Weekend Event Planner

Festivals top the 15 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Mid-May is prime festival season in and around Dallas, and three more will be held this weekend, if you can stand the heat. Other choices include three local theater productions, two symphony concerts, two rodeo events, two dance productions, the start of an art exhibition, a well-known comedian, and a concert by a big pop star.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. If you want more options, check out the calendar for an even longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, May 15

The Firehouse Theatre presents The Wedding Singer
The Wedding Singer takes viewers back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer might just be the coolest guy in the room. Based on the hit Adam Sandler movie, The Wedding Singer's score does for the '80s what Hairspray did for the '60s. The production runs through June 1 at The Firehouse Theatre in Farmers Branch.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5"
The first of two Beethoven-themed concerts by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra this week features conductor Jonathan Heyward and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, who will be the soloist for Beethoven’s final piano concerto, “Emperor.” The evening concludes with Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Friday, May 16

City of Grapevine presents 41st Annual Main Street Fest
The 41st Annual Main Street Fest is a family-friendly event featuring live music, craft brew and wine experiences, food and unique shopping. Visitors can enjoy the Carnival and Midway, explore the KidZone and experience Texan-sized fun all weekend long. Country star Neal McCoy will be the headlining performer for the festival, which takes place through Sunday in Historic Downtown Grapevine.

Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival
The annual Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival features live performances by national, regional, and local bands. Headlining bands will include The Revivalists, Cold War Kids, Young the Giant, NEEDTOBREATHE, and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Over the course of the festival, nearly 50 bands will perform on various stages. The event also includes kids activities, roaming performers, food, and more. The event takes place in Galatyn Park Urban Center outside of Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson through Sunday.

Professional Bull Riders presents Kid Rock's Rock N Rodeo
The big PBR weekend in Arlington kicks off with Kid Rock's Rock N Rodeo, a music-infused event that features Kid Rock live in concert. Six teams, each led by a legendary rodeo head coach, will compete head-to-head in bracket-style competition across barrel racing, bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, and breakaway roping. The event takes place AT&T Stadium.

Art Centre Theatre presents Southern Fried Nuptials
Harlene Frye is going to marry her childhood sweetheart this weekend ... assuming the typical Frye family hijinks don’t derail the wedding. Harlene and Attie’s future together is threatened when the bride-to-be’s awful ex-flame shows up with information she doesn’t want her fiancé to find out. The production runs through June 1 at Art Centre Theatre in Plano.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Spring Celebration
Dallas Black Dance Theatre's annual Spring Celebration will feature the world premiere of Kareem B. Goodwin’s Building the Beat, along with two audience favorites: Allyne D. Gartrell’s My Inspiration and Christopher L. Huggins’ Night Run. There will be performances on Friday and Saturday at Wyly Theatre.

Teatro Dallas presents El Otro
A simple ride to retrieve a birthday gift sends a young teenage girl named Romy and her two fathers on a phantasmagoric ride through a harrowing night. Lupe, her birth father, forces her to choose between him and Ben, the fresh-faced Fort Bliss soldier who recently married her mother. The winner gets to live. The production runs through May 31 at Latino Cultural Center.

Texas Ballet Theater presents Giselle
Closing Texas Ballet Theater's season is the world premiere of Giselle, where Artistic Director Tim O’Keefe intricately builds upon the foundational choreography of Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa to present his own interpretation of the iconic masterpiece. Set to the hauntingly beautiful composition of Adolphe Adam, the production tells the tragic tale of love, betrayal, and redemption. There will be four performances through Sunday at Winspear Opera House.

Saturday, May 17

Art & Soul of Kaleidoscope Park
Kaleidoscope Park in Frisco will present the inaugural Art & Soul of Kaleidoscope Park, a two-day celebration of creativity and community that will showcase 30 artists from North Texas and beyond. The featured artists, selected by a jury of Frisco arts advocates, include Suzy Jones, Jennifer Luney, Donna Schmittler, and Rick Chambers, representing a diverse mix of mediums, from ceramics and glass to digital art, drawing, mixed media, and more. The event takes place on Saturday and Sunday.

Nasher Sculpture Center presents "Generations: 150 Years of Sculpture" opening day
Nasher Sculpture Center will present its 2025 summer show, "Generations: 150 Years of Sculpture." Drawn from the Nasher’s permanent collection, the new selection of works features numerous recent acquisitions and offers conversations about the possibilities for sculpture, both past and present. The exhibition features over 50 works of art by 24 artists, with sculptures by Nairy Baghramian, Kevin Beasley, Huma Bhabha, Anthony Caro, Jaume Plensa, Jean Tinguely, and others. The exhibition will remain on display through August 24.

Texas Theatre presents Ramy Youssef
Comedian Ramy Youssef comes to Dallas as part as of his love beam 7000 tour. Youssef created, produces, directs, and stars in the Hulu show Ramy, inspired by his own experiences centering around a first-generation Egyptian-American Muslim on a spiritual journey in his politically divided New Jersey neighborhood. He'll perform at Texas Theatre.

Halsey in concert
Pop/R&B singer Halsey is 10 years into her career, one that has been a success since the beginning. All five of her albums finished either No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard 200, including her latest, 2024's The Great Impersonator. Along the way, she's collaborated with other notable artists across multiple genres, including G-Eazy, Benny Blanco, Yungblud, Kelsea Ballerini, Marshmello, and Justin Timberlake. She'll perform at Dos Equis Pavilion.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Beethoven X Beyoncé"
Composer/conductor Steve Hackman will present a new blend of pop/R&B’s queen and classical music’s king as Beyoncé’s iconic repertoire is interwoven with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. The symphonic world’s most joyful celebration of dance becomes the backdrop to 15 of Beyoncé’s chart-topping hits, including “Girls,” “Crazy in Love,” “Single Ladies,” “Sorry,” “Halo,” “Cuff It,” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” in the innovative new musical fusion. The concert takes place at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Professional Bull Riders World Finals: Championship
Professional Bull Riders will present the climatic end of the battle for the 2025 PBR World Championship. Following four rounds of competition, the bull rider with the most world points will be crowned the World Champion, earning the $1 million bonus, and coveted gold buckle. The competition takes place on Saturday and Sunday at AT&T Stadium.

Wildflower Arts and Music Festival in Richardson

Photo by David Downs

The Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival takes place at Galatyn Park Urban Center in Richardson, May 16-18.

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Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

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