Weekend Event Planner

These are the 17 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

This weekend around Dallas will add a few more holiday events to the list that will grow exponentially over the coming weeks. (There's already a long list of local Christmas lights here.) Other choices include more pickleball, two new local theater productions, a big concert, a trio of comedy events, two dance productions, an aviation festival, and more.

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.

Thursday, November 9

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Holiday at the Arboretum
Holiday at the Arboretum features three large-scale outdoor exhibits, including The Christmas Village, The 12 Days of Christmas, and the 50-foot-tall Dazzling Musical Tree. The displays are creatively designed for the 66-acre garden and are open both in the daytime and evening. In the historic DeGolyer House, visitors can experience the epitome of holiday enchantment at the Christmas Classics exhibit. The event takes place daily through January 5.

2023 USA Pickleball National Championships
Don't get this event confused with last week's Major League Pickleball tournament - this is the premier event for all pickleball fans. Close to 4,000 amateur and professional pickleball players will compete for glory at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch through Sunday. As if to underscore the status of the tournament, it will feature live post-competition music from party band Le Freak on Thursday and former American Idol winner Phillip Phillips on Friday.

Undermain Theatre presents No Man's Land
Set against the decayed elegance of a house in London’s Hampstead Heath, in No Man’s Land two men face each other over a drink. Do they know each other, or is each performing an elaborate character of recognition? Their ambiguity - and the comedy - intensify with the arrival of two younger men, the one ostensibly a manservant, the other a male secretary. Undermain Theatre presents the regional premiere of the production through December 3.

WaterTower Theatre presents Chaplin: The Musical
Chaplin is based on the real-life story of Charlie Chaplin, the iconic film actor, writer, producer, and director. The new musical spans the comic’s entire career, from Chaplin’s first performance as a child in 19th-century London to his tearful acceptance of an honorary Academy Award in 1972, and dramatizes the making of his legendary films, including The Kid, The Circus, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator. The production runs through November 19 at WaterTower Theatre in Addison.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Strauss Don Juan"
"Strauss Don Juan," featuring conductor Kirill Karabits and cellist Inbal Segev, will feature selections like Strauss' Don Juan, the world premiere of Victoria Vita Poleva's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Anna Korsun's Terricone, and Strauss' Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. The latest Dallas Symphony Orchestra concert will have three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

The Flaming Lips in concert
There's no show quite like a Flaming Lips show. The famously flamboyant Oklahoma group goes all out, no matter the venue, bringing a glitz and glamour to their performances that often overshadows the music itself. This concert at the Music Hall at Fair Park will celebrate the 20th anniversary (ish) of their 2002 album, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots.

Friday, November 10

Gaylord Texan presents ICE! featuring Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"
ICE! featuring Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" is an immersive, story-driven holiday showplace complete with larger-than-life ice sculptures, frozen slides, and tunnels. The chilly walk-through attraction will feature 10 scenes from the iconic Dr. Seuss story, and additional activities include an eight-lane tubing hill covered in real snow; ice skating; snowball build & blast; gingerbread decorating center; and more. The event takes place daily at Gaylord Texan in Grapevine through December 31.

The Colony Parks & Recreation Department presents American Heroes: A Salute to Veterans
The 15th annual American Heroes: A Salute to Veterans & First Responders festival is a two-day long Veterans Day celebration featuring live music, carnival rides, games and food, food trucks, fireworks, and more. Performers will include headliners Vertical Horizon and Chris Cagle, along with The Unlikely Candidates, The Chad Cooke Band, and Austin Snell. The festival takes place on Friday and Saturday at The Colony Five Star Complex. (For a long list of local places offering Veterans Day discounts, go here.)

The Music Hall at Fair Park presents Ali Wong
Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress. She’s best known for her three Netflix specials, Baby Cobra, Hard Knock Wife, and Don Wong. She also voiced the co-lead on the Netflix animation show, Tuca and Bertie, and starred in the Netflix movie Always Be My Maybe, which she co-wrote with her longtime friend and creative collaborator, Randall Park. She'll perform at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Joe Gatto’s Night of Comedy
Joe Gatto, a well-known comedian, actor, and producer, is best known for the hit TV shows Impractical Jokers and The Misery Index. He is one of the founding members of The Tenderloins Comedy Troupe. He'll present a special night of comedy at Majestic Theatre.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Director's Choice
At Dallas Black Dance Theatre's Director's Choice, audiences can witness the endless possibilities of dance in the curated showcase featuring a diverse range of innovative talents, each with their own fresh perspective and voice. There will be two performances - one Friday and one Saturday - at Wyly Theatre.

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet presents The Perspective Project
Pegasus Contemporary Ballet will present their immersive season opener, The Perspective Project. The production will invite audiences to explore the topic of perspective and reassess their individual perceptions and biases. Two works will highlight how viewpoints, shaped by personal experiences and beliefs, can limit understanding and impact on daily interactions. The production will have three performances through Sunday at Arts Mission Oak Cliff.

