Weekend Event Planner

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

This weekend in Dallas will be choose-your-own-adventure in terms of events. If you like celebrities, you'll have your choice of big name singers, actors, and reality TV stars. If you like comedy, you'll have a festival and three chances to see a national comedian. There will also be theatrical experiences for kids and adults, an aquatic art display, cultural festival, giant car show, 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 28

DFW Auto Show
The DFW Auto Show gives automotive enthusiasts the opportunity to experience the latest and greatest vehicles manufacturers have to offer. Taking place at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas through Sunday, it will treat visitors to displays from the manufacturers who use the show as a platform to introduce current and future year models.

Dallas Comedy Festival
The Dallas Comedy Festival will celebrate a decade of shows, workshops, and bringing comedy from across the country to Dallas. This year’s festival is the biggest yet, with 213 performers, 46 shows/panels/podcasts, and five stages at venues like Dallas Comedy House, Off the Record, and Independent Bar & Kitchen. Headliners include Daniel Van Kirk, Jaime Moyer and Maribeth Monroe, and The Late 90s. The festival will take place through Saturday.

Disney On Ice presents Mickey's Search Party
Mickey Mouse and his friends will be on hand at Disney On Ice presents Mickey’s Search Party, a brand-new adventure filled with world-class skating, high-flying acrobatics, and unexpected stunts. Taking place at American Airlines Center through Sunday, the show will feature characters from a variety of Disney movies following Captain Hook’s treasure map and looking for clues in the search for Tinker Bell in immersive, fantastic worlds.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents #HearHere: Karamo Live!
Just two weeks removed from the season 3 premiere of Queer Eye, the show's Culture Expert, Karamo Brown, will appear at Winspear Opera House with Karamo Live!. The tour is in support of the release of his first book, Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing and Hope. Karamo challenges audience members to consider how their shared labels, burdens and experiences have shaped the way they feel about themselves, and how they relate to the world around them.

Friday, March 29

Texas Music Revolution & Rodeo
KHYI The Range is hosting Texas Music Revolution & Rodeo 23 presented by Deep Ellum Brewing Co. at Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve in Plano. Performers will include Junior Brown, Max Stalling, and Big Gus & Swampadelic on Friday, and Robert Earl Keen, LeeAnn Womack, Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers,Vincent Neil Emerson, Jaime Wyatt, and Zane Williams on Saturday.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Leslie Odom, Jr.
Friday will be T-minus four days until Hamilton finally makes its way to Dallas, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will celebrate by presenting Leslie Odom Jr., who won a Tony Award as the original Aaron Burr. The concert, taking place daily through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will include Broadway, jazz, and other standards. The concert will be conducted by Jeff Tyzik.

Dallas Theater Center presents Twelfth Night
One of Shakespeare’s finest comedies, Twelfth Night, centers on Viola, who has just lost everything in a shipwreck, including her twin brother. In order to get work, she’s had to disguise herself as man. When hired as a servant to Duke Orsino, she encounters yet one more problem: she’s totally in love with him. Unable to express her feelings without blowing her cover, Viola sets out to fulfill the Duke’s orders, which include wooing another woman. The production will run through April 28 at Wyly Theatre.

Saturday, March 30

Aquashella
Aquashella is an interactive event celebrating aquatic art in all forms. It features coral vendors, freshwater fish breeders, leading industry manufacturers, fish-related gifts, and visual artists from across the U.S. and one-of-a-kind immersive art installations inspired by the art of aquascaping and underwater creatures. It also features contests for aquascaping, live seminars with experts and YouTubers in the field, raffle prizes, kids' activities, and more. The event will take place on Saturday and Sunday in Grand Place at Fair Park.

Festival of Joy
Kalachandji’s and the Crow Museum of Asian Art present the second annual Festival of Joy, the kick-off for the Dallas Mayor’s Cultural Month. The event will begin with a parade from the Dallas Museum of Art on Flora Street to Klyde Warren Park, where there will be classical music and dance performances, a variety of cultural and educational exhibits, a free vegetarian feast, and more.

Ali Wong: The Milk & Money Tour
Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress who's best known for her two hit Netflix specials, Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife. She's also voicing the co-lead in the upcoming Netflix animation show Tuca and Bertie, alongside Tiffany Haddish, and starring in a Netflix movie that she co-wrote with her longtime friend and creative collaborator, Randall Park. She'll perform twice, Saturday and Monday, at Winspear Opera House, and also at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory on Tuesday.

Rita Ora in concert
Fresh off her appearance at MTV Re:Define on Friday, Rita Ora will put on a concert at The Statler. The British singer made waves with a series of No. 1 songs in the U.K. off of her 2012 debut album, and she's continued to be in the spotlight thanks to her supporting role as Mia Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. She'll play in support of her 2018 album, Phoenix.

Sunday, March 31

George W. Bush Presidential Center presents Grateful American: A Conversation with Gary Sinise
Award-winning actor and director Gary Sinise will appear at the George W. Bush Presidential Center to tell the story of how he found his calling: To see that those who defend this country and its freedoms are never forgotten. Col. Miguel Howe, USA (Ret.) will lead a conversation with Sinise and discuss his new memoir, Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service.

Karamo Brown will be at Winspear Opera House on March 28.

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Karamo Brown will be at Winspear Opera House on March 28.

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Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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