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    ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Premiere Recap: It’s All Fun and Games Until …

    The teen Yellowjackets seem to be having fun when we first rejoin them. Taking bets now for which one gets eaten first.Season 3, Episode 1: ‘It Girl’Welcome back to the wilderness, darlings.“Yellowjackets” is back and we’re — wait, what is this? Are we having fun? Can that be possible in a show that ended its last season with multiple devastating deaths? With an adolescent’s heart being eaten? If Season 2 got bogged down in the dour, Season 3 is promising to bring some levity back into the proceedings — despite, you know, the cannibalism.Based on this first episode back, “Yellowjackets” seems to be trying to recapture the juicy magic of its breakout first season, which sucked us in with its tale of bloodthirsty would-be high school soccer stars. Right off the bat, this premiere is a little goofier, a little cattier and a little less self-serious.The very first images we see onscreen hint toward the reset. We get a mirror image of the opening scene from the pilot — one of the reasons we got hooked on this show. A dark-haired girl is being chased through the woods.But now it’s immediately clear who is running and who is pursuing. Teen Mari (Alexa Barajas), the team’s resident mean girl, is trying to escape Teen Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), who tackles her and bites her hand. This, however, is no creepy ritual. Rather, it’s a game of the poorly named “capture the bone,” a cannibal’s riff on “capture the flag.” Mari is a decoy, leading her team to victory. At the end of the chase, no one dies, and everyone cheers.The vibes in the forest are actually pretty good. This is shocking considering Season 2 ended with the girls’ being stranded without shelter because their cabin burned down. But now the snow has cleared, and the Yellowjackets have built new living spaces, artful looking huts. They have a garden with ducks and rabbits. Food is plentiful. Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), previously crowned the queen of their toxic group, rules benevolently. They talk of how their sacrifices led to miracles.For the most part everyone is pretty happy. Everyone except for Shauna, that is. Shauna is furious that her teammates are not wracked with guilt over their misdeeds. Her anger is understandable, of course. She is probably struggling with depression after having given birth to a son and lost him, and she isn’t into the kumbaya spirit that seems to be taking over. She is especially mad at Mari, who taunts her.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Theater to Watch at Home: ‘Uncle Vanya’ and an Alice Childress Revival

    A bare-bones Chekhov, a critically acclaimed revival of “The Wedding Band” and the cult TV series “Smash” are all available for streaming.‘The Wedding Band’Stream it on Stratfest@Home.In 2022, Alice Childress’s play about love and hate, written in 1962, received its first major revival in 50 years, to much acclaim. The following year, “The Wedding Band,” was staged at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, making it a welcome second coming for our theater critic.The play about an interracial couple — a Black woman, played by Antonette Rudder, and a white man, Cyrus Lane — who, in 1918 South Carolina, can’t wed, is a searing examination of a miscegenation nation. Writing for The New York Times, Jesse Green called the 2023 Stratford production, directed by Sam White, a “revelation,” adding that the festival’s revival “confirms the play’s vitality.”From Green’s critic’s notebook:It’s a joyful thing when a great play that seemed to be lost is found. How much more so when its greatness is confirmed and the play takes root in the soil of a new time. That was my experience seeing Alice Childress’s “Wedding Band” … The director Sam White’s production unexpectedly adds another layer of tragedy. Her staging emphasizes the hard-won pleasures of the central relationship, so that something valuable is felt to be lost when the world intervenes. … We see how the tragedy of racism makes victims of everyone.‘Vanya on 42nd Street’Stream it on Amazon Prime, Pluto TV or the Roku Channel.New York is experiencing something of an explosion of Chekhov. “The Seagull” featured prominently in Theaterlab’s recent production of “Nina”; “The Cherry Orchard” is coming to St. Ann’s Warehouse next month, along with “Vanya,” an adaptation of “Uncle Vanya,” starring Andrew Scott, Andrew Scott and Andrew Scott (he plays every role). Its Off Broadway debut comes after a highly praised run in London. The one-man show, adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Sam Yates, won last year’s Olivier Award — Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys.But you don’t have to be in a theater to take in Chekhov. If you’ve never seen “Vanya on 42nd Street,” the 1994 Louis Malle film of André Gregory’s production, now is a timely moment to watch.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Barbie Hsu, Taiwanese Actress and Star of ‘Meteor Garden,’ Dies at 48

