Eliana Willis

More stories

  • 113 Shares99 Views

    in Theater

    ‘Holidays,’ a Madonna Musical, Pays Tribute to the Star

    “Holidays,” the first musical to include the pop icon’s songs, arrives just days before her “Celebration” tour starts. But matching the star’s talents is a challenge.Two lovers belting “Open Your Heart.” A misunderstood woman exhorting a roaring audience to “Express Yourself.” A gay wedding extravaganza set to “Like A Prayer.”No, this isn’t a preview of the stage antics in Madonna’s highly anticipated “Celebration” tour, which starts Saturday in London, at the O2 Arena. In Paris, the French stage director Nathan Guichet has started the party early with “Holidays,” a plucky new musical inspired by the global pop icon.It’s a wonder no Madonna jukebox musical has made it to the stage until now. Her back catalog brims with highly theatrical songs, and if “Holidays” is any indication, it doesn’t take a big-budget, bells-and-whistles production to get admirers of the pop icon to buy tickets.This two-hour show, which is set to run at the Alhambra theater through Jan. 28, features just four performers and one (very pink) set.Guichet has woven 15 Madonna songs into a fictional script performed in French. It is centered on four childhood friends, with somewhat contrived results: A number of twists and turns clearly exist to shoehorn songs into the show. (A character somehow lands in San Pedro, the island mentioned in “La Isla Bonita,” solely to cue Madonna’s 1986 track.) Yet by the end of a recent performance, Parisians were on their feet, fully hung up on Madonna nostalgia.Madonna performing during her Blond Ambition tour, in Rotterdam in 1990. “Holidays” tries to capture the star’s many talents.Gie Knaeps/Getty ImagesThe French capital is an unlikely setting for the first Madonna musical. Still, the newfound popularity of American-style musicals in France means there is a hunger for new titles, while producing costs are lower than on Broadway. “Holidays” came together in a year or so with a budget hovering around $1 million, according to its lead producer, Stéphane Pontacq. (For comparison, Broadway’s “Jagged Little Pill,” a jukebox musical inspired by the music of Alanis Morissette, was capitalized for up to $14 million in 2019.)Guichet, who has directed and produced original productions including a ”reimagining of “The Snow Queen,” said in an email that he was inspired by an interview Madonna gave to The Daily Star newspaper in 2012. “I’d sanction my songs to be made into a musical,” she said at the time. “But I wouldn’t do it myself, I don’t think that would interest me.”“Holidays” premiered just as global curiosity surrounds Madonna, who turned 65 in August. In June, she postponed “Celebration,” her 12th world tour, because of what her manager called a “serious bacterial infection.” The U.S. leg of the tour has now been rescheduled to start in December, following a series of concerts in Europe.There is little doubt that “Celebration” will be a lavish affair: Delivering a show to remember is what Madonna does, and has been doing consistently for four decades. Part of the challenge, when staging a tribute like “Holidays,” is trying to match her many talents.It is clear from the singing numbers in “Holidays,” all set to recorded music, that Madonna’s history of gutsy performances has challenge the performers to go above and beyond. The four women who carry the show all have moments of brilliance, and work hard to make the often dubious script shine.In it, a young heiress who is about to get married, Louise, gathers three friends she hasn’t seen in well over a decade. Their passion for Madonna united the quartet as teenagers, and every year, on Aug. 16, Madonna’s birthday, they would come to mark that special “holiday.”They reconvene as adults in Louise’s childhood home in a French village, which features a full-on Madonna altar: an eccentric pink bedroom suite designed for the girls by Louise’s doting father, covered in portraits of their idol.It takes a while for the four characters to gel. Louise, played by Juliette Behar, starts off as a manic pixie blonde, a “Material Girl” proxy with an over-excited delivery. Of her three friends, one, Valentina (Fanny Delaigue), has become a mysterious, provocative star in the United States, not unlike Madonna herself; another, Nikki, is a travel blogger with a history of family abuse. The fourth, Suzanne, is the proverbial underdog, who stayed in their local town and is stuck in underpaid jobs.The production weaves together Madonna songs into a fictional story centered on four childhood friends.NeibaPhotoThroughout, the main thing the four women have in common is Madonna. What “Holidays” gets right is what the star represents for many women: A sense of freedom and empowerment, the belief that they could break free of existing norms. It quickly becomes clear that Louise and her future husband don’t see eye to eye, and her friends encourage her to think beyond what is expected of her. Similarly, in a nod to Madonna’s longstanding L.G.B.T.Q. activism, a gay romance links two of the four friends, and blossoms movingly with the song “Secret.”“Holidays” isn’t a Madonna-backed venture. Promotional material for the production names her as infrequently as possible and the playbill’s plot summary only refers to the “famous pop star” who inspired the main characters. Luckily for the producers, it doesn’t take much to telegraph the mystery star’s identity. The poster art for “Holidays” closely mirrors one of Madonna’s best-known portraits, with her head tilted back and eyes closed on the cover of her 1986 album “True Blue.”Still, as fan tributes go, “Holidays” is a welcome reminder that Madonna’s catalog has rare staying power — and offers space for others to make their mark onstage. As Suzanne, Ana Ka brings serious vocal chops to the table, and lends heart to a character that could easily feel miserabilist.And the charismatic Nevedya, a budding musical star in France who recently headlined a production inspired by Josephine Baker, takes the role of Nikki and runs with it. A consummate dancer and singer, she brought striking arm flourishes and even a death drop to a “Vogue” number that otherwise felt a little timid, and in her hands, “Papa Don’t Preach” became a powerful plea to a father attempting to clip her wings.Madonna herself will be in Paris with “Celebration” in November. Until then, “Holidays” is an entertainingly upbeat stand-in. More

