Weekend Event Planner

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

This weekend around Dallas will feature a wide variety of events, with something to please any age. They include a circus-themed production with an accompanying children's festival, a play centered on a former Texas governor, a fan celebration with celebrity guests, the start of a new opera season, a must-see scientific exhibition, a concert by a famous boy band, 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, October 17

Laughter League presents The Petite Palace
The Petite Palace is an intimate, eclectic tent show that will take audiences on an unparalleled journey. The production combines the dazzling, daring aura of Cirque du Soleil with the madcap mirth of Saturday Night Live. The Petite Palace, running through November 3 at Bath House Cultural Center, provides an up-close personal experience that is part circus, part variety show, part cabaret.

Dallas Theater Center presents Ann
Written by Emmy Award-winner Holland Taylor and starring Libby Villari, Ann is a no-holds-barred portrait of Ann Richards, the legendary governor of Texas. This inspiring and hilarious play brings audiences face-to-face with a complex, colorful, and captivating character bigger than the state from which she hailed. The one-woman play will run at Kalita Humphreys Theater through November 10.

Femme It Forward feat. Monica, Ashanti, Mya, and Keri Hilson
Femme it Forward is a multi-format series of all-female curated lineups spotlighting the entertainment industry’s most creative and accomplished female visionaries, both on the stage and behind the scenes. The Dallas concert, taking place at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, will feature performances by Monica, Ashanti, Mya, and Keri Hilson.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Dvořák's Cello Concerto
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will perform Dvořák's Cello Concerto, considered the greatest ever composed for the instrument. A work of symphonic grandeur and passion, it memorializes a girl Dvořák loved but lost with a melody from one of his own songs played in the ethereal high register of the cello. The concert, featuring cellist Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, will also include Schumann's Symphony No. 2. There will be four performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Friday, October 18

Dallas Fan Days
Dallas Fan Days brings together thousands of Texans to celebrate their love of all things fiction and fantasy at one of the largest fan events in Texas. Celebrity guests will include Ron Perlman, Anthony Daniels, Patrick Warburton, Matthew Modine, and more. The event, which also includes interactive adventures, gaming competitions, panels, and more, will be at Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas through Sunday.

The Dallas Opera presents The Magic Flute
To open its 2019-2020 season, The Dallas Opera will present Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final operatic masterpiece, The Magic Flute. The intrepid Prince Tamino is saved from a dragon by the mysterious Queen of the Night, then dispatched to rescue her daughter from Sarastro, the formidable high priest. The funny and profound opera will run at Winspear Opera House through November 3.

Saturday, October 19

Perot Museum of Nature and Science presents "Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind"
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science will present fossils of two recently discovered ancient human relatives in the limited-run exhibition, "Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind." This exhibition will mark the first time that ancient hominin fossils have traveled for public display since “Lucy” between 2007 and 2013. The exhibition will be on display through March 22, 2020.

Laughter League presents Dallas International Children's Festival
The inaugural Dallas International Children’s Festival will celebrate the diverse cultural heritage of Dallas with a variety of performers, circus stars giving tips on how to juggle, spin plates, and hang from a trapeze, a Ninja Warrior obstacle course with demonstrations by American Ninja Warrior finalist Grant McCartney, and much more. The festival takes place at Bath House Cultural Center.

Tenacious D in concert
Over the past 25 years, Jack Black has led two lives. In one, he's the actor known for movies like High Fidelity, School of Rock, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. In the other, he's part of the comedy rock duo Tenacious D with fellow actor Kyle Gass. While they've never reached the heights of someone like "Weird Al" Yankovic, they've maintained a loyal following that's allowed them to release four albums, including 2018's Post-Apocalypto. They'll play at The Bomb Factory.

State Fair of Texas Concert Series: 98 Degrees
The '90s and early 2000s were absolutely lousy with boy bands, and 98 Degrees was near the top of the list. The group, comprised of Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons, had a great four year run thanks to songs like "Because of You," "The Hardest Thing," "Thank God I Found You," and "Give Me Just One Night." The foursome will perform for State Fair of Texas attendees at Fair Park.

Heritage Oak Cliff Home Tour
Heritage Oak Cliff is hosting its 45th annual home hour, the oldest and longest-running home tour in the city of Dallas. This year’s tour includes 10 homes from diverse Oak Cliff neighborhoods, showcasing a variety of architectural styles. Proceeds from the tour, taking place on Saturday and Sunday, will fund Oak Cliff neighborhood grants. Tickets can be purchased at Simply Austin at Bishop Arts.

Dallas Theater Center will present Ann at Kalita Humphreys Theater through November 10.

Photo by Karen Almond

Dallas Theater Center will present Ann at Kalita Humphreys Theater through November 10.

tours concerts theater event-planner

Movie Review

Jessica Chastain drama Dreams stumbles through steamy romance

Photo courtesy of Teorema

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams.

The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.

It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.

Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).

Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.

But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.

Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.

Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.

Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.

---

Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

movies film