Weekend Event Planner

These are the 14 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It's an extraordinarily busy weekend around Dallas, with multiple worthy events not making the cut. Those that did include a quartet of big-name comedy shows, two new local theater productions and one new local opera production, an appearance by a best-selling author, a music festival, an air show, a fantastic magician, a huge country 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 24

DMA Arts & Letters Live: John Grisham
The Guardians, John Grisham’s latest legal thriller, delivers pulse-pounding suspense coupled with some of his most inventive twists and turns yet. It centers on Quincy Miller, a young black man wrongfully convicted of killing his lawyer, and Cullen Post, a lawyer for an innocence group who is determined to get Miller free. Grisham will be in conversation with author and lawyer Talmage Boston at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

WaterTower Theatre presents Sister Act
After witnessing a murder, disco diva Deloris Van Cartier is put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won't be found: a convent. Finding herself at odds with a rigid lifestyle and the uptight Mother Superior, Deloris uses her unique flair and singing talent to inspire the choir, breathing new life into the church and community. The musical will play at WaterTower Theatre in Addison through November 10.

Friday, October 25

Commemorative Air Force presents Wings Over Dallas WWII Airshow
Wings Over Dallas, taking place at Dallas Executive Airport through Sunday, features spectacular flying demonstrations, battle re-enactments, World War II veteran appearances, living history encampments, hands-on family activities, aircraft rides, cockpit tours, and more. This year’s show will include a re-enactment of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a fiery show featuring pyrotechnic effects, and replica Japanese aircraft in air battle re-enactments with American fighters.

97.1 Freakers' Ball featuring Marilyn Manson, Bush, Bad Wolves, Filter, 10 Years, and Blacktop Mojo
It's the Halloween season, so there's no better time for the annual 97.1 Freakers' Ball, which features one of the freakier headliners you'll run across. This year's edition, taking place at Dos Equis Pavilion in one of the final events for the year at the venue, will feature performances by Marilyn Manson, Bush, Bad Wolves, Filter, 10 Years, and Blacktop Mojo.

Nate Bargatze: Good Problem to Have Tour
Comedian Nate Bargatze will be the first out of the gate in a comedy-heavy weekend in Dallas. The 40-year-old Bargatze has just started making it big in the 2010s, releasing the acclaimed album Yelled Out by a Clown in 2014 and making numerous late night appearances. He released his latest stand-up comedy special, The Tennessee Kid, on Netflix earlier this year. He'll play two separate sets at Majestic Theatre.

The Dallas Opera presents The Golden Cockerel
Following the opening of their season last weekend with The Magic Flute, the Dallas Opera will move quickly into their second production, The Golden Cockerel, an opera that has not appeared on their stage since 1973. The tart-tongued comedy centers on the lazy King Dodon, who is gifted a golden cockerel that sounds the alarm whenever danger is near, something that can't save him from a voluptuous young queen, who unashamedly displays her charms. The production will play four times through November 2 at Winspear Opera House.

Improv Addison presents Jay Mohr
From performing stand-up comedy at the age of 16, landing his dream job on Saturday Night Live, launching his career with Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, appearing in over 200 episodes of network television and over 25 feature films alongside a plethora of Academy Award-winning actors, and hosting his own sports podcast, Jay Mohr has become a multi-media star. He'll perform stand up five times through Sunday at Improv Addison.

Saturday, October 26

Nasher Sculpture Center presents Sightings: Anne Le Troter opening day
As part of the Nasher Sculpture Center’s Sightings series of smaller-scale exhibitions and installations that highlight new work of emerging or established artists, Anne Le Troter is developing a sound piece based on her research on fertility tourism and the history of sperm banks in the U.S., where the lack of governmental regulation has resulted in the rise of so-called “designer babies." The exhibition will be on display through February 2, 2020.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Piff the Magic Dragon
After earning national acclaim as the standout star of NBC’s America’s Got Talent and Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Piff The Magic Dragon continues to win over audiences across the globe with his mixture of wizardry, wit, and sarcasm in a one-of-a-kind comedy magic show. Joined by his trusty sidekick Mr Piffles, The World’s Only Magic Performing Chihuahua, he'll perform two separate sets at Wyly Theatre.

Majestic Theatre presents Shin Lim
Magician Shin Lim was crowned the winner in the finals of America's Got Talent: The Champions after a jaw-dropping and mind-bending performance. Shin Lim performs carefully self-choreographed routines that combine dexterity, precision, and grace, featuring mind-boggling finger moves that are so masterful, the audience is left to wonder if what they have seen is truly possible. He'll perform three times through Sunday at Majestic Theatre.

Zac Brown Band in concert
Since they won the Best New Artist Grammy in 2010, Zac Brown Band has been one of the biggest acts in country music. They've hit No. 1 on the country charts on each of their subsequent five albums, including the recently released The Owl, and have become a mainstay at the industry's various awards shows. They'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion, with Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real as opening act.

Dane Cook: Tell It Like It Is
Combining energetic physical comedy, clever wordplay, and trenchant observations about human behavior, Dane Cook's unique brand of stand-up and accessible guy-next-door attitude have galvanized audiences of all ages. Cook's popularity has ebbed and flowed over the course of his career, and this marks his first nationwide tour in six years. He'll perform at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Ochre House Theater presents Razz
Ochre House Theater presents its 2019/2020 season opener, Razz, written by Ochre House Theater company member, Mitchell Parrack. The production, running through November 16, follows the life of Bob Fosse, who finds himself fighting for life after his third heart attack. Wrapped in song, dance, vaudeville, and spectacle, Razz explores how artists survive in a fickle world.

Sunday, October 27

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Dior: From Paris to the World" closing day
Sunday is the final day to view "Dior: From Paris to the World" at the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibition, which surveys more than 70 years of the House of Dior’s legacy and global influence, features a selection of more than 100 haute couture dresses, as well as accessories, photographs, original sketches, runway videos, and other archival material. The DMA is one of only two U.S. venues to host the exhibition.

The Dallas Opera will present The Golden Cockerel at Winspear Opera House, October 25-November 2.

Photo courtesy of The Dallas Opera

The Dallas Opera will present The Golden Cockerel at Winspear Opera House, October 25-November 2.

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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.

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Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

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