  • 138 Shares189 Views

    in Television

    Do You Know These Science Fiction Novels That Became TV Shows?

    Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s monthly quiz about books that have been made into television shows, movies, theatrical productions and more. This month’s challenge is about science fiction novels from the past 60 years that were adapted into television shows. Tap or click your answers to the five questions below.New literary quizzes appear on the Book Review page every week and you can find previous installments in the Book Review Quiz Bowl archive online. More

  • 138 Shares199 Views

    in Television

    What’s on TV This Week: ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Shining Vale’

    The NBC skit show starts its 49th season, and the Starz show returns.Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Oct. 9-15. Details and times are subject to change.MondayTHE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) 8 p.m. on HBO. As the leaves start changing and pumpkin-flavored items hit grocery shelves, it is clear that spooky season has arrived. And what better way to get into the spirit than with one of the most revered psychological thrillers? Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), a top student at the F.B.I. academy, is sent in as bait to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), in prison for murder and cannibalistic acts. Meanwhile, another serial killer nicknamed Buffalo Bill is on the loose and has a penchant for skinning his victims.TuesdayBET HIP-HOP AWARDS 9 p.m. on BET and VH1. Hosted by the Grammy-nominated artist Fat Joe, BET’S Hip-Hop Awards, which happened live on Oct. 3 are being broadcast this week, with performances by DaBaby, Fivio Foreign and Glorilla, to name a few, in honor of 50 years of hip-hop. There will also be a celebration for the 30th anniversary of the record label So So Def. In terms of awards, 21 Savage and Cardi B are tied for the most nominations with 12 each; Drake is right behind with nine.NO ACCIDENT 9 p.m. on HBO. In August 2017, hundreds of white nationalists rallied against the removal of a confederate statue in Charlottesville, Va. When they marched into town and were met by counter protesters, a brawl ensued, leading to the death of one person and dozens injured. In 2021, a civil trial began to determine if the far-right organizers had plotted for violence at the rally. This documentary looks at the stories of plaintiffs and their injuries as well as an examination into the intentions of organizers.WednesdayFrom left: Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson in “Zombieland.”Glen Wilson/Colombia PicturesZOMBIELAND (2009) 11:05 p.m. on Syfy. As someone who can’t stomach much gore but loves Jesse Eisenberg, this is the ideal movie for me. Though this movie takes place in a postapocalyptic, zombie-infested world, the story focuses instead on Columbus (Eisenberg) who teams up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) as they head West where there are apparently no zombies. This would be a good time to note that the characters are all named after their locations when the zombie apocalypse began. There’s a little bit of romance, lots of funny moments, an amazing cameo and a scene at an amusement park, where Eisenberg’s characters often find themselves (see: “Adventureland”).ThursdayHOUSE OF VILLAINS 10 p.m. on E! The reality villain queen herself, Omarosa Manigault Newman, is back on small screens this week alongside a whole slew of other familiar “we love to hate them” TV personalities, including Jax Taylor from “Vanderpump Rules,” Corinne Olympios from “The Bachelor” and Johnny Bananas from “The Challenge.” On this show, hosted by Joel McHale, the villains will have to form alliances and compete against one another for a $200,000 prize.FridaySHINING VALE 9 p.m. on Starz. Last season, this show started out with Pat Phelps (Courteney Cox) moving with her family to a small town for a fresh start after she cheated on her husband, Terry Phelps (Greg Kinnear), but Pat could immediately sense something demonic happening in her new home. The new season starts off with Pat returning home after a breakdown, and there she finds out her daughter Gaynor (Gus Birney) doesn’t want to spend time with her and