Willie Nelson
Jan. 3 & 4, 7 pm
Granada Theater
Seeing the Red Headed Stranger in such an intimate setting as the Granada Theater will be quite a treat — if you were lucky enough to get a ticket in the minute or so it took both shows to sell out. Funny how time slips away, huh? If you did miss out, there’s always the after-market. It’s worth the markup.
Zadie Smith
Jan. 14, 7:30 pm
Dallas Museum of Art
Smith’s first novel, White Teeth, is the Illmatic of literature, a debut so brilliant it’s near impossible to follow. But with her latest book, the author — speaking in Dallas for the first time — has reportedly created a work equally inspired in its exploration of multiculturalism in contemporary England.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jan. 11–22
Winspear Opera House
The 2015 Tony Award winner for best play is a riveting detective story and tear-jerking coming-of-age tale following an autistic boy investigating the murder of the neighbors’ dog.
International Conference & Festival of Blacks in Dance
Jan. 25–29
Dallas Black Dance Theatre
Dance professionals get to network, workshop, and talk shop, while Dallas audiences get to experience performances by international companies trying to one-up each other.
Clay Between Two Seas
Through Feb. 12
Crow Collection of Asian Art
This exhibition connects the Talavera pottery of Puebla, Mexico, to Chinese porcelain, illustrating how the craft of earthenware has evolved across centuries and continents.
Sleep & Pinkish Black
Jan. 30, 8 pm
Granada Theater
The heavy duty experimental Fort Worth duo Pinkish Black opens for the legendary pioneers of “stoner rock,” a phrase that doesn’t do justice to Sleep’s white-knuckle metal.
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Silent Sky
Jan. 20–Feb. 12
WaterTower Theatre
Astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt breaks through a glass ceiling to the stars in this play, based on the true story of one of modern science’s first feminists.
Gad Elmaleh
Jan. 27, 7 pm
Texas Theatre
Elmaleh’s website describes him as Europe’s “most widely known and beloved” comedian. Humor is universal, so we’d expect the stand-up to qualify as, at least, an “occasionally known and beloved” comedian in the U.S.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Jan. 8, 6 pm
American Airlines Center
The long-running band has Cali-fortified its position as one of alternative rock’s biggest groups, slapping the bass and taking the shindig to millions of fans in packed arenas around the country.
Pilobolus
Jan. 13 & 14
Dallas City Performance Hall
The dance theater company uses shadows and shifting screens in a performance that plays with perception and movement to tell a story plumbing the depths of human nature.
Mike Doughty
Jan. 26, 7 pm
Club Dada
The founder of Soul Coughing has found sobriety and stability in the years since the ‘90s rock band collapsed, making his live shows more memorable for audience and performer alike.
FOCUS: Stanley Whitney
Jan. 21–Apr. 2
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
An abstract painter known for his indistinct grids of brightly colored blocks, Whitney creates work that dazzles the senses and stimulates the mind.
Kristin Chenoweth
Jan. 25, 8 pm
Winspear Opera House
She dances (Wicked), she acts (Pushing Daisies), she wins awards (Emmys, Tonys.) For this performance, she’ll mostly sing, performing classic songs and Broadway showtunes.
Atmosphere
Jan. 21, 7 pm
The Bomb Factory
Peek into the backpack of the world’s biggest indie hip hop duo and you’ll find dense, emotional storytelling and some of the genre’s most open-minded production.
The Christians
Jan. 26–Feb. 19
Kalita Humphreys Theater
A schism is tearing apart a flashy mega-church in this acclaimed play about faith, family, and the complications of practicing an organized religion in a status-obsessed society.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Jan. 5–8
Meyerson Symphony Center
The Dallas Symphony presents a particularly sorcerous program including the impressionistic mythology of Debussy’s Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Cymbeline
Jan. 8 & 9
Hamon Hall at the Winspear
Shakespeare’s romance is known, in part, for its convoluted plot, which audiences won’t need to follow to appreciate the intrigue, historical setting, and language of the play.
Lemuria
Jan. 21, 8 pm
Three Links
Lemuria is the band you wish you’d spent the last decade listening to, but latecomers have plenty to discover with this criminally underappreciated indie rock group.
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Grounded
Jan. 11–Feb. 4
Bryant Hall at Kalita Humphreys Theater
Despite the sterile electronic remove of drone warfare, there is a human cost: In the bloodshed on the ground, and in the military pilot who ends a life thousands of miles away with the press of a button in this unsparing drama.
Midge Ure
Jan. 21, 7 pm
Dan’s Silverleaf
A musical jack of all trades whose credits include work with Thin Lizzy and Ultravox, Ure is the answer to a stack of trivia questions. For instance, he co-wrote “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with Bob Geldof.
Laugh
Jan. 5–29
Theatre Three
Theatre Three’s new artistic director, longtime Dallas theater stalwart Jeffrey Schmidt, directs this new comedy, a 1920s Hollywood romp by Pulitzer winner Beth Henley.
Lil Wayne
Jan. 6, 7 pm
The Bomb Factory
No longer the best rapper alive, Weezy still deserves any number of superlatives for his 2006-2009 run, when he was the most prolific, inventive name in hip-hop. Nostalgia trip or not, we’re always on board to hear what’s new with Mr. Carter, who remains a consummate hitmaker and one-of-a-kind voice in a genre that’s internalized — or ripped off, if you prefer — his best tricks.
Bridget Everett
Jan. 11, 8 pm
House of Blues
Not just a poor woman’s Amy Schumer, the self-described “alt-cabaret provocateur” goes to raunchy, facesitting extremes that make even the most ribald stand-up sets look tame.
Stupid F***ing Bird
Jan. 19–Feb. 19
Stage West
This “sort of” adaptation of Chekov’s The Seagull takes the kind of irreverent, bold approach you’d expect from its R-rated title.
Iliza Shlesinger
Jan. 21, 8 pm
Majestic Theatre
The comedian and game show host brings the jokes (and maybe some games) to her hometown.
