The Best Things To Do, Feb. 1–7

Wednesday, Feb. 1

The Play That Goes Wrong at WaterTower Theatre
It’s that time of year when we get a slight taste of winter in Dallas, and everyone and everything goes haywire. People show up late because of traffic caused by someone who doesn’t realize that icy roads can make their car drive into the path of an oncoming vehicle, and now that appointment you planned for months gets canceled because an inch of snow in the South causes as much fear as staring down an army of the undead. So … Why not watch something where the mistakes are intentional and well-choreographed? The WaterTower Theatre (15650 Addison Road) in association with Stage West Theatre is bringing Mischief Theatre’s award-winning farce The Play That Goes Wrong to Addison, a full immersive comedy production about a regional theater troupe’s staging of a murder mystery. Cast members will forget their lines, props will break and fall off walls and lighting cues will go awry. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, with additional performances at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays until Feb. 12. The 7:30 p.m. show on Thursday, Feb. 9, will have an American sign language interpreter. Tickets are $43 per person and can be purchased at the box office or online at watertowertheatre.org.

Weird Wednesday at the Southside Preservation Hall
Wouldn’t it be nice to go to the movies and actually not know what you’re getting into before the lights dim? It feels like all these superhero movies and romantic gobbledygook are more predictable than the Farmers’ Almanac. Fort Worth Community Cinema and The Movie Mutant can provide an actual surprise with their Weird Wednesday secret movie screening at the Southside Preservation Hall (1519 Lipscomb St.). The weekly movie event offers movie fans a place to buy, sell and trade their favorite collectibles in the “Night Market” and watch a movie whose title they won’t even know until the movie starts. This week, the organizers have lined up an ’80s slasher movie for guests to enjoy in the main chapel area on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The movie starts at 8 p.m., and the Night Market opens at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Ada Lovelace (Cheyenne Haynes) struggles to wriggle away from her controlling and fearful mother Lady Annabella Byron (Ivy Opdyke) in Ada & The Engine, a play about love and technology, in its final week at MainStage Irving.

Mike Morgan Photography

Thursday, Feb. 2

Ada & the Engine at MainStage Irving
Romance and technology collide in the technology drama Ada & The Engine from renowned playwright Lauren Gunderson. The mathematician and father of computers Charles Babbage falls for Ada, the daughter of the scandalous world traveler Lord Byron, whom Ada never met. Ada’s mother fears she may lose her daughter to her father’s ways and implores her to devote her time and knowledge to matters like mathematics, and steers her into Babbage’s vision of a world with machines that can talk, do complex calculations and even make beautiful music. This week is the last chance you have to see this unique Victorian drama at MainStage Irving (3333 N. MacArthur Blvd.). Catch it at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2, Friday, Feb. 3, and Saturday, Feb. 4. Tickets are $20–$29, with discounts available for students and senior citizens. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or online at tickets.irvingartscenter.com.

Storytime with Katherine Schwarzenegger at CAMP Dallas
Bedtime stories don’t have to just be for bedtime. CAMP Dallas (9830 N. Central Expressway) is offering a chance for families to hear one of the newest bedtime stories read by its author. Author Katherine Schwarzenegger will read her best-selling children’s book Good Night, Sister and host a series of special craft projects with kids and grownups inspired by her book. The event starts at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2. Tickets are $35 per child and $25 per adult and can be purchased online at camp.com/locations/dallas.

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Comedian Dez O’Neal performs this Friday and Saturday at the Dallas Comedy Club in Deep Ellum.

Courtesy of Dallas Comedy Club

Friday, Feb. 3

Dez O’Neal at Dallas Comedy Club
Dez O’Neal started getting laughs on the side while studying acting in Dallas. Pretty soon, he was able to make comedy into his main gig. And now he’s touring the country. The Funniest Comic in Texas winner and Top 3 finalist in the 2020 San Diego Comedy Festival returns to the town where it all started when he appears on the mainstage at the Dallas Comedy Club (3036 Elm St.) in Deep Ellum. He’ll perform at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3, and Saturday, Feb. 4. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased at the theater or online at dallas-comedyclub.com.

Miranda Sings at The Majestic
The viral music sensation is taking her show off YouTube and to live stages. Miranda Sings is a character created by singer and comedian Colleen Ballinger — who’s basically every online commentator who thinks they can sing better than the world’s most talented and trained professionals. Ballinger has toured all over the world (Miranda and Colleen), appeared in character on Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and even had her own series and live concert special on Netflix. Her latest live tour takes her to The Majestic (1925 Elm St.) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3. Tickets are $32.50–$86.75 and can be purchased online through Ticketmaster.