Terry cannot remember her after suffering a brain injury.A still from season one of “Creepshow.”Boris Martin/AMC, via ShudderCREEPSHOW 10 p.m. on AMC. Serving as a de facto continuation of the 1982 film of the same name, this anthology series is back for a fourth season. Each episode features two horror stories vignettes with all things supernatural, gruesome, terrifying and haunting.SaturdaySATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 11:30 p.m. on NBC. As another fall season rolls around, on Saturday night this show is going to be live from New York! Coming back for its 49th season, Studio 8H will be busy again, even amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Pete Davidson is making his hosting debut after being a cast member on the show from 2014 to 2022. Ice Spice will be the musical guest, and on the following week’s episode Bad Bunny will serve as the host and musical guest.SundayNatascha McElhone and Mark Umbers in “Hotel Portofino.”Courtesy of Eagle Eye Drama LtdHOTEL PORTOFINO 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The first season of this show took place after World War I, as British travelers began vacationing in Italy. The second season, which begins this week, takes place in Portofino in the summer of 1927, with the Roaring ’20s are in full swing and Bella Ainsworth (Natascha McElhone) making sure that the Hotel Portofino is a success. More

  • 125 Shares199 Views

    in Theater

    Review: In ‘Bite Me,’ Taking Aim at Familiar Teenage Tropes

    Eliana Pipes’s new play is too pat to convincingly explore the societal imbalances resulting from race, class and gender.Good girls falling for bad boys is a cornerstone of high school dramas. Usually the story goes something like this: She sticks to the rules while he breaks them, and their meeting inspires a mutual coming-of-age.In “Bite Me,” by the playwright Eliana Pipes, the reasons a studious girl can’t afford to slip up while her crush has the privilege to slack off hum beneath their budding friendship like the drone of a fluorescent blub.The pair share custody of a neglected supply closet (the set is by Chika Shimizu), where Melody retreats to hide her tears from the queen bees and Nathan stores the petty contraband he swipes for fun, not because he needs money. As Nathan (David Garelik) makes clear, he has plenty of cash to pay for the homework he buys from Melody (Malika Samuel), a top student and an obvious outsider, who rides the bus for an hour each way to their suburban school from an unnamed city.This 90-minute two-person play, a co-production with Colt Coeur that recently opened at the WP Theater, is set in 2004 (as illustrated by Sarita Fellows’s fresh-from-the-mall costumes and Tosin Olufolabi’s alt-pop playlist). The fact that Melody is Black and Nathan is white does not immediately seem to influence their interactions as obviously as the conventional gender roles that have long governed the social and sexual politics of American teenagers: that every girl ought to be pretty and sweet, and guys should act tough and nonplused.Melody and Nathan each appear intent on conforming to such expectations, and, under the direction of Rebecca Martínez, the actors play convincing iterations of recognizable types (the minority overachiever primed to act out; the self-destructive slacker with a heart). But Pipes is also interested in how race, class and gender can play a role in determining who needs to hustle for the opportunities that others freely squander. (This is a theme in her work: Her play “Dream Hou$e,” produced by multiple regional theaters last year, is a surreal critique of gentrification.)The full extent of Melody’s isolation doesn’t become clear until their 10-year reunion, more than three-quarters through the play, when the revelation lends electricity only in retrospect to what otherwise seems, as the title “Bite Me” might suggest, like a trope-heavy, ill-fated infatuation.The fantasy of returning to the scene of one’s adolescent torment as a hot and successful adult is well-trodden, and Pipes’s use of it here is a bit too pat. Still, sometimes ridding closets of their ghosts is the only way to move forward.Bite MeThrough Oct. 22 at WP Theater, Manhattan; wptheater.org. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. More

