Events News

The latest event cancellations in Dallas-Fort Worth due to coronavirus

CultureMap's annual Tastemaker Awards, scheduled for May 7, has been rescheduled for July 30.

Photo by Ashley Gongora

As concerns regarding the spread of the coronavirus and government restrictions on group gatherings continue, more event cancellations and postponements are being announced every day in Dallas-Fort Worth. In an effort to keep you as up-to-date as possible, we'll compile a list of different announcements every week.

Note: Given the pace at which things are happening during these times, cancellations are coming at a rapid clip. To be sure you're up to speed, you may want to check with the presenting organization before going to any event.

Dallas

American Airlines Center: The Sturgill Simpson concert on March 27 has been rescheduled to May 30. Disney On Ice: Road Trip Adventures, scheduled for April 2-5, has been canceled.
AT&T Performing Arts Center: All events at the center's venues - Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre, and Annette Strauss Square - have been canceled through April 29.
CultureMap Tastemaker Awards: CultureMap's annual celebration of the best chefs and restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth, scheduled for May 7, has been postponed to July 30.
Dallas Historical Society: Pour Yourself Into History on April 7 and the Brown Bag Lecture Series on April 14 have been canceled.
Dallas International Film Festival: The biggest film event of the year in Dallas, scheduled for April 16-23, has been postponed, with plans to reschedule for later in the year.
Dallas Observer presents Iron Fork: The foodie event, scheduled for April 29, will be postponed to June 10.
Dallas Opera: Having previously curtailed its schedule, the Dallas Opera canceled the remainder of its 2019-2020 season.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra: DSO has canceled all events through April 29, including the entire SOLUNA Festival. When possible, they will reschedule some concerts.
EarthX: The environmentally-themed festival, scheduled April 23-25, has been canceled. Some programming, including films, will be put online. The film festival will be postponed to the fall.
Four Day Weekend: The comedy troupe has canceled all performances for an undetermined length of time, but they are presenting a virtual show on March 21 to support service industry workers in Dallas and Fort Worth.
Holly Johnson Gallery: The gallery will be open by appointment only for an undetermined length of time. It has extended its current exhibitions.
Meadows Museum: This museum on the SMU campus will close to the public through at least April 6. Its presentation of "Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain," scheduled to open on March 29, will be postponed to an undetermined date.
Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society: The organization has postponed the Distinguished Speaker Luncheon (April 15), Home Tour (April 18), and Classic & Antique Car Show (April 25).
Reunion Tower: The iconic Dallas landmark will be closed through March 30.
Rolling Stones: The legendary rock band has postponed its entire summer tour, including the stop at the Cotton Bowl on May 29. New dates will be announced at an undetermined point in the future.
Taste of Dallas: The food event has been postponed from June 5-7 to September 4-6.
TITAS/Dance Unbound: ChangMu Dance Company on April 11 and RUBBERBAND Dance on May 1 and 2 have been canceled. The Command Performance on June 6 has been rescheduled for August 29.
Undermain Theatre: The theater company has postponed Whither Goest Thou America?, scheduled for April 16-May 2, to June 11-28, and changed The Savage Seconds, scheduled for June 4-14, to May 28-June 7.
Uptown Players: The theater company has postponed their production of Fun Home, scheduled for April 10-26, to an undetermined date. The postponement will also affect the schedules of future productions.
White Rock Home Tour: The annual home tour in the neighborhoods surrounding White Rock Lake has been postponed to an undetermined date.

Addison

WaterTower Theatre: The theater company has postponed its spring gala on March 27 to an undetermined date. They have also postponed their production of I Am My Own Wife from April 16-May 3 to July 16-August 2.

Fort Worth

Bass Performance Hall: All events through May 17 have been canceled, including two Fort Worth Symphony concerts. The Suzy Bogguss concert on May 2 has been rescheduled for September 25.
Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth: The final two concerts of the classical music group's season, scheduled for April 4 and May 9, have been canceled.
The Cliburn: The classical music organization has canceled all events through May 30, including the 2020 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, which will be rescheduled.
Fort Worth Opera: The annual Fort Worth Opera Festival, scheduled for April 17-May 3, has been canceled, as well as the concert featuring soprano Talise Trevigne on April 22 and Pops at the Pavilion on March 29. The Masked Gala, scheduled for April 18, will be rescheduled for a later date. The McCammon Voice Competition has been postponed until fall 2020.
Four Day Weekend: The comedy troupe has canceled all performances for an undetermined length of time, but they are presenting a virtual show on March 21 to support service industry workers in Fort Worth and Dallas.
Tarrant County Book Festival: The festival on April 25, headlined by Jenna Bush Hager, has been canceled. It will return in 2021.
WWE presents Monday Night Raw: The first visit of the WWE to Dickies Arena, scheduled for March 23, has been rescheduled as Friday Night Smackdown on July 31.

event-planner

Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

---

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

movies film