Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

There is a lot going on across Dallas this weekend, with a nice variety of events to boot. Choices include an animal-free circus, two comedians, a classical music concert, two concerts featuring big band/jazz music, two dance productions, a comedy and music festival, a concert with two well-known rappers, a birthday concert for a local icon, a festival welcoming spring, and a big country/folk concert.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, February 23

UniverSoul Circus
UniverSoul Circus offers a refreshing cultural combination of global acts, driven with an urban flair of music, dance, and laughter, all infused with Soul's spirit, style, and swagger. Their performances feature motorcycles flying through the air; the Moko Jumbie stilt dancers, Fire Limbo Benders, carnival characters, gravity-defying acrobats, and more. The circus continues through March 19 at Southwest Center Mall.

Fortune Feimster: Live Laugh Love!
A stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, Fortune Feimster first made a name for herself on Chelsea Lately. Her one-hour special, Sweet and Salty, is now streaming on Netflix. She is also well known for her role of Nurse Collett on The Mindy Project, frequent appearances on Lights Out with David Spade, and her half-hour special released as part of Netflix’ The Standups. She'll perform at Majestic Theatre on both Thursday and Friday.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Alsop Conducts Scheherazade"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's latest concert will be highlighted by world-renowned conductor Marin Alsop, who will lead Rimsky-Korsakov’s adventurous Scheherazade. The concert, which will have three performances through Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will also include Antrópolis by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz and Gabriela Montero's “Latin” Piano Concerto, featuring Montero herself.

Friday, February 24

The Glenn Miller Orchestra in concert
The legendary Glenn Miller was the most successful of all the dance bandleaders back in the Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. The Glenn Miller Orchestra brings timeless classics like "In the Mood," "Moonlight Serenade," "Chattanooga Choo Choo," "Pennsylvania 6-5000," "String of Pearls" and "Tuxedo Junction" to the stage. They'll perform at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Shen Yun
Shen Yun’s unique artistic vision expands theatrical experience into a multi-dimensional, deeply moving journey. Featuring one of the world’s most ancient and richest dance systems - classical Chinese dance - along with dynamic animated backdrops and all-original orchestral works, Shen Yun opens a portal to a civilization of enchanting beauty and enlightening wisdom. There will be five performances through Sunday at Winspear Opera House.

Texas Ballet Theater presents Modern Masterpieces
Texas Ballet Theater presents Modern Masterpieces, featuring three different pieces. In Bartok, playful motifs and intriguing backdrops set the stage for a ravishing neoclassical ballet. In Image, the arc of Marilyn Monroe’s tragic life, from Hollywood ingénue to iconic starlet, is captured in this one-woman performance. Imbue is modern and minimalistic, a dramatic piece that celebrates human growth and transformation. There will be four performances through Sunday at Wyly Theatre.

Fall Back In Love Comedy & Music Jam
The Fall Back in Love Comedy & Music Jam will be a festival-style show at American Airlines Center featuring a variety of great musicians and comedians. The musical lineup features Trey Songz, Mario, Jacquees, Lil Duval, and August Alsina, while the comedy lineup features host Rip Micheals, Emmanuel Hudson, Conceited, Zoie Fenty aka GotDamnZo, Daphnique Springs, and Brandon T. Jackson.

K104's Big Winter Bash featuring Kodak Black and Kevin Gates
Rappers Kodak Black and Kevin Gates will be the headliners at K104's Big Winter Bash. Kodak Black is touring in support of his 2022 album, Back for Everything, while Kevin Gates is touring in support of his 2022 album, Khaza. Other performers for the concert at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie include Big Boogie and Fredo Bang.

Erykah Badu: Another Badu Birthday Bash
Best known for her eccentric style and cerebral music, Erykah Badu is a four-time Grammy Award-winning American soul singer and songwriter. Regarded as the "First Lady of Neo-Soul" or the "Queen of Neo-Soul," Badu’s sound - a concoction of soul, hip-hop and jazz - cannot be contained to a single genre. She'll celebrate another year around the sun at this annual concert at the Factory in Deep Ellum.

Saturday, February 25

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Dallas Blooms
Dallas Blooms is filled with more than 500,000 spring blooming bulbs to create the largest and most colorful floral display in the Southwest. An explosion of spring flowers comes from 100 varieties of spring bulbs, thousands of azaleas, and hundreds of Japanese cherry trees. In addition, renowned sculptor Gary Lee Price returns with a new collection of "Great Contributors" bronze statues on display. The event takes place daily through April 16.

