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…
My phone rings. It supposed to be Chelsea Handler calling from her office in L.A. to talk about her upcoming show in Dallas (March 28 at the Verizon Theatre). It isn’t. It’s her handler, Elizabeth, yelling over ear-piercing beeps in the background. They’re having “some sort of fire drill or…
More than a week after announcing that Rory Scovel would headline their annual Dallas Comedy Festival, the Dallas Comedy House announced that another big name in standup will take to their black painted stage. The Deep Ellum comedy club confirmed that Chelsea Peretti will perform two shows on their stage…
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…
“Over the weekend, I won my first air sex competition,” says Steven Walters, gleefully lighting a cigarette. “I even beat out a sexy pole dancer.” It’s a sunny Monday afternoon in February and I’m sitting next to Walters on a bench outside of Crooked Tree Coffeehouse in Uptown. The busy…
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…
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…
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…
It doesn’t feature iPhones, Twitter or an internet, and yet Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop remains perhaps the most prescient sci-fi effort of the past 30 years — a work from 1987 whose continuing relevance is matched by the fact that no one would dare make it today. Or, at least, remake…
Here’s the last thing I ever would have expected out of Pompeii, that sword-thrust of 3D gladiator-vs.-volcano madness coming right at your disbelieving eyeholes. An hour or so in, when Vesuvius exhausts its portentous rumblings and blows its top (3D!), I legitimately wasn’t ready. Yes, all that third-act destruction is…
In 1990, the same year that Kevin Costner released the massive global hit Dances with Wolves, a curious thing happened in France. The name Kevin became the country’s most popular for new babies, a Gaelic moniker edging out national stalwarts like Antoine and Jules. Imagine if everyone in America suddenly…
The significance of an object is directly related to how interesting the object’s story is. Need proof? Just ask Rob Walker. In an experiment designed to explore the importance of narrative in relation to the value of objects, he joined forces with several storytellers and let them spin their tales…
There’s a passage in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan that says something about how stars are really only observers, that they have been put in that role as punishment for assorted karmic misdeeds and that as such, they can’t really participate in the fun around them — they can only watch…
Think you have what it takes to rip up a model runway or the camera using nothing but your raw talent? Here’s your chance to prove it. Rich Dollaz of VH1’s Love & Hip Hop will host a two-day talent and model search to find the next big model and…
Spanish surrealist figureheads Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí were classic frienemies. After meeting in college, they went on to share a complicated relationship. Jealousy, adoration, respect, criticism and conflicting philosophies regarding their work’s role and message — especially surrounding its palatability to the wealthy social class — generated a lot…
The Pin Show is more than a night of fashion; it’s Dallas’ most fashionable night. Two-time winner of Best Fashion Show as awarded by us, the Dallas Observer, the production merges a heavily local talent base with a few faraway ringers. Then it sets their work loose on the runway…
The Song of Solomon is not your garden variety selection of Bible verses. The Old Testament poem, found way at the back of the Tanakh, imparts no real lesson: no discussion of laws or covenants; no exhortations to refrain from deviant behavior or else get smote. Instead, it’s a collection…
Anyone who has buried a parent knows there’s nothing like a sudden death in the family to uncork a little introspection, reconciliation and the occasional secret. Alexander’s House, a “play with music,” explores the fallout from the sudden death of a gay man, whose passing brings together his partner and…
Round up the rugrats, Sesame Street Live Make a New Friend is hitting the Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie. Treat your kids and all their sticky friends to the story of Chamki, Grover’s new friend from India. As Chamki meets Elmo, Abby Cadabby and all the other Street-ers, they discover…
Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’ The Fantasticks currently holds the record for the longest-running musical in history and, much like your grandparents’ love life, after 54 years and thousands of performances the occasional bout of ennui is inevitable. In an attempt to spice things up a little, The Nebraska Theatre…
Philip Glass is a musical boundary breaker. In the mid-20th century, he helped invent musical minimalism, but he doesn’t like to be pigeonholed as a minimalist. He’s composed some of film’s most recognizable and memorable soundtracks. He is also the genius behind some of the last century’s most avant-garde, genre-bending…
The Dallas Chamber Symphony presents a program at City Performance Hall (2520 Flora St.) that will defy your preconceptions about classical symphonic concerts. In addition to beautiful, live performances of modern and classic works, you’ll see the music come alive through both dance and film. Opening at 8 p.m. Tuesday…
