Weekend Event Planner

These are the 14 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

The Dallas event slate is back up to full force in 2024, featuring a nice variety of things to do this weekend. They include two symphony concerts, two concerts from seasoned performers, a trio of theater productions, two visiting dance troupes, a Lego festival, a kid's film festival, two big comedians, and a concert from a renowned opera singer.

Below are more 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, January 18

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Mozart and Beethoven"
"Mozart and Beethoven" features two iconic composers and their masterful works that showcase how they subverted the styles of the time and pushed the genre forward. Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute is the delightful prelude to his lyrical and joyous Piano Concerto No. 21. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, one of the most famous and popular symphonies in the history of classical music, brings the concert to a dynamic close. The concert, which will have three performances through Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will be conducted by Tabita Berglund and feature pianist Alessio Bax.

Lucinda Williams in concert
Lucinda Williams is one of those musicians who you know even if you don't know you know her. She's had a steady career, garnering critical acclaim with every album release dating back to her debut in 1979. Her latest, 2023's Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, is even more impressive given the fact that she suffered a stroke in 2020. She'll play in support of that album at Longhorn Ballroom.

Theatre Three presents I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
Presented as a series of vignettes, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is a touching musical comedy about all of love’s greatest challenges: dating, sex, marriage, and family. The production, taking place in the Theatre Too space, will run through February 25 at Theatre Three.

Friday, January 19

Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas presents The 39 Steps
London, 1935. The rather dull Richard Hannay encounters a woman who claims to be a spy. But when she’s suddenly murdered, Richard finds himself the focus of a nationwide manhunt led by a mysterious organization called “The 39 Steps.” This fast-paced whodunit combines a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel (plus a dash of Monty Python). The production runs through February 3 at Irving Arts Center.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters in concert
Singer Elvis Costello turns 70 later in 2024, and he's been actively recording and touring for 47 of those 70 years, making his debut in 1977. Through the years, he's released 32 studio albums either as a solo act or with various collaborators and bands, including The Imposters, with whom he put out The Boy Named If in 2022. He'll play with them at this concert at Majestic Theatre, joined by special guest Charlie Sexton.

TITAS/Dance Unbound presents Cie Hervé Koubi
Compagnie Hervé Koubi is a French, now “mostly” male, dance company that now has dancers from across Europe. The fearless, powerful and "masculine beyond belief" dance company returns to Dallas with their new work, SOL INVICTUS. The music score includes a composition by Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson, to be mixed with music excerpts by Steve Reich and digital composer Maxime Bodson. They'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Saturday, January 20

Brick Fest Live
Brick Fest Live features live interactive stage shows, life-size models, hands-on building activities, a chance to build a Guinness World Record mosaic, photo ops, exclusive merchandise, and more. The festival - which is not officially associated with LEGO - will take place on Saturday and Sunday at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.

USA Film Festival presents KidFilm Family Festival
The 40th Annual KidFilm Family Festival, the oldest children’s film festival in the United States, features an entertaining, educational, and diverse line-up of new and classic films for both children and adults. Taking place on Saturday and Sunday at Alamo Drafthouse Lake Highlands, it will include salutes to children's authors Sophie Blackall and Sara Varon, feature films like The Tiger’s Apprentice, Kensuke’s Kingdom, and Ozi: Voice of the Forest, a selection of short films, and more.

Shen Yun
Two weeks after Shen Yun finished a run at Winspear Opera House, they're back again for three performances - twice on Saturday and once on Sunday - at the Music Hall at Fair Park. 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.

Hasan Minhaj: Off With His Head
Comedian Hasan Minhaj continues to take on challenging themes like politics, parenting, and therapy with irreverent wit and insight. Minhaj is a two-time Peabody Award-winning comedian best known for his breakout Netflix special Homecoming King and his political satire show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, for Netflix. He'll perform an early and late show at Winspear Opera House.

Plano Symphony Orchestra presents "An Interplanetary Experience"
"An Interplanetary Experience" is a multi-media musical exploration featuring award-winning accordionist Sofía Ros performing Piazzolla’s Concerto for Bandoneón and Orchestra. Also joining the Plano Symphony Orchestra will be the Plano Civic Chorus Women’s Choir, with the evening’s celestial journey concluding with Holst’s beloved suite The Planets. They'll perform at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts, where you can also see the exhibition "Sensing Deep Space."

