April might be the cruelest month, but February’s got to be a close second. It’s still cold, spring is just around the corner taunting you, and depending on your romantic situation, Valentine’s Day can be particularly rough. But with everything there is to do this month, it’s hard to feel too glum. Here’s 25 things you can’t miss, as selected and summarized by D‘s editors.
The Book of Mormon
February 10-22
From the very first ding-dong of the doorbell, this wildly popular, politically incorrect musical plows through the hype that comes as a natural consequence of being the biggest Broadway hit in years. What follows is some of the raunchiest, funniest, smartest, rudest stuff we’ve ever seen. The neatest trick of all, however, is how much even the most conservative of theatergoers love it. The musical—which primarily satirizes the Mormon missionary experience and the church’s more ridiculous teachings, as two naive young missionaries are sent to war-torn northern Uganda—is from the guys behind the TV show South Park (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and the not-for-kids puppet musical Avenue Q (co-composer Robert Lopez). They have created an almost-loving spoof of the euphoria of religion that leads to a different sort of bliss—the sublime joy of a piece of musical theater well-made, and a night well-spent. You won’t be laughing when you find that tickets have sold out, so act fast.
Music
The Cliburn Presents Denis Matsuev
Feb. 10, 7:30 pm
When it comes to drama, passion, and romance, Russians are kings—at least behind a piano. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Cliburn highlights this great romantic tradition at the hands of Russian pianist Denis Matsuev. He will stick primarily to the most beloved composers of his homeland for the program, performing staples by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. Bass Performance Hall, 525 Commerce St., Fort Worth. 817-212-4280. basshall.com.
Museums/Galleries
Between Action and the Unknown: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga
Feb. 8–July 19
The 20th-century postwar art of Japan and Germany still has significant resonance. The alienation and sobriety of the work betray a rawness that couldn’t be faked under any other set of circumstances. This is particularly true in the case of Japanese artists Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga. Their cutting-edge work offered a new outlook for a country that was recovering from unthinkable horrors. Some of it has never before been seen in the United States. Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St. 214-922-1803. dma.org.
Music
Cursive
Feb. 28, 7 pm
November saw the reissue of Cursive’s 2003 album, The Ugly Organ, a landmark recording released on Omaha, Nebraska’s influential Saddle Creek Records. The Ugly Organ will be performed here in its entirety, which is sure to please longtime fans. Trees, 2709 Elm St. 214-741-1122. treesdallas.com.
Theater/Dance
International Falls
Feb. 26–Mar. 15
The unspoken secret of stand-up comedy is that it is often informed by overwhelming amounts of pain and struggle. Playwright Thomas Ward, a former comic, takes that basic understanding and runs with it. Washed-up comedian Tim shares a night of infidelity with a younger stand-up while performing in the rather undesirable locale of International Falls, Minnesota. The couple, brought together by happenstance, works blue as they work through life. Stage West, 821 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth. 817-784-9378. stagewest.org.
Music
Winter Dreams
Feb. 26–Mar. 1
Guest conductor Lawrence Foster leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s charming Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams. To round out the program, the DSO’s own talented concertmaster, Alexander Kerr, will solo in Samuel Barber’s virtuosic Violin Concerto, and the orchestra will perform Romanian composer George Enescu’s gorgeous musical homage to his homeland, Romanian Rhapsody No. 2. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. 214-692-0203. mydso.com.
Happenings
Festival of Ideas
Feb. 27 & 28
This joint venture between the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture ponders the state of the city along thematic parameters that sound like they’re lifted straight from The Wire: education, politics, innovation, culture, and the physical city. Columbia University’s Vishaan Chakrabarti, the award-winning architect responsible for such enormous projects as the reconstruction of post-9/11 Manhattan, as well as New York’s beloved High Line park, is the guest of honor. Needless to say, he probably has some advice for Dallas. Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. 214-871-2440. thedallasfestival.org.
