Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

There is plenty to do in and around Dallas this weekend, including a rare appearance by a sports event. You can check out some great college basketball, a former first lady, four different theater productions, concerts by big names from two countries, superheroic dance, 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, March 8

2018 Conference USA Basketball Championship
The UNT men's and women's basketball teams will be in action on Wednesday. It's the first time the Conference USA Basketball Championship takes place at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, so it's not yet known if either will be playing on Thursday or beyond. If they are, they'll have to contend with higher seeds Old Dominion and Louisiana Tech, respectively. The basketball action will continue through Saturday.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents #hearhere: A Conversation with Former First Lady Michelle Obama
As a transformative first lady, Michelle Obama launched and led four key initiatives: Let’s Move!, to address the challenge of childhood obesity; Joining Forces, to support veterans, service members and their families; Reach Higher, to inspire young people to seek higher education; and Let Girls Learn, to help adolescent girls around the world go to school. She'll speak about those and other subjects in this event at the Winspear Opera House.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
French pianist Lise de la Salle will be showcased during the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's latest concert. Under the direction of Maestro Fabio Luisi, de la Salle will play on selections like Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben." The concert will be performed four times through Sunday at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Wayne Newton in concert
Entertainer Wayne Newton is such a longtime Las Vegas institution that you'd think he doesn't go on the road at all anymore. But he'll come to the Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson to sing songs from his illustrious career, during which he has released 30 albums. If you can't make this show, he'll also play at Arlington Music Hall on Friday.

Theatre Three presents She Kills Monsters
A comedic romp into the world of fantasy role-playing games, She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home in Ohio following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly. When Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, however, she stumbles into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was Tilly’s refuge. The play will run through April 1 at Theatre Three.

Friday, March 9

The Dallas Opera presents Sunken Garden
A filmmaker’s obsession with the disappearance of a young girl leads to the discovery of a walled garden, which is the barrier between life and death. Does this place actually exist or is it just a stunning journey of the imagination? Either way, it immerses audiences into a world of crime and mystery to create a one-of-a-kind production. The opera will be performed four times through March 17 at the Winspear Opera House.

Giant Entertainment presents Hitchcock Blonde
Hitchcock Blonde intertwines three stories: Alex, a media professor suffering from a midlife crisis, invites one of his students to Greece to examine a long-lost film fragment that Alfred Hitchcock made in 1919. Meanwhile, in 1959, Hitchcock is auditioning an actress for the shower scene of his film Psycho. And finally, the lost film is recreated, arguably explaining the director's obsession with persecuted blondes. The play will run through March 24 in Frank's Place, a black box space at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Dallas Theater Center presents The Great Society
Following the success of DTC’s 2016 production of All the Way, The Great Society continues the story of Lyndon B. Johnson’s turbulent presidency. While the president fights a “war on poverty” at home, his war in Vietnam begins to spiral out of control. Besieged by political enemies, Johnson desperately fights to pass civil rights legislation and some of the most important social programs in American history, even as the country turns against him and descends into chaos. The play will run through April 1 at Wyly Theatre.

TITAS presents Lucky Plush
A group of washed-up superheroes join forces to create a nonprofit think tank but get caught up in the politics of branding and group dynamics. Fighting evil ain’t what it used to be. This is the basis for Trip the Light Fantastic: The Making of SuperStrip, Lucky Plush’s newest creation. Funny, smart and thought provoking, Lucky Plush is a breath of fresh air in the dance world. They'll perform once on Friday and once on Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.

Sunday, March 11

Gloria Trevi & Alejandra Guzmán in concert
Born just six days apart 50 years ago, Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzmán are two of Mexico's most popular singers. They joined forces in 2017 for a duets album, Versus, and have been touring almost constantly since its release. They'll return to the Dallas area to play at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, singing songs from that album and hits from throughout their careers.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama will speak at Winspear Opera House on March 8.

Photo by © Jewel Samad/Getty Images

Former First Lady Michelle Obama will speak at Winspear Opera House on March 8.

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Movie Review

Bob Odenkirk is back as the everyman-turned-hero in new movie 'Normal'

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Bob Odenkirk in Normal.

Screenwriter Derek Kolstad, who wrote the first three John Wick movies, has essentially had a blank check to do what he wants in the movie landscape since 2014. In recent years that has meant writing the action series Nobody for Bob Odenkirk, who has turned from a comedian into an unlikely action star in his sixties. Kolstad and Odenkirk are teaming up again in Normal.

A film that tries to evoke Fargo in multiple ways, Normal finds Ulysses Richardson (Odenkirk) serving as a temporary sheriff for the small town of Normal, Minnesota after the previous sheriff died. Knowing he’s just a steward until a new sheriff is elected, Ulysses takes a live-and-let-live approach to the job, letting the deputies (Ryan Allen and Billy MacLellan) do the grunt work and trying to stay out of everyone’s way, including Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler).

A bank robbery attempt by two non-citizens upsets his best-laid plans in more ways than he can imagine. Not only is he forced to confront a crime not often seen in a town like Normal, but the robbery uncovers secrets that turn the film into an all-out bloodbath. Soon, almost everyone in town becomes involved in what comes to resemble a war, along with — you guessed it — Yakuza henchmen from Japan.

Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Kolstad, the film is a slight twist on the everyman-turned-hero character Odenkirk played in the two Nobody films. While Ulysses is in law enforcement, he prefers to use words instead of weapons, and it’s only when he’s pushed to the brink that he crosses that line. Naturally, his skills are beyond what anyone would expect of him, allowing him to match up well with people half his age.

The film is not a comedy in the traditional sense, but instead aims for laughs by catching the audience off-guard with its ultraviolence. Some characters are dispatched in shockingly unexpected ways, with one of the only natural reactions to the jarring nature of their deaths being laughter. That’s not necessarily the case for other killings, which range from blasé to sadistic, and the only reason they count as entertainment is because the filmmakers have primed the audience to accept them as such.

After a relatively solid setup, where Wheatley and Kolstad seem to take their time getting to know the main characters, the second half of the film is pure action that dispenses with good storytelling. Like many action movies, there are double crosses, surprise revelations, and more, but the filmmakers don’t seem to care about making sense of any character arcs. All they care about is delivering mayhem, and they succeed on that front.

Odenkirk has perfected the mild-yet-intimidating nature of his action characters, and it is satisfying to see him get the better of those who have done him wrong. He doesn’t run or jump like fellow 63-year-old Tom Cruise, but — with the help of fast-paced editing — he still makes for a credible action hero. The only other actors of any note in the film are Winkler, who’s a nice presence with his sardonic personality, and Lena Headey, whose small role doesn't match up with her experience.

You have to have a certain mindset to enjoy a film like Normal, but if you can abide its over-the-top bloodiness, it’s a serviceable action film. Few would have expected Odenkirk to take on these kinds of roles at this late stage of his career, but he’s making the most of his opportunities.

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Normal opens in theaters on April 17.

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