Weekend event planner

These are the 8 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

It's a relatively quiet weekend around Fort Worth, but there will still be some interesting things to do. Choices include two new local theater productions, a trio of concerts, the start of the college baseball season, a peek at short films nominated for Oscars, and a dance production. Fort Worth gets into the Mardi Gras spirit with some big food events, too.

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, February 16

Rumours ATL in concert
The songs of Fleetwood Mac are among the most iconic in music history, and with singer Christine McVie recently passing away, there's no better time to pay tribute. Rumours ATL is a Fleetwood Mac tribute band out of, you guessed it, Atlanta who will play many of the band's greatest hits. They'll play at Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall.

Friday, February 17

2023 College Baseball Showdown
With football season officially over, it's time to start paying attention to other sports, like college baseball. The 2023 College Baseball Showdown helps kick off the college baseball season with a round-robin tournament between Big 12 members TCU, Texas, and Oklahoma State University, and SEC members Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Missouri. The three-day tournament at Globe Life Field in Arlington will be high-powered, with four of the six teams ranked in the top 15 in the pre-season polls.

Magnolia at the Modern: Oscar-Nominated Short Films
For the 18th consecutive year, Shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures will present the Oscar-Nominated Short Films in both the Animated and Live Action categories. You'll have plenty of time to prep for your Oscar pool, as this year's Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 12. There will be five screenings of the Animated nominees and two of the Live Action nominees through Sunday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Pizza Chapel Theatre Company presents To Whom It May Concern
Pizza Chapel Theatre Company presents To Whom It May Concern, an original play written collaboratively by its cast. With Dolly Parton as its muse, the production uses comedy to highlight the diversity of perspectives, identities, and experiences of those living in the American South. Presented as an elevated variety show, the production blends sketch comedy, heartfelt storytelling, and a guest artist rotation that features musicians, dancers, poets, and aerialists. The production runs through February 26 at The Relic at Turning Point Beer in Bedford.

Stolen Shakespeare Festival: The Winter's Tale
Stolen Shakespeare Guild will presents the romantic comedy The Winter's Tale as part of its annual Stolen Shakespeare Festival. When King Leontes unfairly accuses his wife of infidelity, he sets off a terrible chain of events. But this is not one of Shakespeare’s tragedies. It’s a romance, and one with a healthy dose of fancy and surprise. The play will run in repertory with A Midsummer Night's Dream through March 4 at Arts Fort Worth.

Muscadine Bloodline in concert
Gary Stanton and Charlie Muncaster, collectively known as country duo Muscadine Bloodline, are rising stars in the genre, having only been together for seven years. After a couple of acclaimed EPs, they have released two albums in the past three years, most recently 2022's Dispatch to 6th Ave. They'll play at Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall.

Clay Walker in concert
Country singer Clay Walker came out of the gate red hot, scoring No. 1 hits with five out of his first six singles. With a start to his career like that, he didn't have much more to prove, but he still put out a string of top 10 albums. After a long quiet period, he's released two albums in the past four years, most recently 2021's Texas to Tennessee. He'll play at Billy Bob's Texas.

Saturday, February 18

Ballet Frontier presents Carmen & More!
Ballet Frontier will present Carmen & More!, a production featuring the fun and feisty ballet Carmen. It will also include a brand new contemporary work by Lee Wei Chao, Variations on a Rococo Theme by Artistic Director Chung Lin Tseng, and the spicy ballet Paquita. There will be two performances - one Saturday and one Sunday - at I.M. Terrell Academy.

Photo courtesy of Clay Walker

Clay Walker will play at Billy Bob's Texas on February 17.

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Movie Review

Long-anticipated Wicked movie adaptation does not disappoint

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera in Wicked.

The musical Wicked is indisputably the biggest Broadway smash of the 21st century, having grossed more $1.6 billion in New York alone and achieving the rare feat of running for over 20 years. All of which is to say that the long-awaited movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz prequel will most likely be a massive success whether it lives up to what longtime fans envisioned or not.

Part one — yes, this 2 hour and 40 minute film is merely the first act of the musical; part two arrives a year from now — introduces Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the green-skinned witch who goes on to become Dorothy’s nemesis, and G(a)linda (Ariana Grande-Butera), the pink-garbed “good” witch, as they meet at Shiz University in Oz. Glinda is the ultra-popular one with sycophantic hangers-on, while Elphaba is shunned by almost everyone, sometimes including her disabled sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who’s desperate to make her own space away from Elphaba.

Her mistreatment by others leads Elphaba to get angry, which manifests itself in uncontrollable magic. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) notices this and takes a personal interest in her, giving her one-on-one instruction in hopes of harnessing her power. In the meantime, Elphaba and Glinda attempt to go from forced roommates to actual friends, although Glinda’s entitled personality is more of an obstacle than anything else they encounter.

Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by original book writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, the film does a great job of distinguishing itself from the stage version while still remaining true to what made it so beloved. As Chu showed in his last film, In the Heights, he has an innate feel for how to tap into the essence of the source material while expanding it into something befitting the scope of a blockbuster movie.

In this case, he finds a way to give even greater emphasis to the bigotry that Elphaba faces simply because of her green skin; the fact that she is being played by a Black woman drives home the point even more. The story remains light and fluffy for the most part, but the ostracization/otherness that Elphaba feels is delivered in a powerful way, as is her empathy for talking animals like Dr. Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage), who are facing their own persecution.

Of course, the highlight of the film is Stephen Schwartz’s music, and while not all of the songs are equal in impact, they still make for a cohesive whole. The number of songs and order they appear in the first act is identical to the stage musical, with the standouts remaining “The Wizard and I,” “Popular,” and “Defying Gravity.” While there is some superfluous action and cutaways added to certain numbers, it’s not enough to distract from what makes the songs effective.

Oddly, the progression of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda works better on stage when the timeline is accelerated, but Erivo and Grande-Butera make up for this slight lack with their fantastic performances. The emotion each brings to their characters fits them almost perfectly, and there’s simply no denying the strength of each of their voices. Bode, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, and more make for a solid supporting cast.

The well-known ending of the first act of Wicked is a huge high point that is so good that it almost makes up for the fact that audiences won’t see the second film for a long time. But if part one is any indication, part two should turn out to be another great musical theater adaptation in a decade that has already seen its fair share.

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Wicked opens in theaters on November 22.

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