Friday
Now that we’re making our way deep into the summer, it’s blockbuster musical season. Les Misérables opens today for an enormous run that will take us all the way into August, so you may hear about it more than once. Our new dining editor has professed her love for the production, and explained that it’s much truer to its source material than most adaptations. Curtain is at 7:30 pm.
Oak Cliff’s Ten Bells Tavern will be celebrating its two-year anniversary today through Sunday, and I’m having a hard time determining if that feels like it flew by, or if it seems like forever. That’s the way time passes in a dark bar with a friendly staff, I suppose. They’ll have drink specials all weekend and miniature donkeys on Saturday, to raise awareness (and funds) for a donkey rescue organization. I recommend the brunch here especially, although I might keep my distance from donkeys while I’m eating, no matter how tiny.
Saturday
I know it’s all about Willie Nelson playing at Billy Bob’s seven days from now for that famous holiday weekend performance, and we’ll certainly be recommending that when the time comes. But if I were you, I’d sneak out tonight and catch Merle Haggard at the same venue as well. While Nelson represents a gentle and peaceful side of country music, there’s something dubiously romantic about Haggard’s endless obsession with the pain and suffering of middle and lower middle class plight.
There are a couple of other opportunities to get a jump on two different holidays by celebrating somewhat early. Allen will have a “USA Celebration” at Celebration Park on Saturday, complete with live music, dance troupes, and fireworks. That a seems a bit preemptive, but everyone loves fireworks. I’ve spent some time at Celebration Park, and as a connoisseur on local basketball courts, I think theirs are some of the finest in the area.
The Mansion Bar in Oak Lawn will be celebrating a “Half Way to New Year’s Party” and I really don’t know how to feel about that. There’s a countdown and everything. That is some truly ambitious reaching for a reason to party as all this is doing is reminding me of personal deadlines I’m blowing as I type this. But there will also be champagne, see the fireworks comment above regarding that.
Sunday
The DMA begins its icon-heavy exhibition of artists working exclusively on paper, and today will be your first opportunity to view the selections in a show that ends in late October. The appeal lies in the fact that while you’ll may be almost overly familiar with Cézanne, Degas, and their equally relevant contemporaries, this provides a chance to see unfinished pieces, sketches, and lesser-known material.
For more things to do, go here.
