Wednesday 09 – Peter van de Moortel works as a conservator at the Kimbell Art Museum, and has been studying the works of Eugène Delacroix since he was working at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. This afternoon, the Belgian scholar shares his research on the French painter who emphasized an intuitive approach to art that gave the viewers an experience. The lecture is at 12:30pm at 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-332-8451.
Thursday 10 – The newest work by presidential historian Jon Meacham is entitled The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels. This morning, the Pulitzer Prize laureate comes to Fort Worth to discuss how America’s history is marked by struggles against fear, propelled by faith in a better future. The talk and luncheon is at 11:30am at Fort Worth Club, 306 W 4th St, FW. Tickets are $60-75. Call 214-965-8412.
Friday 11 – A bit of the 1990s comes back at the Improv in Arlington, when Arsenio Hall (or should we say “Arseniooooooooo Hall!”?) stops by to do a comedy set and tell us who those people over there are. If his old frenemy Roseanne Barr can make a comeback, surely he merits one, too. He takes the stage Fri-Sat at 309 Curtis Mathes Way, Arlington. Tickets are $25-35. Call 817-635-5555.
Saturday 12 – Amy Marcy Cheney Beach was a very proper 19th-century Boston society wife who always signed her name “Mrs. H.H.A. Beach,” but she also was one of the few female composers to be acclaimed during her time. Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth will host the Tempest Trio, a group that will play her Piano Trio as well as others by Brahms and Beethoven. The concert is at 2pm at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St, FW. Tickets are $25-35. Call 817-877-3003.
Sunday 13 – By an odd coincidence, local movie theaters are showing Billy Wilder’s 1950 film Sunset Boulevard during the same weekend that Tarrant Actors Regional Theatre is opening Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of it. You’ll get better value for your money with the original film, a phantasmagoric look at the rotting margins of Hollywood. The film screens at 2pm & 7pm at various theaters; check Calendar for showtimes. Tickets are $5.50-8. Call 818-761-6100.
Monday 14 – Schubert’s song “The Trout” and its popularity led a couple of years later to him using it as the basis of a movement of a piano quintet called the “Trout Quintet,” an exuberant work with unusual scoring details and harmonies. The Spectrum Chamber Music Series winds up its season with this work, as well as Jacques Ibert’s Cinq pièces en trio, written for three woodwind instruments. The concert is at 7:30pm at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1959 Sandy Ln, FW. Admission is $5. Call 817-377-0688.
Tuesday 15 – Stephen Karam’s The Humans was famously aced out of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama by Hamilton, but that shouldn’t keep you away from this intimate Tony-winning piece about a Pennsylvania family visiting their daughter at her not-that-nice New York apartment, where a Thanksgiving dinner gives way to outright terror. The play runs thru May 20 at AT&T Performing Arts Center, 2450 San Jacinto St, Dallas. Tickets are $24-200. Call 214-880-0202.
