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    ‘Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes’ Is a Cheeky and Fabulous Distraction

    Need a healthy does of escapism right about now? Look no further than this series on BritBox.There are certain television shows that seem as if they were created as an excuse for famous people to take nice vacations. “Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes” is one such program. But that doesn’t mean the series, streaming now on BritBox, isn’t a charming, escapist watch.Cumming is the Scottish actor known for his work on Broadway in the likes of “Cabaret” and his stint on “The Good Wife,” but recently he has been using his thick brogue for reality TV hosting gigs. His stint lording over the bickering competitors of Peacock’s “The Traitors” won him an Emmy earlier this year. “Paradise Homes” continues the trend, but it features far less back stabbing.In the five-episode first season, Cumming travels around Europe and North America, poking his nose into extraordinarily designed homes. Cumming bills himself as an architecture buff who has designed several building projects of his own, and as he tours each spot, he evaluates it based partly on whether it is the type of place he picture himself in. It makes the entire enterprise feel like “Architectural Digest” by way of your most fabulous friend with a judgmental side.While I’m no expert, the houses really are incredible, mostly modernist palaces in unusual locales. Still, as is the case with most shows like this, the entertainment value varies based on who is living in the homes. The best subjects have the most curious houses, like the couple in rural Ontario who revamped a 19th century cabin with sleek and contemporary additions, painted black. The couple also get Cumming’s sense of humor, and they invite him to sing karaoke in their hot tub with them.For all the gorgeous scenery, Cumming, with his penchant for snooping and his stylish suits, is really the main attraction. He wants to have a good time, and when he vibes with the homeowners, the show sparks. He is also delightfully thrilled by tasty (vegan) food and splendid (alcoholic) beverages.“Paradise Homes” is light on the nitty-gritty of how these living spaces are funded and built, leaving the financial details vague. The lack of transparency can at times feel a little tone-deaf, but maybe it’s better that the show doesn’t get too bogged down in reality: “Paradise Homes” is an excellent distraction. For a couple of hours you can imagine you’re living the good life, sipping on wine with a amusingly cheeky guide. More

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    New York Comedy Festival Recommendations

    The intriguing options range from well-known names like Bill Maher and Tracy Morgan to under-the-radar standups like Chloe Radcliffe and Jay Jurden.When the New York Comedy Festival started in 2004, it was a modest affair, with only a dozen standup shows. Twenty years later, it has grown into a bustling, sprawling staple of the comedy season, featuring more than 100 shows, big and small, in every borough. The festival begins Thursday and runs through Nov. 17. Here are a few promising options.‘Chloe Radcliffe: Cheat’Chelsea Music Hall, SundayMore than a decade ago, a Hollywood producer told me you couldn’t make a movie about a woman who cheats on her boyfriend or spouse and still retain the audience’s sympathy. The stand-up Chloe Radcliffe proves him wrong in this personal solo show that explores infidelity (her own and the subject broadly) with a refreshing candor and open-mindedness. “Cheat” finds a new take on an old subject while delivering hard-hitting punchlines.Bill Maher: The WTF TourBeacon Theater, Nov. 16In a festival that doesn’t seem especially packed with political comics, Bill Maher, who has performed at the event more than any other comic, stands out. He has talked about giving up standup and focusing on his weekly HBO show and podcast, so who knows if this will be his swan song. In September he predicted Donald J. Trump would lose. What will he say now?Jay JurdenGramercy Theater, MondayWe 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 Processes Donald Trump’s Re-Election

    “Trump returning to the White House is a huge historic comeback for someone who literally never went away,” Jimmy Fallon said.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.Infernal FlameLate-night hosts spent Wednesday processing the 2024 election results and former President Donald Trump’s sweeping win.On “The Daily Show,” Desi Lydic lamented that “instead of breaking the glass ceiling, last night America decided to get back with her dirtbag ex.”“Yep, it’s official. America elected its first criminal president before electing its first female president. What a day for proud felonists.” — DESI LYDIC“We’ve had two qualified, accomplished women nominated for president, and both times they lost to the worst man in the whole country.” — DESI LYDIC“Yup, Trump could be the first president to be under White House arrest.” — JIMMY FALLON“All day yesterday, I was walking around proudly wearing my ‘I voted’ sticker. Today, I wore my ‘I am questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of humanity’ sticker.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Now, as a late-night host, people often say to me, ‘Come on, part of you has got to want Trump to win because he gives you so much material to work with.’ No, no. No one tells the guy who cleans the bathroom, ‘Wow, you must love it when someone has explosive diarrhea — there’s so much material for you to work with!’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“I guess this election wasn’t rigged. That’s weird, though, right? I mean, he said it would be rigged. He said it was being rigged while people were in line voting. Isn’t it remarkable that this time, the fix wasn’t in? Last time, the Democrats cheated. This time, we chose not to, I guess.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Donald Trump is like the emperor from ‘Star Wars.’ He’s old, he’s evil and he keeps coming back with no reasonable explanation whatsoever.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Four More Years Edition)“Let me tell you, that was the worst Taco Tuesday of my whole life.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Trump returning to the White House is a huge historic comeback for someone who literally never went away.” — JIMMY FALLONWe 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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    Virginia Carter, a Feminist Adviser to Norman Lear, Dies at 87

