Weekend Event Planner

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

Snoop Dogg surprised the Club Nomadic patrons who stuck around late.

Photo by F. Carter Smith

Theater, music, and the wonders of nature are the themes for this weekend in and around Dallas. There will be four concerts with bold-faced headliners, two new local theater productions and a national Broadway tour, and beautiful flowers showcased at two different nature events. You can also enjoy some classical music, an extra artful dance performance, and a visit from a popular podcast.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, April 7

Lyle Lovett and his Acoustic Group in concert
Lyle Lovett, the Texas-based singer, composer, and actor, fuses elements of Americana, swing, jazz, folk, gospel, and blues in a convention-defying manner that breaks down barriers. Although he hasn't released a full album since 2012's Release Me, he is a regular presence in and around Dallas, playing here once or twice a year. Lovett will play three consecutive nights at Majestic Theatre, joined by Nikki Lane on Thursday, Hayes Carll on Friday, and Old 97's on Saturday.

Theatre Three presents Stede Bonnet: A F*cking Pirate Musical
At long last, following the pandemic and construction delays, Theatre Three will return back to their home on Routh Street with a world premiere production, Stede Bonnet: A F*cking Pirate Musical. Stede, depressed and exhausted of his luxurious life, chooses to leave everything behind and become the best pirate in the world. One problem … he doesn’t know what he’s doing. After a run-in with the dramatic and conniving Blackbeard, Stede wonders if he’s made a terrible mistake. The production will run through May 1.

Jazmine Sullivan in concert
R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan has been a mainstay in the genre for years, notching two No. 1 albums on the Billboard R&B charts in her first three releases. She also earned 12 Grammy nominations over 11 years, but came home every time without a trophy until just four days ago, when she won two awards, including Best R&B album. She'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving in support of her 2021 EP, Heaux Tales.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Jesus Christ Superstar
The North American tour of Jesus Christ Superstar celebrates 50 epic years since the original rock opera concept album release that began this musical theatre phenomenon. The musical is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary series of events during the final weeks in the life of Jesus Christ, as seen through the eyes of Judas. Reflecting the rock roots that defined a generation, the legendary score includes "I Don’t Know How to Love Him," "Gethsemane," and "Superstar." The production runs at the Music Hall at Fair Park through April 17.

Friday, April 8

Ennis Bluebonnet Trails Festival
Take a road trip south to the Ennis Bluebonnet Trails Festival, celebrating 70 years of bluebonnet trails. It includes vendors, food, a beer garden, wine wander, and live entertainment. Music on the Main stage on Friday night will feature Infinite Journey, a Journey tribute band, while country music artist Rick Trevino will headline on Saturday night. The festival takes place through Sunday in Historical Downtown Ennis, while the bluebonnet trails can be enjoyed throughout the month of April. Read more about the Ennis bluebonnets here, and bluebonnets throughout DFW and Texas here.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique"
Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique," featuring conductor Fabio Luisi, violinist Karen Gomyo, and trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth. Selections for the concert, running through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will include Einem's Capriccio, Strauss' Duett-Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon with String Orchestra and Harp, and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

Uptown Players presents Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song
Uptown Players will open their season with Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, a new and shortened revival of Fierstein’s original 1983 Torch Song Trilogy. The play follows the life of Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish drag queen who makes it his life journey to find happiness in 1970s New York in the midst of homophobia and intolerance, even by his own family and partners. The pioneering gay drama reminds us of the universal struggle between love and fear, and the circumstances we cannot change. It will run through April 17 at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

TITAS/Unfiltered presents Compagnie Marie Chouinard
Compagnie Marie Chouinard will make their Texas debut with Jerrome Bosch: Le Jardin des Delicess (Hieronymus Bosch: Garden of Earthly Delights). Watching the performance is to step into Bosch’s extraordinary tryptic and viscerally experience this painting as never before. Expertly choreographed, complex yet stunningly unfiltered, this dance work is a masterpiece within a masterpiece. There will performances on both Friday and Saturday night at Moody Performance Hall.

Saturday, April 9

Kings of The West with Snoop Dogg & Ice Cube
Both Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube are icons of the rap/hip hop genre, with both of their solo careers dating back to the early 1990s. But neither of them is content to let the new generation have their mantle, as they've each released new solo albums in recent years, and they also released a new album with the name of their supergroup, Mt. Westmore. They'll perform at Dos Equis Pavilion as part of their Kings of the West tour.

Lovett or Leave It: Live or Else Tour
On the podcast Lovett or Leave It, Jon Lovett, a former Obama speechwriter and co-host of Pod Save America, is joined by comedians, actors, journalists, and Friends of the Pod for a roundup of the week's top news. At this event at The Factory at Deep Ellum, he'll be joined by writer/comedian Akilah Hughes and Luke Warford, Democratic candidate for Texas Railroad Commission.

Sunday, April 10

Dallas Arboretum presents Dallas Blooms: "Birds in Paradise"
Sunday is the last day for the Dallas Arboretum's annual Dallas Blooms event, and right on cue, the garden's 125 Japanese cherry trees have begun to bloom, with their 3,000 azaleas about to burst forth as well. The festival of nature also includes larger-than-life peacock topiaries and more than 500,000 spring blooming bulbs to create the largest and most colorful floral display in the Southwest.

Charli XCX in concert
Pop singer Charli XCX has been a big name on the music scene since her 2014 breakout song, "Boom Clap," as well as "Fancy," her collaboration with Iggy Azalea the same year. She's gone on to work with big names like Ty Dolla Sign, David Guetta, and Rita Ora, and her new album, Crash, is the first to reach the top 10 of the Billboard 200 in her career. She'll perform at House of Blues Dallas.

Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg will perform at Dos Equis Pavilion on April 9.

Houston, EA Sports Bowl at Club Nomadic, Jan 2016, Snoop Dogg

Photo by F. Carter Smith

Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg will perform at Dos Equis Pavilion on April 9.

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Movie Review

Film sequel Avatar: Fire and Ash is a technical and visual feast

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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