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    Review: In ‘The Gospel According to Heather,’ the Messiah Has Homeroom

    A lonely high school student discovers she may be a divine messenger in Paul Gordon’s half-baked new Off Broadway musical.“Do you like Kierkegaard?” As flirtatious chit-chat goes, this one sets 17-year-old Heather (Brittany Nicole Williams) apart. You can also see why the jock she’s asking (Carlos Alcala) just walks away. Sadly, this is par for the course for Heather, a pescatarian brainiac who is ostracized by classmates at her Ohio high school for being a “freak,” and quietly stifled at home by a loving but clueless widowed mother (Lauren Elder).How our heroine suddenly gains popularity is at the heart of “The Gospel According to Heather,” a musical by Paul Gordon (“Jane Eyre,” the Off Broadway success “Daddy Long Legs”) that recently opened at Theater 555 in an Amas Musical Theater production directed and choreographed by Rachel Klein (“Red Roses, Green Gold”).The title gives an inkling as to what suddenly improves Heather’s standing: She is revealed as a Messenger, with the disciples and the powers that go with the role. As it turns out, understanding 19th-century Danish philosophers is not the only miracle Heather is capable of. She can also heal the severely injured and bring the occasional hamster back to life. The presence in the cast of Katey Sagal (“The Conners,” “Sons of Anarchy”), the veteran TV actress, almost qualifies as another of those unaccountable surprises.Sagal plays Agatha, a sarcastic woman who uses a wheelchair and whom Heather likes to visit at a senior center. Sagal makes the most of a handful of lines, and then becomes the center of a major 11th-hour twist.Heather’s elevated status leads to new headaches, and she can’t decide if she wants to be an anonymous normie or if the change might have rewarding aspects — the show uneasily tries to navigate satire (of conservative fearmongers), whimsy (those crazy teens!) and spirituality (there is more to the show than a Messenger).What is certain is that Heather is attracting attention from friends and foes alike. The populist podcast host Booker (Jeremy Kushnier) definitely belongs to the foes camp, but it’s unclear at first where the strapping Zach (Carson Stewart) lands.It was probably not a great idea for Gordon to name his main character in a way that triggers memories of the cult movie “Heathers” and its extremely fun musical adaptation from 2014 — especially since like this show, they center on a bright, alienated Ohio girl who falls for a mysterious boy who tends to enter her bedroom through the window. This is not a comparison this show should encourage.The book lacks coherence, but Gordon’s score is frustrating for a different reason: It actually has potential. The production kicks off brightly with “My Name Is Heather Krebs,” a jaunty tune with a couple of solid melodic hooks that suggests there might be more nuggets to come; alas, too many of the numbers sound tacked on or unfinished. If only a teenage Midwestern messiah could come to the rescue.The Gospel According to HeatherThrough July 16 at Theater 555, Manhattan; amasmusical.org. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. More

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    Review: An All-Female ‘Richard III’ Makes for an Evening of Discontent