  • 125 Shares179 Views

    in Television

    ‘Billions’ Season 7, Episode 9 Recap: The Walls Close in

    Chuck joins the mutineers in a spectacular way as Mike sets traps for Wendy and the rest.Season 7, Episode 9: ‘Game Theory Optimal’Think of this week’s episode of “Billions” as the Death Star trash compactor. In this memorable scene from “Star Wars,” our heroes, Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie, are stuck waist-deep in refuse as the walls of the compactor slowly close in on them. Shooting at those walls, climbing them, bracing them with metal beams — nothing works. It is simply a race against time: Either their robotic friends C-3PO and R2-D2 figure out how to shut down the space station’s trash compactor, or — well, as Han Solo puts it, “We’re all going to be a lot thinner.”In this crackerjack episode, the role of the left wall is played by Chuck Rhoades. Chuck has a long, dark, drunken night of the soul at Patsy’s restaurant with Richie Sansome (Michael Rispoli), a former top brass in the N.Y.P.D. Half cop, half gangster (you can take the actor out of “The Sopranos,” but you can’t take “The Sopranos” out of the actor), Sansome advises Chuck on the logistics and ethics of framing a guilty man, primarily in the negative.But he does offer this to the beleaguered attorney: If Chuck wants to take down a king, he has to recruit members of the royal court. If those conspirators wind up going down with their monarch regardless, Sansome rationalizes, they probably deserve it for having been part of the regime in the first place.But that won’t work for Chuck. For one thing, he cares about Wendy, one of the key courtiers he’ll need in order to stop Mike Prince from getting his finger on the nuclear button. (The stakes on this show have gotten insanely high all of a sudden!) For another, while Wendy might be willing to trust Chuck again, her colleagues and friends, Taylor and Wags, would not. No, to win them all over he’ll have to somehow guarantee his honesty.He does so in a spectacular way — a way hidden from everyone, by the writer Beth Schacter, until Chuck’s allies and we in the audience are jumping out of our chairs to uncover it. Starting with Dr. Ari Gilbert (Seth Barrish), the Axe-associated convict whom Chuck used, framed, tossed aside and even taunted, he makes a videotaped record of every crime he has ever committed in any of his offices.He rattles off all the greatest hits, up to and including his undermining of the infamous Ice Juice I.P.O. that briefly ruined his father, Charles, and best friend, Ira. This time, however, both men are brought in to advise on the plan; you get the sense this, too, is part of Chuck’s drive to prove his trustworthiness.What’s the big idea? Simple: He gives the recording’s only copy to Wags, a man who just minutes before threatened to dedicate his life to annihilating Chuck should he ever hurt Wendy again. This way, everyone involved — Chuck, Wendy, Wags, Taylor, Charles, Ira and Karl — will know that if Chuck pulls any of his usual shenanigans, his destruction will be both guaranteed and, this time, irreversible. Thus, the alliance between both anti-Prince brain trusts is forged.Unfortunately, there is that other trash compactor wall to consider, and it is closing in fast. Mike Prince has been alerted by Kate, astute and increasingly repugnant, that a mutiny may be afoot.With her help, and that of Scooter, an expert in English architecture, and just-this-side-of-legal surveillance equipment throughout the Prince Cap offices — including in Wendy’s therapy office — Mike learns it all. Wendy, Wags and Taylor are conspiring against him. They have at least tried to involve Bobby Axelrod, lying about their whereabouts in England while they wooed him. And Philip, the dauphin of the operation, refuses to have anything to do with it.So Prince springs his trap. He won’t fire them, because slashing his C-suite during a presidential campaign will make him look decidedly unpresidential. He’ll simply freeze them. Wendy