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    in Theater

    With This ‘Gypsy’ Song, Audra McDonald Makes You Rethink the Broadway Show

    Eight times a week at the Majestic Theater in Manhattan, the entire, harrowing arc of a classic tragedy is delivered in 4½ minutes that are as exhilarating as they are upsetting. All the textbook components of tragedy according to Aristotle are vigorously at work here: self-delusion and self-knowledge, pity and terror, and the sense that what is happening is somehow both unexpected and inevitable.And all of this — right down to that climatic, rushing release called catharsis — is provided, near the end of a delectably tuneful show, by a lone woman performing a single song in what is generally regarded as the cheeriest of theatrical forms, the American musical. Yet by that number’s conclusion, Audra McDonald, the Tony-nominated star of George C. Wolfe’s Broadway revival of “Gypsy,” has the flayed-skinless appearance of a figure in a Francis Bacon portrait.And while most hardcore lovers of musicals have surely heard this song before, they are likely to sense that something new is happening here — something harsher, rawer, more wondering and ultimately more devastating. An old standard is providing fresh and unsettling revelations, while an unconventionally cast, mold-cracking performer is shedding surprising light and shadow on one of the best-known characters in the genre. No wonder that audience members leave the Majestic looking as if they had just been sucker punched.A visit to the show in late March inspired the Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty to call McDonald’s interpretation of the song “if not a religious experience, then a spiritually transfiguring one.” And a friend of mine, who is not generally a fan of musicals, emailed me after a Wednesday matinee that she “was so gutted by that number that when I walked out of the theater I really didn’t know where I was or which direction to turn.”“Rose’s Turn”Audra McDonald sings on the cast album for “Gypsy.”Such is the experience of watching McDonald sing “Rose’s Turn” in “Gypsy,” the 1959 story by Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne about one very determined stage mother named Rose in the dying days of vaudeville. It’s the kind of number that makes you entirely rethink both the show you’ve been watching — one you may have felt you knew all too well — and its central character.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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    in Television

    Colbert Thinks the Nickname ‘Lady Giuliani’ Suits Jeanine Pirro

    Colbert said President Trump’s latest appointment from the Fox News roster “drank a whole bottle of champagne, and then someone told her the news.”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.‘Lady Giuliani’Last Thursday, President Trump said he had chosen the Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.Stephen Colbert told his viewers on Monday that they might recognize Pirro from “Judge Jeanine,” where she “promoted voter-fraud claims, compared Jan. 6 rioters to Revolutionary War soldiers, and got pulled briefly from the network after making Islamophobic comments.”“She was later reinstated after Fox realized they didn’t care.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“And I’m sure she’s excited. I heard on Friday night, she drank a whole bottle of champagne, and then someone told her the news.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“President Trump last week named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. Well, she is always up for a case.” — SETH MEYERS“Pirro has also come under fire for pleading guilty for speeding after driving 119 miles per hour in a 65 zone and was forced to deny accusations of being drunk on air. It’s not great when Washington’s top attorney can best be described as ‘Lady Giuliani.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Trump announced the news on Truth Social, saying, ‘Pirro is considered one of the top district attorneys in the history of the state of New York. She is in a class by herself.’ That class? Court-mandated traffic school.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Pirro is the 23rd current or former Fox News employee hired by the Trump White House. If you work at Fox News right now and you haven’t been offered a job by this administration, you must be thinking, ‘Does he, like, hate me?’” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Thieving on a Jet Plane Edition)“The White House said that the royal family of Qatar is giving President Trump a $400 million luxury jet that he will use as Air Force One, and then keep once he leaves office. Everyone’s rightfully focused on the plane, but to me the big headline is that he’ll eventually leave office.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yeah, the 89-passenger luxury plane has wood finishes, custom carpets and gold walls. The only thing it doesn’t have is a way to safely land at Newark airport.” — 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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    To Play Betty Boop, Jasmine Amy Rogers Had to Transform