    The New York Classical Theater adaptation, playing in New York’s city parks, feints toward novelty but offers little in the way of originality.The idea of an “all-female, gender-fluid, disability forward” staging of “Richard III” — as New York Classical Theater describes its new production of Shakespeare’s tragedy about the monstrously degenerate Plantagenet king — tantalizes. Will the protagonist, who loves to “descant on mine own deformity,” make us see anew the premium that society places on women’s appearances? Will the Duke of Gloucester be re-envisioned as a bloody-minded assassin like the bloody-minded Villanelle of “Killing Eve?” Will it force us to reckon with discrimination against the disabled in the royal court? As realized in this risk-shy adaptation directed by Stephen Burdman, the answer is none of the above.This “Richard III,” which plays in New York parks through July 9, feints toward novelty while offering little in the way of originality — the actors all inhabit the genders of their characters as originally conceived. The title role is played by Delaney Feener, a strong actor with a “limb difference,” as the press material takes care to note. But with her shortened right arm hidden beneath a cloak, Feener’s Richard does not immediately register as a “boar,” “bottled spider,” “foul-bunched toad” or any of the bestial lumps to which he is repeatedly compared by other characters. That can be a valid choice if explored thoughtfully, but even after Richard reveals that shortened arm to us and says he is “determined to prove a villain,” we gain little insight into his psychology; it’s unclear if this line is a boasting assertion of will or a victim’s lament.During the ambulatory adaptation, audience members pick up their own blankets or collapsible chairs and walk to different sections of the parks.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesWhile certain scenes are understandably curtailed or excised — a requirement in compressed versions even longer than this one’s two hours — the removal of Queen Margaret from a production starring women and gender-nonconforming actors is less forgivable. Though often seen as a peripheral character, she serves as a linchpin in the Wars of the Roses and appears in all of Shakespeare’s first series of history plays, her curses having the force of prophecy. Along with Queen Elizabeth (a regal Kristen Calgaro) and the Duchess of York (Pamela Sabaugh), Margaret traditionally forms a trinity of grieving women that usefully recalls the three Fates or Furies.This ambulatory adaptation, which requires audience members to pick up their own blankets or collapsible chairs and walk to different sections of the parks, also does not make for the most accessible production. A change of scenery sometimes proves dramatically fortuitous, as when a tree provides handy cover for one of many beheadings, but more often disrupts the momentum of proceedings. When Richard is finally unhorsed from power and swallowed into the night, we should feel relieved that his reign of terror has ended. But we don’t: The problem with this “Richard III” is that its villain is not a “boar” but a bore.Richard IIIThrough July 9 at various New York City parks; nyclassical.org. Running time: 2 hours.This review is supported by Critical Minded, an initiative to invest in the work of cultural critics from historically underrepresented backgrounds. More

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    Ryan Seacrest to Succeed Pat Sajak as ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Host

    The game show has demonstrated remarkable durability even as traditional television has declined in the wake of streaming entertainment.Ryan Seacrest, the dexterous Hollywood master of ceremonies, was named the next host of “Wheel of Fortune” on Tuesday, succeeding the longtime host Pat Sajak in 2024.The selection of a star like Mr. Seacrest by Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the show, is a big bet on “Wheel of Fortune.” The show has demonstrated remarkable durability even as traditional television has declined in the wake of streaming entertainment.The swift decision by Sony executives, made just two weeks after Mr. Sajak announced he would step down next year, also suggests that they are hoping to avoid the succession fiasco that nearly overwhelmed their other hit game show, “Jeopardy!”Vanna White, Mr. Sajak’s longtime “Wheel of Fortune” co-host, is under contract for another year, and is in negotiations to continue with the show, said a person with knowledge of the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity.“I’m truly humbled to be stepping into the footsteps of the legendary Pat Sajak,” Mr. Seacrest said in a statement. “I can’t wait to continue the tradition of spinning the wheel and working alongside the great Vanna White.”In replacing Mr. Sajak, Mr. Seacrest will face a test: He’ll be replacing a host who is virtually synonymous with the show, like Bob Barker was with “The Price Is Right” or Alex Trebek with “Jeopardy!”Mr. Sajak, a former Los Angeles weatherman, as well as Ms. White, came to “Wheel of Fortune” in the early 1980s and turned the show into a major hit. Within a few years, “Wheel of Fortune” spawned board games, video games, casino slot machines and, eventually, a prime-time spinoff, “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.”Though “Wheel of Fortune” hardly holds the same spot it once did in American culture — at its height in the 1980s, the game show had a nightly audience of more than 40 million viewers — it remains one of the most popular entertainment programs on television.At its height of popularity in the 1980s, “Wheel of Fortune” had a nightly audience of more than 40 million viewers.ABC, via Everett CollectionIn the most recent television season, “Wheel of Fortune” averaged 8.6 million viewers a night, just a shade behind the 9.1 million who watched “Jeopardy!,” according to Nielsen. Those audiences are nearly as big as anything on prime-time TV, aside from football games.Hosting a popular game show, which requires little more than a few days of work a month, is one of the most coveted jobs in all of entertainment. Landing the job adds another notch to Mr. Seacrest’s résumé, which has included stints as a daytime talk show host, competition series host, red carpet interviewer, radio host and New Year’s Eve master of ceremonies.Mr. Seacrest left “Live,” the morning show mainstay that he hosted with Kelly Ripa, this year after a successful six-year run. He continues to host ABC’s “American Idol,” which garnered an audience of more than six million this past television season, according to Nielsen.When Mr. Sajak announced on June 12 that he would be leaving the show, many in the entertainment industry thought the search for his replacement could take months. Still, succession speculation began immediately, and on social media many “Wheel of Fortune” fans called for Ms. White to take over as host. Puck reported last week that she was in negotiations for a new “Wheel of Fortune” contract.Underscoring just how much celebrity entertainers covet the position, Joy Behar remarked on “The View” two weeks ago that her co-host Whoopi Goldberg had interest in hosting “Wheel of Fortune.”“I want that job,” Ms. Goldberg replied definitively, to the cheers of the studio audience. “I think it would be lots of fun.”After Mr. Trebek died in 2020, Sony trotted out a rotating cast of potential “Jeopardy!” successors, who filled in as guest host for a week or two at a time. In 2021, Sony announced that Mike Richards, the show’s executive producer, would take over hosting duties at “Jeopardy!”But within a matter of days, reports surfaced that Mr. Richards had made a series of sexist and offensive remarks years earlier, and, amid a public uproar, he was pushed out of the job — first as host and then as executive producer of the show. It took nearly another year for Sony to announce that Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik would be the permanent hosts of “Jeopardy!”Over the last year, the drama surrounding “Jeopardy!” has settled down considerably, and the show has sustained its strong ratings.Two weeks ago, Mr. Jennings was asked on “The View” who should take replace Mr. Sajak.“That’s an interesting question,” Mr. Jennings said, adding: “Hopefully, ‘Wheel’ has got an envelope somewhere that says, ‘What to do when Pat packs it in.’” More

