Weekend Event Planner

The 15 best things to do in Dallas this weekend are sweet as pie

If you're a theater lover, this is your week, as no fewer than six local theater productions will be starting their runs in and around Dallas. Not only that, but two separate concerts featuring three Tony-nominated actresses will celebrate the music of Broadway. Other choices include a food festival, a Disney on Ice production, two well-known comedians, a visit from a special stage production, a dance celebration, and the end of two notable exhibitions.

Photo by Keith Warren

Lyric Stage presents Jekyll & Hyde, March 28-April 19.

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, March 27

Dallas Arboretum Food and Wine Festival
The Dallas Arboretum’s Food & Wine Festival offers a culinary experience where the city’s top chefs, renowned winemakers, and craft brewers come together in a spring garden setting. Guests will savor over three dozen gourmet small plates and indulge in 125+ wine varieties, all while strolling through a landscape bursting with 500,000 blooming bulbs.

Disney On Ice presents Let's Dance!
The Disney On Ice show, Let's Dance!, is jam-packed with audience favorite Disney characters - including Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy - who become DJs, remixing Disney tunes into colorful stories. The production invites guests to belt out Disney’s chart-topping tunes as their favorite stories are brought to life on and above the ice. The show, taking place at American Airlines Center through Sunday, will highlight figure skating, acrobatics, stunts, special effects, and more.

WaterTower Theatre presents A Streetcar Named Desire
After losing her Mississippi home to creditors, Blanche du Bois relocates to the New Orleans home of her younger sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski. Undermined by romantic illusions, Blanche is unable to cope with life's harsh realities. Though she finds a glimmer of hope while connecting with Stanley's gentlemanly friend, Mitch, Blanche cannot face the truth of her own troubled past and ultimately descends into madness. The production runs through April 6 at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre.

Jimmy O. Yang: Big and Tall Tour
Jimmy O. Yang is a comedian and actor best known for Silicon Valley, Crazy Rich Asians, Love Hard, and Space Force, where he also served as a writer. He recently starred in the limited series Interior Chinatown on Hulu. Yang also has two standup specials, Guess How Much and Good Deal. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre as part of his Big and Tall Tour, his third and biggest tour to date.

Theatre Three presents Intimate Apparel
Step into early 20th-century New York City with Intimate Apparel, a drama by Lynn Nottage, one of the greatest living playwrights and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. The story explores the journey of ambition and personal growth as Esther, an African-American seamstress, navigates a complex web of relationships and romantic correspondence with a distant admirer. Audiences are drawn into a rich tapestry of emotions and societal challenges. The production runs through April 20 at Theatre Three.

Uptown Players presents Broadway Our Way
Uptown Players' annual fundraiser, Broadway Our Way, returns with an all-new production that showcases the versatility and artistry of Uptown Players' ensemble. With a fresh and contemporary twist, they breathe new life into classic show tunes, infusing them with their own unique interpretations, vocal styles, and personal flair. There will be four performances through Sunday at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Friday, March 28

Dallas Comedy Club presents Mary Lynn Rajskub
Mary Lynn Rajskub has returned to stand up comedy after a long career as an actress, writer, and performer. She had a fan-favorite role as computer genius Chloe O’Brian on FOX’s smash hit 24, and has appeared on other TV series like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Flight of the Conchords, Raising Hope, and Modern Family. She's also appeared in movies like Julie and Julia, Firewall, Legally Blonde II: Red White and Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama, Dude Where’s My Car, and Roadtrip. She'll perform four times through Saturday at Dallas Comedy Club.

Dallas Children's Theater presents Lightwire Theater: Dino-Light
In this limited-time special engagement from Lightwire Theater, a famous scientist with magic powers brings a friendly dinosaur to life. When the dinosaur wanders away from home, he discovers a wonderful world full of creatures that light up the darkness and help him find the true meaning of love. The production will have four performances through Sunday at Dallas Children's Theater.

Lyric Stage presents Jekyll & Hyde
A devoted man of science, Dr. Henry Jekyll is driven to find a chemical breakthrough that can solve some of mankind's most challenging medical dilemmas. Rebuffed by the powers that be, he decides to make himself the subject of his own experimental treatments, accidentally unleashing his inner demons along with the man that the world would come to know as Mr. Hyde. Jekyll & Hyde features a score of pop-rock hits from Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse. The production runs through April 19 at Lyric Stage.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "A Night of Broadway"
Conductor Steven Reineke will lead a celebration of Broadway’s greatest hits, featuring two of the stage’s most beloved voices, Kelli O'Hara and Sutton Foster. The program will include powerhouse renditions of iconic songs, from classic Broadway standards to modern hits, all performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Theatre Coppell presents Almost, Maine
Welcome to Almost, Maine, a place that’s so far north, it’s almost in Canada. It’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So, it almost doesn’t exist. One cold, clear, winter night, as the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, the residents of Almost, Maine, find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and hilarious ways. The production runs through April 13 at Coppell Arts Center.

