Theater Critic Picks

These are the 13 can't-miss shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for November

Casa Mañana presents Here You Come Again: How Dolly Saved My Live in 12 Easy Songs

Get some advice from Dolly Parton at Casa Mañana.

Photo courtesy of Delaware Theatre Company

Before the onslaught of holiday shows begins — who are we kidding, they start right after Thanksgiving — take some time to check out a few new titles and old favorites.

In order of start date, here are 13 local shows to watch this month:

My Fair Lady
Broadway Dallas, November 1-13
Broadway at the Bass, November 29-December 4
Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a “proper lady.” But who is really being transformed? The musical boasts such classic songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” and “On the Street Where You Live.”

The Sound Inside
Kitchen Dog Theater, November 3-20
In the 17 years since she was last published, novelist Bella Baird has almost completely isolated herself from the world. But things change when she meets Christopher, a brilliant but enigmatic student in her creative writing class at Yale. Intensely intimate and deeply moving, The Sound Inside explores the stories we tell about ourselves, the stories that shape us, and the intersection of fact and fiction.

Gypsy
Mainstage Irving - Las Colinas, November 4-19
“Everything’s Coming Up Roses” with Gypsy, the ultimate tale of an ambitious stage mother fighting for her daughters' success while secretly yearning for her own. Set in 1920s and '30s America, when vaudeville was dying and burlesque was born, this landmark musical explores the world of two-bit show business with brass, humor, heart, and sophistication.

Here You Come Again: How Dolly Saved My Live in 12 Easy Songs
Casa Mañana, November 5-13
This rollicking and touching new musical is about a has-been-who-never-was comedian and his unusual relationship with his longtime idol, Dolly Parton. The show is a celebration of Dolly’s music and of the profound and funny things she has to say to us all about life, love, and how to pull yourself up by your bootstraps during the toughest of times — even if your bootstraps don’t have rhinestones.

Feeding on Light
Undermain Theatre, November 10-27
Nora is a curious writer who seeks to understand her friend and collaborator Katherine’s obsession with 20th-century French philosopher and activist Simone Weil. As their discussion deepens, Nora and Katherine embody scenes from Simone’s life in an attempt to communicate with her across time and space. Feeding on Light is based on playwright Lenora Champagne’s personal relationship and discussions with Undermain Theatre’s late founding artistic director Katherine Owens, to whom the play is dedicated.

Elf the Musical
Performing Arts Fort Worth, November 11-13
This is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, discover his true identity, and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Dutchman
The Classics Theatre Project, November 11-26
Taking place on a New York City subway car, the play is a two-character confrontation that begins playfully and flirtatiously between Clay, a young, middle-class, Black man, and Lula, a white woman, who approaches him. Their conversation builds rapidly in suspense and symbolic resonance until it becomes something else entirely, ultimately ending fatally.

Bravo Broadway!
Plano Symphony Orchestra, November 19
Featuring Broadway stars Scarlett Strallen, LaKisha Jones, and Hugh Panaro, the PSO’s ruby anniversary also commemorates Maestro Héctor Guzmán’s 40 inspiring years as the Symphony’s music director, and each concert in the season relates to his journey with the PSO. This concert includes songs from Tony Award-winning Broadway shows like Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Dreamgirls,and more.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical
Performing Arts Fort Worth, November 21-22
This musical features all the favorite characters from the classic TV special, including Santa and Mrs. Claus, Hermey the Elf, Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster, Clarice, Yukon Cornelius and, of course, Rudolph.

A Christmas Carol: A New Musical Comedy
Casa Mañana, November 25-December 23
Casa Mañana presents a new, fresh twist on a classic Dickens tale that will have children ages 4 to 100 laughing alike. A Christmas Carol: A New Musical Comedy features a contemporary pop score and current pop culture references that are guaranteed to have audiences dancing in the aisles. This show is suitable for all audiences.

A Christmas Carol
Dallas Theater Center, November 25-December 24
Dallas Theater Center presents their annual production of A Christmas Carol, a delightfully reimagined take on Dickens’ enduring classic. Three spirits have come to visit the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge to take him on a fantastic journey through Christmases past, present, and future that annually delights audiences across North Texas. But will it be enough to save Scrooge’s soul?

Crystal City 1969
Cara Mía Theatre, November 26-December 18
Written by David Lozano and Raul Treviño, this play is inspired by the little-known true story of Mexican-American students in South Texas who protested against racial discrimination, walked out of school, and into civil rights history.

Jesus Christ Superstar
WaterTower Theatre, November 30-December 11
The iconic rock opera, featuring award-winning music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary series of events during the final weeks in the life of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas. Reflecting the rock roots that defined a generation, the legendary score includes "I Don’t Know How to Love Him," "Gethsemane," and "Superstar."

theater

Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit

Lorenzo di Masi/Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Nile

A major exhibition of ancient Roman masterworks is coming to the U.S. for the first time to be viewed at only three museums — including the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Called Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection, it's an assemblage of works stewarded by the Torlonia Family beginning in the early-19th century, and will be installed at the Kimbell from September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026.

As part of the Foundation’s mission to showcase these historical works to the public, the exhibition will premiere at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 15 through June 29, before traveling to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Its third stop will be at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from March 14 - July 19, 2026.

The Torlonia Collection was established during the course of the 19th century by the Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, then handed down over generations, eventually growing into the largest private collection of ancient Roman sculptures.

Today, the Torlonia Foundation represents the culmination of the Family’s continued passion for art. Created at the behest of Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1925–2017), the Foundation’s mission is to preserve and promote the Torlonia Collection and Villa Albani Torlonia.

In 1876, Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) created a museum to house and exhibit the Family’s holdings, which was open to small groups until its closure at the onset of World War II. The sculptures remained unseen by the public from that time until the Foundation’s first exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome in 2020. That was followed by a stint at the Louvre, the first presentation of the collection outside of Rome, where it has drawn more than 600,000 visitors to date, an unprecedented feat.

The exhibit
The curators of Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection are Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and The Museum Box. All of the sculptures in the exhibition have been restored by the Foundation with the support of Bvlgari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, edited by Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff, with essays by Silvia Beltrametti and Salvatore Settis.

The North American presentation will feature 58 highlights from the Torlonia Collection, including 24 newly restored works that have not been on view in nearly a century. The sculptures date from approximately the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority of the works dating to the High Imperial period (1st–2nd centuries CE). Highlights include examples of the most emblematic genres of ancient marble sculpture, acquired by the Torlonia Family from the most prominent collections of Rome’s patrician families, as well as from excavations made on the Family’s own estates throughout Italy.

“The Foundation is excited to be sharing the Torlonia Collection with audiences in North America for the first time. This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome, as well as the vision and passion of multiple generations of the Torlonia Family,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, President of the Torlonia Foundation.

The presentation is organized thematically in six sections, featuring sculptures found on the Torlonia Family’s properties in Rome and the surrounding suburbs and their estate in Porto, Portugal, as well as a number of exceptional sarcophagi (stone coffins), among the largest sculpted works in marble to survive from ancient Rome.

The tour reinforces the work of the Foundation to advance the appreciation and understanding of this unparalleled collection and the rich cultural heritage it represents. The Foundation’s mission is carried out through a continuous joint effort between the public and private sectors, including with the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Foundation is supported by a longstanding collaboration with Bvlgari as the principal sponsor of the restoration project since its inception in Rome and throughout the global tour, and Chiomenti, who has lent invaluable support to the Foundation’s core activities.

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