Happenings
Wayne Brady
Feb. 15, 7 pm
Wayne Brady is perhaps best known for his time as a regular performer on the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? But we liked him best when he showed up unexpectedly as a foul-mouthed shadow of himself in a Chappelle’s Show sketch, parodying Denzel Washington’s “King Kong ain’t got nothing on me” scenery-chewing in Training Day. Brady’s real talents, however, lie in his ability to deliver squeaky-clean laughs. Verizon Theatre, 1001 Performance Pl., Grand Prairie. 972-854-5050. verizontheatre.com.
Theater/Dance
Medea
Feb. 19–Mar. 29
Euripides’ Peloponnesian War-era play stacks bodies like a Quentin Tarantino revenge fantasy, quickly dispensing with any delusions about how happily ever after might play out for a man who didn’t really want to get hitched and a woman who dismembered her brother in order to sail off into the sunset with her beloved. When Medea learns that her husband, Jason, plans to leave her for a younger princess, she reacts poorly, to say the very, very least. This version is staged in the old theater’s basement. Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. 214-880-0202. attpac.org.
Theater/Dance
The Merry Widow
Feb. 6–8
This Texas Ballet Theater production is set to be a real treat, especially with the addition of live accompaniment from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. It’s a story that works in any medium: a beautiful, wealthy widow is invited to a ball, where she gets swept up in a web of romantic entanglements thanks to would-be matchmakers with ulterior motives concerning her money. Bass Performance Hall, 525 Commerce St., Fort Worth. 817-212-4280. basshall.com.
Music
Music of the Spheres Society
Feb. 9, 8 pm
This small chamber group was founded with lofty goals: to evoke Italian Renaissance academies that combined intellectual discourse with sound. In this performance, though, the focus is squarely on the music. Clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu join violinist Stephanie Chase, the society’s artistic director, for a concert of music by Bartok, Saint-Saëns, and Novacek. Caruth Auditorium at SMU, 6101 Bishop Blvd. 844-3267-844. dallaschambermusic.org.
Music
Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1
Feb. 12–15
Iconic pianist Yefim Bronfman returns to the Meyerson to perform Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, and it should be a perfect match. Richard Strauss’ passionate tone poem, Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), rounds out this hefty romantic program. Jaap van Zweden conducts. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. 214-692-0203. mydso.com.
Theater/Dance
The School for Wives
Feb. 20–Mar. 29
In recent years, Dallas Theater Center artistic director Kevin Moriarty has proven adept at drawing contemporary allusions in classic works, illuminating issues of race, class, and sex. You have ample opportunity to see for yourself, since this production of Molière’s The School for Wives is running concurrently with Euripides’ Medea, and Moriarty is directing both. Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. 214-880-0202. attpac.org.
Museums/Galleries
American Still Life
Feb. 14–Aug. 2
After the Amon Carter Museum acquired a Raphaelle Peale painting last summer, the museum was inspired to showcase its existing still-life collection in a new light. His work will be placed alongside considerably more famous still lifes by artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, who followed his lead. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth. 817-738-1933. cartermuseum.org.
Theater/Dance
Cultural Awareness Series
Feb. 20-22
This year’s program concentrates on figures such as the late Alvin Ailey, who brought modern dance to the greater American consciousness, as well as his hand-chosen disciple, Troy Powell, who is still active in the dance community. A previously unseen work by Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s Richard A. Freeman Jr. will also debut. Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flora St. 214-880-0202. dbdt.com.
Theater/Dance
In Real Life
Through March 1
The Jubilee Theatre has twice seen success with the combined talents of actress Ebony Marshall-Oliver and writer Charlayne Woodard, and this autobiographical one-woman show is a continuation of a story that began months ago with Pretty Fire. In this final installment of the trilogy, our heroine looks to hit it big on Broadway. Jubilee Theatre, 506 Main St., Fort Worth. 817-338-4411. jubileetheatre.org.
