character of The Bride of Frankenstein, which existed in the original text but has more often than not been excised in adaptations. Writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal has tried to rectify that by giving the character a big showcase in her new film, The Bride!.

Gyllenhaal has reimagined the story as one in which a woman named Ida (Jessie Buckley) becomes possessed by the spirit of Shelley (also Buckley). At the same time, the already-existing Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) approaches Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening), who specializes in reanimation, with the request to make him a wife. When Ida falls to her death in an “accident” involving her boyfriend (John Magaro), the ideal corpse becomes available.

After Ida’s resurrection, she and the monster become restless being studied by Dr. Euphronius and decide to break out to experience the world. The world, naturally, is not exactly welcoming to them, and soon the couple are on the run for causing mayhem, including a few murders. In hot pursuit are detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant, Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz), as well as other authorities.

It’s clear that Gyllenhaal wanted to merge the Frankenstein story with Bonnie & Clyde, especially since she sets the film in the mid-1930s. And that wouldn’t have been a bad idea if having the monster and The Bride going on a crime spree was truly the focus of the movie. But most of the time there’s less intentionality in their misdeeds and more confusion, leading to a muddled plot with no clear direction or end goal in mind.

One of the biggest problems is that Gyllenhaal starts the energy of the film at an 11, giving her and everyone else nowhere to go but down. She dabbles in multiple different tones, at times going the straight drama route and other times making what seems like full-on camp. At one point, she even has the monster and the Bride in a dance sequence set to “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” which would be hilarious as an homage to Young Frankenstein if the film weren’t so disjointed.

Most baffling of all is what Gyllenhaal wants from The Bride character. She morphs multiple times over the course of the film, from close to unintelligible at the beginning to rough-and-tumble at the end. There are hints at the lack of control she has over her autonomy, including Shelley’s possession of her and the monster lying to her about her past, but any commentary that Gyllenhaal might be trying to make gets lost amid the oddity of the film as a whole.

Both Buckley and Bale are all-in for their performances, which definitely fall in the “love it or hate it” dichotomy. Each scene is pitched so high that there’s little nuance to either of them, and neither is on par with their previous Oscar-caliber roles. The high-powered supporting cast of Bening, Sarsgaard, Cruz, and Jake Gyllenhaal is watchable based on previous roles, but none of them elevate this particular movie.

Whatever intentions Maggie Gyllenhaal had in making The Bride! are only halfway legible in a film that can never find its tonal footing. There has rarely been subtlety in movies featuring Frankenstein’s monster and related characters, but this one makes all the others seem like stuffy dramas in comparison.

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The Bride! is now playing in theaters.

movies film