    Her role in the teen drama catapulted her to fame as a pop idol. She was also a TV host and appeared in films.Barbie Hsu, a Taiwanese actress, television host and pop star who catapulted to Pan-Asian popularity in 2001 as the star of the Cinderella-style teenage drama “Meteor Garden,” died on Feb. 2 in Tokyo. She was 48.Her death was announced to TVBS News in Taiwan by her sister Dee Hsu, who said the cause was complications of the flu. The family had been vacationing in Japan.In “Meteor Garden,” an adaptation of the Japanese manga “Boys Over Flowers,” Ms. Hsu played Dong Shan Cai, a naïve yet headstrong student from a poor family who is terrorized by a group of four handsome boys who call themselves F4 after she enrolls in the elite private school they attend. She reluctantly enters high society when F4’s leader, Dao Ming Si (played by Jerry Yan), falls for her.With her expressive eyes and elfin features, Ms. Hsu was a natural for the role, and she exploded in popularity across swaths of Asia, where she was known by the nickname Big S.Fans were particularly drawn to her character’s relatable and resilient nature. “I am like a blade of grass,” she said in one episode. “No matter how many times you cut me down, I will grow back and live again.”The four male stars used the series’ influence to promote their boy band, also called F4 — for “Flower Four” — making “Meteor Garden” an early example of the genre known as idol drama, formulaic but addictive love stories featuring pop stars. Ms. Hsu’s character became the genre’s classic protagonist.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Review: Idina Menzel Climbs to New Broadway Heights in ‘Redwood’

    The “Wicked” belter scales a 300-foot tree, and a mountain of songs, in a powerful if woo-woo musical about trauma and resilience.The musical “Redwood,” which opened on Thursday at the Nederlander Theater, features two great stars. One is an awe-inspiring force of nature. The other is a tree.The force of nature is Idina Menzel, who sings in 13 of the show’s 17 songs, of which seven are essentially solos. Has anyone ever belted so much, so tirelessly and hair-raisingly?But the size of the role is nothing compared with its emotional complexity and the depth of Menzel’s immersion in it. Her Jesse is a walking panic attack, an avoidant overtalker, an entitled princess and a grief-stricken mother. More astonishing, she is all of these at once, and right from the start. We meet her speeding westward from New York City with a terrible loss in the rearview mirror and no idea where she’s going.We know, though. The musical, by Tina Landau (book, lyrics and direction) and Kate Diaz (music and lyrics), with additional contributions from Menzel herself, is not named “Redwood” idly. Soon Jesse comes upon a grove of the giant trees near Eureka, Calif., and we meet our other star. She — for Jesse not only genders her but also names her Stella — is 14 feet wide and 300 feet tall and centuries if not millenniums old.I am sure redwoods are awesome in real life; I have never seen one. But the tree that Landau and her designers have put onstage is among the most beautiful and wondrous theatrical creations I can recall.Spectacular video by Hana S. Kim renders the tree’s towering swirl of branches on a series of 1,000 immersive LED panels.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Lorne Michaels Reflects on His ‘S.N.L.’ Legacy Ahead of the 50th Anniversary

    Is it possible that Lorne Michaels is Lorne-ed out?Even for a man who enjoys being famous, all the hoopla surrounding the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” all the extra attention it has brought him, has been a bit much.“I say this not with any sense of modesty — I was famous enough,” Michaels said recently at Orso, one of his favorite New York haunts. Someone who knew him once sardonically suggested Michaels would like to have “LEGENDARY” stitched into his underwear. And he is, after all, known in some circles by one name, like Beyoncé, Cher, Ichiro. But Michaels demurs.“Everybody who had to know me, knew me,” he said. “I wasn’t in the public eye. But now, walking over here, a young comedian came up and said, ‘How would I audition?’”I said I would have loved to have seen that encounter.“You would not love that,” he said in his bone-dry voice and signature cadence.Since the 50th season premiered last fall, the anniversary of “S.N.L.,” one of a fragmented America’s few remaining communal cultural events, has inspired a steady stream of tributes to the show and its creator. There was a Jason Reitman origin-story movie called “Saturday Night,” as well as hundreds of feature stories and listicles in the press. Last month there was a four-part docuseries on the show and another documentary on just the music. Friday night brings an “S.N.L” concert at Radio City Music Hall, livestreaming on Peacock. A 600-plus page biography of Michaels titled “Lorne,” by Susan Morrison, an editor at The New Yorker, comes out next week.It all culminates on Sunday with a live three-hour prime-time special looking back on “S.N.L.” and its singular legacy. Like a Veterans Day parade with troops from different wars marching by, “S.N.L.” stars from different decades, among many other celebrities young and old — guests include Paul McCartney, Robert De Niro, Steve Martin, Sabrina Carpenter, Tom Hanks, Kim Kardashian and Dave Chappelle — are swirling around New York, ready to help Michaels celebrate the golden anniversary.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Late Night Braces for the Reign of R.F.K. Jr., Health Czar