    A physicist who headed a chapter of the National Organization for Women, she took a career detour to be a feminist voice in Mr. Lear’s empire of socially aware sitcoms.Virginia Carter, a physicist whose activism for the National Organization for Women led the sitcom impresario Norman Lear to hire her in the early 1970s to be his feminist conscience as he presided over taboo-breaking shows that touched on sensitive social issues, died on Oct. 17 at her home in Redondo Beach, Calif. She was 87.Her friend Martha Wheelock, a filmmaker, confirmed her death but did not specify a cause.In 1973, Ms. Carter was at a turning point. Her success at Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit think tank that advised the Air Force on space programs and satellite systems, was tempered by being underpaid and receiving inadequate credit for her work.“Out of the depths of my own insecurities, I’d think, ‘Gee whiz, Virginia, you’re not good enough,’” she told The Chicago Tribune in 1978. “And I’d work harder and harder.”But she had also been the president of the Los Angeles chapter of NOW, building its membership and fighting for feminist issues like the Equal Rights Amendment, which the California State Legislature ratified in November 1972.“I began to change, to speak publicly,” she told The Tribune. “And I found people outside of physics.”One of them was Frances Lear, a feminist activist who was Mr. Lear’s wife at the time (the couple divorced in 1985). She suggested that Ms. Carter meet with her husband, who by then was producing sitcoms that sometimes touched on feminist and political themes — “All in the Family” and, to a much greater degree, “Maude.” But Ms. Carter wasn’t immediately convinced.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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    Trump’s Win Unfolded on TV as a Muted Reboot

    Election night on 2024 played like an enervated replay of 2016. Was it a harbinger of how the culture will respond to a second Trump term?If you stayed up into the early morning hours to watch the Blue Wall gradually bleed red and Donald J. Trump give a rambling victory speech surrounded by an entourage, you might have thought that you had seen this show before.You had. But not quite in this way.The long election night unfolded on TV much the way Mr. Trump’s first two did — similar stakes, similar battleground states. But it played very differently. His win in 2016, after a campaign in which he was often covered as an outrageous novelty who would never really win, landed in news studios like an asteroid. In 2020, networks were prepared to fact-check his defiant, false claim of victory after a night that ended up surprisingly close for him.His re-election, on the other hand, was unusual but not unanticipated. It was within the range of possible outcomes suggested by polling, and networks went on the air with the presumption that both he and Vice President Kamala Harris had a solid chance to end up president-elect.So the re-election of a president who had attempted to overturn the results of the last contest — and the return to top billing of America’s most divisive media star — was covered, at least in its first hours, largely as a matter of math.There were seven battleground states, and within them, layers and layers of numbers and variables to unpack. On channel after channel, guys in shirtsleeves with smart-screens — Steve Kornacki, Bill Hemmer, John King — zoomed into America’s electoral anatomy. A CNN map showed in shades of brown which areas of the country had suffered most from recent inflation, a vista of amber waves of pain.The percentages were plentiful but the broader perspective elusive. In the early hours, it could be tough for a channel hopper to get a sense of who was doing well and poorly. On Fox News, Jesse Watters gloated over the “cannonball” splash of Mr. Trump’s win in Florida, while ABC saw early hope for Harris in Pennsylvania.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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    Francis Jue Takes a Victory Lap in ‘Yellow Face’

    Seventeen years after he first appeared in “Yellow Face,” the veteran actor Francis Jue has returned with a nuanced performance as a blustery patriarch.It’s a well-worn bit of audition advice for actors: Don’t telegraph that you really want the part you are up for — just do your thing. A corollary: The creative freedom you gain when you have relinquished your thirst for a role may spur you to make fearless choices that can seal the deal.Francis Jue has borne out this wisdom over a long and lauded career, which has reached a new height with his bittersweet turn as the blustery patriarch in David Henry Hwang’s hall-of-mirrors comedy “Yellow Face,” now on Broadway. Critics have rained superlatives on his performance: In his review for The New York Times, Jesse Green called it “masterly”; others have hailed it as both “a comic jolt” (Variety) and “heart-busting” (Time Out New York).The ability to wring laughs as well as tears from audiences is a superpower that has made Jue a go-to actor not only for Hwang (with roles in his shows “Soft Power” and “Kung Fu”), but also for “multiple generations of Asian American playwrights,” said Mike Lew, who cast him in his play “Tiger Style!”Lew called Jue “puckish yet rooted, razor-sharp-witted, yet equally gifted with physical comedy.”Remarkably, his victory lap in “Yellow Face” is a return to a role he first performed in the play’s New York premiere at the Public Theater in 2007. Still more remarkably, it is a part he was never seriously considered for — until he showed what he could do with it.Francis Jue, left, and Daniel Dae Kim in the play “Yellow Face” at the Todd Haimes Theater.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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    Reinventing the ‘Theater Kid’ Label With Help From Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga

