Events News

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

Caroline Bowman in the national tour of Frozen

Frozen fans will just have to let it go that the stage musical, scheduled for Dallas from June 17-July 12, has been canceled.

Photo by Deen Van Meer

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 or venue regarding the status of any particular event.

Dallas

An Evening with Josh Ritter: A Book of Gold Thrown Open: This concert, scheduled for May 20 at The Kessler, has been postponed to an undetermined date.
Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Spring Celebration: This performance, scheduled for May 15-17 at Wyly Theatre, has been canceled.
Dallas Summer Musicals presents Disney's Frozen: The highly-anticipated stop by the national tour of the Disney musical, scheduled for June 17-July 12 at the Music Hall at Fair Park, has been canceled. DSM is attempting to bring back the musical at some point "within the next few seasons."
David Crosby & the Sky Trails Band: This concert, scheduled for May 26 at Granada Theater, has been postponed to an undetermined date.
DreamHack Dallas: The e-sports event, originally scheduled for May and then postponed to August, has been postponed until an undetermined date in 2021.
Eagles: The return visit of the classic rock group, which had postponed its concert on March 17 at American Airlines Center to October 21, has rescheduled it again to September 21, 2021.
Explosions in the Sky: This concert, scheduled for May 29 at The Bomb Factory, has been canceled.
Foals and Local Natives: This concert, scheduled for May 29 at South Side Ballroom, has been canceled.
Heroes for Children presents Heroes & Handbags: The fundraising luncheon featuring an appearance by author Mitch Albom, originally April 24 at The Ritz-Carlton, has been rescheduled for September 25.
Jhené Aiko: This concert, scheduled for May 22 at The Bomb Factory, has been postponed to an undetermined date.
The Lumineers: The folk rock band was one of the last holdouts, but they have finally canceled all of their May and June concerts, including the May 16 date at Dos Equis Pavilion.
Nasher Sculpture Center presents Soundings: Sylvia Milo - The Other Mozart: This music event, scheduled for May 1, has been postponed to an undetermined date.
Scooby-Doo! and The Lost City of Gold: This one-off theatrical production, scheduled for June 4 at Majestic Theatre, has been postponed to an undetermined date.
Tame Impala: This concert, scheduled for July 24 at American Airlines Center, has been postponed to an undetermined date.

Fort Worth

Charles Schwab Challenge: As of now, the annual PGA tour stop at Colonial Country Club, originally May 21-24, will be the restart of the tour's season on June 11-14, although it's not clear if spectators will be allowed.
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra: The symphony has canceled its final two remaining May performances at Bass Performance Hall, including Enigma Variations and Brahms 2 on May 21, and Kenny G, May 22-24.

Addison

Improv Addison: The comedy club has canceled all shows through May, including appearances by Margaret Cho (May 15-17) and Gary Owen (May 21-24). Rescheduled shows include Natasha Leggero & Moshe Kasher (now October 1-3), Bobby Lee (October 16-18), Bassem Youssef (November 27-29), and Eddie Griffin (January 8-9, 2021).

Arlington

Improv Arlington: The comedy club has canceled all shows through May, including an appearance by Craig Robinson (May 16-17). Rescheduled shows include Shawn Wayans (now July 24-25) and Jay Pharoah (October 1-3).
Theatre Arlington presents Damn Yankees: This production, which had previously been rescheduled to May 15-June 7, has been tentatively rescheduled for August 7-30.

The Colony

Volunteers of America Classic: As part of a shifting of the entire LPGA season, the golf tournament at Golf Clubs at The Tribute has changed from its original dates of September 28-October 4 to November 30-December 6.

Farmers Branch

The Firehouse Theatre: The theater company's production of Rock of Ages, scheduled for May 7-24, has been rescheduled for October 1-18. Consequently, they have canceled October’s production of Urinetown.

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.

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

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Movie Review

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