Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It will be a very kid/family-friendly weekend around Dallas, with four events with very different themes aimed at that demographic. Other choices include the national tour of a Broadway musical, a symphony concert, a local theater production, a show for golf lovers, two dance productions, and an Irish-themed concert.

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, March 16

Broadway Dallas presents Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Moulin Rouge! The Musical features a world of splendor and romance, of eye-popping excess, of glitz, grandeur, and glory, a world where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and revel in electrifying enchantment. Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. The production will run through April 2 at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Brahms Symphony No. 3"
The latest concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will feature Brahms' Third Symphony, one which he wrote at age 50 but which looked back on his younger days. The concert, conducted by Fabio Luisi, will also include Mahler's Selections of Twelve Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. There will be three performances through Saturday at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Disney on Ice: Road Trip Adventures
In Disney on Ice's Road Trip Adventures, exciting twists and turns await as Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and guests of all ages embark on an interactive and memory-rich adventure to iconic Disney destinations, including the rooftops of London with Mary Poppins and Jack and his band of dancing lamplighters; sun-soaked Motunui to help Moana restore the heart of Te Fiti; Aladdin’s princely parade filled with spectacular stunts; magical moments with Genie, and a brand-new song from Jasmine; and more. There will be performances through Sunday at American Airlines Center.

Rover Dramawerks presents Spirit Level
When famous author Jack Cameron and his wife Susie drown in a boating accident, they are required to haunt the country cottage where they lived. Then Simon and Flic, an aspiring writer and his pregnant wife, rent the cottage. When Simon has writer’s block and Flic’s monster mother comes to visit, Jack and Susie call on a Guardian Angel for assistance, with some unexpectedly wacky results. The production will run through April 1 at Cox Playhouse in Plano.

Friday, March 17

11th Annual DFW Golf Show
The DFW Golf Show is a three-day event that will feature dozens of vendors, interactive games, golf fittings, and entertainment for the whole family. Visitors will be able to see World Long Drive Champion and former UNT golfer Kyle Berkshire, US Women’s Open champion and Dallas-Fort Worth local Brittany Lang, golf comedy group Country Club Adjacent, and more. The event takes place through Sunday at Esports Stadium Arlington.

Circus Vazquez
The family-owned Circus Vazquez will brings its all-new production to Riders Field in Frisco, featuring a cast of international circus superstars under the circus’ climate-controlled blue and white tent. Ringmaster Memo Vazquez presides over the festivities, featuring clowns, jugglers, a unicyclist master, trapeze artists, dance and acrobatic performers, and more. There will be performances daily through April 3.

TITAS / Dance Unbound presents Alan Lake Factori(e)
Alan Lake has created a work poised between fable and allegory. Le cri des méduses, a polymorphic choreographic work enriched with visual art and video reinforces Alan Lake’s status as a significant Canadian artist. Starting from Théodore Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa, he proposes a vision of a humanity adrift. A physical dance like a pagan ritual, jostled by images of a powerful scenography, Le cri des méduses both promises and delivers a startling artistic shock. The dance company, making its U.S. debut, will have performances on both Friday and Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.

Saturday, March 18

The Big Bounce America
Featuring the only Guinness-certified world record holder of The World’s Largest Bounce House, The Big Bounce America is the biggest touring inflatable event in the world. It includes four massive inflatable attractions: a 16,000-square-foot World’s Largest Bounce House; the newly added Sport Slam featuring a customized sports arena; the 900+ foot-llong obstacle course named The Giant; and a unique, space-themed wonderland called airSPACE. The event will be open on weekends at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie through April 2.

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.

B. Moore Dance presents The Encore
The Encore is a collection of choreographic works created by Bridget L. Moore. Rooted in African American and global dance aesthetics, the evening consists of an artistically diverse program from the company's repertoire, including Rose Gold, which conveys the greatest gift of expression to the world, Love; Southern Recollections-Romare Bearden, inspired by the eponymous Harlem Renaissance painter; and Uncharted Territory, inspired by Moore's travels across Asia. For this event at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, audiences will see performances by the company and aspiring artists of the next generation.

Sunday, March 19

Celtic Angels Ireland in concert
Fans of Irish music, dance, and culture can expect a joyous celebration of everything Irish with Celtic Angels Ireland, joined by Celtic Knight Dancers and The Trinity Band Ensemble of Dublin. The program for the concert features a variety of Irish favorites, including “Danny Boy,” “Road to Kildare,” and “Song for Ireland,” as well as Irish takes on American favorites like “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “God Bless America,” and more. The concert will be at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Moulin Rouge! The Musical will play at the Music Hall at Fair Park through April 2.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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