Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

This weekend in Fort Worth will be split evenly between events that celebrate the season and those just happening this time of year. On the holiday side will be two new theater productions, a family-friendly opera, a big Nutcracker, a symphony performance, and a theater fundraiser. There will also be five concerts and a college basketball showcase.

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. Looking for the best Christmas lights around town? That list is here.

Thursday, December 8

Stage West presents Handle With Care
In Handle With Care, making its regional premiere at Stage West, a young Israeli woman on holiday with her grandmother in the United States is confronted by an unexpected turn of events. Now, she finds herself stranded in a motel room on Christmas Eve with an oddball delivery man. Is their meeting an accident, or is it destiny generations in the making? Hilarious and tragic circumstances culminate in a heartfelt romantic comedy about what you can find when you feel lost. The production runs through January 8.

KWC Performing Arts (Kids Who Care) presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a hilarious play, based on the book written by Barbara Robinson, that tells the story of the Herdmans, six unruly kids who invade the yearly Christmas pageant at a neighborhood church. They usurp all the lead roles and, in the process, help everyone discover the real meaning of opening our hearts to others who may need us. The production runs through December 18 at Arts Fort Worth.

Rod Wave in concert
Making his debut in 2019, singer/rapper Rod Wave has quickly risen to the top of the hip hop genre. Each of his first three albums went platinum, and his last two - including his new album, Beautiful Mind - have gone to No. 1 on both the R&B/Hip Hop and Billboard 200 charts. He'll perform at Dickies Arena.

Friday, December 9

Fort Worth Opera presents Amahl and the Night Visitors
Fort Worth Opera, in partnership with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, will present the return of Amahl and the Night Visitors. The family-friendly production tells the story of a disabled shepherd boy named Amahl who, along with his devoted mother, encounters three wise men on a journey to visit the Holy Child. There will be four performances through Sunday at Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

Texas Ballet Theater presents The Nutcracker
Featuring dazzling choreography and exquisite sets, The Nutcracker celebrates the season with enchantment, snowflakes, and sweets. Audiences can experience the most magical Christmas tradition of the season as Clara and her Nutcracker Prince battle an army of mice and travel through a winter wonderland to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Kingdom of Sweets. The production runs through December 24 at Bass Performance Hall.

Ray Wylie Hubbard in concert
If you're a fan of Texas country music, then Ray Wylie Hubbard is something of a god to you. Over the course of his 40-plus year career, Hubbard has worked with musicians both big and small, endearing himself to legions in the process. He'll play at Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall in support of his new album, Co-Starring Too.

Kaitlin Butts in concert
Since releasing her debut album in 2015, Kaitlin Butts has become a favorite on the Red Dirt country circuit, working with a variety of local and regional artists, and even marrying one of them, Flatland Cavalry lead singer Cleto Cordero. She'll play at Billy Bob's Texas for the second time in 2022 in support of her new album, What Else Can She Do.

Saturday, December 10

Simmons Bank Showdown: TCU vs. SMU and UTA vs. Texas State
The Simmons Bank Showdown at Dickies Arena will feature an early season all-Texas teams men’s basketball double-header. The session will begin with a face-off between Sun Belt Conference teams, the Texas State Bobcats and the University of Texas-Arlington Mavericks, followed by a rivalry game between the TCU Horned Frogs and the SMU Mustangs.

Circle Theatre presents Holiday Punch
At Circle Theatre's Holiday Punch, the company's annual fundraiser, guests can throw on their best tacky holiday sweater for a night of carnival games, giveaways, original live performances, and music. Proceeds will go toward continuing the mission of bringing quality theatre in an intimate space to Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Handel's Messiah
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will once again present Handel’s masterpiece Messiah. The FWSO, conducted by Julian Wachner, UNT Vox Aquilae Chorus, and soloists will perform the stirring music. The one-time-only concert takes place at Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium.

American Aquarium in concert
Alternative country/rock band American Aquarium has featured a lot of change since their debut in 2006, going through over 30 different band members. But the one constant has been lead singer/guitarist BJ Barham, who started the band in his college dorm room. The current version of the band will play at Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall in support of their new album, Chicamacomico.

Stoney LaRue in concert
Singer-songwriter Stoney LaRue is part of the recent wave of Texas Country/Red Dirt artists, having put out six albums since 2002, including 2019's Onward. LaRue is as close to a regular at Billy Bob's as you can get, having played there multiple times and even recording a live album there in 2007. He'll play there yet again on Saturday night

Photo by Amitava Sarkar

Texas Ballet Theater presents The Nutcracker through December 24 at Bass Performance Hall.

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Movie Review

The Apprentice looks back at formative years of Donald Trump

Photo courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment

Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice.

Before he was elected president, Donald Trump was a New York businessman who transitioned into a reality TV show host that played upon his bombastic personality. His effect on American politics over the past eight years would not have been possible without his early experiences, some of which are explored in the new film whose title cheekily references that reality show, The Apprentice.

It introduces viewers who may not know the entire history of Trump (Sebastian Stan) to his relationship with lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who was known for using all sorts of sleazy tactics to win cases. The film shows Trump meeting Cohn in the early 1970s, right when the Trump Corporation, then led by Fred Trump (Martin Donovan), was being sued for violating the Fair Housing Act for not renting to Black people.

Cohn’s success at limiting the damage in that case leads Trump to fall in love with the way Cohn approaches life, and he proceeds to call upon him for advice and help in many aspects of his own life. These include trying to strong-arm New York City officials into giving Trump a big tax break on his first hotel, setting up an odious prenuptial agreement with Trump’s soon-to-be bride, Ivana (Maria Bakalova), and more.

Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, the film is both crystal clear in how it wants Trump to be portrayed and yet somewhat subtle in the way it goes about it. Opening with Richard Nixon’s infamous “I am not a crook” speech, the parallels between that fallen president and one who would go on to be indicted for many crimes while president aren’t at all difficult to parse. And yet, the filmmakers do a good job of methodically building their case for how he became the person he is today.

This includes showing the young(er) Trump as somewhat awkward and out of his depth, literally going door-to-door to collect rent at Trump Village apartments and still having family dinner with the whole Trump clan. Learning at the heels of Cohn builds his confidence, especially after Cohn reveals three rules that he lives by: 1) Attack, attack, attack, 2) Admit nothing, deny everything, and 3) Claim victory, and never admit defeat.

Because it’s a two-hour film, the truth of what it’s depicting likely falls somewhere on the spectrum of another thing Cohn tells Trump: “There is no truth.” Still, there are factual bases for much of what the film dramatizes, and even the sequences that might be made up completely fall right in line with the type of man who still refuses to admit that he lost the 2020 election. When Trump and Cohn essentially switch roles as the bully and the wimp when the film moves from the ‘70s to the ‘80s, it comes as no surprise.

Stan, in his second starring role in two weeks, does a fantastic job of evolving the character of Trump. He eases into the verbal and physical traits for which Trump is now known, and the slow build helps him tremendously. Cohn is easy to hate as a real person, but love as a movie character, and Strong bursts off the screen with his performance. He is an early favorite for Best Supporting Actor, utterly transforming into a despicable person from which you want to hear every horrible syllable.

Because of Trump’s overwhelming recent influence on American society, The Apprentice is next-to-impossible to view in an unbiased manner. And the filmmakers likely don’t want you to, as they are obviously trying to demonstrate how Trump has long been this way, and it took him becoming president for the whole world to see it.

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The Apprentice is now playing in theaters.

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