Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It will be a nice, diverse weekend in and around Dallas, with events to please many different tastes. Choices include a tribute to a late acclaimed author, a dance production, a visit from a famous comedian, two new local theater productions, a symphony concert, five other concerts with acts of varying genres and popularity, and the start of a notable art exhibition.

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, September 7

Dallas Contemporary presents An Evening Remembering Larry McMurtry
The author of treasured novels such as Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show, and co-author of the screenplays for Brokeback Mountain and Streets of Laredo, Larry McMurtry was one of America’s most revered writers. The new book Pastures of the Empty Page brings together nearly 40 fellow writers to honor the man and his impact on American letters. At this event at Dallas Contemporary, editor George Getschow and various book contributors will discuss their respective relationships to McMurtry and his work.

Friday, September 8

Ballet Papillon presents Revival
Ballet Papillon will present Revival, the commencement of their inaugural 2023-2024 season. The production is a choreographic creation of six original, never-before-performed works that exemplify the versatility and unique personalities of the company's artists, choreographers, and artistic staff. There will be two performances through Saturday at Latino Cultural Center, and a third performance on September 23 at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre.

Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All
Comedian Anthony Jeselnik's recent stand-up special, Fire in the Maternity Ward, premiered on Netflix to critical acclaim. In addition to Comedy Central podcasts and roasts, Jeselnik has performed on Conan, The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He'll bring his latest show, Bones and All, to Majestic Theatre for two performances.

Garland Civic Theatre presents Crimes of the Heart
The three MaGrath sisters are back together in their hometown for the first time in a decade. One is the caretaker of the sisters’ cantankerous Old Granddaddy, another left home to pursue stardom as a singer in Los Angeles, and the youngest has just been arrested for the murder of her abusive husband. Past resentments bubble to the surface and each sister must come to terms with the consequences of her own “crimes of the heart.” The production runs through September 24 at Granville Arts Center in Garland.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Prohibition: The Music of Moulin Rouge, Boardwalk Empire and More!"
This concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will take audiences on a journey through the 1920s, from Rudy Vallée to Josephine Baker, from Kurt Weill to King Oliver, featuring the top hits of the decade authentically arranged for orchestra by conductor Jeff Tyzik, accompanied by vintage imagery and video from the period. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Lyric Stage presents The Great American Trailer Park Musical
There’s a new tenant at Armadillo Acres - and she’s wreaking havoc all over Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr. Phil-loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband, the storms begin to brew. The production, Lyric Stage's first in their brand new Studio Space in the Design District, runs through October 14.

Joshua Radin in concert
Folk rock musician Joshua Radin is the epitome of a music lifer. He earned acclaim in the early 2000s, getting his songs played on TV shows like Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. But, despite appearing multiple times on Ellen, he's never truly achieved breakout status, with his biggest success coming on the Billboard Indie or Folk charts. But he remains undaunted, continuing to churn out music like his two 2023 EPs, Though the World Will Tell Me So, Vol.1 and 2. He'll play at The Kessler.

Maná in concert
Mexican pop-rock band Maná has been making music for over 40 years, and for the last 30 they've been at or near the top of the Billboard Latin charts. Every album since 1992's ¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños? has reached at least the top 6 on both the Latin and Latin Pop charts, with the last five, including 2015's Cama Incendiada, going to No. 1 on both. They'll play at American Airlines Center on both Friday and Saturday as part of their México Lindo Y Querido tour.

Saturday, September 9

Kraig Parker: Symphonic Tribute to Elvis
Despite dying in 1977, Elvis Presley has remained a musical icon because of numerous tribute acts who refuse to let him and his music fade into oblivion. Kraig Parker returns to the Eisemann Center in Richardson with Symphonic Tribute to Elvis, which features a full 18-piece orchestra conducted by Dallas’ own Bryan English.

