Weekend Event Planner

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

The Masked Singer National Tour will be at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie on July 15.

Photo courtesy of Fox

It's a packed weekend around Dallas, with a couple of big-name concerts, six new local theater productions, a visit from a comedian-turned-actress-turned-comedian again, an exhibition of some extraordinary playhouses, a popular reality TV competition in the flesh, and a gaming and music festival hosted by a popular YouTuber.

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, July 14

Jon Pardi in concert
Country singer Jon Pardi has been popular since his debut in 2014, with all three of his albums getting to the top three on the Billboard Country charts, including 2016's No. 1 California Sunrise. He's gone from opening act for Luke Bryan to headliner at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth to this starring show at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving. Fans will likely hear music from Pardi's upcoming new album, Mr. Saturday Night, set to be released in September.

Second Thought Theatre presents Pass Over
In Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Pass Over, Moses and Kitch talk smack, pass the time, and hope that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space and disrupts their plans. Evoking heartbreak, hope, and joy, the play crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, illuminating the unquestionable human spirit of young, black men looking for a way out. The production runs through July 30 at Bryant Hall.

Verb Kulture presents Rhythm and Rhapsody
Rhythm and Rhapsody is an artistic fusion of storytelling and poetic expression that brings poetry, rhythm, and dance together to share stories that reflect social challenges in the African American community. Audiences will be drawn into a whirlwind of emotions by the poets and dancers as they take them on a journey reflecting past and present issues in America. The production, part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, will take place in Hamon Hall inside Winspear Opera House through Saturday.

Cry Havoc Theater Company presents Women of Troy (UPDATE - 7/15/22: Due to a positive COVID test within the cast, the remainder of the performances have been canceled.)
In Women of Troy, five young women are imprisoned for reasons beyond their control. They must work together to fight not only for their own lives, but for the lives of countless others. Through sharing their stories they must convince their captors of a simple truth — in union, there is strength. A retelling of the classic Trojan Women, initially inspired by the controversial Texas "heartbeat bill," SB8, this play has found new relevance in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. There will be five performances through Sunday at South Side on Lamar.

Improv Addison presents Mary Lynn Rajskub
Mary Lynn Rajskub is making a return to stand up comedy after a long career as a versatile and dynamic actress, writer, and performer. Over the years, she's had roles in TV shows like 24, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Flight of the Conchords, and Modern Family, and in movies like Julie and Julia, Sweet Home Alabama, Dude Where’s My Car, and Roadtrip. She'll perform five times through Saturday at Improv Addison.

Friday, July 15

Dallas CASA presents Parade of Playhouses
Dallas CASA will present the annual Parade of Playhouses, which will showcase 13 custom created children’s playhouses. For this event at NorthPark Center, generous architects, builders, organizations, corporations, and individuals design, build, and donate children’s playhouses to raise funds for Dallas CASA. Playhouse designs for 2022 include a lighthouse, windmill, Mars spaceship, and an aquarium, plus a playhouse based on the historic Williams House in University Park. Visitors can view and bid on the playhouses through July 31.

Mainstage Irving - Las Colinas presents Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Both touching and hilarious, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a zany musical set in sexy 1980s Madrid, featuring the unravelling world of Pepa, Pepa’s wandering lover, the lover’s nutty ex-wife, their son and his fiancée, Pepa’s ditzy friend and that friend’s suspicious boyfriend, plus a lawyer, and a talkative taxi driver. The production will run through July 30 at Irving Arts Center.

Outcry Theatre presents House of Stairs
House of Stairs centers on Peter, Lola, Blossom, Abigail, and Oliver, five 16-year-old orphans living in a near future who are brought to a place unlike anything they have ever known. It has no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless flights of stairs leading nowhere — except back to the machine. The five will learn to love the machine, will let it rule their lives. But will they let it kill their souls? The production will run through July 24 at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre.

The Masked Singer National Tour (UPDATE: This event has now been canceled.)
The Masked Singer National Tour will bring the No. 1 show on television to the next level on its first-ever North American tour. Hosted by Joel Dommett, host of The Masked Singer UK (replacing Natasha Bedingfield, who had to drop out due to illness), audiences can expect to see their favorite characters brought to life, as well as surprise celebrity guests, new performances, and a can’t-miss spectacular live show. The show will be at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Uptown Players presents Kinky Boots
Uptown Players continues its season with the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots. The hit musical tells the story of Charlie Price, a factory owner struggling to save his family business. Having inherited a shoe factory from his late father, Charlie forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer and drag queen Lola to produce a line of high-heeled boots to continue his father’s legacy and save the business. In the process, Charlie and Lola discover that they are not so different after all. The production will run through July 31 at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Saturday, July 16

TimTheTatman's Tailgate
TimTheTatman's Tailgate, hosted by one of the world's biggest YouTube gamers, will feature tournaments for Fortnite and Pong; musical performances by Kane Brown, Mitchell Tenpenny, EDM DJ Arty, and Tool tribute band Schism; yard games and arcade games; and more. The two-day event will take place on Saturday and Sunday at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.

Brandi Carlile in concert
Brandi Carlile is one of those singers whose reputation goes way beyond the actual success she's had in the music industry. Unlike some overnight success artists, Carlile has put in a lot work in her career, releasing five albums dating back to 2005 before she finally broke through with 2018's By the Way, I Forgive You, which earned her three Grammy Awards. She'll play her most high-profile local concert to date at Dos Equis Pavilion in support of her latest album, 2021's In These Silent Days.

Jon Pardi will play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on July 14.

Jon Pardi/Facebook

Jon Pardi will play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on July 14.

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Movie Review

Legendary filmmaker makes tepid return with meandering film Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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