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 courtesy of Circus Vazquez

Circus Vazquez will be at Riders Field in Frisco, March 17-April 3.

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Movie Review

Podcaster lets creepy noises get under her skin in Undertone

Photo courtsy of A24

Nina Kiri in Undertone.

While the horror genre is still capable of producing some innovative filmmaking, most of the output tends to fall back on jump scares and other tropes to deliver their terror. So when a film like the new Undertone tries something different, it should be applauded for the effort, even if it’s not as successful in its execution.

Evy (Nina Kiri) is a podcaster who co-hosts a show called Undertone, which focuses on paranormal videos and sounds they find on the internet. Her co-host, Justin (Adam DiMarco), lives in London, so - for kind of contrived reasons - in order to make the time difference between them work, Evy records at around 3 am her time. Evy - who lives at home with her bedridden, dying mother - is the skeptic of the two, consistently debunking clips that Justin presents to her.

Her doubts are tested when Justin brings in a series of 10 audio clips that purport to be about a boyfriend recording his girlfriend as she talks in her sleep. The audio begins in a lighthearted manner and quickly turns creepy and then sinister as unexplained things start happening. Evy senses that what she’s hearing is bleeding into her own world, especially when inexplicable actions take place in her mother’s bedroom.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Ian Tuason, the film is effective early on when it introduces the story concept. Making great use of sound design, Tuason essentially puts the audience inside Evy’s head, where every little sound is heightened. Setting the podcast sessions in the middle of the night ups the anxiety level for both her and the audience.

However, as the film goes along it gets a little tedious watching Evy listen to the audio, even as Tuason attempts to keep the film dynamic by moving the camera around her. The premise of the story - progressively going through 10 clips - and Tuason’s framing of shots that focus as much on the background as they do on Evy seem to promise more interesting results than actually transpire.

What ultimately holds the film down more than anything is its lack of different viewpoints. The only other person who’s actually seen is Evy’s mother, who is unable to speak. Evy speaks to Justin, another friend, and a doctor over the course of the story, and while each broadens our understanding of Evy somewhat, none of them make her a truly three-dimensional person. Getting a little more information about her history might have helped the story work better.

Kiri does her level best to vary her acting in the various podcast scenes, and even when they start to get repetitive, she remains compelling and watchable. It’s difficult to judge the other actors based on audio alone, but knowing that DiMarco also starred in season 2 of The White Lotus helps to visualize him and his acting style.

Undertone does well in creating a spine-chilling mood, but it needed something beyond that to become a truly great horror movie. Tuason shows some promise as a filmmaker, especially in the way he uses the camera to create tension, but a more complete story will serve him better the next time around.

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Undertone is now playing in theaters,

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