Lizzo will perform at American Airlines Center on October 28.
Photo courtesy of Lizzo
Singer/rapper/flutist Lizzo's upcoming "The Special Tour" will include a stop at American Airlines Center in Dallas on October 28.
The tour, which will hit 25 cities across North America in Fall 2022, will kick off on September 23 in Sunrise, Florida. She'll also play in Austin on October 25 and Houston on October 26. Atlanta rapper Latto will be the special guest on all dates.
The body-positive superstar has been on a roll in recent weeks, releasing "About Damn Time," the lead single off her forthcoming new album, Special, scheduled for release on July 15. She was also given the relatively rare honor of being both the host and musical guest for the April 16 episode of Saturday Night Live.
Lizzo made her debut on SNL in her breakout year in 2019, during which she released her platinum-selling third album, Cuz I Love You, which featured mega-hits like "Truth Hurts" and "Good As Hell." She went on to win three Grammy Awards in 2020, including Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Traditional R&B Performance.
Fans who pre-save/pre-add Lizzo’s upcoming album at this link will receive early access to purchase tour tickets. The public on-sale date will be Friday, April 29 at 10 am on ticketmaster.com. American Express card members will have first access to purchase tickets before the general public beginning 10 am Tuesday, April 26 through 10 pm Thursday, April 28.
Lizzo is also teaming up with T-Mobile to give T-Mobile customers access to stage-front pit and lower bowl tickets at every U.S. tour stop, even at sold-out shows. Customers can get reserved tickets starting 30 days prior to each show at first-day prices.
Actor Jimmy Stewart, thanks to movies such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Shop Around the Corner, and The Philadelphia Story, had the reputation early in his career as the everyman in Hollywood, someone to whom most audiences could relate. That became even more true when Stewart entered the military during World War II, a period that is explored in the new biopic, Jimmy.
The film was co-produced with Fort Worth-based Papaian Studios and received a red-carpet premiere as part of the Lone Star Film Festival on Wednesday, November 4. Stewart had several ties to Fort Worth, which were celebrated at the event.
Stewart (KJ Apa) was riding high in 1941, coming off his first (and only) Oscar win for The Philadelphia Story. As depicted in the film, his life is upended when he receives a military draft notice as the U.S. prepares for war. He’s determined to serve, but people like studio head Louis B. Mayer (Jason Alexander) try to talk him out of it. Already an experienced pilot, he eventually joins the war in Europe, flying the B-24 bomber.
Despite his celebrity status, Stewart requests to be treated the same as any other soldier, which means flying multiple missions over enemy territory. He moves up the ranks, becoming a leader tasked with, among other things, reporting the deaths of service members to their families. He also starts a friendship that develops into a romance with Lady Julia (Kara Killmer), giving him a distraction from the horrors of war.
Directed by Aaron Burns and written by Justin Strawhand, the film has the clear goal of being a hagiography for Stewart, showing all of his good qualities and few of his bad ones. In fact, the character of Stewart is harder on himself than the actual movie is, chastising himself over the deaths of fellow soldiers that he likely could not have prevented. The filmmakers go to great lengths to show how good and well-respected Stewart was, something that may well be true, but doesn’t make for great drama.
The bulk of the film features Stewart at war, following him and others as they fly multiple missions and commiserate over the price of combat. The sequences are fine, but the film’s budget does not appear to be high, and so the CGI needed to recreate the scenes is noticeably subpar. Because Burns and Strawhand usually keep to surface-level storytelling and don’t go deep on any character besides Stewart, his time at war is engaging but slight.
The film is bookended by Stewart and Frank Capra (Max Casella) making It’s a Wonderful Life, Stewart’s first film after coming back from war. It’s here where the movie becomes most interesting as Stewart, still affected by his war experience, struggles to bring the character of George Bailey to life. The behind-the-scenes look at the film-within-the-film and the recreations of its iconic scenes are catnip for anyone who knows/loves the Christmas classic.
Apa, best known for starring as Archie on the TV show Riverdale, does extremely well as Stewart. He nails Stewart’s quavering voice and the way he ambles about plays right into the actor’s established persona. Casella and Killmer get the most play in supporting roles, and each does solid work as characters trying to understand Stewart. Alexander, Sarah Drew as Hedda Hopper, and Rob Riggle as a colonel each go a little too big in their respective parts.
Jimmy is probably best watched as an approximation of the man Stewart was in the 1940s, not as something that’s completely true to life. The film elides or stretches the truth on multiple occasions, which is par for the course in biopics. It could have used some stronger storytelling to make Stewart feel like a real person, not merely a replica of the famous actor.