    When Jasmine Amy Rogers learned that she had been nominated for a Chita Rivera Award, for outstanding dancer in a Broadway show, her first reaction was to laugh.“Just because I felt a little bit like an impostor,” said Rogers, who plays the Jazz Age cartoon character Betty Boop in “Boop! The Musical.” “The dancing is always something that I was so fearful of.”Indeed, the tap portion of the audition process had been, by her own admission, “really bad.” “I was so nervous that I just shut down,” Rogers recalled, just hours after the nomination was announced. “It was very embarrassing for me. I did a little bit of the tap number from the beginning and I just couldn’t pick up the pattern.”It sounded “like somebody dropped a handful of silverware in the kitchen,” according to Jerry Mitchell, the musical’s choreographer and director. But, he added in a phone interview, “she went away, she worked on it, she came back and she was better.”And she got the job. The dance award nomination came late last month. A Tony nomination for best leading actress in a musical followed shortly after that. In his review, the New York Times’s chief theater critic called Rogers “immensely likable,” adding that “she sings fabulously,” and “nails all the Boop mannerisms and has a fetching way with a tossed-off line.” Not bad for a Broadway debut.Jasmine Amy Rogers, the star of “Boop! The Musical,” is a Tony nominee for best leading actress in a musical.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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    In ‘Operation Mincemeat,’ the Crack Timing Required to Put on a Show

    “Operation Mincemeat,” a Tony Award nominee for best musical, tells the absurdly improbable true story of how a tiny group of misfits in British intelligence diverted the German army in World War II. It’s a comic tale of a plan always on the verge of falling apart, and that’s how it is represented theatrically.“The show works at the knife edge of what we’re capable of,” said David Cumming, a member of SpitLip, the British theater collective that performs — and wrote and composed — the musical. “It’s the energy of ‘They’re barely pulling this off,’ and to be honest, we barely are.”Just as the story is hard to believe — a corpse planted with plans for a fictitious Allied invasion of Sardinia threw the Germans off the actual attack on Sicily? — so is the idea that a mere cast of five can tell it, shuffling through a total of 82 characters often across gender and mostly at the speed of farce. Like the military operation it portrays, the theatrical one requires elaborate planning.Natasha Hodgson, left, and Jak Malone wait for their next entrances. For this reason, “Operation Mincemeat,” which was a hit on the West End before opening on Broadway in March, is one of the most tightly choreographed shows imaginable. The performers are in nearly constant motion onstage — acting, singing, dancing, changing costumes and characters, tossing and catching props and rolling pieces of the set around, all in exact coordination with one another, the lighting and the music.The choreography behind the scenes is equally involved and precise, as I learned when I visited backstage at the Golden Theater during a recent matinee. There was no safe place to stand and watch. My attentive chaperone — Beau Lettieri, the assistant stage manager — had to keep me moving to stay out of the way.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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    in Television

    ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,’ Plus 6 Things to Watch on TV This Week

    The reality show returns to Hulu, while AppleTV+ debuts a new sci-fi series.Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that are airing or streaming this week, May 12-18. Details and times are subject to change.Sexy!First there was #MomTok, and then came “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a reality series following a group of TikTok-famous moms who are either practicing Mormons or are in the community. The first season was a hit and became Hulu’s top-watched unscripted series in 2024. Now the ladies from Utah are ready for more dirty sodas, baby daddy drama and rehashing of the swinging scandal. Joining the cast is Miranda McWhorter, who was involved in the original TikTok drama that popularized the group. Add some coconut creamer to your Dr Pepper, read up on the Book of Mormon, and pour your coffee down the drain because Taylor Frankie Paul, Jen Affleck, Demi Engemann and the others are so back. Streaming Thursday on Hulu.Why are Chad Michael Murray and Scott Patterson in Nova Scotia, Canada? Because “Sullivan’s Crossing” is back for a third season, of course. The series follows the neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) who fled to the small town that her father, Sully (Patterson), lives in to get away from a work-related scandal. Now, three years later, Maggie and Cal (Murray) are officially an item, and the trio are dealing with the aftermath of a diner fire from the Season 2 cliffhanger. It’s about to be cottage season in Canada, and this show perfectly sets those vibes. Wednesday at 8 p.m. on the CW.The Ryan Murphy series “Doctor Odyssey” has left viewers with lots of questions: Was it all a fever dream? Why is this cruise ship equipped with a CT machine? How can we clone Joshua Jackson in real life? It is unclear whether any of these questions will be answered in this week’s finale. The show — which follows the lives of a doctor and two nurses in charge of a cruise ship’s infirmary who spend more time canoodling, drinking and relaxing in the hot tub than doing any actual work — has covered orca attacks, mistaken pregnancies and the dangers of a raw diet. During the season (or series, ABC has yet to renew the show) finale, Max (Jackson) deboards the ship and, needless to say, several natural disasters strike. Thursday at 9 p.m. on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.Thrilling!Let’s set the scene for the new thriller series “Duster”: The year is 1972, we’re in the Southwest and Rachel Hilson plays the F.B.I.’s first Black female agent. With Josh Holloway’s character at her side as a getaway driver, the two go on a mission to break up a growing crime syndicate. Of note, this is J.J. Abrams’s first co-writing gig in six years, since “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Thursday at 9 p.m. on Max.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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    in Television

    ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 5 Recap: Once Upon a Time

    Dina fills in some blanks about her past. Ellie finds the first of her intended targets.‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 5Early in this week’s episode of “The Last of Us,” Dina tells Ellie a story about what her life was like when she was 8 years old, surviving the apocalypse in a cabin in a sparsely populated forest north of Santa Fe, N.M. One day back then, Dina grabbed a gun and went for a walk, without permission. When she returned, she found a raider in their house and her mother and sister dead.She killed the intruder — the first person she ever killed. Ever since, Dina has wondered what would have happened if she had been home when the raider arrived. Would she have been forced to watch him beat her family to death?There are different conclusions we could draw from all this. On the one hand, Dina suggests her experience helps her empathize with Ellie’s decision to hunt down Abby. Dina knows that if she had not killed her family’s murderer right away, she would have tracked him down until the job was done.But was her in-the-moment act of vengeance “justice,” exactly? Or just survival? Dina says that even if her family had hurt the raider’s family first, they would not have deserved to die the way they did; and she says that Joel did not deserve to be brutally slain, no matter what he did. Dina never proposes this directly — and would maybe disagree strongly with I am about to say — but the logical endpoint of her argument is that no one “deserves” to be killed. The act of taking a life should be a necessity, not a notion.Dina concludes her monologue by giving Ellie a choice, to press on or head home. Interestingly, Dina insists that there is “no right answer,” which is subtly different from “no wrong answer.” (It’s as if she were saying that all of their choices are equally cursed.) Anyway, Ellie sees only one option, so the mission continues.This week’s episode is ripe with bad vibes. For one thing, this is now the third week in a row that we have spent in Seattle, and after the variety of locations and stories that helped distinguish “The Last of Us” Season 1 from other end-times TV dramas, a certain exhausting repetitiveness is starting to set in here. The story feels a bit stuck.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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    in Television

    ‘S.N.L.’: Toasting Moms and Toasted Trump Appointees

    Cecily Strong returns as Jeanine Pirro, Walt Goggins shows off his clogging, and a dope new pope appears in the 50th season’s penultimate episode.If you’re going to celebrate the election of a new pope, you might as well have some sacramental wine, too.Cecily Strong returned to “Saturday Night Live” in a guest appearance to reprise her role as the Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro — and to douse Colin Jost, her former Weekend Update desk mate, in alcohol. Alcohol that emanated directly from her own mouth.How the opening sketch of this weekend’s “S.N.L.” broadcast (which was hosted by Walton Goggins and featured the musical guest Arcade Fire) arrived at this place will take a moment to explain.The sketch began with what looked like a traditional Mother’s Day tribute, with the cast members Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang and Marcello Hernández singing an affectionate serenade to their real-life moms, who joined them onstage.But no: This was just a setup for James Austin Johnson to enter the scene as President Trump, holding forth in free-association style on the past week’s news.“There’s a new pope from Chicago,” Johnson said, noting the Roman Catholic Church’s selection of Robert Francis Prevost, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.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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    ‘Government Cheese’ Star David Oyelowo Considers Oprah ‘Chosen Family’

    They met years ago while working on “The Butler,” the “Government Cheese” star said. Now, “I call her Mama, she calls me Son O.”“Government Cheese” began as what David Oyelowo called “a beautiful experiment.” He had long admired the fantastical storytelling of Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers. But he hadn’t seen that applied to a Black family.Then the filmmaker Paul Hunter approached him about playing a version of his own father — an ex-con eager to reunite with his family and make his fortune — in a short film with absurdist elements set in the San Fernando Valley in 1969. Eventually they spun it into a television series for Apple TV+, taking care to leave that tone intact.“We were very keen to make something that we knew might not be for everyone, but was very unique in its nature,” said Oyelowo, who is an executive producer on the show in addition to its lead. “It’s very rare that people of color get to make things where they are not feeling the need to explain their existence.”Oyelowo lives in the San Fernando Valley, where the series was shot, which meant there was little danger of violating the “no more than two weeks apart” rule that he and his wife, Jessica, established early in their relationship. And which they’ve broken only once, by 11 hours.In a video interview, Oyelowo elaborated on why his rambunctious dogs, going to the movies and Oprah Winfrey are essential to his life. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.My BibleI was brought up in the church, but it never really meant much to me because I was sort of piggybacking my parents’ faith. Then I had what can only be called a spiritual awakening at 16. And all of those stories that I grew up reading suddenly took on different meaning and have remained that way. It’s where I learned the true definition of love.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