Marisela in concert
The Latin Madonna, "The diva of romantic music," and "La Dama de Hierro" are some of the titles that Marisela has received throughout her career. The Mexican-American singer reached fame in the 1980s, selling more than 25 million records. She is the only singer in Spanish to take over the Top 10 of Billboard magazine with all the songs from the same album. She'll perform at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie.

Sunday, September 10

Dallas Museum of Art presents Abraham Angel: "Between Wonder and Seduction" opening day
Assembling nearly all his known surviving works, Abraham Ángel: "Between Wonder and Seduction" introduces U.S. audiences to this legendary artist with the first major survey of his work in over 35 years. During his brief three-year career, Ángel developed a unique artistic style that successfully captured the rapidly changing society and culture of Mexico in the early 20th century. The exhibition will remain on display at the Dallas Museum of Art through January 28, 2024.

5 Seconds of Summer in concert
Australian pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer long ago shed the erroneous "boy band" title, thanks to their distinct rock sound and the fact that, unlike most boy bands, they actually play their own instruments. Each of their five albums have landed at either No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard 200, including their latest, 2022's 5SOS5. They'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Photo courtesy of Marisela

Marisela will perform at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie on September 9.

books dance comedy theater music concerts symphony event-planner

Movie review

Over-the-top The Bride! makes other Frankenstein movies seem subtle

Photo by Niko Tavernise

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in The Bride!.

The story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster is now over 200 years old, with Mary Shelley’s book having been adapted or referenced in close to 500 films. Less common is the character of The Bride of Frankenstein, which existed in the original text but has more often than not been excised in adaptations. Writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal has tried to rectify that by giving the character a big showcase in her new film, The Bride!.

Gyllenhaal has reimagined the story as one in which a woman named Ida (Jessie Buckley) becomes possessed by the spirit of Shelley (also Buckley). At the same time, the already-existing Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) approaches Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening), who specializes in reanimation, with the request to make him a wife. When Ida falls to her death in an “accident” involving her boyfriend (John Magaro), the ideal corpse becomes available.

After Ida’s resurrection, she and the monster become restless being studied by Dr. Euphronius and decide to break out to experience the world. The world, naturally, is not exactly welcoming to them, and soon the couple are on the run for causing mayhem, including a few murders. In hot pursuit are detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant, Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz), as well as other authorities.

It’s clear that Gyllenhaal wanted to merge the Frankenstein story with Bonnie & Clyde, especially since she sets the film in the mid-1930s. And that wouldn’t have been a bad idea if having the monster and The Bride going on a crime spree was truly the focus of the movie. But most of the time there’s less intentionality in their misdeeds and more confusion, leading to a muddled plot with no clear direction or end goal in mind.

One of the biggest problems is that Gyllenhaal starts the energy of the film at an 11, giving her and everyone else nowhere to go but down. She dabbles in multiple different tones, at times going the straight drama route and other times making what seems like full-on camp. At one point, she even has the monster and the Bride in a dance sequence set to “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” which would be hilarious as an homage to Young Frankenstein if the film weren’t so disjointed.

Most baffling of all is what Gyllenhaal wants from The Bride character. She morphs multiple times over the course of the film, from close to unintelligible at the beginning to rough-and-tumble at the end. There are hints at the lack of control she has over her autonomy, including Shelley’s possession of her and the monster lying to her about her past, but any commentary that Gyllenhaal might be trying to make gets lost amid the oddity of the film as a whole.

Both Buckley and Bale are all-in for their performances, which definitely fall in the “love it or hate it” dichotomy. Each scene is pitched so high that there’s little nuance to either of them, and neither is on par with their previous Oscar-caliber roles. The high-powered supporting cast of Bening, Sarsgaard, Cruz, and Jake Gyllenhaal is watchable based on previous roles, but none of them elevate this particular movie.

Whatever intentions Maggie Gyllenhaal had in making The Bride! are only halfway legible in a film that can never find its tonal footing. There has rarely been subtlety in movies featuring Frankenstein’s monster and related characters, but this one makes all the others seem like stuffy dramas in comparison.

---

The Bride! is now playing in theaters.

movies film