Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It's a relatively light weekend for new events around Dallas, but there are still plenty of interesting choices. They include a competition for young pianists, new local theater, concerts from three legendary singers or bands, the annual Dallas Pride celebration, a festival honoring volunteers, 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, May 30

Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival
The Second Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival will feature 23 young pianists competing for the title. Taking place through June 8, early rounds will be at Caruth Auditorium on the SMU campus, with the final round concert taking place at Meyerson Symphony Center. The festival will also feature a variety of free events, starting with a concert at Klyde Warren Park on Thursday.

The Classics Theatre Project presents Summer and Smoke
One of Tennessee Williams’ most subtle and tender works, Summer and Smoke explores the conflict between the hedonistic body and the lofty spirit. Set in Mississippi, Alma Winemiller, the minister’s daughter, has grown up loving the boy who lives next door. John Buchanan, the doctor’s son, is a wild, adventurous, mischievous pleasure seeker. The romance that almost blooms between the two of them is among the most engaging and heartbreaking love stories in Williams’ canon. The production will run at Margo Jones Theatre at Magnolia Lounge through June 22.

Friday, May 31

Judas Priest in concert with Uriah Heep
The list of bands still going strong after more than 40 years on the scene is very small. Judas Priest debuted in 1974 with Rocka Rolla, and they've rarely gone more than four years between albums ever since. They'll play at the Bomb Factory in support of their latest album, 2018's Firepower, their highest-charting album ever. They'll be joined by opening act Uriah Heep.

Saturday, June 1

Crow Museum of Asian Art presents Master Shen-Long: "Future Retrospective" opening day
The Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas will open "Future Retrospective: Master Shen-Long." Boasting items never before seen in a U.S. museum, it will feature sculptural and dynamic works dating from the 1980s to the present, offering visitors an immersive installation to explore and experience the artist’s practice. The exhibit will remain on display through August 23, 2020.

Dallas Pride Weekend
Dallas Pride Weekend, which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community, includes a festival featuring music, community and merchant vendor booths, pet adoptions, live entertainment, and more at Fair Park on Saturday. That will be followed by the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade on Sunday, which will wind through the Fair Park grounds with parade announcers, and food and beverage along the route.

VolunteerNow presents Voly in the Park
VolunteerNow will bring to life its innovative volunteer-matching platform VOLY.org at the sixth annual Voly in the Park. Taking place at Klyde Warren Park, the event will feature an afternoon of hands-on volunteer projects, live entertainment, and 75 nonprofits in need of volunteers. Attendees can connect with nonprofits, play tic tac toe with the Ronald McDonald House, meeting some of Equest’s mini horses, and more.

TITAS presents Command Performance
Command Performance always delivers one of the most exciting performances of the year. It features artists from leading dance companies delivering spectacular, surprising, and jaw-dropping performances. Taking place at Winspear Opera House, it includes works created specifically for this gala performance by some of the world’s leading choreographers, such as Twyla Tharp, Jessica Lang, Bridget L. Moore, and Wang Yuanyuan.

Joe Jackson in concert
Another musician who's been at it for a long time, Joe Jackson, will bring his Four Decade Tour to Majestic Theatre. Jackson will draw on five of his albums, each representing a decade: Look Sharp (1979), Night and Day (1982), Laughter and Lust (1991), Rain (2008), and his new album, Fool (2019). The concert will include a couple of songs from other albums and some new covers.

Sunday, June 2

An Acoustic Evening with John Hiatt
The weekend closes with yet another legendary musician making his return to Dallas. John Hiatt also released his debut album in 1974, and he has been extremely busy ever since, releasing 24 albums in 45 years, including 2018's The Eclipse Sessions. This concert at The Bomb Factory will be a special acoustic one featuring songs from throughout his illustrious career.

TITAS presents Command Performance at Winspear Opera House on June 1.

Photo courtesy of AT&T Performing Arts Center

TITAS presents Command Performance at Winspear Opera House on June 1.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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