Weekend Event Planner

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

There's been a lot of excitement in and around Dallas over the past month with the FIFA World Cup in town, but that comes to an end with the final on Sunday, which fans can watch at the big festival at Fair Park. Other choices include three theater events, five concerts, and an annual celebration of the first moon landing.

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

Thursday, July 16

Drunk Shakespeare Society presents Romeo & Juliet
The Drunk Shakespeare Society will present Romeo & Juliet, a boozy, interactive comedy adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet where one actor takes more than five shots before attempting to perform the classic love story. Audiences can expect improvisation, audience interaction, cocktails, and plenty of unexpected laughs. The production runs through September 20 at Deep Ellum Art Co.

The Australian Pink Floyd Show
The Australian Pink Floyd Show performs the music of Pink Floyd, reproducing the complete Pink Floyd experience. For the Happiest Days of Our Lives Tour, they will perform a collection of greatest hits, complemented by a light and laser show, video animations, state of the art, high-resolution LED screen technology, and other special effects. The show takes place at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Friday, July 17

Enhypen in concert
South Korean boy band Enhypen, which was formed through the 2020 survival competition show I-Land, has gotten nearly as big as fellow boy band BTS since their 2021 debut album. Their 2024 album, Romance: Untold, made it to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and they've continued that success with a series of high-selling EPs, most recently The Sin: Vanish in January. They'll perform on both Friday and Saturday at American Airlines Center.

Repertory Company Theatre presents Finding Neverland
Finding Neverland is a family-friendly musical based on the 2004 film. It tells the heartwarming, true-ish story of playwright J.M. Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family — the real-life inspiration behind Peter Pan. The production runs through August 2 at Repertory Company Theatre in Richardson.

Jimmy's Buffet in concert
The death of singer Jimmy Buffett in 2023 was a huge blow for his fans, but his beach party spirit has inspired others to keep his music going. Among those is the tribute band Jimmy's Buffet, which plays the classic hits like "Margaritaville," "Fins," "A Pirate Looks at Forty," and more while making the crowd a part of the show with beach balls, leis swaying, and other party elements. The concert takes place at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson.

Stan Society presents Bop to the Top Tour
Stan Society's Bop to the Top Tour celebrates 20 years of Hannah Montana and High School Musical. The 18-and-up event will be a high-energy dance party with a specially curated DJ set that will also feature hits from Camp Rock, Cheetah Girls, Lemonade Mouth, and favorite Disney stars. There will be full audience participation, music videos, and dancing on stage. The event takes place at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Saturday, July 18

Frontiers of Flight Museum presents Moon Day
The Frontiers of Flight Museum will host its annual Moon Day, a STEM-focused, space-themed event where visitors can enjoy interactive activities, unique exhibits and space-themed presentations. Additionally, visitors can view authentic space history, including the Apollo 7 Command Module and the only moon rock on display in North Texas, and hear from legendary American astronaut Col. Carl Walz.

FIFA Fan Festival Dallas
After more than a month, FIFA Fan Festival Dallas will come to a close with two final days of soccer celebration. There will be live match broadcasts of the third place game on Saturday and the final on Sunday, interactive experiences, entertainment, and more. Make sure to show up early on Sunday to grab a good spot for the final, as the broadcast of the match will include a large pre-game closing ceremony.

Brit Floyd in concert
It's a big weekend for Pink Floyd fans as Pink Floyd cover band Brit Floyd comes to town as part of their 2026 world tour, “The Moon, The Wall and Beyond.” The new production celebrates two of the most iconic and influential albums in rock history — The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall — with a show that captures the spirit, sound, and spectacle of the legendary band. The concert takes place at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie.

Sunday, July 19

Cara Mia Theatre presents Mariachi
Through a unique process of collective collaboration, Cara Mia Theatre’s artists are developing a new play about Mariachis living in Texas, spanning their roots in Mexico, and almost a century of carrying the legacy of the Mariachi into the present moment. This event at Latino Cultural Center will be a staged reading with music before it makes its world premiere March 23-April 11, 2027.

Photo courtesy of Belift Lab

Enhypen will perform at American Airlines Center on July 17 and 18.

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Movie Review

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is visually epic but emotionally adrift

Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Matt Damon in The Odyssey.

For a story that is 3,000 years old and has been referenced innumerable times since the advent of the moving picture, it’s striking that The Odyssey has not been adapted into a film more often. Christopher Nolan’s new film is, depending on your definition, just the fourth time in film history that someone has attempted to tell the original story (oddly, the third film - The Return - came out just two years ago).

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, who has been gone from his home of Ithaca for over 20 years. Waiting at home for him is his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland), as well as a hall full of suitors - most notably Antinous (Robert Pattinson) - who are hoping that Penelope will finally believe that Odysseus is dead and choose to marry one of them.

In typical Nolan fashion, the film goes back-and-forth in time often to show what has happened to Odysseus in the past two decades. His sea voyages with his crew have him attacking Troy using the legendary Trojan Horse; taking on the cyclops Polyphemus (Bill Irwin); trying to escape the clutches of the witch Circe (Samantha Morton); living with the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron); communing with the vision of Athena (Zendaya); and more.

Nolan, who wrote and directed the epic film, has a clear reverence for the material and, perhaps more than any current filmmaker, has the chops to make the sprawling story feel coherent. With a plethora of characters who have names that take some time to understand for those not familiar with the ancient tale, it’s extremely tough to wrangle everything and everyone together, and Nolan and his team make that trick seem relatively easy.

However, there’s a difference between making the story comprehensible and making it compelling, and Nolan is not as successful on this front. As portrayed in this film, it’s difficult to care whether Odysseus ever finds his way home. His connection with Penelope and Telemachus is tenuous, at best, and his status as a hero is called into question on multiple occasions. Complicated protagonists are nothing new, but in a story where the hero’s journey is the whole point, Nolan fails to make the quest all encompassing.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some standout moments along the way. The sequence in Polyphemus’ cave is tremendous, as are a few other scenes in which Nolan’s reported reliance on practical effects make you wonder how the crew accomplished what they did. Damon has said this is the hardest movie he’s ever made, and that effort shows up in every scene, especially those on the water.

At 56 years old, Damon is getting close to elder statesman status in Hollywood, and he ably embodies the role of the respected and feared leader. Hathaway, Holland, and Pattinson get the next most screentime, and each makes their character interesting if not mesmerizing. The murderer’s row of the supporting cast - Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Elliot Page, Morton, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, and more - give each scene a nice sheen whether or not their individual arc makes sense.

While the technical achievements of Nolan and his team in The Odyssey are admirable and occasionally awe-inspiring, the story he lays out is not quite as overwhelming. The structure he chose to use doesn’t allow the story to overcome the episodic nature of Odysseus’ brutal journey, keeping big emotions mostly at bay.

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The Odyssey opens in theaters on July 17.

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