will take a chief executive position at a mental-health start up, as she has spent the episode building up the willpower to do — but Mike has gone behind her back and bought it, so he’ll fire her as soon as the election is over, leaving her with nothing.Wags has his authorization privileges taken away; he will be a mascot for the boys on the trading floor, nothing more. (In this respect, Prince adds with malice, little will really change.) Taylor will not be allowed to so much as log into a company computer; the effect is like locking away the firm’s most brilliant mind in a rubber room, which Prince clearly realizes is the worst punishment a genius like Taylor could endure.So there we are, in the middle of the compactor for nearly the full hour. Chuck concocts some outrageous scheme of unknown nature on one side, and Prince and his minions uncover the truth about the mutineers on the other. All we can do is watch the inexorable progress of both plots, until the walls either stop just in time or finally squeeze shut, with the fate of our heroes in the balance.Ain’t it grand? Beyond the wealth porn and barrage of pop-culture and sports references, the charm of “Billions” has always been that it is simply a well-made financial thriller, written by smart people who, like the characters they chronicle, enjoy being five steps ahead of everyone else. Personally, I love that feeling. I love not knowing what Chuck is up to, or whether Prince can root out the conspirators before they close ranks with Chuck, or what fate worse than death Prince is planning for his enemies once he has them in his clutches. I love being outsmarted by a television show, and that is the stock in trade of “Billions.”Loose changeNot only does Billy Joel’s simultaneously cynical and elegiac ode to the high life, “I’ve Loved These Days,” open and close this episode, it actually replaces the composer Brendan Angelides’s trademark electronic “chug-chug-chug-chug-whirr-whirr-whirr-wirr” over the “Billions” title card. Yes, the showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien are from Long Island. How did you guess?The aforementioned opening involves late-night shots of a host of landmark New York City restaurants and venues, all of which are made to look like portals to realms undiscovered. Watch most big-budget sci-fi and fantasy shows of recent vintage, then watch “Billions,” then tell me which makes its setting look most like a magical moonlit wonderland of possibility and danger.I want to call out Ben Shenkman’s performance as Ira in this episode. Ira is an interesting character in that he serves as Chuck’s one-man Greek chorus or a Jiminy Cricket who can be routinely ignored; his job is mostly to watch his friend and react with dismay and resignation. This episode, in which he grows increasingly tongue-tied and visibly uncomfortable in his chair watching Chuck prepare to commit career suicide on camera, is his finest hour. It’s a vital role to this show, and Shenkman, who makes the character look as if he’s always nervously eyeing the exit even though he’ll never really use it, is indispensable.This season has demonstrated that few of the players in this high-stakes game of chess make a move without anticipating the response. A few episodes back, for example, Philip approached Wendy with his concerns about Prince, knowing full well she would relay them to Chuck. With that in mind, we are left to wonder why Wendy asked Rian to vet that mental health start-up for her. Was it just to survey its financial and ethical soundness? Or did she know Rian would take it to Prince, anticipating that he would buy it on the sly? Does Wendy need him to own it for some unknown purpose integral to their mutiny? Or is it simply that Wendy is every bit as screwed as it seems?Not to sound like a broken record, but it’s been that kind of season: This is the best “Billions” in quite some time. More

  • 138 Shares189 Views

    in Television

    Jimmy Kimmel Calls Matt Gaetz ‘the Least Popular Guy in Congress’