Eisemann Center presents Mandy Gonzalez
Mandy Gonzalez is an accomplished film, TV, and stage actor who has starred on Broadway in Hamilton as Angelica Schuyler, originated Nina Rosario in Broadway production of In The Heights, and also starred as Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked. Gonzalez will present an evening of music from throughout her career on one of her nights off from starring as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. on Broadway. The event takes place at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson.

Saturday, March 29

Dallas Theater Center presents Waitress
Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker, is stuck in a small town and a loveless marriage. Faced with an unexpected pregnancy, Jenna fears she may have to abandon the dream of opening her own pie shop … until a baking contest in a nearby county and the town’s handsome new doctor offer her a tempting recipe for happiness. Featuring music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Sara Bareilles, Waitress is an uplifting and inspiring musical celebrating friendship, motherhood, and the magic of a well-made pie. The production runs through April 20 at Wyly Theatre.

Bruce Wood Dance presents 15th Anniversary Performance & Gala
Bruce Wood Dance will present their 15th Anniversary Performance & Gala, a Texas-sized party featuring the return of Cowboy Songs, Bruce Wood’s festive tribute to the spirit of Texas. The event will also include other performances, live music, line dancing, and more. The event takes place at Gilley's Dallas.

Sunday, March 30

Arlington Museum of Art presents "Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume" and "All That Glitters: The Crown Jewels of the Walt Disney Archives" closing day
Sunday will be final day to view both "Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume" and "All That Glitters: The Crown Jewels of the Walt Disney Archives" at the Arlington Museum of Art. The first time that the two collections will be exhibited at the same time by a single venue, the exhibition features more than 300 pieces spanning over 65 years, including famous costumes and jewelry used in many of Disney's classic films.

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Movie Review

Glen Powell bumps off rich family in How to Make a Killing

Photo courtesy of A24

Glen Powell in How to Make a Killing.

Becoming a star in Hollywood and maintaining that stardom are two very difficult things to achieve, but Glen Powell has been adept at doing so over the past few years. A key supporting role in Top Gun: Maverick led to lead parts in films like Hit Man, Anyone But You, Twisters, and The Running Man. Powell is looking to keep his star power shining in the new dark comedy/thriller, How to Make a Killing.

He plays Beckett, an outcast member of the ultra-wealthy Redfellow clan. Struggling to get by in a menial job in New York City while still living in New Jersey, Beckett’s only smidgen of hope is that he remains an heir to the vast Redfellow fortune. The only trick? Every other remaining family member must die before he’ll see a dime of that money. When even that menial job goes away, Beckett indulges the fantasy of bumping off his familial competition.

Among those standing in his way are cousins Taylor (Raff Law), a finance bro, Noah (Zach Woods), a pretentious artist, and Steven (Topher Grace), a celebrity pastor; Uncle Warren (Bill Camp) and Aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato); and grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris). Complicating matters, however, are an old childhood friend, Julia (Margaret Qualley), who starts asking more of Beckett than he can give; and new flame Ruth (Jessica Henwick), who happens to be dating Noah when he meets her.

Written and directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal), the film is a tale of two halves. Narrated by Beckett in the form of telling his story to a prison chaplain, the story plays with audience expectations on multiple occasions. As Beckett ramps up to detailing exactly how he got started down the road toward being a serial killer, the film has a fun-if-macabre vibe.

Under normal circumstances Beckett would be someone to despise, but since he’s an underprivileged person who’s taking aim at people who (mostly) don’t seem to appreciate their good luck, it feels okay to cheer for him. This follows a recent trend in “eat the rich” films, one that’s been influenced by a turn against real-life billionaires. Ford plays heavily into the theme and it works for a good portion of the film.

However, things get a little murky in the second half of the movie. A few of the planned killings get less attention than others, making their - pardon the pun - execution less interesting/fun than the others. Also, Ford does a poor job of indicating just how much weight should be put on Beckett’s relationship with Julia, someone with whom he only has occasional interactions for the bulk of the film.

It’s difficult to know the exact right way to showcase Powell, but this film doesn’t seem to be the best fit. Whether it’s the odd hairstyle/wig he’s given, or the varying degrees of confidence his character shows, his performance is up and down. Qualley’s acting style is over-the-top, and she needed to dial it down in this particular role. Henwick and Camp are the grounding forces in the film, keeping the story somewhat tethered to reality while almost everyone else makes a meal of their scenes.

How to Make a Killing is serviceable entertainment that gives viewers a decent number of laughs and thrills. But Ford can’t find a way to make the story work all the way through, and a so-so performance by Powell keeps the film from rising above its mediocre station.

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How to Make a Killing opens in theaters on February 20.

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