Museums/Galleries
Concentrations 58: Chosil Kil
Feb. 22–Aug. 2
Chosil Kil’s exhibition will be the artist’s first solo outing in a stateside museum. She not only tends to alter her allotted space (using helium and found objects, among other things), but she also challenges the very notion of where a gallery show begins and ends. As such, Kil will participate in a number of non-museum events, and we’re already excited about guessing what exactly those might entail. Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St. 214-922-1803. dma.org.
Theater/Dance
Miss Evers’ Boys
Feb. 19–Mar. 8
In 1932, the United States Public Health Service went down to rural Alabama and approached the black sharecroppers working in the fields with an offer of free medical care. What the government was actually doing was conducting a long-range study of untreated syphilis, without telling these men about their disease—or treating it, even when penicillin came on the market. A chronicle of true events, this play follows Nurse Evers, a character based on the study’s longtime nurse who, for more than 40 years, cared for, lied to, and ultimately watched her charges die. African American Repertory Theater at KD Studio Theatre, 2600 Stemmons Fwy., Ste. 180. 972-572-0998. aareptheater.com.
Theater/Dance
Mississippi Goddamn
Feb. 19–Mar. 8
Jonathan Norton’s new play—named for the deceptively jaunty Nina Simone song written in response to the same tragic injustice from which he derives his story—follows the life and work of civil rights activists Myrlie and Medgar Evers. Simone’s furious lyrics (“Oh, but this whole country is full of lies/You’re all gonna die and die like flies”) still resonate. South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 S. Fitzhugh Ave. 214-939-2787. dallasculture.org.
Theater/Dance
National Theatre Live: John
Feb. 11, 2 pm & 7 pm
If you have someone in your life who thinks modern dance is only by, for, and about the elite, consider John, presented by Britain’s National Theatre Live. The production interprets its namesake character’s true story, one that features violent crime, drug addiction, and unfathomable personal tragedy. John isn’t for the faint of heart, which makes it the perfect introduction to the vast possibilities of the discipline. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St., Fort Worth. 817-738-9215. themodern.org.
Happenings
Mike Daisey: The Great Tragedies
Feb. 26–28
Over the course of several nights, the gifted monologuist Mike Daisey will tell you everything you ever wanted to know (and then some) about the work of Shakespeare and how it has influenced today’s storytelling. Those who follow the media closely may see Daisey as a pariah, as he was involved in a scandal over botched facts in a piece for This American Life. Either way, Daisey is clearly able to spin a yarn. Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. 214-880-0202. attpac.org.
Museums/Galleries
Frank Bowling: Map Paintings
Feb. 19–Aug. 2
Painter Frank Bowling used his position as an editor at Arts Magazine to help raise awareness of black American artists in the late 1960s, a period in which the artist underwent a personal departure from figurative work to abstract art. The DMA will display one of Bowling’s “Map Paintings” (the first it has acquired), which will be exhibited alongside other works by the artist from the same era. Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St. 214-922-1803. dma.org.
Museums/Galleries
Like Father, Like Son: Edward and Brett Weston
Feb. 21–Aug. 23
It could not have been easy to live in the shadow of one of the 20th century’s greatest photographers, but Brett Weston worked with his father, Edward, so that may have softened the blow. This show unites the duo for a special showing of their work together, something that has been attempted surprisingly few times. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 501 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth. 817-738-1933. cartermuseum.org.
Music
Bumping Into Broadway
Feb. 17, 8 pm
This concert is a double bill, with the Dallas Chamber Symphony first tackling Appalachian Spring. The real reason to attend, however, is Bumping Into Broadway, the latest in the DCS’ acclaimed series of silent films set to newly commissioned scores. This short comedy is about a penniless playwright who spends his last bit of cash not on his own rent, but on the rent of the pretty chorus girl who lives next door. As a bonus, there will be an after-party at Jorge’s in One Arts Plaza.
For more things to do this month, go here.
Editor’s note: These listings first appeared in the February edition of D Magazine.
