Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

In this, the weekend before Thanksgiving, the holidays are in full effect in and around Dallas, with multiple seasonal events taking place. Other choices include showcases for violinists of different ilks, a popular food writer, a famous comedian, a local dance production, two national concert tours, and a symphonic celebration of Broadway.

Photo by Adina Friedman

Lindsey Stirling will perform at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie on November 17.

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, November 17

The Trains at NorthPark
The Trains at NorthPark is the largest miniature train exhibit in Texas, featuring more than 750 railcars. Visitors to the exhibit will experience watching the trains circle 1,600 feet of tracks rolling from coast to coast on a whimsical journey across the United States. The trains travel from the fall foliage of New England to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge with stops along the way in New York, Arizona, Colorado, and more. The exhibit will be on display at NorthPark Center through January 6.

The DIFFA Wreath Collection
At the DIFFA Dallas Wreath Collection, top designers from across the world create one-of-a-kind holiday wreaths in a one-night-only silent auction benefiting the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS. The fundraiser takes place at The Empire Room.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Nicola Benedetti
The innate musicianship and spirited presence of Nicola Benedetti makes her one of the most sought-after violinists today. At this concert, she will perform the U.S. premiere of James MacMillan's Violin Concerto No. 2. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, led by Fabio Luisi, will also perform Bruckner's Symphony No. 4. There will be three performances through Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

DMA Arts & Letters Live: An Evening with Nigella Lawson
Food writer, journalist, and TV cook Nigella Lawson is the bestselling author of 12 books, influencing a generation with her expressive and evocative writing and sumptuous recipes. In support of her latest book, Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories, DMA Arts & Letters Live will present an evening with Lawson as she shares the rhythms and rituals of life spent in the kitchen and reflects on how the process of cooking, eating, and repeating embodies the story of her life. The event takes place at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

Lindsey Stirling in concert
It's not often that a violinist becomes a huge star, but Lindsey Stirling has broken through because of the variety of music styles she plays, from classical to pop and rock to electronic dance music, and because of her energetic performances and videos. Each of her six albums, including the new Snow Waltz, has charted at No. 1 on the Billboard classical charts. She'll perform at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Friday, November 18

Improv Arlington presents Shawn Wayans
Shawn Wayans was born into one of Hollywood's largest and most successful comedic families, so he was naturally gifted with the ability to make people laugh. He carved his own acting career with a starring role in the sitcom The Wayans Bros., along with movies like the Scary Movie franchise. He'll perform four times through Saturday at Improv Arlington.

Family Music Theatre presents White Christmas
In Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil's former army commander. The production, running through December 10 at New Vida Church of God, features standards like “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and the perennial title song.

Bruce Wood Dance presents Awake
Bruce Wood Dance presents Awake, showcasing work by Bruce Wood, legendary American choreographer Lar Lubovitch, Garrett Smith, and Adam W. McKinney with The Digibees. The production shares stories of injustice and loss in the works by Wood, McKinney, and Smith. Paired with the sweeping choreography of Lar Lubovitch’s Dvořák Serenade, dancers glide through the notes echoing grace and beauty along the way. The production will have three performances through Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.

The Fab Four in concert
The Fab Four is elevated far above every other Beatles tribute due to their precise attention to detail. With uncanny, note-for-note live renditions of Beatles' classics such as "Can't Buy Me Love," "Yesterday," "A Day In The Life," "Twist And Shout," "Here Comes The Sun," and "Hey Jude," the Fab Four makes audiences think they are watching the real thing. The concert takes place at Majestic Theatre.

Saturday, November 19

Immersive Nutcracker: A Winter Miracle
Lighthouse Immersive presents Immersive Nutcracker: A Winter Miracle, featuring whimsical animated characters alongside footage of professional ballet dancers. The 30-minute immersive experience is set to the sweeping music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, encompassing visitors in a grand immersive display that relays the tale of The Nutcracker from opening to finale. The exhibition will be on display at Lighthouse Dallas through December 31.

Joe Satriani in concert
Joe Satriani is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, mentoring other guitar greats like Steve Vai, Andy Timmons, and more. He's also been part of the supergroup Chickenfoot, which included ex-Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. He'll play at Majestic Theatre in support of his new album, The Elephant of Mars.

A Magical Cirque Christmas
A Magical Cirque Christmas is a comedic, musical, and magic-filled holiday experience. World-acclaimed performers and cirque artists take audiences back in time, immersing them in the spirit of the season and performing Christmas classics through the decades. The one-night-only performance will be at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Plano Symphony Orchestra presents "Bravo Broadway!"
For the third show of its season, the Plano Symphony Orchestra will be joined by some of the best voices from the stages of New York performing familiar songs from Tony Award-winning Broadway shows like Les Misérables, West Side Story, The Phantom of The Opera, and more. The concert will be at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

holidays exhibitions-visual-arts fundraisers concerts music symphony books comedy theater event-planner

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.

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

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