    “Ted Cruz must be glowing,” Kimmel said on Thursday about the scorn piling onto Representative Matt Gaetz.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.Tough CrowdWith Kevin McCarthy ousted as speaker this week, the polarizing Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida seems to be the House’s next target.On Thursday, Jimmy Kimmel called Gaetz “the least popular guy in Congress right now.”“Ted Cruz must be glowing.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Unfortunately, you can never really fully get rid of Matt Gaetz. You can only suppress him temporarily with Valtrex.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (TMI Edition)“In a new interview, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin criticized Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and said that Gaetz had bragged that he would crush erectile dysfunction medicine and ‘chase it with energy drinks so he could go all night.’ He added that sometimes, Gaetz would even have a woman with him.” — SETH MEYERS“Wow, they’re feeding on themselves. It’s like ‘Alien Vs. Sexual Predator.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Not only does Matt Gaetz definitely look like the spokesman for an E.D. medicine-infused energy drink, his name even has a ‘Z’ that you know is on the can.” — SETH MEYERS“So this guy is claiming Matt Gaetz was running around on the floor of the House showing his amateur porn to anybody he could find, to everybody who works with him. That makes him sound like the over-the-top bad employee example they use in H.R. training videos.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Bits Worth Watching“The Tonight Show” hosted a Battle of the Instant Songwriters on Thursday, with audience members creating on-the-spot ditties about a haunted Airbnb and Taylor Swift’s relationship with the N.F.L. player Travis Kelce.Also, Check This OutClockwise from top left, Nathan Lane, Josh Sharp, Aaron Jackson and Megan Mullally in “Dicks: The Musical.”Justin Lubin/A24Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally star in “Dicks: The Musical,” an outrageous new comedy from A24. More

  • 138 Shares199 Views

    in Television

    ‘Too Young for Me!’: A Senior Center Watches ‘The Golden Bachelor’

    The commentary was sharp and the drinks were virgin at a watch party for the new dating show featuring singles between 60 and 75.After Zumba class wrapped up at the Oakland Senior Center on Friday, regulars gathered around a projector screen with mocktails and plates piled with cheese and crackers to watch the premiere of “The Golden Bachelor,” the reality franchise’s latest spin on its dating show formula.“I haven’t been a bachelor in 55 and a half years,” said John Nicolaysen, 88, one of the two dozen viewers gathered in this leafy New Jersey suburb. He wore his age proudly on a baseball cap: “Est. 1935.”The new show features daters in their 60s and 70s, centering on a mild-mannered 72-year-old man from Indiana named Gerry Turner, who is looking for love again after his wife died several years ago. Eager to generate buzz around the spinoff, ABC has helped to facilitate watch parties at retirement homes around the country, targeting a television audience — people over 60 — that has effectively become the core constituency for broadcast networks.This watch party, however, was homegrown.