Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Two of Dallas' most well-known venues will be in heavy use this weekend, with American Airlines Center hosting three straight nights of big-name concerts and Winspear Opera House somehow cramming five events into four days. There will also be a film festival, classical music, unique ballet, a dance festival, a harbinger of spring, a famous comedian, and more.

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 27

Best of Fests Film Festival
Film festivals based in Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas have joined forces to present the second edition of the Best of Fests. The one-of-a-kind event will include 11 feature films and 25 short films that either were popular with their audiences or represent their programming aesthetics. The festival will run through Sunday at Texas Theatre and Alamo Drafthouse Cedars.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Music of Tchaikovsky & Jongen
Inspired by Lord Byron’s “dramatic poem,” Tchaikovsky’s brooding Manfred Symphony portrays the solitary hero searching for peace and redemption. Organ phenom Cameron Carpenter shows off the Lay Family Concert Organ with Jongen’s tour de force Symphonie concertante. The concert, which will be conducted by Kirill Karabits, will be performed three times through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Verdigris Ensemble presents Dust Bowl
As part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, Verdigris Ensemble will present Dust Bowl. Setting texts exclusively from newspaper articles, diaries, and first-hand oral accounts of survivors, Dust Bowl pieces together nearly a decade of human struggle, hopefulness, and perseverance in the face of constant catastrophe. The event will take place three times through Saturday at Hamon Hall inside Winspear Opera House.

Il Volo in concert
Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo, who call their style "popera," have won fans all over the world thanks to their unique style. Their versions of "O Sole Mio" and "Grande amore" reached the top of the classical charts in the United States, and four of their albums have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Classical charts. They'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Friday, February 28

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Jeanne Robertson
At 76 years young, Jeanne Robertson continues to charm audiences with her humorous observations about life around her. This former Miss North Carolina, standing tall at six-foot-two, has a vivacious personality, heart and sense of humor. Robertson, who tours nationally and appears regularly on the Grand Ole Opry, will perform at Winspear Opera House.

Ballets With a Twist presents Cocktail Hour: The Show
Drama, mystery, humor, romance — Cocktail Hour: The Show by Ballets With A Twist has it all. This acclaimed floorshow-to-stage experience reinvents the glamour and excitement of classic entertainment with an original mix of charismatic choreography, intoxicating music, and exquisite costume design. The performance will be at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

TITAS/Dance Unbound Festival
TITAS/Dance Unbound is starting a new tradition, a Festival of Dance celebrating the dancemakers living and working in North Texas. This “preview” is a prelude to a larger festival TITAS will be producing later this year. The event, taking place at Moody Performance Hall on Friday and Saturday, will feature four local dance companies: Texas Ballet Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance, and B. Moore Dance.

Marc Anthony in concert
Marc Anthony has been breaking down the barrier between English language and Spanish language music for almost 30 years. He's only had a couple of bona fide hits — 1999's "I Need to Know" and 2000's "You Sang to Me" — and after an extended break from music-making, he's touring in support of his 2019 album, Opus. He'll perform at American Airlines Center.

Saturday, February 29

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Dallas Blooms: The Sounds of Spring
Dallas Blooms is one of the largest floral festivals in the Southwest, with over 100 varieties of spring-blooming bulbs exploding with color and 500,000 tulips, plus hundreds of thousands of other spring flowers. The six-week celebration also features tasting and cooking classes, live music and entertainment, children’s activities, wine and beer pairings, book signings and speakers, Easter events, and more. It will take place through April 12.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Paula Poundstone
Paula Poundstone is one of the country’s pre-eminent comedians, known for her smart, observational humor and legendary spontaneous wit. She is a popular panelist on NPR’s No. 1 show, the weekly comedy news quiz, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Her weekly podcast for Maximum Fun, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, is a comedy field guide to life. She'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Chris Tucker in concert
Chris Tucker is an international award-winning actor and comedian best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series. He became a favorite on Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Comedy Jam in the 1990s and came to prominence in his first starring role, the 1995 film cult classic Friday starring alongside Ice Cube. He'll perform at The Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Eagles in concert
Eagles, with the lineup of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Deacon Frey, and Vince Gill, will come to Dallas as part of their limited Hotel California tour. Each night’s concert will feature them playing their iconic album Hotel California in its entirety, accompanied by an orchestra and choir. After an intermission, they'll return with an entire additional set of the band’s other greatest hits. They'll perform on both Saturday and Sunday at American Airlines Center. If you can't get in to either one of those concerts, they'll return for one more on March 17.

Sunday, March 1

Lightwire Theater presents The Ugly Duckling
Lined with electroluminescent wire, the beloved story of The Ugly Duckling plays out on stage through a cutting-edge blend of puppetry, technology and dance. With dazzling visuals, poignant choreography and the creative use of music ranging from classical to pop, this production brings this story into a new and brilliant light. The production will be at Winspear Opera House.

Eagles will play at American Airlines Center on February 29 and March 1.

Photo by George Holz

Eagles will play at American Airlines Center on February 29 and March 1.

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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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