Will They Do the Fandango?

It was probably inevitable that someone would create a musical based on the works of Queen. The ’70s band’s flamboyant music has a theatrical bent that seems tailor made for conversion to a big, bombastic rock opera, and that’s what you get with We Will Rock You, the musical with…

Fat Tuesday Comes Early to Historic Denton

Channel your inner Who Dat this Friday at Mardi Gras on Walnut in Denton, a totally free NOLA fest’s worth of food and music. The city is closing off Walnut Street’s 100 block for maximum jamming to live Dixieland jazz, and you can stuff your face with hot boiled crawfish,…

The Mixmaster is Looking for Freelance Writers

It’s been a minute since we here at the Observer put out a notice for local freelance writers for this little arts and culture blog, The Mixmaster. But here we are, looking you straight in the eye with the simple question, are you the one we want? It’s a question…

Oscar-Nominated Movie Summaries From a Mom

The Oscars are coming! Yay! I haven’t seen any of the movies, on account of the stupid infant and his inability to take care of himself for three hours, so I have no idea which new movies are the best new movies. I also have no idea what the outside…

Mighty Morphin’ David Yost Visits Dallas This Weekend

Playing the Blue Power Ranger was the breakthrough moment in David Yost’s career. Billy Cranston, one of the original “teenagers with attitude,” was the brains of the group, inventing gadgets like the wrist communicators. Yost, along with Walter Jones, the first Black Power Ranger from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers…

Philip Glass Played Philip Glass, and It Sounded Like Philip Glass

On Monday night the Winspear Opera House was packed for what was billed as “An Evening of Chamber Music” with Philip Glass and his collaborator, violinist Tim Fain. The concert, presented by TITAS, began with alternating solo appearances by Glass, seated stoically in front of a big, black Steinway, and…

Real Estate in Dallas You Will (Probably) Never Own

Becoming a millionaire is a short-lived fantasy for a journalist.But that doesn’t mean I can’t drool over fancy MLS listings. It would probably take multiple winning lottery tickets to move me and my 29-inch television into one of these houses, but that won’t squelch my fantasy.

Don’t Miss Bone Ties at The Reading Room

Dallas, meet Performance Southwest. Even if you’re not a performance art fan the name might sound familiar from fits and starts around town, but their mission is much larger than this city. It’s an educational group with constituents all over the country dedicated to educating audiences on the exciting, yet…

8 Bullshit Things That Women’s Clothes Do

Women are taught by fashion magazines and reality shows to have a deep respect for the designers who make their clothes. But no one warns women that this respect doesn’t go both ways. Spend enough time shopping, and it becomes clear that the fashion industry is made of creepy old…

Philip Glass’ Best Recordings

It’s hard to overestimate the impact Philip Glass has had on classical music. Apart from being (arguably) the world’s greatest living composer, Glass almost single handedly brought minimalism into contemporary popular culture — influencing legions of rock and electronic artists while simultaneously introducing classical music to a generation of otherwise…

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Verdi Requiem Is a Stunner

Twenty-five years ago, when the Meyerson Symphony Center opened its doors for the first time, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra got its dream-home. Acoustically, this is one of the world’s best halls; the faintest vibrations and most subtle variations in volume are audible in its rich, cavernous space. But no matter…

Dolly Python’s Gretchen Bell Doesn’t Put Up with Bullshit

Get to know the people behind some of Dallas’ more interesting, unique, art-inspired local businesses. Know any good ones? Drop us a tip in the comments. Gretchen Bell didn’t always know what she wanted to do, but she sure as hell knew what she didn’t want. Shockingly enough, she liked…

Blue Roses turns Glass Menagerie into musical mush

The basic question for Blue Roses is: Why? With a play as perfect as The Glass Menagerie, why mess with it at all? Why did anyone think turning it into a musical would work? Worse yet, why turn it into a bad musical, which is what’s playing at Irving’s Lyric…

Sex Thriller In Secret Shouldn’t Be Kept to Yourself

Almost a pop history of Western culture’s relationship to female orgasm, Charlie Stratton’s In Secret is a spirited zip through Zola’s Thérèse Raquin, a sex-and-sin morality tale of the sort that has been the template for the last decade of Woody Allen dramas. Unlike those, In Secret boasts vigor and…

Darkman: Celebrating Sam Raimi’s Descent Into Utter Madness

No matter what else he does, director Sam Raimi has two unassailable fan favorites under his belt: 1987’s Evil Dead 2, and the 1992 trilogy-capper Army of Darkness. (His first film, 1981’s The Evil Dead, is more “respected” than “loved” by the fans.) Released between those two films, Raimi’s 1990…