Have you been shivering with antici … pation for a new Rocky Horror Show? That not only does the Time Warp but the Bristol Stomp, a Rockette kick line and maybe a little Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies, but with sequined 20-inch dildos? Dallas Theater Center has opened its season…
Shakespeare Dallas’ fall production, Antony and Cleopatra, sports two sexy leads in Daniel Duque-Estrada (who’s also a company member at Dallas Theater Center) and the lush-voiced Joanna Schellenberg. As the Bard’s title characters, they create sizzling chemistry, obvious even from the back of the sprawling Samuell Grand Amphitheater. They speak…
Fake rain drips from the ceiling at the end of Thinner than Water, a dreary play by Melissa Ross, directed by Chris Carlos, now on in the smaller of two spaces at Kitchen Dog Theater. Really, the whole two-hour drama is a soggy slog through one family’s shriek-storms. Daddy’s dying…
While the weather is not quite curl-up-next-to-the-fireplace-with-hot-cider yet, the time is never better to restock your bookshelves with the latest novel by Merritt Tierce. A native Texan and award-winning attendee of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Tierce returns to her roots in this release. Entitled Love Me Back, the novel centers…
TITAS has quite the dance season planned for us. First, they gave us MOMIX; now, they are presenting work from one of the world’s most important contemporary choreographers. Those are some big words, I know, but it’s actually true in this case. Donald Byrd and Spectrum Dance Theater have become…
There seems to be a new unwritten rule of comedy that if you want to make an audience laugh, you have to show them that you have enough energy to bounce around the room like a pinball on a meth bender. Comedian Margaret Smith can get twice as many laughs…
The loss of Robin Williams last month was a shocking one, mostly because it’s hard to imagine someone so electric and effervescent being in so much pain. And never was Williams more…well, Williams than in the 1987 Barry Levinson comedy Good Morning Vietnam. The film remains a powerful testament to…
When an injury forced violinist Hilary Hahn to cancel her upcoming performance at the Meyerson, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra selected Augustin Hadelich to fill her role. While Hahn leaves big shoes to fill, this young, fast-fingered virtuoso certainly has the pedigree required to do just that. Apart from the violinist’s…
October means many different things to many different cultures. For most of America, it’s about celebrating the window of opportunity that Satan has to enslave our children by giving them candy. For Germany, it’s all about Oktoberfest, that glorious celebration featuring fatty meats, lively polka music and endless amount of…
I’m a fan of just about anything in a bar. Want me to humiliate myself by singing off-key in someone’s living room? Noooo. In a bar? Sign me up. Trivia night at the museum? Nope. In the forgiving atmosphere of a bar? Yessir. And putting The Bard in a bar?…
In their continued effort to bring world-class music-makers to DFW, The Cliburn presents pianist Beatrice Rana in recital at Bass Performance Hall. Named “One to Watch” by International Piano magazine, Rana is currently one of the most in-demand performers in the world. Famed for her rich feats of emotional expression…
There’s a perfect film for anyone who’s ever wandered into this state and wondered why the hell people get so hyped up about Truck Month: Hands on a Hard Body: The Documentary. The 1997 S.R. Bindler doc chronicles an endurance challenge between 24 contestants in Longview. The goal? To be…
One of the 21st century’s greatest playwrights, Tarell Alvin McCraney earned a reputation for his well-spun characters and an overwhelming sense of urgency in his plays. Perhaps there is no better example of his work than the Brother/Sister Plays, a trilogy that takes a sharp look at family life. This…
No stranger to celebrity, his own or that of Hollywood actresses, Mario Testino steps away from the glamour of supermodels and royalty to photograph something a little bit more personal in his new exhibition at the Dallas Contemporary. Presented in the United States for the first time in Dallas, Alta…
Math is making a comeback at the Perot Museum this fall. 2theXtreme: Math Alive! is a new interactive exhibit that strives to make math interesting, tangible, and fun for children. Spanning 5,000 square feet, this exhibit brings math to life with hands-on activities relating to sports, video games, fashion and…
Some weeks in this business feel like shouting upwind. This was not one of those weeks. In the cover story of last week’s Dallas Observer, I posed the question, “Other cities have big, iconic bookshops, why don’t we?” Apparently, you all have a lot of opinions about that. It wasn’t…
Our Best of Dallas 2014 issue rolls out this week. While we can modestly say it’s the greatest, most comprehensive city guide ever created, Dallas is a pretty big place that’s filled to the brim with best-ness. To cover all the good stuff we might have left out, Mixmaster will…
There’s someone crying, another…whimpering? But that’s it. The Meyerson is a vacuum. There’s an odd mood coursing through the rows of seats, a breathless silence, total and creaky. It hangs in the air like an iron blanket. The audience is motionless, wholly engaged, in awe. Here we have this grand…
When you think about it, wrestling isn’t a sport where athletic prowess wins the day. It’s all about presentation, style and keeping the crowd at a certain level of enthusiastic insanity. It’s like ribbon dancing but with more machismo, less clothes and a better storyline. It’s also a sport of…
Every year, the Dallas VideoFest gives an award of special achievement to a pioneer of television and film in honor of the late TV comedian Ernie Kovacs. This year, that supreme honor will go to comedian, writer, musician and Richard Nixon impersonator Harry Shearer. The Dallas VideoFest announced that the…
From the foyer, you can hear the squeals of delight echoing from the garden of the Nasher Sculpture Center where visitors have climbed into the spool-like creations known as spun chairs. They are on display as part of Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio, an exhibition that surveys…
I’m not for dessert after dinner. Honestly, I’m not much for sugar. I don’t put it in my coffee; I don’t crave pumpkin pie in the fall; and icing gives me a headache. But when it comes to art, my personal taste would manifest as an 11-year-old girl – all…