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All your favorite characters from TV’s most famous street are back for Sesame Street Live! Make Your Magic at the Ford Center in Frisco.

Feld Entertainment Inc.

Saturday, Feb. 4

Sesame Street Live! Make Your Magic at the Ford Center
Do you have kids who still aren’t sure whether Big Bird, Elmo and Oscar the Grouch are real? Let them live out their last vestige of innocence by introducing them to Sesame Street’s most famous characters at Sesame Street Live! Make Your Magic. It’s a live musical experience with new and classic characters from the long-running kids’ show at the Ford Center at The Star (9 Cowboys Way) in Frisco. The show starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4. Tickets are $25–$79 and can be purchased online at seatgeek.com.

North Dallas Toy Show at the Celebration Event Center
Toys are a big business, and not just for the kids. Some rare playthings are so lucrative that you could buy a house if you’re smart enough to not donate your old toys to charity or hold a yard sale. The North Dallas Toy Show showcases two entire rooms of tables full of new and classic toys at the Celebration Event Center (2165 W. Park Blvd.) in Plano. The show runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4. Early bird admission is available at one hour before the start time for $20 and can be purchased at the door.
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The Dallas Opera will perform its rendition of the classic fairy tale The Billy Goats Gruff on Sunday, Feb. 5, at the Winspear Opera House.

Courtesy of the Dallas Opera

Sunday, Feb. 5

The Billy Goats Gruff at the Winspear Opera House
Are you sick of “Baby Shark”? Of course you are. You’re either not human or a CIA operative if you can endure that ear-canal-digging torture tune for more than an hour. If your kids are gonna get a tune stuck in their heads, put one in there with some culture and taste. A good place to start is the Dallas Opera’s live performance of The Billy Goats Gruff at the Winspear Opera House (2403 Flora St.) with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gaetano Donizetti and Gioachino Rossini. The show starts at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5, and tickets are just $5 per person. They can be purchased at the box office or online at dallasopera.org.

Robert Powell III at the Addison Improv
Comedian Robert Powell III practically stole the second season of the highly acclaimed FX series Atlanta as Bibby, the barber who always seems as if he has something he has to do other than cut hair. Now you can watch him steal your attention with his satirical wit for one night only at the Addison Improv (4980 Belt Line Road). The Louisiana native started his career in politics, working his way up the ladder all the way to former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s cabinet as a special assistant. Powell pursued comedy in his off-hours until his political bosses told him he had to make a choice and, lucky us, he chose comedy. Since then, he’s toured on Shaquille O’Neal’s All-Star Comedy Jam Tour and performed at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival and All Def Comedy Jam on HBO. He’ll perform live in Addison at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5. Tickets are available as tables for two and more and start at $50 for general admission and $70 for preferred seating. They can be purchased at the box office or online at improvtx.com/addison.

Monday, Feb. 6

World of Animation: Corpse Bride at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Highlands
One of cinema’s greatest stop motion marvels is making its way back to the big screen. Director Mike Johnson and Tim Burton’s dark Oscar-nominated love story Corpse Bride starring the voices of (who else?) Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter is actually a family film. It’s got humor, romance and sadness. That’s not bad even for a movie where the love interest is still alive. See it in the theater at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Highlands (6770 Abrams Road) as part of the theater chain’s World of Animation series at 6:15 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6. Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased at the box office or online at drafthouse.com/dfw.

Tuesday, Feb. 7

Tuesday Night Trash: Brainsmasher … A Love Story at the Texas Theatre
Here are two things you never thought you’d hear together in the same sentence: Andrew “Dice” Clay and “romantic comedy.” That’s exactly what writer and director Albert Pyun tried to do in 1993 with Brain Smasher … A Love Story starring the Diceman and Teri Hatcher in a dark, weird story that involves a rare lotus flower, a nightclub bouncer and a clan of high-kicking Shaolin monks. It’s not gonna be pretty but it’ll be better if you watch Brainsmasher … A Love Story with a crowd at the Texas Theatre (231 W. Jefferson Blvd.) during the weekly Tuesday Night Trash series. The movie starts at 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Admission is free, probably because asking you to pay to watch such a thing just ain’t right.