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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

---

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

movies film