Arts & Culture

You don’t see many collections of extremely personal essays turned into raucous, uplifting stage musicals. It’s just hard to picture the silly but somber musings of David Sedaris or the hazy, drunken memories of Chelsea Handler getting a soundtrack that would incorporate Chorus Line-esque choreography, although Lord knows someone in…

Just in time to get a little present for the herpetologist in your life, the North American Reptile Breeders Conference takes place this Valentine’s Day weekend at the Arlington Convention Center. The conference will feature talks from animal experts on various species such as the “Aboreal Alligator Alizards of the…

Remember that time Gloria Estefan told us to turn it up, turn it up, turn it upside down? You know who was listening? Teatro Dallas. On Thursday it kicks off the 16th International Theater Festival and in the grand tradition of enumerated threats, this promises to be a triple —…

The Church Basement Ladies are back with another chapter in their series of musical comedies. The third sequel to the original hit show that was based on the 1997 book Growing Up Lutheran, A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement opens at the Eisemann Center (2351 Performance Drive, Richardson) with a…

He’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gary Busey, Chris Rock and Ozzy Osbourne. He’s Ricky Martin, Dennis Hopper and Casey Kasem. Most of the time, he’s the movie trailer guy, Don LaFontaine. As the absolute king of impressions, comedian Pablo Francisco embodies them all and more. With two Comedy Central specials, numerous late-night…

Denton’s Thin Line Fest brings quality documentaries, a notable awards program and the Docu-Denton 7K video race to Denton’s historic downtown Campus Theater this month. Now in its seventh year, the festival is adding more than 100 bands to its program, including Sebadoh and the local Mexican-American rapper Snow Tha…

Not everybody’s love life should be put onstage, and there are plenty of sordid stories better left untold. But if they were, Oral Fixation wouldn’t be quite such a smashing success. The monthly storytelling series thrives on the intimate, unsavory details local writers are willing to share with the world…

Kicking off a U.S. tour, Irish tenor Paul Byrom will perform Wednesday night on the Voodoo Stage at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St.. Former lead tenor with the group Celtic Thunder, a favorite of PBS watchers everywhere, Byrom’s solo career included release of the album This Is the…

The Winter Olympics might be in full swing on the other side of the planet, but on Wednesday Cirque du Soleil brings a little bit of Eastern Europe to Frisco. We’re not talking about unfinished hotels and captured orca whales, or anything else that might jump to your mind at…

Ahhh, the DFW Auto Show, that consumerist orgy. This year, it has more than half a million square feet of exhibit space featuring nearly every make and model of cars, trucks and SUVs. Just hundreds and hundreds of shiny new vehicles ready for your close inspection — once you clear…

If you had to do a thesis for graduation, you probably spent months and months on minutiae — manipulating data, shedding tears and mining sources only to complete a document that nobody has looked at since it was filed in your graduation paperwork. Does anyone ever do a graduate thesis…

You tried so hard to keep those damn princesses out of your house: blanket Disney bans, female-empowerment board books, pretend lab coats instead of tiaras. But when your daughter leaves your house, she’s confronted with propaganda for the princess industrial complex at every turn. Her friends have princess sneakers, princess…

If plays could be judged on their titles alone, this one would sweep every awards show including Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice just because. It’s called The Motherfucker with the Hat and it regionally premieres at Kitchen Dog Theater (3120 McKinney Ave.) on Valentine’s Day, natch. Motherfucker is a tale of vengeance…

Family almost always makes the best subject for ensemble comedies because it’s easy for anyone to relate to and it’s cathartic to laugh at the aggravating, frustrating exploits of a group of people who aren’t related to you. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the Tony Award-winning play being…

Bob Costas, two nights ago, you won the Olympics. You were sitting there, with your double broken eyes, listening to one of those boring in-between-actual-events stories that Mary Carillo is forced by producers to do so that the world can take a bathroom break. And when the story was over,…

Laurie Anderson is known best for her chart-topping song “O Superman,” an avant garde phenomenon that oddly crossed-over into popular consumption in 1981. It even scored her a seven-album recording deal with Warner Brothers, back when those kinds of offers mattered. But she’s far more than a one-hit wonder. Anderson’s…

When Josh Butler took an energetic leap of faith toward his dream, he didn’t exactly land on his feet. It was more like a really bummed film junkie who landed in bankruptcy court. Staring at the floor he shook his head, “Why! Why did we just have to have limos…