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Arts & Entertainment

The 25 Things You Must Do In Dallas This December

Dolly Parton, medieval art, and more.
By The Event Listings Committee |
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This month is not all about the holidays. Well, it’s mostly about the holidays. But there are plenty of other things to look forward to.

Dolly Parton
Dec. 3, 6:30 pm
Verizon Theatre
Parton’s larger-than-life personality and–ahem–other sizable assets have made her a pop culture mainstay for decades. That shouldn’t overshadow the music. The country star is touring in support of her 43rd studio album, and the classics (just thinking of the chorus of “Jolene” gives us chills) still swing on your heartstrings.

The Book of Mormon
Dec. 20–31
Winspear Opera House
A certain musical about a former Treasury secretary may have usurped The Book of Mormon as Broadway’s hottest export, but you’ll still be hard-pressed to snag tickets to this foul-mouthed comedy.

Brian Regan
Dec. 31, 8 pm
Music Hall at Fair Park
Avoid the amateur hour drinkers and the desperately enforced good times of New Year’s Eve. Instead, guarantee you end 2016 laughing with Brian Regan, the funniest clean comic in America.

Seu Jorge: A Tribute to David Bowie
Dec. 3, 9 p.m.
The Texas Theatre
The Brazilian singer’s gorgeous acoustic Bowie covers, heard on the 2004 film The Life Aquatic, will be particularly bittersweet this year. How do you say “rest in peace” in Portuguese?

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PARTYNEXTDOOR & Jeremih
Dec. 2, 8 pm
South Side Ballroom
The all-caps hip-hop loverboy who earned a coveted Drake co-sign several years ago will pair well with Jeremih, whose R&B slow jams are so steamy they should come with a towel.

John Cleese & Eric Idle
Dec. 1 & 2
Majestic Theatre
In the comedy equivalent of a Led Zeppelin reunion, Cleese and Idle will replicate the gale-force absurdity that made Monty Python such a legendarily funny group.

Gloria
Dec. 7–Jan. 22
Studio Theatre at the Wyly
In this play, assistant magazine editors at a moribund Manhattan publication viciously squabble for the few career paths remaining to them in a shaky industry.

Art and Nature in the Middle Ages
Dec. 4–Mar. 19
Dallas Museum of Art
Nature must have been more difficult to avoid in a time before air conditioning and television, which shows in the more than 100 works here depicting the environment’s constant presence in medieval life.

The Seigniorial Life: Chivalry (Gallantry), southern Netherlands, c. 1520, courtesy of the DMA.
The Seigniorial Life: Chivalry (Gallantry), southern Netherlands, c. 1520, courtesy of the DMA.

Ultra-Seeing Film Series
Dec. 11, 2 pm
Nasher Sculpture Center
The museum’s new monthly film series dives into the film archives of the French organization Light Cone, pairing its experimental offerings with outer-edge productions by artists near and far.

Texas Ballet Theater: The Nutcracker
Dec. 9–24
Bass Performance Hall
North Texans will have their choice of at least a dozen Nutcracker productions this holiday season, but why settle for less than the area’s premier ballet?

David Ellis: Animal
Through Jun. 4
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
A video installation captures the artist’s entire process in 75,000 still images, as Ellis was filmed painting in his characteristically electric style.

Jim James
Dec. 14, 7 pm
House of Blues
As a solo artist, the My Morning Jacket frontman gets to chase his idiosyncrasies a little further down the rabbit hole, creating a sound that should appeal beyond his band’s fan base.

Bruce Wood Dance Project: Mistletoe Magic
Dec. 20, 8 pm
Dallas City Performance Hall
The company pays holiday homage to the supper clubs of the 1950s, recreating the smoky mystique and intrigue with some help from visiting Broadway performers.

Naughty But Nice
Dec. 9–18
South Dallas Cultural Center
Soul Rep Theatre’s original holiday production is a hilarious Christmas cabaret, with the kind of adults-only jokes that would land anyone on Santa’s naughty list. Worth it.

Soundings: Schulhoff, Reich and Wagner
Dec. 15, 7:30 pm
Nasher Sculpture Center
The best new music series in Dallas returns with several characteristically bold programming choices, most notably Schulhoff’s Sonata Erotica, written for a soprano depicting a “carefully notated” woman’s orgasm.

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Maxwell & Mary J. Blige
Dec. 2, 5:30 pm
American Airlines Center
The two neo-soul singers can fairly call this the “King and Queen of Hearts” tour. Few other performers have so movingly chronicled every stage of a relationship, from flirtation to heartbreak.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra: Christmas Pops
Dec. 2–18
Meyerson Symphony Center
All respect due to your neighborhood carolers and the tinny Muzak at the mall, but Christmas music is best left in the hands of the professionals of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre: Black on Black
Dec. 9 & 10
DBDT Studios
Shows by Dallas Black Dance Theatre and the newly re-christened junior company—now known as DBDT: Encore!—precede a party with some of the most talented performers in town.

The Pleasure Trials
Dec. 4 & 5
Amphibian Stage Productions
This new work from Austin playwright Sarah Saltwick follows the creation of a female “libido enhancement drug” (Viagra for women) and the women running the experimental drug trials.

Young Thug
Dec. 14, 7 pm
The Bomb Factory
The Washington Post has referred to the “post-verbal brilliance” of Young Thug, citing the ways the Atlanta rapper has pushed hip-hop in new directions with an arsenal of vocal tricks and sounds that don’t even require a clever rhyme.

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Andrea Bocelli
Dec. 10, 6:30 pm
American Airlines Center
Gifted with a once-in-a-lifetime voice that sounds equally amazing booming out arias and belting with Celine Dion, Bocelli is the world’s most famous operatic tenor for good reason.

King Dude
Dec. 4, 8 pm
Three Links
The goofball name of a stoner comedy, the evil-worshipping outlook of a death metal band, and the acoustic sound of an old folk outfit converge in King Dude.

Kacey Musgraves
Dec. 21, 6 pm
Billy Bob’s Texas
Following a performance earlier this year at the State Fair of Texas, the homegrown country star is embarking on a tour performing Christmas favorites with her customary twang.

Survive
Dec. 31, 9 pm
It’ll Do Club
The Austin electronic outfit, riding a moody synth wave of success from its score for the Netflix hit Stranger Things, ends a bizarre year at the dance club.

Murder For Two
Through Dec. 18
Stage West
An Agatha Christie mystery as screwball comedy, this musical provides plenty of laughs to take the edge off all the blood and guts.

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