Jonathan Van Ness: Fun & Slutty
Jonathan Van Ness is an Emmy-nominated television personality, two-time New York Times best-selling author, podcaster, and comedian best known for his role on Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning reboot series Queer Eye, where he shines as the hair guru and self-care advocate. This event, taking place at Majestic Theatre, is for ages 18+.

Sunday, January 21

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Van Ness

Jonathan Van Ness will perform at Majestic Theatre on January 20.

Dallas Children's Theater presents Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”
Mo Willems, author and creator of the Elephant & Piggie and Pigeon picture books, is at it again with Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” The ever-upbeat Piggie is thrilled to be on stage, while Elephant is a bit busy hoping nothing goes “terribly, horribly, best-friendship endingly wrong” during the duration of the performance. He’s getting there… Anything can happen in this goofy, heartfelt show that is sure to have audiences laughing hard. The production runs through February 25 at Dallas Children's Theater.

Dallas Opera presents The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Family Recital: Lawrence Brownlee
The Dallas Opera will present a special recital with tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Whether he’s charming audiences as Figaro’s sidekick, Count Almaviva, or falling desperately in love with Cinderella as Prince Charming, Brownlee is pure delight on stage. His voice has filled opera houses from New York to Rome. He'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

concerts symphony music theater dance festivals movies kids families comedy opera event planner

Movie Review

Faces of Death returns with modern twist on cult horror film

Photo courtesy of of IFC Films

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death.

True horror fans will likely be familiar with the 1978 cult film Faces of Death, which purported to be a documentary showing real-life killings in gory detail. It didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop rumors from continuing to spread for decades. Now, almost 50 years and multiple sequels later, comes a new version of Faces of Death, an actual movie that pays homage to the original in interesting ways.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a YouTube-like company called Kino as a content moderator, flagging videos that violate the company’s policies. This means her job often involves seeing some truly despicable things from all manner of depraved people. One day, though, she comes across a video that seems a little too real, and after seeing more similar videos, she starts to believe they’re genuine murders.

Going against her company NDA, she starts to investigate the videos on her own, which puts her on the radar of Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), who is actually kidnapping people and killing them on camera through methods seen in the original Faces of Death film. It’s not long before Arthur tracks her down, with a plan to make her one of his next victims.

Written and directed by Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and co-written by Isa Mazzei, the film is not so much scary as it is creepy, with the occasional gross-out sequence. The idea of having someone emulate the killings in the cult film is a good idea, and pairing it with the modern-day attention economy - in which content creators go to increasing lengths for clicks - is a clever twist on a concept that other films have done.

The film as a whole is a commentary on how social media and video sharing sites have often decided to prioritize profits over the well-being of their users. Margot is shown allowing videos involving violence and sexual assault to stay on the site while nixing ones depicting how to use Narcan or demonstrating putting on a condom on a banana. Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss, is even explicit in the company mandate that outrageous videos drive views.

While Arthur has the makings of a good villain, there are few attempts to make him seem truly diabolical. His kidnappings often seem more spur-of-the-moment than calculated, and even though he has a well thought-out dungeon at home, the house’s location in the suburbs seems to make him vulnerable to easy discovery. Goldhaber and Mazzei leave more than a few unanswered questions along the way that take away from the intensity of the story.

Ferreira is yet another actor from Euphoria who’s capitalizing on her exposure from that show. She plays Margot’s increasing anxiety well, and when the action ratchets up in the final act, she meets the moment in a satisfying way. Montgomery returns to the vibe he had while playing the evil Billy on Stranger Things, and even though his character doesn’t fully live up to his potential, Montgomery sells his evil for all it’s worth.

The new Faces of Death may not be what some are expecting given the reputation of the previous films, but it’s a solid horror/thriller that uses the brand as a launching pad into something different. It doesn’t make much of a dent in the scare department, but it does give its violence and gore a degree of relevance in today’s often desensitized world.

---

Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

movies film