“I just fell in love with his laugh — and his blue eyes,” one senior center visitor said of Gerry Turner, 72, the show’s star. Craig Sjodin/ABCAs the center’s director, Arielle Preciado, arranged chairs for the incoming audience, she recalled the disapproval of some regulars when she screened a movie about 20-somethings falling in love. “Everybody was like, ‘No one wants to watch our grandchildren getting together!’” Preciado said.So when chatter about “The Golden Bachelor” reached her social media feeds, Preciado decided to organize a viewing in Oakland, where members of the Greatest Generation flocked to after World War II. The senior center now sees a few hundred visitors a week, offering exercise classes and free activities such as Mahjong and knitting.After attending the morning Zumba class on Friday, three girlfriends who met at the senior center more than a decade ago returned to the building for the 2 p.m. “Golden Bachelor” screening. (The premiere aired on ABC the previous night.)Their take on Turner, whose bronzed image has been plastered across billboards, buses and commercial breaks for weeks?“He’s too young for me!” Joanne Craw, 78, said.“Well, he’s right up my alley,” her friend Toni Pflugh, 68, replied. “Except I have a husband.”“I do, too,” their friend Chris Lill, 73, said, joking, “but we’re ready for a change after 50 years.”A scene of Turner putting in hearing aids was a relatable moment for some viewers.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesPflugh, once a devoted “Bachelor” viewer who fell out of the habit after getting tired of what she considered a lack of realism, hoped that this version would be different.As a beaming Turner greeted a cast of hopefuls in the premiere episode, the senior center crowd tittered at attention-getting strategies like riding up to the Bachelor Mansion on a motorcycle, groaning at the franchise’s wink-wink, nudge-nudge innuendo.The group of friends offered guesses on which women had “had work done,” while others simply watched silently. The room broke into gasps and cheers when one of the contestants shared that she was from Teaneck, N.J., a short drive down the highway.“She’s only 60, she’s a baby!” Pflugh called out as one contestant stepped out of a limo in a shimmering golden gown.“I need alcohol,” cut in Craw as she ventured out to the snack table.(She was joking: The senior center does not serve alcohol, so the best Craw could do was an “Orchard Spritzer,” a mixture of pear juice and sparkling white grape juice.)The watch party’s refreshments were nonalcoholic.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesAs the episode concluded with a preview of a season of flirtation, heartbreak and a heavy dose of messaging around aging and female empowerment, the reviews trickled in.“Not my cup of tea,” Nicolaysen said, though he found seeing Turner putting on hearing aids while getting ready relatable. He was certain his wife would ask him to turn it off at home.“I think reality TV is the downfall of civilization,” offered Vicki Wyan, 69, as her group of friends debated how “real” this reality show actually is.Linda Arns, 78, was far more charmed. “I just fell in love with his laugh — and his blue eyes,” she said of Turner.It was an innocent crush: Arns has been with her husband for more than 50 years. But she offered Turner some advice in case he decided to be married again: “Love is blind, but marriage is an eye-opener,” she said.“I think reality TV is the downfall of civilization,” said Vicki Wyan, 69.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesABC’s efforts to capture audiences are off to a decent start, with 4.4 million viewers watching the show the day it premiered, according to data from Nielsen.Not all of the singles at Oakland Senior Center bought its message, though. Sure, a “second chance at love” is good for some people, but what if their era of dating is simply over?“I couldn’t do it again; I had the best, so I really couldn’t do it again,” said Ann Bernhard, 84, who has been visiting the senior center since shortly after her husband died more than 20 years ago.Another widow, Marilu Irizarry, 78, was also thoroughly uninterested in joining the population of older single women searching for love — either on television or in real life.“I don’t know,” she said, looking around at the other women sitting at her table. “Maybe just a good friendship.”John Koblin More

