Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Theater and music make up the majority of events across Dallas this weekend, but the biggest one is the opening of an art experience unlike anything in the area. There will also be a film festival, four new local theater productions, a trio of concerts, and a chance to win fun playhouses.

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, July 13

Asian Film Festival of Dallas
The 2023 Asian Film Festival of Dallas will feature 18 feature films and five short films over four days, including opening night selection The Night Owl from Tae-Jim Ahn, closing night selection Drive from Park Dong-hee, and special screenings with filmmaker Q&As like Linh Tran’s Waiting for the Light to Change and Sing J Lee’s The Accidental Getaway Driver. Screenings take place through Sunday at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

The Watering Hole Collective presents Spring Awakening
The Watering Hole Collective will present its inaugural production, the Tony Award-winning musical, Spring Awakening. Based on the groundbreaking and controversial 1891 German play by Frank Wedekind, the musical tells the story of teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of adolescent sexuality set to a contemporary pop-rock score. Reimagining the 2006 hit for 2023, the Watering Hole Collective invites audiences to dive into the deeper messages of sexual awakening, youthful rebellion, and self discovery. The production runs through July 22 at Arts Mission Oak Cliff.

Friday, July 14

Meow Wolf: The Real Unreal
Friday is the long-anticipated grand opening of Meow Wolf: The Real Unreal, where visitors embark on a journey through a technicolor wonderland that blends storytelling, technology, and immersive art. The experience encourages visitors to explore different dimensions of perspective and creativity through more than 30 rooms of multidimensional art. Visitors can choose to engage with a story about a family who has unknowingly unlocked portals to a different existence, or they can just enjoy the fun and weird art all on its own. Meow Wolf will be a permanent entertainment experience at Grapevine Mills.

Dallas CASA presents Parade of Playhouses
Dallas CASA's annual Parade of Playhouses features custom-designed and built children's playhouses on display and available to win by raffle. Playhouses run the gamut of style and design, from pop culture-inspired castles to modern, abstract designs and from tiny versions of North Dallas new construction to play-based climbing structures. All funds raised from the event, running at NorthPark Center through July 30, benefit the child victims of abuse or neglect served by Dallas CASA's volunteer advocates.

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas presents The Underpants
In the riotously funny farce, The Underpants, Louise and Theo Maske are a couple whose conservative existence is shattered when Louise's bloomers fall down in public. While her momentary display does not result in all-out scandal, it does attract two infatuated men, each of whom wants to rent the spare room in the Markes' home. Written by Steve Martin, the production runs through July 29 at Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas.

Samantha Fish in concert with Jesse Dayton
Singer/guitarist Samantha Fish has been playing her style of blues rock for almost 15 years, releasing her debut album, 2009's Live Bait, at the tender age of 20. She's gone on to release 10 more solo and collaborative albums, including the new Death Wish Blues with Jesse Dayton, with whom she will be co-headlining this special concert. They will play at Longhorn Ballroom, with Carolyn Wonderland as the opening act.

Theatre Coppell presents Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein is a musical stage adaptation of Mel Brooks’ brilliantly funny film. Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the infamous inventor Doctor Frankenstein, reluctantly inherits the family estate in Transylvania. With the help of a hunchbacked sidekick named Igor and lab assistant Inga, Frederick finds himself following in the mad-scientist tradition of his ancestor, creating a monster for this century. When the monster escapes, hilarity abounds. The production runs through July 30 at Coppell Arts Center.

Richardson Theatre Centre presents Boeing, Boeing
A hit comedy similar in vein to Shakespeare’s comedies of merry misadventures and mistaken identities, Boeing Boeing tells the exploits of French bachelor Bernard and his lovely female flight attendants. In the past, Bernard has been able to juggle these women, but when the situation changes and all of the women end up at his apartment on the same day, Bernard struggles to keep them from learning the truth. The production runs through July 30 at Richardson Theatre Centre.

Saturday, July 15

The Polyphonic Spree 23rd Birthday Celebration
The Polyphonic Spree, which was started by lead singer Tim Delaughter in 2000, will celebrate its 23rd year in existence by releasing its latest album, Salvage Enterprise. This performance at Longhorn Ballroom will feature the live debut of new material as well as past favorites to celebrate the band’s birthday.

Ace Frehley in concert
For people of a certain age, Ace Frehley will always be Spaceman from the rock band Kiss. But he left that band in 1982, so the majority of his career has been as a solo artist, even though he's never truly been able to leave his early days behind. Almost all of his seven solo albums, including 2020's Origins Vol. 2, have involved members of Kiss or been influenced by their music. He'll play at The Echo Lounge & Music Hall.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Dayton and Samantha Fish

Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton will play at Longhorn Ballroom on July 14.

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Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

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