Weekend Event Planner

These are the 15 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

There will be a lot to celebrate around Dallas this weekend, with events focused on Pride and Juneteenth at the forefront. Also on the slate: a bunch of notable concerts, six new local theater productions, teachers-turned-comedians venting their frustrations, and more.

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, June 15

Bored Teachers: We Can't Make This Stuff Up Comedy Tour
Now that school is out for the summer, teachers can let loose. The biggest entertainment platform for teachers in the world, Bored Teachers, presents teacher-comedians all on one stage. Their skits have amassed hundreds of millions of views on the internet, and they're all joining comic forces on the stage for a night of laughter. The show will be at Majestic Theatre.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Together We Sing"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Project Unity will present a cast of music legends for "Together We Sing," their annual musical and special event fundraiser. The evening will feature Erica Campbell and Spinderella, Zebulon Ellis, Leon Lacey, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and a 200-voice multi-faith choir comprised of choruses from more than 20 religious and faith organizations. The night of inspiring gospel and classical music will lead into the week of Juneteenth, a national holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The program will also celebrate National Black Music Month with a special tribute to 50 years of Hip Hop. The event will be at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Love and Rockets in concert
Love and Rockets comes to Dallas to perform live for the first time in 14 years. The band, made up of former Bauhaus members David J, Daniel Ash, and Kevin Haskins, was formed in 1984, following Bauhaus’ initial split in 1983. They released seven studio albums, with their 1989 single "So Alive" reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. They broke up in 1999 and reformed briefly in 2007 for a few live shows, before splitting again in 2009. The concert will be at The Factory in Deep Ellum.

Shakespeare Dallas presents Shakespeare in the Park: Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays and also one of the most rarely performed. It's about betrayal, love and disguise. When two best friends fall in love with the same woman, chaos ensues. Proteus is determined to destroy the betrothal of his friend, Valentine, and the lovely Silvia, but he also forgets his own beloved Julia in the midst. Resolved to win back his love, Julia travels to Milan to find Proteus. Two Gentlemen of Verona will run in repertory with Much Ado About Nothing through July 14 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater.

Friday, June 16

Dallas Arts District presents Pride Block Party
The Dallas Arts District will present the Pride Block Party, their annual Pride celebration at the Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, Crow Museum of Asian Art, and throughout the Arts District. Events will include gallery tours, drag performers, comedy, dancing, fashion show, and more.

Garland Summer Musicals presents The Music Man
The Music Man follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian, the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain's fall. The production runs through June 25 at Granville Arts Center.

Repertory Company Theatre presents Footloose
Footloose is the explosive Broadway musical set to the rockin’ rhythm of the film’s Oscar- and Grammy-nominated Top 40 score and augmented with dynamic new Tony-nominated songs for the stage musical. The production runs through June 25 at Repertory Company Theatre in Richardson.

North Texas Performing Arts Repertory Theatre presents Grease
Head greaser Danny Zuko and new (good) girl Sandy Dumbrowski try to relive the high romance of their "Summer Nights" as the rest of the gang sings and dances its way through such songs as "Greased Lightnin’," "It’s Raining on Prom Night," and "Alone at the Drive-In Movie," recalling the music of Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley that became the soundtrack of a generation. The production runs through June 25 at Willow Bend Center of the Arts in Plano.

Theatre Arlington presents Fly By Night
A star-crossed prophecy. Two charming sisters and a luckless sandwich maker. A lot of music. Just not a lot of light. In this darkly comic rock-fable, a melancholy sandwich maker’s humdrum life is intersected by two entrancing sisters. A sweeping ode to young love set against the backdrop of the Northeast blackout of 1965, Fly By Night is a tale about making your way and discovering hope in a world beset by darkness. The production, which had its premiere in Dallas in 2013, runs through July 2 at Theatre Arlington.

The Core Theatre presents City of Richardson History Play
City of Richardson History Play explores the people and relationships that helped to grow the city - that perhaps should have been known as Wheeler, Texas - from a railway line and post office to one of the fastest growing and thriving cities in Texas. The production runs through July 16 at The Core Theatre in Richardson.

Saturday, June 17

Walker Hayes in concert
Sometimes all it takes is one song to change a musician's life. Walker Hayes has been trying to be a country music star since 2005, with limited success. But his six-song 2021 EP Country Stuff featured the runaway hit "Fancy Like," putting him into the "gotta see" category. He'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving in support of his 2022 album, Country Stuff the Album.

Garbage and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds in concert
Rock bands Garbage and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds come to Dallas as part of their co-headlining tour. Garbage is touring in support of their 2021 album, No Gods No Masters, while Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds are touring in support of their new album, Council Skies. They'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion.

Jill Scott in concert
R&B/soul singer Jill Scott has released five albums in her career, most recently 2015's Woman. She got her start in 2000 with her highly-acclaimed debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1., which remains the best-selling album of her career. She'll celebrate the 23rd anniversary of that album with this special concert at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Lea Salonga in concert
Multiple award-winning actress and singer Lea Salonga is best known for her Tony Award-winning role in Miss Saigon. In addition to the Tony, she has won the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards in the field of musical theatre. She was also the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Fa Mulan for Mulan and Mulan II. She'll perform a variety of songs in this concert at Winspear Opera House.

Sunday, June 18

Deep Ellum Foundation presents Juneteenth on Main Block Party
The Deep Ellum Foundation will host a Juneteenth Block Party, offering its own spin on the special occasion by specifically featuring African Americans' musical contributions to local, regional, and national culture. There will be performances by local, regional, and national artists, headlined by Dru Hill. The event, taking place along Main Street in Deep Ellum, will also feature over 25 Black-owned business vendors and a special Black History exhibit.

Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight in concert
R&B/soul legends Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight earned their status thanks to their individual long and storied careers. LaBelle released her first album in 1977, gaining a huge following thanks to hits like "If Only You Knew," "New Attitude," and "On My Own." Knight is Motown royalty, scoring multiple hits with The Pips before setting off on her own, where she became an even bigger star. The two will team up for this special concert featuring a slew of their biggest hits at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie.

TheabaAgency.com

Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight will take the stage together at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie on June 18.

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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.

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The Bride! is now playing in theaters.

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