Weekend Event Planner

These are the 8 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

The first weekend of the new year is traditionally light on new events as organizers and eventgoers recover from the holiday onslaught. Still, there's always something going on, including the last gasp of holiday events, a symphony concert, a local theater production, visits from two comedians, an astronomy exhibition, monster trucks, and a concert with lasers.

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 4

Final call for holiday events
Some holiday events wrapped up their runs last week, and this weekend will see every other big event in the Dallas area come to a close. If you want to wring every last drop of holiday joy out of the season, you can still go to Holiday at the Arboretum, The Trains at NorthPark, Snowday at Galleria Dallas, Peace Plaza Ice Rink in Grapevine, and The Colony Christmas Spectacular. The first two close on Friday, while the latter three close on Sunday.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Elgar Cello Concerto"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra opens 2024 with "Elgar Cello Concerto," featuring conductor Marie Jacquot and cellist Maximilian Hornung. Selections include Schmidt's Intermezzo from Notre Dame, Elgar's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4. There will be four performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Junior Players presents Legally Blonde The Musical
Elle Woods appears to have it all. Her life is turned upside down when her boyfriend Warner dumps her so he can attend Harvard Law. Determined to get him back, Elle ingeniously charms her way into the prestigious law school. While there, she struggles with peers, professors, and her ex. With the support of some new friends, though, Elle quickly realizes her potential and sets out to prove to herself and to the world that being yourself never goes out of style. Junior Players' production runs through Sunday at Moody Performance Hall.

Friday, January 5

Improv Arlington presents Jay Pharoah
Jay Pharoah is an actor and stand-up comedian who is best known for his wide array of uncanny celebrity impressions, including President Barack Obama, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Stephen A. Smith, Kanye West, and Chris Tucker, all of which he showcased during his six-season stint on Saturday Night Live. He'll perform five times through Sunday at Improv Arlington.

Hyena's presents Daryl Felsberg
There is no mistaking when Daryl Felsberg is on stage, as the larger-than-life comic commands a room everywhere he goes. His storytelling approach, littered with jokes and heaps of laughs, always has a big payoff. His sarcasm is as rich and thick as his brisket-infused bloodstream. He'll perform four times through Saturday at Hyena's Comedy Nightclub at Mockingbird Station.

Saturday, January 6

SciArt Exchange presents Sensing Deep Space: Pandora's Cluster
Sensing Deep Space: Pandora’s Cluster is a multisensory experience that merges art and science while taking visitors on a tour through new discoveries in the Pandora’s Cluster region of space to help us truly grasp what’s out there. The James Webb Space Telescope revolutionized deep space exploration, offering humanity a portal into the inaccessible cosmos. It also allowed the creation of an installation that shatters the boundaries of earthly experience, enabling visitors to traverse the untraversable. The event takes place through February 4 at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson.

Monster Truck Wars
Monster Truck Wars is a high-energy monster truck show where trucks compete in nonstop, head-to-head competition. The all-new Robot Battle is joining the action this year, where three-story-high transforming robots Galactron and Reptar battle on the arena floor. The event also includes kid’s power wheel races and a chance to take a ride in a real monster truck. There will be two performances on Saturday at Fair Park Coliseum.

Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular
The Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular is a multimedia show featuring the original music of Pink Floyd, carrying fans on a mind-expanding journey driven by cutting-edge laser, lighting, and video effects. The concert takes place at House of Blues Dallas.

Photo by Abby Stigler / courtesy of Junior Players

Junior Players presents Legally Blonde The Musical at Moody Performance Hall through January 7.

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Movie Review

Lust eclipses romance in new adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights'

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights.

Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights is one of those classic books assigned in high school English classes, and it has received a number of film adaptations over the years, each of which differ in numerous ways from the source material. Purists won’t receive any reprieve from Emerald Fennell’s 2026 adaptation, with a title that is stylized as "Wuthering Heights” for good reason.

Cathy (played as an adult by Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) have known each other their entire lives, with Cathy’s alcoholic and inveterate gambler father (Martin Clunes) taking in Heathcliff on a whim when he was a boy. The two bond as they grow up together, although Cathy always seems to have an eye on moving up in society from their relatively impoverished lifestyle.

Cathy finally gets her wish when the rich Linton familyled by Edgar (Shazad Latif), moves in down the road, Despite discovering she has feelings for the now grown-up Heathcliff, Cathy sees Edgar as her way out and agrees to marry him. A scorned Heathcliff flees, returning years later as mysteriously wealthy. His reappearance ignites something in Cathy’s soul, and the two engage in a perhaps unwise affair.

Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn) infuses the dusty material with an energy that’s not typically present in stories set in this particular time and place. Aside from the occasional Charli XCX song (the singer created a whole concept album for the film), the film looks and feels like a period piece, albeit one that doesn’t get bogged down in the drudgery that can sometimes come from films set in the distant past.

Much of that has to do with the lust the filmmaker puts into the story. Even if you’re not familiar with Brontë’s book, you can rest assured that Fennell has strayed far from the text, giving Cathy and Heathcliff thoughts and actions unthinkable in the 19th century. Fennell plays with expectations by opening the film with audio featuring creaking noises and a man grunting, conjuring up a situation far different than what is actually happening, and she also makes liberal use of rain, sweat, and tears to make the actors enticing.

What she can’t do, however, is make the two lead characters compelling. Cathy is a striver who never seems to know what she wants out of life, and Heathcliff goes from a bore to a brute over the course of the film, with no clear indication that he likes anybody, much less Cathy. Anyone expecting some kind of grand romance will be disappointed as Fennell is much more interested in making the film weird, like having the walls of Cathy’s room look like her skin, complete with freckles.

Robbie and Elordi do well enough with the material, and it’s clear that both of them are committed to bringing Fennell’s vision to life. Their styles tend to balance each other out, and if the story had been committed to their characters’ relationship, they might be lauded for their chemistry. In the end, though, the supporting actors feel more interesting, including ones played by Hong Chau, Alison Miller, and Clunes.

This version of Wuthering Heights should never be construed as an alternative to reading the book for any high schoolers out there. While Fennell makes the film interesting with her technical filmmaking choices, the story never finds its footing as it fails to sell the one thing that it seems to promise.

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Wuthering Heights opens in theaters on February 13.

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