    For stars like Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga, showmanship is a virtue. That’s a big change from the days when Anne Hathaway was vilified for her effortful work.Ariana Grande used to downplay the fact that she was a theater kid.Yes, she began her career as a teenager on Broadway in the musical “13” before finding fame on Nickelodeon. But when she first set her sights on international pop stardom, she concealed that side of herself. She adopted a disaffected persona and wore oversize sweatshirts as dresses with thigh-high boots. That version of Grande was acting like a girl who didn’t care. (In 2015, she infamously licked some doughnuts and created a national scandal.)Now Grande cares a lot. As a star of “Wicked” alongside Cynthia Erivo, she has thrown herself wholeheartedly into the role of Broadway baby, making it clear that she owes as much to Kristin Chenoweth’s coloratura as she does to Mariah Carey’s whistle tones. She has gone out of her way to demonstrate her commitment to “Wicked,” discussing her long-held love for that Stephen Schwartz musical, dying her hair blond, and announcing on Instagram that she had “decided to put a temporary pin in all things that are not ‘Wicked’ for now.” Grande and Erivo have shown up to multiple events wearing their characters’ signature pink and green. They are not just in “Wicked.” They are living and breathing “Wicked.”Even beyond “Wicked,” this fall’s movie offerings have provided vindication for theater kids everywhere. In addition to Grande and Erivo, a Tony winner for “The Color Purple,” Lady Gaga brought her theater-kid showmanship to Gotham City in “Joker: Folie à Deux.” And two forthcoming art house musicals — “Emilia Pérez,” from the French director Jacques Audiard, and “The End,” from the documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer — embody the theater kid in essence even if they are less Broadway and more Off Broadway in spirit.Ariana Grande in “Wicked.” She has embraced her Broadway beginnings.Giles Keyte/Universal PicturesThe theater kid is also making headway in other areas of entertainment. The pop star Sabrina Carpenter, in her highly kitschy arena tour, comes across as if she’s auditioning for Lola in a revival of “Damn Yankees.” (At a Halloween-themed show in Dallas on Oct. 30, she sang “Hopelessly Devoted to You” in costume as Sandy, Olivia Newton-John’s character from “Grease.”)Carpenter also briefly appeared on the Great White Way for two performances as Cady Heron in “Mean Girls” before the show was shut down because of Covid. Cady’s bully, Regina George, was played by Renée Rapp, who in recent years has turned to sexy, radio-ready ballads, while reminding us of her past as a winner at the Jimmy Awards, the high school musical theater competition. Rapp reprised the role of Regina in the movie version of the “Mean Girls” musical earlier this year. And then there’s Chappell Roan, who borrows from drag as she sings her peppy queer anthems, but whose preference for elaborate costumes has gotten her labeled a theater kid, too.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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    A ‘Wicked’ Tearful Talk With Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande

    “Excuse me,” Ariana Grande said, flagging down an imaginary waiter. “May we have one million tissues please?”It was midway through the fittingly witchy month of October, and Grande and Cynthia Erivo had convened at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles to discuss their new film “Wicked,” adapted from the long-running Broadway musical. With emotions riding high before its Nov. 22 release, both women teared up frequently while talking about what the movie means to them.On set, things had been no less emotional. “The tears would fall every single time,” Erivo said as she recounted shooting a fraught dance sequence with her co-star. “I didn’t have to try for them, they were always there.”“And I’d catch them,” Grande added.“Wicked” functions as a revisionist prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” with the director Jon M. Chu’s film following Erivo’s green-skinned Elphaba long before she becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. As a young woman at Shiz University, Elphaba is forced to bunk with Grande’s Glinda, a rival-turned-friend who plots to make over her outcast roommate during the fizzy musical number “Popular.”“Wicked,” out Nov. 22, will be followed by “Wicked Part Two” next year.Universal PicturesBut as Elphaba learns the dark secrets that undergird Oz’s Emerald City, the disillusioned young witch finally steps into her own power and belts “Defying Gravity,” the showstopper that, onstage, is meant to bring down the curtain on the first act. Onscreen, the song serves as the climax of the two-and-a-half-hour movie: The rest of the story is saved for “Wicked Part Two,” which was shot in tandem with the first film and is slated for release next November.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