Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Almost every event on the list this weekend around Dallas will have another one complementing it. There will be performances by three comedians, two local theater productions, two concerts, and two dance performances, one of which will take place alongside a symphony concert. The one outlier will be the return of a long-running film festival.

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, April 18

Roy Wood, Jr.: Happy To Be Here
Comedian Roy Wood Jr. was one of the longest-serving correspondents in the history of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, appearing from 2015 to 2023. During his tenure, Wood used The Daily Show’s brand of satire to shed a light on serious issues like Chicago gun violence, police reform, LGBTQ+ discrimination, ICE deportations and PTSD in the Black community. His recent credits include guest starring roles in Netflix’s comedy series Space Force, AMC’s Better Call Saul, and The Last O.G. on TBS. He'll perform at House of Blues Dallas.

54th Annual USA Film Festival
The 54th annual USA Film Festival will feature 24 separate programs, including tributes to iconic actors and filmmakers, new feature films, and short film showcases. Among the highlights will be tributes to actors Martin Sheen and Billy Dee Williams, both of whom will be in attendance; a 40th anniversary screening of Footloose, with screenwriter/songwriter Dean Pitchford in attendance; actor John Magaro in attendance for his new film, LaRoy, Texas; and more. The main festival will be at Angelika Film Center in Dallas through Sunday, with the Billy Dee Williams tribute on April 26.

WaterTower Theatre presents Satchmo at the Waldorf
Satchmo at the Waldorf is a one-man, three-character play in which the same actor portrays Louis Armstrong, the greatest of all jazz trumpeters; Joe Glaser, his white manager; and Miles Davis, who admired Armstrong’s playing but disliked his onstage manner. It takes place in 1971 in a dressing room backstage at the Empire Room of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Armstrong performed in public for the last time. just four months before his death. The production runs through April 28 at WaterTower Theatre in Addison.

Laufey in concert
At just 24 years old, Icelandic-Chinese-American songwriter Laufey has already been dominating the charts with her first two albums of jazz, R&B, and pop tunes. Her second album, 2023's Bewitched, went all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz chart, and a respectable showing of No. 23 on the overall Billboard 200. She'll perform the second of two shows at Winspear Opera House, with support from Grace Enger.

Majestic Theatre presents Amy Sedaris
Amy Sedaris is a prolific actress, author, comedian, and rabbit educator who has appeared often on screen, both large and small. Her recent work includes movies like Ghosted and Somebody I Used to Know, and the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. On the heels of appearing at the Moontower Comedy Festival in Austin, she'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Friday, April 19

NTPA Repertory Theatre presents The Producers
In the musical The Producers, a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history, thereby bilking their backers (all "little old ladies") out of millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit. The production runs through April 28 at North Texas Performing Arts in Plano.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Rising Excellence
Audiences can get a glimpse into the future of dance with Dallas Black Dance Theatre's Encore company as they present Rising Excellence, which features innovative choreography and performances by some of the most talented emerging artists in the field. DBDT's internationally recognized company members embody the next generation of artistic greatness. There will be performances on both Friday and Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Troupe Vertigo
Fusing together elements of cirque acrobatics, classical dance, and contemporary theater, Troupe Vertigo brings audiences on a spellbinding journey through the world of artistic movement. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will perform a variety of pieces, including Holst's “Jupiter” from The Planets, music from the Pixar film Up, and excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, while the dancers perform. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Desi Banks: The Purpose Chaser Tour
Desi Banks is the ultimate triple threat – actor, stand-up comedian, and entrepreneur who's swiftly becoming a household name; known for his razor-sharp wit and hilarious comedic timing. He's toured with likes of Mike Epps, Deray Davis, Kountry Wayne, Gary Owens, Lavell Crawford, and more. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Saturday, April 20

Photo courtesy of Troupe Vertigo

Troupe Vertigo will perform alongside the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at Meyerson Symphony Center, April 19-21.

Blue October in concert
Houston rock band Blue October rose from relative obscurity in the late '90s/early 2000s to become one of the bigger groups of their genre in the 2010s, scoring five top 5 albums from 2011-2018. Known best for songs like "Hate Me" and "Into the Ocean," they'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving in support of their 2023 album, Spinning the Truth Around (Part II).

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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