Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

While Easter festivities will dominate many people's long holiday weekend in Dallas, there are also some fine local and traveling events to catch, too. They include two local theater productions, a symphony concert, a comedian, college basketball, three concerts, three dance productions, and the grand opening for a new location of an art museum.

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. Still need Easter brunch plans or some sweet treats for your gathering? Find those lists here and here.

Thursday, March 28

Second Thought Theatre presents Heroes of the Fourth Turning
It's nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four young conservatives have gathered at a backyard after-party. They've returned home to toast their mentor Gina, newly inducted as president of a tiny Catholic college. But as their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos and clashing generational politics, it becomes less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood. The production runs through April 13 at Second Thought Theatre in Dallas.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Mahler Symphony No. 5"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's "Mahler's Symphony No. 5" concert will be conducted by Fabio Luisi and feature pianist Jeremy Denk. The program, which will have three performances through Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center, includes the world premiere of Anna Clyne's piano concerto, Atlas, and Mahler's Symphony No. 5.

Ralph Barbosa: The Super Cool Ass Tour
Ralph Barbosa was named the Funniest Comic in Texas in 2019, was the winner of the New York Latino Film Festival Stand Up Comedy competition in 2021, and recently made his HBO debut on the HA Festival Comedy Special. He also sold out six shows in Dallas for his 2023 Netflix special, Cowabunga. He'll perform once on Thursday and twice on Saturday at Majestic Theatre.

Friday, March 29

2024 NCAA Division I Men's South Basketball Regionals
For the first time since 2018, Dallas will play host to games for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Weekend two of the South Regional will kick off with Sweet Sixteen games, featuring No. 1 seed Houston vs No. 4 seed Duke and No. 2 seed Marquette vs. No. 11 seed North Carolina State. The winners of those two games will face off on Sunday in the Elite Eight for a chance to go to the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. All games will be at American Airlines Center.

Home Free in concert
Country a cappella group Home Free comes to Dallas as part of their tour, "Crazy(er) Life," celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their 2014 breakout album, Crazy Life, released after they won the fourth season of NBC’s The Sing Off in 2013. They released their latest album, As Seen On TV, in 2023. They'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Theatre Arlington presents Alice in Wonderland
Adapted from Lewis Carroll's beloved tale, Alice in Wonderland follows the curious journey of young Alice as she falls through a rabbit hole into a surreal and fantastical realm. The family-friendly show runs through April 14 at Theatre Arlington.

Avant Chamber Ballet presents Women's Choreography Project
Avant Chamber Ballet's Women's Choreography Project features an evening of world premieres and commissions with live music in an intimate setting that lets the audience experience dance up close and meet the artists after the performance. The program is celebrating its 10th anniversary of commissioning new works by women choreographers. There will be performances on Friday and Saturday at Sammons Center for the Arts.

The Polyphonic Spree in concert with FIT
For almost 25 years, lead singer Tim DeLaughter and The Polyphonic Spree have been bringing good vibes with their psychedelic pop/symphonic rock sound. The Dallas choral band has only had a few notable hits over the years, but they're a mainstay in their hometown, putting on multiple shows every year, including their annual holiday extravaganza. They'll play at Longhorn Ballroom in support of their 2023 album, Salvage Enterprise.

TITAS/Dance Unbound presents Giordano Dance Chicago
Jazz dance is quintessentially American, and Giordano Dance Chicago is America’s original jazz dance company. Celebrating 60 years of commitment to and expansion of jazz dance, the powerful, passionate, and elegant company - making their Dallas debut - occupies a singular position within the local, national, and international dance communities. They'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Saturday, March 30

Arlington Museum of Art Grand Opening exhibits
The Arlington Museum of Art has moved from its longtime location in downtown Arlington to join the Arlington Entertainment District near the city's three stadiums. They'll celebrate their grand opening with two new exhibitions: "Pompeii: The Immortal City," in which guests will hear and feel the roar of Mount Vesuvius erupting while they take in the wonder of original artworks and newly-discovered artifacts; and "One Point Five Degrees," the museum's first-ever, immersive art experience that draws its name from the 2018 report on the threats from global climate change. Both exhibitions will remain on display through June 23.

Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts presents Contemporary West Dance Theatre
Contemporary West Dance Theatre is a multicultural nonprofit organization founded in March 2007 by Alvin Ailey protege Bernard H. Gaddis and Charmaine Hunter. The company has a dance methodology that integrates classical and modern paradigms with an athleticism that gives audiences a more profound dance experience. They'll perform at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson.

Sunday, March 31

Thee Phantom & The Illharmonic Orchestra in concert
Thee Phantom combines the energy and passion of hip-hop, with the beautiful, sweeping sounds of live orchestration featuring strings, horns, woodwinds, and a pianist. Add to that a soul songstress, a crowd controlling DJ and a fire breathing MC and that is still but a fraction of what you'll get when you catch Thee Phantom & the Illharmonic Orchestra in action. They'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Photo courtesy of Thee Phantom & The Illharmonic Orchestra

Thee Phantom & The Illharmonic Orchestra will perform at Majestic Theatre on March 31.

comedy concerts dallas events dance event-planner families galleries kids museums music sports symphony theater

Movie Review

Rose Byrne plays one stressed-out mom in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Photo courtesy of A24

Conan O'Brien and Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Movie history is littered with depictions of stressed-out mothers who have breakdowns due to the pressure put on them by their children, spouses, or society in general. Recent examples include Hereditary, Tully, and Nightbitch, with each of them finding different ways to depict their main character’s struggles. Yet another put-upon mother goes through the wringer in the oddly-named If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

When we meet Linda (Rose Byrne), she’s already in the middle of a huge ball of stress. Her daughter (Delaney Quinn) suffers from an unnamed illness that requires around-the-clock care and frequent doctor visitors. Her husband, Charles (Christian Slater), is a boat captain whose job keeps him away from home for long periods of time. And her job as a therapist requires her to hear other people’s problems, necessitating her seeing a fellow therapist (Conan O’Brien) on a daily basis.

Nearly everyone else she encounters in the movie adds to her anxiety, including Caroline (Danielle Macdonald), a new mother who’s constantly worried about her baby; Dr. Spring (Mary Bronstein), who constantly harps on Linda to get her daughter to eat; an officious parking attendant at the hospital; and a sneering desk clerk at the motel she and her daughter are forced to stay at after a plumbing disaster at home. Consequently, she dismisses James (A$AP Rocky), another motel worker, the one person who treats her with a modicum of kindness.

Written and directed by Bronstein, the film is a harrowing experience that somehow also manages to be darkly funny at times. Linda is dealing with way too much for one person to adequately handle, something that is compounded by the fact that nobody really listens to her, not even the therapist she’s paying to do so. Scenes bounce back and forth between Linda demonstrating righteous anger at what the world is throwing at her and crushing guilt over supposedly not doing enough for her child.

Bronstein depicts Linda’s journey in a number of interesting ways, some straightforward and others not so much. Bronstein makes liberal use of close-ups on Linda’s face, heightening the feeling that the world is closing in on her. The plumbing problem at her home results in a huge hole in the ceiling, which becomes the source of some unexplained phenomena, a choice that might have been unnecessary.

What’s most striking about the film is how hardly anyone is on Linda’s side. Since the film joins the story as it’s already in progress, the audience is left to guess as to how Linda has behaved in the past to garner such negative interactions from people who should be helping her. While she’s not a perfect person, she also doesn’t appear to be such a jerk that she should be treated with disdain everywhere she goes.

Byrne, who’s gravitated toward lighter roles in recent years, is an absolute marvel in this part. The more stress Linda feels, the more she becomes disheveled, and Byrne makes you feel every ounce of the character’s pain. O’Brien, who’s rarely had to play anyone but “Conan O’Brien” before, is surprisingly good, tamping down his comic sensibility to complement Byrne well. A$AP Rocky also makes a nice impression, elevating a character that’s a little underwritten.

The role of a mom is never an easy one, and that’s in the best of circumstances. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You - a title that is never explained yet still somehow fits - earns its stripes by demonstrating how the often thankless job of motherhood can become even more distressing when the mom in question is given little to no support.

---

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You is now playing in select theaters.

movies film