    “Bobby Brainworm is on the job,” Jimmy Kimmel said after President Trump’s nominee for health secretary was confirmed and sworn in.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Bobby BrainwormOn Thursday, the Senate confirmed Robert Kennedy Jr., known to late night viewers for his vaccine skepticism and strange encounters with animals, as the secretary of health and human services. Jimmy Kimmel urged Americans not to worry about the rise of measles now that “Bobby Brainworm is on the job.”“Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote no. Mitch McConnell is 82 years old. He survived polio as a kid, and thanks to R.F.K. Jr, polio might get another run at him.” — JIMMY KIMMELAfter being confirmed, Kennedy Jr. proceeded to the Oval Office “to be sworn in and to suck up,” Kimmel said. The new head of health and human services described President Trump as a “man on a white horse” sent by God.“Next, God is going to send us diphtheria.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Melania couldn’t turn him on like that the first night they met. But happy Valentine’s Day to Don and Bob.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (OMG Edition)“The Senate today confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services. He was actually Trump’s second choice, but the Wuhan bat withdrew his nomination.” — SETH MEYERS“R.F.K. Jr. is now in charge of the F.D.A., N.I.H. and C.D.C., to which Americans said, ‘OMG,’ ‘WTF’ and ‘FML.’” — JIMMY FALLON“They said it couldn’t be done. Excuse me, they said it shouldn’t be done.” — JORDAN KLEPPER“But now it has happened, so you can now add ‘employment’ to the list of things he’s tested positive for.” — JORDAN KLEPPERThe Bits Worth WatchingThe filmmaker Brady Corbet discussed his Oscar-nominated move “The Brutalist” on “The Daily Show.”Also, Check This OutSly Stone’s music, especially from the 1960s, is celebrated as sui generis polymathic synthesis and as hip-hop’s bedrock in “Sly Lives!”Stephen Paley/Sony/Onyx CollectiveQuestlove details Sly Stone’s life, career and musical legacy in a new documentary, “Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius).” More

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    Teddi Mellencamp of ‘Real Housewives’ Says She Has Brain Tumors

    Mellencamp, the daughter of the rock musician John Mellencamp, said on Instagram that she was receiving treatment after experiencing “severe and debilitating” headaches.Teddi Mellencamp, a podcast host and television personality from the “Real Housewives” franchise, announced on Wednesday that she had multiple brain tumors that would be treated with surgery and radiation.Mellencamp, 43, said on her social media account that she had experienced “severe and debilitating” headaches in recent weeks that had become so painful that she required hospitalization. After a CT scan and an M.R.I., doctors found “multiple tumors on my brain, which they believe have been growing for at least six months,” she wrote in a post.Two of the tumors were being surgically removed, and smaller ones would be treated with radiation at a later date, she wrote.Mellencamp was on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” for 72 episodes, from 2017 to January 2024, according to her IMDB page. She has previously spoken publicly on social media and on podcasts about her personal life, including filing for divorce from Edwin Arroyave, as well as her medical history, which has included melanoma and IVF treatment. She and Arroyave have three children, and Mellencamp has a stepdaughter, Isabella Arroyave.Mellencamp, the daughter of the rock musician John Mellencamp, also hosts the iHeartRadio podcast “Two Ts in a Pod” with Tamra Judge of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” More

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    A Brisk and Juicy Australian Family Drama

    A nimble mini-series on Amazon crams a lot of believable texture and chemistry into a tidy package, with just six 15-minute episodes.The actual title of this Australian mini mini-series isn’t printable, but it is available on Amazon Prime Video under the title “F*%#ing Adelaide.” The show is just six 15-minute episodes, but it crams in plenty of story and depth, a travel-size version of the sunny but textured family drama in which adult siblings come to a new understanding of their childhoods — and thus themselves and one another.Eli (Brendan Maclean) is a would-be glam rocker, playing marginal afternoon gigs and scrapping with bartenders. He reluctantly returns home to Adelaide after an insistent phone call from his mother, Maude (Pamela Rabe). His older sister, Emma (Kate Box), has also been summoned, with her family, from her nonprofit work in Thailand. His younger sister, Kitty (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), is somewhat distracted from the family reunion by the anonymous sex she likes to have, however contrived or inconvenient it may be.Maude declares that she is selling the house, which resurrects everyone else’s feelings about their abusive, now-absent father. All the planets here are in different orbits, though. Kitty doesn’t even remember the guy, and she yearns for a connection, despite what everyone else says. Eli and Emma recoil from the mere mention of his name, and Maude’s various storage boxes suggest she is hanging onto more than just stuff. Despite its short run time, “Adelaide” gets in some juicy squabbles, and the chemistry among the adult siblings has a fun edge and a barely contained feral physicality. The house feels too full, the boxes stacked too high, the bathroom always occupied.“Adelaide” takes a surprising turn in its final two episodes, one that cannily changes the weight of the previous four. The show also weaves in Eli’s style of looping music, in which certain lines and syllables from the dialogue are remixed as breathy songs. The resulting omnipresent score is sometimes poignant but also sometimes like being around a draining 9-year-old who is discovering the pleasures of recreational echolalia.I know what you’re thinking: Is there a gender-nonconforming tween magician in this show? And the answer is, You know it, baby. Cleo (Aud Mason-Hyde), Kate’s child, gets some of the best scenes. In one, Cleo and Maude are playing a guessing game, with Maude describing the attributes of the person she has in mind. Cleo guesses Kitty, and then Emma, and then Eli, but oh! Maude is describing herself. Somewhere, a shrink is buying a new couch. More