Texas Trust CU Theatre presents This Is Important Live!
Adam Devine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson, and Kyle Newacheck (co-creators and stars of Workaholics) will present a live version of their podcast, This is Important, diving deep into serious discussions about some of the most important topics facing the society today, such as grown men fighting children, diarrhea, boners, naked grandmas, and more. The event takes place at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie.

Saturday, November 11

Commemorative Air Force presents Aviation Discovery Fest
Aviation Discovery Fest celebrates the wonder of flying. The event includes cockpit tours and rides on vintage aircraft, as well as activities for the whole family to enjoy including kid-friendly hands-on projects, educational exhibits, a classic car show, food truck, and more. The festival takes place at Dallas Executive Airport through Sunday.

The Trains at NorthPark
The Trains at NorthPark includes 1,600 feet of track rolling from coast to coast on a whimsical rail journey across America. The trains travel from the autumn foliage of New England to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge with stops along the way to see New York City, Washington DC, Dallas, and the desert Southwest, including the Grand Canyon and the Garden of the Gods. The exhibit will be open through January 5, 2024.

Get Happy: Michael Feinstein Celebrates the Judy Garland Centennial
Michael Feinstein rejoices in the songs and saga of “Miss Show Business,” Judy Garland, in his brand new concert. The multimedia live show features big-screen film clips, archival photos, rare concert footage, never-before-heard audio recordings, and incomparable music. The performance takes place at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson.

Sunday, November 12

Turtle Creek Chorale presents Border Songs
Three Turtle Creek Chorale ensembles – Chamber Chorus, Coloratura, and TerraVox – will return to the stage for this concert, Border Songs. The concert will feature powerful songs in English and Spanish, amplifying the stories of immigrants from the southern border. Turtle Creek Chorale aims to bring the stories of immigrants traveling to the United States to life with this program. The concert will be at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

The Trains at NorthPark will be at NorthPark Center, November 11-January 5.

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Movie Review

Ryan Gosling tries to save the universe in Project Hail Mary

Photo by Jonathan Olley

Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary

The reasons behind the success of 2015’s The Martian, which earned over $630 million worldwide and got nominated for seven Oscars, had as much to do with the novel written by Andy Weir as it did with star Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott. Weir’s commitment to making an entertaining story that was also scientifically accurate proved to be easy to translate into a blockbuster movie.

The same is true for Weir’s 2021 novel, Project Hail Mary, now a film starring Ryan Gosling. Gosling plays Dr. Ryland Grace, who opens the film waking up from an induced coma, alone on an interstellar spaceship named the Hail Mary. As his foggy mind clears, he - and the audience - learn that he was recruited to help an initiative to save the world after it’s discovered that a mysterious phenomenon is causing the sun to cool down, threatening all life on Earth.

The film toggles back and forth between Grace’s time on the ship and his whirlwind journey of scientific discovery on Earth, with revelations coming on both sides. On Earth, he mostly deals with Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), the unflappable and unstoppable leader of the international coalition dedicated to solving the problem. And in space, orbiting the far-off star known as Tau Ceti, he encounters another being he names Rocky, a five-limbed creature that looks like a boulder which teams up with him to try to save both of their worlds.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and written by Drew Goddard (who also wrote The Martian), the film melds multiple genres into an astonishingly great whole. It starts off as a mystery, morphs into science fiction, transitions into actual science, becomes a thriller, adds in plenty of drama, and - for good measure - features plenty of comedy along the way. Shifting tones like this film does is tricky for many filmmakers, but Lord and Miller prove to be masterful at knowing just how much of each to include before it becomes too much.

One of the biggest keys to the story is the fact that Grace is not a hero in the movie sense of the word. He’s very smart, but he’s also an everyman, teaching middle school science after being shunned from academia. The circumstances of how he ended up on the Hail Mary are doled out in pieces over the course of the film, but it’s clear from the start that Grace’s talents are not the ones found in your typical astronaut. Ironically, it’s him being forced to do heroic stuff that imbues him with an atypical type of bravery.

The relationship between Grace and Rocky is unique, and Rocky ends up being as endearing an alien that’s been featured in movies despite the fact that he has no face and speaks only in musical tones. The film does a very effective job of putting the audience in Grace’s shoes, having to figure out ways to communicate with Rocky at the same time as he’s trying to figure out how to complete a mission he wasn’t trained to do.

Gosling is the ideal actor to portray a man like Grace. Essentially alone for much of the film, his innate charm and humorous delivery keep the film from feeling like an extended monologue. The flashback scenes to his time on Earth feature solid performances from people like Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Lionel Boyce (The Bear), and more, who fill in the pieces of the story without feeling out of place.

Project Hail Mary is a crowd-pleaser in all the right ways, delivering plenty of thrilling action and funny moments while also digging deep into science nerd elements. With a movie star like Gosling in the lead and successful filmmakers like Lord, Miller, and Goddard behind the scenes, the film makes an early case for being one of best of the year.

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Project Hail Mary opens in theaters on March 20.

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