Turnpike Troubadours in concert with Avett Brothers
This co-headlining concert at American Airlines Center features the continuing comeback of Turnpike Troubadours, a country band formed in a small town in Oklahoma that made it big with a trio of big albums. A three-year hiatus ended in 2022, and now they're touring with the Avett Brothers, who've been big since their hit song "I and Love and You" in 2009. They'll be joined by The Wood Brothers.

Dan Cummins: Burn It All Down Tour
Stand-up comic and podcaster Dan Cummins has not one, not two, but three different podcasts - Timesuck, Scared To Death, and Is We Dumb?. When not touring or podcasting, Cummins spends time with his wife, Lynze, two kids, Kyler and Monroe, and two dogs, Penny and Ginger, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho - the other Hollywood. He bring his Burn It All Down Tour to Majestic Theatre.

Sunday, February 26

Photo courtesy of Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu: Another Badu Birthday Bash will be at The Factory in Deep Ellum on February 24.

Broadway Dallas presents Hershey Felder As George Gershwin Alone
George Gershwin Alone tells the story of America’s great composer, who, with the groundbreaking "Rhapsody in Blue," made a “Lady out of Jazz.” The show by composer and pianist incorporates the composer's best-known songs, from "The Man I Love" and "Someone to Watch Over Me," through the hits of An American In Paris and Porgy and Bess, to a complete performance of "Rhapsody in Blue." The concert will be at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

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Movie Review

Pixar bounces back to form with funny and heartfelt animal adventure Hoppers

Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar

Mabel (Piper Kurda) and King George (Bobby Moynihan) in Hoppers.

For the first 15 years of their history, animation studio Pixar delivered one classic film after another, an astonishing streak that included their first 11 movies. Things got bumpy starting with Cars 2 in 2011, and even though the majority of their output has been good-to-great ever since, their releases are no longer considered slam dunks like they once were.

They’re back with an original film, Hoppers, trying to return to form by going back to the animal world. The film centers on Mabel (Piper Kurda), a 19-year-old environmentalist who’s trying to stop a new highway being built by Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) in the fictional city of Beaverton. Her activism has as much to do with helping displaced local animals as it does with being nostalgic for her youth, in which she spent years observing nature with her Grandma Tanaka (Karen Huie).

She finds an unlikely possible solution when she discovers that her college professors have created a system that allows them to transfer - or hop - their consciousness into animal-like robots. Hijacking a beaver robot, Mabel joins up with the local wildlife, including beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan) to try to convince them to help her execute her plan. But with the highway almost complete and Mayor Jerry willing to do anything to make it happen, Mabel might be too late.

Directed by Daniel Chong and written by Jesse Andrews from a story by Chong, the film cycles through a variety of genres in its 105-minute running time, including comedy, drama, thriller, and even a touch of Pixar-style horror. When Pixar has been at its best, it seamlessly goes back and forth between genres, trusting that audiences will go along with them for the ride, and Hoppers feels like a return to form in that respect.

Humor rules the day as Mabel adjusts to being part of the animal world while her professors desperately try to get her and their robot back. Mabel encounters not only wildly confusing things like “pond rules” (if a predator catches you, you don’t fight it), but also the existence of a hierarchy within the world that involves kings or queens from various animal classes like reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, and insects. Her one-track mind and the way of the world she is invading clash in a variety of funny ways.

As the film goes along, Chong, Andrews, and the rest of the filmmaking team also find a way to burrow into the audience’s heart. There are many elements that threaten to tip into eye-rolling territory, but the filmmakers consistently pull back before that happens. The number of fun characters on both the human and animal side helps in that regard, as does the simple yet profound message they’re trying to convey.

Pixar has assembled one of the best voice casts in recent memory for this film, including such big names as Meryl Streep, Dave Franco, Melissa Villaseñor, Vanessa Bayer, and the late Isiah Whitlock, Jr. However, due to the sheer number of characters, only Kurda, Moynihan, and Hamm truly stand out. Still, they all fit together well and give the always-stellar animation even more life.

Since the pandemic, Pixar has only released one truly great film (Inside Out 2), but with Hoppers and the seemingly bulletproof Toy Story 5 coming within a few months of each other, they might go back-to-back on that front. Like the classic films from the studio, it has goofy, heartfelt, and exciting parts, mixing together for an enthralling time at the theater.

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Hoppers opens in theaters on March 6.

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