Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Theater and music are the big things to see around Dallas this weekend, as they're the focus of nearly every event on our list. They include a Tony-winning play, another play aimed at breaking down stereotypes, acrobatics on ice, no fewer than five big-name concerts, a celebration of movie music, stellar dance, 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, June 13

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Broadway Series: The Play that Goes Wrong
What would happen if Sherlock Holmes and Monty Python had an illegitimate Broadway baby? You’d get the award-winning smash comedy The Play that Goes Wrong. Welcome to opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous, with an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). The play will run at Winspear Opera House through Sunday.

WaterTower Theatre presents Unveiled: A One Woman Play
Five Muslim women from around the world sip tea and share stories about faith, culture, and prejudice in this groundbreaking one-woman show, written and performed by critically acclaimed playwright and actor Rohina Malik. Unveiled is an uplifting and universal performance sure to break down stereotypes of Muslim women. It will run at WaterTower Theatre in Addison through June 30.

Cirque du Soleil: Crystal
Crystal is not just an ice show; it’s the very first experience on ice from Cirque du Soleil. Led by Crystal, the misfit heroine, who takes the audience on an exhilarating tale of self-discovery as she dives into a world of her own imagination, world-class ice skaters and acrobats claim their new frozen playground with speed and fluidity as they challenge the laws of gravity with never-before-seen acrobatics. The show will be at Comerica Center in Frisco through Sunday.

Friday, June 14

Florida Georgia Line in concert with Dan + Shay, Morgan Wallen, and Hardy
Country duo Florida Georgia Line hit the ground running in 2012, reaching No. 1 with their debut album, Here's to the Good Times, a feat they've repeated with their next three albums, including their new album, Can't Say I Ain't Country. They play at Dos Equis Pavilion, joined by opening acts Dan + Shay, Morgan Wallen, and Hardy.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Star Trek and Beyond
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present an evening of the greatest science fiction movie scores ever written, including Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, E.T The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars, and more. The concert, under the direction of Jeff Tyzik, will play at Meyerson Symphony Center through Sunday.

Paul McCartney in concert
Sir Paul McCartney, who will turn 77 years old on June 18, remains as much of an entertainer as he was with The Beatles 50 years ago. And now he's showing us new tricks: The legendary singer, making his first appearance in Dallas-Fort Worth since 2014, will put on the first major concert at Globe Life Park in Arlington in its 25-year history. He's touring in support of his 2018 album, Egypt Station.

Bruce Wood Dance presents Embrace
Embrace features the return of Joy Bollinger’s highly acclaimed Carved In Stone, along with a world premiere from renowned choreographer Garrett Smith. The program concludes with the re-staging of Bruce Wood’s mysterious Dark Matter, which tells the story of a journey of a motley crew of dancers looking for a way home. The company will perform at Moody Performance Hall on Friday or Saturday.

"Weird Al” Yankovic in concert
Someone who writes and performs comedy songs for a living is not supposed to have an extended career, but somehow "Weird Al" Yankovic is almost as popular as ever, after 36 years in the business. His last album, 2014's Mandatory Fun, was the first No. 1 album of his career. He'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving as part of his Strings Attached tour, featuring a 71-piece orchestra.

Saturday, June 15

Texas Summer Jam with Randy Rogers & Friends
Whataburger and Randy Rogers will present the Second Annual Texas Summer Jam at Toyota Music Factory in Irving. The festival will include a non-ticketed pre-party at the Texas Lottery Plaza Stage starting at 3:30 pm, featuring performances by Ray Johnston Band, Wynn Williams, and Holly Tucker. The Main Stage inside The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory will kick off at 7 pm and include performances by Randy Rogers Band, Josh Abbott Band, and William Clark Green.

Hootie & The Blowfish in concert with Barenaked Ladies
If you want to make anyone who came of age in the '90s feel old, you just have to point them to this concert, which has Hootie & The Blowfish celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Cracked Rear View. The band, which will soon release their first new album since 2005, will play at Dos Equis Pavilion alongside another '90s mainstay, Barenaked Ladies.

Sunday, June 16

Clint Black and Trace Adkins in concert with Pam Tillis
Local country station 99.5 The Wolf will celebrate its 21st birthday in a big way with a concert featuring country stars Clint Black, Trace Adkins, and Pam Tillis. Black and Adkins are appearing as part of their Hits. Hats. History. Tour, a nod to the long history of each in the industry and their shared past when they toured together in the '90s. They'll play at The Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Paul McCartney will play at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 14.

Paul McCartney at the Frank Erwin Center arms open

Photo by Chad Wadsworth

Paul McCartney will play at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 14.

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Movie Review

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma gives horror a surreal twist

Photo courtesy of MUBI

Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

The horror genre really ramped up in the 1970s and ‘80s, bringing with it a new subgenre - the slasher - that gave audiences new visuals of gore, but also a reliance on sexism and homophobia that would come to define the era. The new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma wrestles with that legacy in ways that are funny, thought-provoking, and downright strange.

Kris (Hannah Einbinder) is a queer filmmaker who has been hired to reboot the moldy IP that is the Camp Miasma franchise, one that was fresh in the 1970s but which numerous shlocky sequels have rendered irrelevant. In an attempt to get to know the property better, Kris has scored a meeting with the reclusive Billy (Gillian Anderson), the star of the original film who has shunned the public eye for decades.

Turns out that Billy lives deep in the woods at Camp Rivoli, which served as the location for the first film. As Kris tries to get to know Billy and convince her to be a part of the new film, she starts to fall under Billy’s spell and the lore of the franchise as a whole. That includes believing that the movie’s villain, Little Death - a transgender person who has an air conditioning vent as a head/mask - may not just be a character created for the movies.

Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), the film at first feels like it’s going to go the straight-up comedy route, with comic explosions of blood, a strange fascination with candy brands, and a production design that does nothing to hide that the two main actors are on a movie set with painted backdrops. This is backed up by Kris’ phone conversations with her girlfriend, Mari (Jasmine Savoy Brown) and her agent (Sarah Sherman), as well as numerous other details.

But the film starts to go down the surreal route the longer Kris stays at the camp with Billy, especially when they sit down to watch the original Camp Miasma. An extended sequence shows a good amount of that film-within-the-film, demonstrating why Kris and Billy have a love/hate relationship with the property. For Kris, though, the lines between the film and the real world start to blur, and Schoenbrun uses a variety of out-there elements to drive the point home.

The final act of the film can barely be described as Kris goes deeper down the rabbit hole, with Schoenbrun using her film to comment on the horror genre as a whole, its treatment of women and LGBT people, the movie industry, and more. All the while the “camp” of Camp Miasma maintains a presence, with candy wrappers showing up everywhere and the tongue-in-cheek references to Little Death (the French term La petite mort, which means “the little death,” is a euphemism for orgasm).

Einbinder, an Emmy winner for Hacks, is the perfect person to inhabit her role. Her established real-life and fictional personas color everything she does in the film, with her enthusiasm and curiosity shining through. Anderson leans heavily into another reference - Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard - to create a character that is as mysterious as she is alluring. Supporting actors like Brown, Sherman, Patrick Fischler, Dylan Baker, and Eva Victor keep the movie at the right pitch all the way through.

While other films have made fun of horror movie tropes before, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma finds a wholly unique way of doing so. It’s a funny and daring trip into the psyches of two women who may be victims of their own obsessions, and of the movies that made them that way.

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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is now playing in select theaters

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