Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

The circus is back in town — actually, two circuses — to headline another week of events in and around Dallas. Other choices include two big concerts in Arlington, a couple of comedy events, two new local theater productions, and a performance by one of the world's top mediums.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, July 25

Morgan Wallen in concert
Few entertainers have had a better start to their careers than country singer Morgan Wallen. His 2018 debut If I Know Me went double platinum and yielded a No. 1 hit, "Whiskey Glasses." His next two albums, most recently One Thing at a Time, each went to No. 1 on both the Billboard Country and overall Billboard 200 charts, resulting in a slew of awards at the Billboard Music Awards. His big-time status will be on display with concerts on back-to-back nights at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where he'll be joined by other big names like Jelly Roll and Koe Wetzel.

UniverSoul Circus
One of two circuses in Dallas this weekend, UniverSoul Circus will celebrate 30 years with its interactive “Family Reunion Tour,” bringing together big names from five continents all backed by the beat of world music, including sounds and dance styles spanning the African diaspora. The circus, taking place at The Shops At RedBird through August 11, stopped using animals in 2023, and features circus arts, theater, and music that spans genres, including pop, classic R&B, Latin, hip hop, jazz, and gospel.

Improv Addison presents Dan Soder
Dan Soder is a New York City-based comedian who’s best known as ‘Mafee’ on the Showtime series, Billions, and as co-host of Sirius XM’s The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson from 2015-2023. He is also known for his frequent appearances on MTV2's Guy Code. He'll perform six times through Saturday at Improv Addison.

Friday, July 26

Bucket List Productions and Lewisville Playhouse present Long Day's Journey into Night
Bucket List Productions will present the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill. The play is a brooding masterpiece about the pain of forgiving, and the impossibility of forgetting. The Tyrone family puts the not-so-fun in "dysfunctional," as the family tell their entire life’s progression story over the course of just one long day. The production runs through August 11 at Lewisville Playhouse.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey The Greatest Show On Earth
The second circus of the weekend is the long-awaited return of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey The Greatest Show On Earth, an immersive experience filled with acts that push the limits of human potential. The reimagined circus, which no longer features animals, is an action-packed production with modernized acts. Audiences will see never-before-seen stunts, acrobatic displays, and comedic acts from a globally diverse cast that includes 75 performers hailing from 18 countries. There will be six performances through Sunday at American Airlines Center.

Comedy Bang! Bang!: The Bang! Bang! Into Your Mouth Tour
Comedy Bang! Bang! has had a few different lives, first as radio show that started in 2009, then as an early podcast that has been put out weekly since 2010. It also had a five-season run as a TV show on IFC from 2012-2016. At this live show, host Scott Aukerman, along with Paul F. Tompkins and The Comedy Bang! Bang! All-Stars, will perform a totally improvised version of the award-winning podcast at Majestic Theatre.

Theatre Coppell presents Greater Tuna
Greater Tuna is a comedy about a small town named Tuna, Texas' third smallest town. The wacky inhabitants of this town - men, women, children and animals - are all played by two skillful, transformative actors who must change parts at a rather breakneck speed and use inventive voicework. The play features two actors, 20 characters, and a barrel of laughs. The production runs through August 11 at Coppell Arts Center.

Saturday, July 27

Matt Fraser: America’s Top Psychic Medium
The readings of medium Matt Fraser lead guests through a rollercoaster of emotions from laughing to crying, turning skeptics into believers with stunning details. His dynamic readings frequently include names, dates, and locations he couldn’t possibly know, only adding to his long-established reputation. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Sunday, July 28

Photo courtesy of Morgan Wallen

Morgan Wallen and special guests will play at AT&T Stadium on July 25 and 26.

Ateez in concert
South Korean boy band Ateez joined the K-Pop movement back in 2018, quickly gaining fans in both their native country and Japan by releasing a series of EPs and albums in both languages. They've been extremely popular in both countries, and now they're spreading their love to the United States with their world tour, Towards the Light: Will to Power in support of their 2023 album, The World EP.Fin: Will. They'll perform at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

music concerts theater kids families comedy event-planner

Movie Review

Rachel McAdams must survive a plane crash and bad boss in Send Help

Photo by Brook Rushton

Rachel McAdams in Send Help.

Director Sam Raimi has gone through different phases as a filmmaker, including leading the first Spider-Man trilogy and joining the MCU with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But he first gained notice with the gory and funny Evil Dead movies, a sensibility he’s returning to with his latest film, Send Help.

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is a meek and eccentric middle manager at a financial firm that’s just named Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) as its new nepo CEO. Bradley’s dad had promised Linda a promotion to vice president, but she gets passed over in favor of one of Bradley’s frat buddies, sending her into a mild rage. Still, she gets invited along on a planned business trip to Thailand, during which she hopes to prove her worth.

Unfortunately for most of the passengers on the private plane, it crashes into the ocean, leaving only Linda and Bradley alive on a deserted island. Linda, who has privately developed survival skills, adapts quickly to the forbidding environment, while Bradley tries to revert to bossing her around. But Linda quickly understands the power dynamic has shifted, and she uses this knowledge to try to keep Bradley in line, turning their stranding into a battle of wills.

Directed by Raimi and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the film is the classic “so bad it’s good” kind of experience. McAdams, inarguably an attractive and charming person, is given stringy hair, an antisocial personality, and quirks like eating tuna fish at her desk to make her as off-putting as possible. Bradley, along with almost everyone else at her office, is stereotyped just as hard in order to set up the twist of fate.

When the action shifts to the island, things get even more over the top. The audience has already been primed for Linda to demonstrate her survival expertise, but the film does way more than just show her making fire. Whether it’s flawlessly building a shelter or hunting a wild boar, everything Linda does is portrayed in a slightly off-kilter manner. Then they turn everything up to 11, indulging in gore that is so unnecessary that you can’t help but laugh.

The filmmakers prove they’re in on the joke the rest of the way, including a variety of preposterous but hilarious scenarios that would cause massive eyerolls if they were actually trying to take the film seriously. While they do a great job of showing Linda’s ability to handle herself in the wild, they also show that she is somehow the only person in the world who could get a glow up after a plane crash and weeks living in nature.

McAdams, an Oscar-nominated actor for Spotlight, is way too high class for a movie like this, which makes her presence here all the more interesting. She is all-in on whatever Raimi wants her to do, and she’s at her most fun when she goes the animalistic route. O’Brien, who was great in the recent Twinless, doesn’t get as much of an opportunity to show his range, but he still proves to be an interesting foil for her.

Were it released in any other month, Send Help might be looked at as bottom of the barrel material. But with the movie year just getting started, it’s easier to forgive its outrageous plot twists and just have fun, especially since Raimi and his team put the rest of the film together so well.

---

Send Help opens in theaters on January 30.

movies film