Best Things to Do in Dallas This Weekend

Fri 2/9
Echo Theatre will create an old supper club setting just in time for Valentine date night with Her Song, a music and dance revue at the Bath House Cultural Center, which overlooks WhiteRock Lake at 521 E. Lawther Drive. Shows start at 8 p.m. Friday and continue through Feb. 24. Arrive early and take a few spins on the dance floor. Food, drinks and craft cocktails are reminiscent of supper clubs in the ’30s (cash only — no credit cards in 1935). Annie Benjamin and Kateri Cale conceived and developed the revue, which features songs from the Great American Female Songbook. Pam Myers-Morgan directs, and Scott A. Eckert is music director. Some of Dallas’ best crooners, including Max Swarner and Angela Davis, will perform. For tickets, visit echotheatre.org. – Reba Liner

The Ring of Polykrates, a 1916 domestic comedy by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, is the Dallas Opera’s opening performance (sung in German with English supertitles) at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Additional performances are at 2 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Feb. 17 at the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. The opera plot revolves around a happily married and well-to-do musician who tells his wife that life would be complete if only he could see his long-lost friend. But the tables turn when that friend shows up. Emmanuel Villaume conducts. Director is Peter Kazaras. For tickets, call 800-840-9227 or visit dallasopera.org. – Reba Liner

Experimental playwright Young Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die has received critical accolades since it premiered in 2011 at Joe’s Pub in New York City as the 11th play in the 13P playwriting coalition. It’s a monologue about her dread of taking the last bow and her family interspersed with catchy pop songs, such as “I’m Gonna Die,” that she performed with her band, Future Wife. David Byrne performed it with her during his 2015 Meltdown Festival. Dallas musician and director-producer Jake Nice put on a well-received local version last year with Samantha “Rat” Rios and is bringing it back this weekend as part of the Elevator Project series. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Wyly Studio Theatre, 2400 Flora St. Tickets are $25 at attpac.org. – Jesse Hughey

Comedian Jim Gaffigan has done a lot of great things with his career, but the most amusing is how he made the Hot Pocket funnier. His high-pitched squealing of the microwaved lunch treat’s signature jingle that goes (ahem) “Hoooot Pocket!” helped him build a massive fan base that carried him across his early days in the comedy clubs, across the television landscape, through the publishing world and onto some of the biggest stages in the world. He scored sitcoms for CBS and TV Land, appeared on just about every late-night talk show and even took over Craig Ferguson’s post-Late Show time slot before James Corden scored the job. He’s also opened for Pope Francis. That’s pretty good for a guy who has 15 solid minutes on cake. The multiplatinum record-selling and Grammy-nominated comedian will perform at 9 p.m. Friday at the WinStar World Casino and Resort’s Global Event Center, 777 Casino Ave. in Thackerville, Oklahoma. Tickets are $65 to $95 and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. – Danny Gallagher

Sat 2/10
Little Big Town may have made it big with "Girl Crush," but it’s not a one-hit wonder. The four-piece is in it for the long haul, and now it’s touring behind a new album, last year’s The Breaker. Little Big Town’s country and folk-tinged tunes will sound good from any seat in Verizon Theatre Saturday night, and make sure to get there early to see Kacey Musgraves, who’s a breath of fresh air in the modern country landscape. In general, if you're afraid country has lost touch with its roots, this show will give you hope. With Kacey Musgraves, Midland, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, Verizon Theatre, 1001 Performance Place, Grand Prairie, 972-854-5050 or axs.com, $25-$65 – Eric Grubbs

The past year has been a productive one for Israeli-born DJ and EDM star Borgore. He toured the world — playing large music venues and festivals — released new music, and continued to develop his record label, Buygore. Most important, 2017 was the year Borgore declared he had "quit giving a shit” after years of being dubbed an "enfant terrible" and blamed for ruining dubstep. He may rub some folks the wrong way, but he has certainly shaken up EDM. Borgore is formally trained in jazz music, and he continues to incorporate diverse sounds into his mixes. Elements of classical, hip-hop and heavy metal are consistently woven into the fabric of his live shows.  With Getter, AFK b2b Svdden Death, 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, 214-932-6501 or thebombfactory.com, $19.75-$50 – Jeff Strowe

Matthew Posey’s cozy 50-seat Ochre House Theater, 825 Exposition Ave. across from Fair Park, opens its doors at 8:15 p.m. Saturday for another Kevin Grammer original musical, The Woman Who Knew Too Much, about a woman with lapsed memory of who she is or where she comes from. How did this happen? Is she a spy? Grammer calls it a fantasy noir that “blurs the lines of reality and fantasy.” Lyrics are by Grammer and his wife, Carla Parker. Justin Locklear is music director of a foursome tucked into a corner of the stage. For tickets, $17, call 214-826-6273 or visit ochrehousetheater.org. Pay what you can Feb. 19. Performances happen at 8:15 p.m. through March 3. – Reba Liner

Big trucks go VROOM! Jump in air. Move fast on dirt. Roll over sometimes. That’s the Monster Jam, taking place at 7 p.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium, 1 AT&T Way in Arlington. What, you need more details? OK, they’re really big trucks that make a really loud VROOM! The event includes ATV and speedster races. Listen, if you like monster trucks, you know what this is and are probably wetting yourself with joy. If you don’t have a clue, well, let’s just say if you’re a fan of opera, the symphony or art gallery openings, then this is definitely the place you want to be Saturday. Would we lie? Tickets, $35 to $135, are available at ticketmaster.com. – Patrick Williams

Celebrating the New Year in Western culture is basically a 10-second affair, prolonged by dressing up and getting properly soused before the countdown commences and then waiting an eternity for an Uber afterward. Chinese New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar, can be a weeks-long experience that dwarfs our Champagne-soaked soirees. Think festivals, lion dances, parades, musical performances, fireworks, Chinese treats and eats, and revelry aplenty. This year, the 2018 Asia Times Square Lunar New Year Festival kicks off the Year of the Dog at 2625 West Pioneer Parkway in Grand Prairie with two weekends of fun. Festivities start from 6-11 p.m. Friday and continue from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. If that’s not enough of a party, the whole schedule repeats itself Feb. 16-18. To see the full schedule, which includes karaoke, live music, games and martial arts performances, visit facebook.com/ATSLunarNewYearFestival. Admission is free. – Jennifer Davis-Lamm

Sun 2/11
The chocolate industry has us in its grip. Through years of grooming via holidays engineered for the purpose of chocolate consumption, we have become a culture under the spell of sweet, dark confections. We can’t get through Christmas, Valentine’s, Easter or Halloween without submitting to absurd amounts of cacoa. The Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, is here to feed our obsession. During Chocolate Lovers Unite, it’ll help participants cook creative new uses for the vaunted ingredient. From 1-3 p.m. Sunday, chocolate lovers can try recipes for sweet and savory dishes that will remind them of how helpless they are in the face of this powerful treat. Tickets are $65 at dallasarboretum.org. – Jennifer Davis-Lamm