  • 138 Shares199 Views

    in Television

    ‘Loki’ Season 2: Into the Multiverse and Adding Ke Huy Quan

    Eric Martin discusses the second installment of the Disney+ series starring Tom Hiddleston as the God of Mischief.Loki has worn many hats since his initial appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2011.In the first “Avengers” movie, the God of Mischief, played by Tom Hiddleston, descended on New York City with an alien army. In “Thor: Ragnarok,” he teamed up with his brother to protect the people of Asgard, morphing from villain to antihero. And now, in the second season of the “Loki” television series, which premieres Thursday on Disney+, he embarks on a new and unlikely mission — saving the Time Variance Authority.Season 2 of “Loki” takes place in the aftermath of the mayhem from the first installment, in which Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), a free-spirited Loki variant, arrived at the end of history. There, they discovered He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), the time-bending scientist who masterminded the T.V.A. to prevent another war between the many variants of himself.When Sylvie stabs He Who Remains, she plunges the T.V.A. and the Sacred Timeline into chaos, unleashing the multiverse. As Season 2 commences, new worlds branch from the timeline, T.V.A. forces splinter into factions and Loki grapples with a problem called time-slipping as he is caught in a tug of war between past and present.To preserve the T.V.A., Loki reunites with familiar characters — including the wry Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) — as well as new ones, such as O.B., a T.V.A. fix-it man played by the Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, and Victor Timely, a 19th-century inventor and Kang variant played by Majors. (Majors is facing charges related to a misdemeanor assault case after being arrested in March in New York. Filming for Season 2 of “Loki” had already finished before the arrest.)With the original director Kate Herron leaving the project, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who helped direct “Moon Knight,” became the new lead directors on a majority of the episodes. Eric Martin, who helped write some of the first season’s episodes, has become head writer.In a video call from his writing studio in Los Angeles, Martin spoke about crafting the plot and characters of Season 2 and working with Quan in his new role.Ke Huy Quan as O.B., Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Owen Wilson as Mobius.Marvel/Disney+What were some of the themes you had in mind as you wrote the script for this show?I think the most important thing to me is just character and emotionality. I wanted to have everything driven by the wants and needs of our characters and really just focus on their emotional journeys first and foremost. That is the basis for all the drama: Who are our people? Where are their heads at? What do they need? Those are the dramatic questions that drive everything.As for themes, we still have the ideas of free will and destiny that continue on from Season 1. But for new things, I think order versus chaos is a continual theme. And then a power vacuum. What happens in a power vacuum? I think like the overarching concept of Season 2 is, “You break it, you buy it.” That’s what happened at the end of Season 1. They broke the system. And so now they own this nebulous thing, and it needs to reform and become something new.How do you see Loki evolving as a character through the first season and into the second?Season 1, and like Episode 1 especially, scrambled his brains. He sees his own death by the end of that. He realizes that even the infinity stones are pointless at this new level of things. And so he had to completely reset and figure out who he was. And so I think Season 1 we see him make this hero turn although he is still an antihero or villain. But I think Loki had kind of forgotten who he was, and Season 2 is like rebalancing that. So we still have this hero Loki, but we’re getting back to the meat and potatoes of who this guy is. We’re getting back to the God of Mischief. So we see him using all those talents of the God of Mischief but as a hero now.All these characters are so intertwined across multiple different movies and TV shows in the MCU. So, I’m curious, how much creative freedom do you have in writing for this particular show?We’re fortunate that we really have our own little sandbox here where we’re able to be really creative and branch off into other directions without stepping on other projects. And some of that’s by design, while some of that is just what we found along the way. In terms of actual marching orders, there have been certain points where it’s like, “Oh, you know what, this character is being used by another project,” and you just have to pivot. But in terms of our drama and our story and where we’re taking our characters, it really is just following them and their needs and proving them on the page. And if we can prove that then nobody steps in and says you need to do something different.The interactions between Loki and Mobius and between Loki and Sylvie were captivating in Season 1. What should we expect from those interactions in Season 2?Let me start with Loki and Mobius. They’re a lot of fun to write because they’re an odd couple. They are very different in how they do everything. They are on the same side. They’re on the same page, but they’re reading different books. They do not have the same path to getting the same thing done, and that’s what’s fun. You have that friction to play with, but they are on the same side. So scene to scene, there’s so much fun to have with them.And with Loki and Sylvie, they’re a little bit of friends, couple, I’m not sure how you even want to look at them. These are two people that have had this intense experience together, and they split apart and went separate ways. Inevitably they’re going to come together, but how have they each changed? Where have they each gone? And are they going to be able to mesh again?Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Ke Huy Quan as O.B. and Owen Wilson as Mobius.Marvel/Disney+So O.B. is definitely an important character in Season 2. What was it like to create this character?O.B. was born out of a desire to see the rest of the T.V.A. I feel like Season 1 we existed on a couple different levels, but this is a massive place. Like, what else is there? Who else is there? And as I was getting into the first episode of Season 2, I really started to think about who’s the person who is down there in the engine room of the ship. He’s the one who is looking over everything. He’s the fix-it guy. I just started to imagine a guy who was so busy running the machinery that he just doesn’t see anybody. But he loves his job. It very much is like the seven dwarfs and Snow White. They’re just whistling while they work because they love it.And so Loki and Mobius show up there, and they’re like the first visitors O.B. has had in years. O.B. is just happily doing his job. It really crystallized in my head who that person was — somebody who loved his job. That conception of the character stuck and stayed. And when Ke came on, he just added a layer of sweet humanity to it that I thought brought a whole different level to what O.B. is.How was Ke brought on for this role?That was Kevin Feige. He saw him in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Kevin fell in love with O.B. on the page, and I think he just saw him and then he’s like, “This is our O.B. He’ll just step right in and be perfect for this.” The first day Ke came, he hadn’t started yet. He just wanted to visit the set and say hi. That’s who Ke is, he wants to know everybody. And we got to talking and had lunch together and it was just this nice lunch talking about his character and getting to hear him dig in and get under the skin of that character and how he was going to approach it. And all just over some cold Chinese noodles. More