Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

The Rockin' the River series comes to a close with two concerts, one on August 11 and one on August 13.

Photo courtesy of Tarrant Regional Water District

Theater takes center stage in and around Fort Worth this weekend, with a national tour of a Broadway musical, two new local productions, and a theater festival. Also taking place are the return of an outdoor concert series, screenings of a new international film, performances by a hilarious comedian, a couple of concerts, and a family-friendly day at the museum.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, July 14

Panther Island Pavilion presents Rockin' the River
Rockin’ the River is back for a 11th year of music and tubing at Panther Island Pavilion. Taking place weekly for five straight weeks, the event features a trio of bands playing back-to-back-to-back sets beginning around 5:15 pm on the Coors Light Waterfront Stage, while attendees watch from tubes and other floaties on the Trinity River. Performers this week will include headliner The Texas Gentlemen, along with Bubba Bellin and Ginny Mac.

Broadway at the Bass: Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is an iconic musical phenomenon that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020. 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, the musical reflects the rock roots that defined a generation. The production will run through Sunday at Bass Performance Hall.

Friday, July 15

Magnolia at the Modern: Both Sides of the Blade
Three’s definitely a crowd in Both Sides of the Blade, a pandemic-adjacent melodrama from Claire Denis, who reunites with Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon as a contented couple upended when someone from their shared past resurfaces. The film, which is in French with English subtitles, will screen seven times through Sunday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Amphibian Stage presents Spark Fest
Amphibian Stage's annual Spark Fest consists of three weekends of workshops, staged readings, and comedy events. The festival kicks off with Light Up the Runway & Kickoff Party on Friday, where six influencers make up three teams that compete to create the best gown or costume with limited time and the unusual items found lying around the theater. Other events on opening weekend include two staged readings, performances by comedians, and a storytelling workshop. The festival will continue on weekends through July 30.

Theatre Arlington presents Black Comedy
Lovesick and desperate, sculptor Brindsley Miller has embellished his apartment with furniture and objects d’arte “borrowed” from the absent antique collector next door, hoping to impress his fiancée’s pompous father and a wealthy art dealer. The fussy neighbor, Harold Gorringe, returns just as a blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness and Brindsley is revealed. Unexpected guests, aging spinsters, errant phone cords, and other snares impede his frantic attempts to return the purloined items before light is restored. The production will run through July 31 at Theatre Arlington.

Hyena's presents Quinn Dahle
Originally from Minnesota, Quinn Dahle has lived in Colorado and Arizona before settling in Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. Now married to a Mexican-American woman from east L.A., Dahle is never short of material. His comedy appeals to all age groups and ethnicities and he loves to talk about them all. Audiences often come back just for his improvisational crowd work where he can be the most spontaneous. He'll perform four times through Saturday at Hyena's Comedy Club in downtown Fort Worth.

Stolen Shakespeare Guild presents Hello Dolly
Hello Dolly, a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's hit play The Matchmaker, bursts with humor, romance, energetic dance, and some of the greatest songs in musical theatre history. The romantic and comic exploits of Dolly Gallagher-Levi, turn-of-the-century matchmaker and "woman who arranges things," features songs like "Put On Your Sunday Clothes," "Hello, Dolly!," and "It Only Takes a Moment." The production will run through July 31 at Fort Worth Community Arts Center.

Texas Hill in concert
The trio Texas Hill is a haven for fans of reality TV singing competitions, as it features Craig Wayne Boyd and Adam Wakefield, both former contestants on The Voice, and Casey James, a former finalist on American Idol. Formed in 2019, the band will play at Billy Bob's Texas in support of their debut album, Heaven Down Here.

Saturday, July 16

Jon Stork in concert
Country singer Jon Stork has worked the festival circuit and other multi-artist events in Texas for the past few years after releasing his debut EP, In Your Radio, in 2017. After releasing his debut album, Radio Cowboy, in 2019, Stork moved up a level. With two new singles in 2022 signaling a possible new album coming soon, he'll play his first headlining show at Billy Bob's Texas.

Sunday, July 17

Kimbell Art Museum presents Family Festival: Summer Art Party with Ice Cream Sunday
The Kimbell Art Museum will present their latest Family Festival, Summer Art Party with Ice Cream Sunday. Offered in conjunction with the special exhibition "The Language of Beauty in African Art," the festival will feature complimentary ice cream, a live performance by Ballet Frontier, short family films, art making, gallery explorations, and more.

Rockin' the River starts at Panther Island Pavilion on July 14, running weekly on Thursdays through August 11.

Rockin' the River at Panther Island Pavilion

Photo courtesy of Tarrant Regional Water District

Rockin' the River starts at Panther Island Pavilion on July 14, running weekly on Thursdays through August 11.

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Movie Review

Music and Lady Gaga make for unusual Joker: Folie à Deux film sequel

Photo by Niko Tavernise

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux.

For a movie that was more about one man’s mental health condition than anything related to comic books, 2019’s Joker was shockingly successful, making over $1 billion worldwide and nabbing a Best Actor Oscar for Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix and writer/director Todd Phillips are back with Joker: Folie à Deux(literally meaning "a madness of two"), a film that has some of the same themes but a story that could not feel more different.

After his murder spree in the first film, Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) now calls Arkham Asylum home, where he is alternately tortured and favored by the guards, and revered by his fellow patients. Arthur plays nice for the most part, which leads one of the guards, Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), to allow him to attend a music class in the minimum security ward of the facility, where he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga).

The immediate connection between Arthur and Lee allows Arthur to indulge in more than a few fantasies, ones that manifest themselves in the film as musical sequences involving the two of them. As his fortunes change and he is forced to stand trial for his crimes, Arthur returns to the fantasies repeatedly, with Lee giving him a sense of hope and security that has been missing from his life.

The film, co-written by Scott Silver, features songs so often that the boundary between reality and fiction within the story is completely blurred. Some of the songs show Arthur, Lee, or both singing at Arkham, while others emulate old musicals by creating numbers on a set meant to look like the Murray Franklin talk show from the first film. It’s fair to wonder how much, if any, of it is real or just things that Arthur has conjured to comfort himself.

Most of the songs - “Good Morning,” “Get Happy,” and “That’s Entertainment,” among others - are cribbed from the classic movie musical era of the 1930s-1960s. Their titles and lyrics have surface-level relevance to the story being told, but it’s hard to say their meaning goes deeper than that. They are also so chopped up and delivered so often that it’s difficult to tell what kind of importance Phillips was trying to put on any one individual song.

While the music is the obvious big change, the more significant one is the film’s almost total lack of action. The focus on Arthur and Lee’s possible relationship and Arthur spending most of the film at Arkham leads to very few scenes of mayhem. In fact, hardly anything of substance happens until the film’s final act, and what does happen is less impactful than what fans of the first film may want.

Phoenix, just as he did in Joker, commits fully to the role, appearing to become gaunt once again and making sure the character is sufficiently disturbing. The arc makes him quieter and less annoying this time around, which may or may not disappoint some viewers. Lady Gaga is fine as the character otherwise known as Harley Quinn, although it’s interesting that she was likely hired for her singing ability and the film rarely lets her truly let loose.

If the nihilistic tones of Joker made it a surprise billion-dollar movie, it would be even more of a shocker if Joker: Folie à Deux made anywhere near that type of money. The Joker character has been approached in many different ways, but this is one of the oddest yet.

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Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters on October 4.

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