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    Where Does ‘Unicorn: Warriors Eternal’ Rank in the Tartakovsky Canon?

    The Adult Swim series, from the acclaimed animator Genndy Tartakovsky, wraps up its first season this week. Our critic breaks down his other shows.On Friday, “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal,” the latest series from the famed animator Genndy Tartakovsky, will wrap up its first season on Adult Swim. Decades in the making, this show about a group of immortal fighters was a passion project for Tartakovsky, who is best known for award-winning series like “Primal” and “Samurai Jack.” While “Unicorn,” which is streaming on the Adult Swim website and on Max, has many of the animator’s signatures, it does not always deliver to the standard of some of his earlier series.What does “Unicorn” do well and less well? And what should you watch next if the series served as your introduction to Tartakovsky? I have broken down the good, the bad and the middling of his oeuvre — specifically TV series that he created and had the most creative control over (so no “Powerpuff Girls” or “Hotel Transylvania”) — and how “Unicorn” fits in with the rest.‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ (1996-2003)“Dexter’s Laboratory” is about a boy genius and his inventions.Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon NetworkA zany and fast-paced series about a boy genius named Dexter and his inventions, which are often destroyed by his ballet-dancing older sister, Dee Dee, “Dexter’s Laboratory” is one of the original series that defined Cartoon Network in the 1990s. Though it lacks the loftier intentions of “Samurai Jack,” “Primal” and, now, “Unicorn,” it delivers in fun, original narratives and stellar sound design.The show premiered as part of Cartoon Network’s animated anthology series “What a Cartoon!” in 1995 with a few short pilots. It graduated to a full series the following year, with a variety of short segments in each episode, including fun superhero parodies like “Dial M for Monkey” and “Justice Friends,” featuring goofs on Captain America, Thor and the Hulk.The series’s main appeal, however, is its fantastical plot twists and developments within the span of stories that are just a few minutes long. “Dexter’s Laboratory” has a total of four seasons but Tartakovsky left after the second, and the series lost much of its comedic charms. Stream it on Amazon Prime Video.‘Samurai Jack’ (2001-04, 2017)The animation in “Samurai Jack” features sharp silhouettes and bold colors.Adult SwimAn impressive marriage of classic kung fu movie conventions and futuristic sci-fi dystopia, “Samurai Jack” is not just an example of Tartakovsky’s animation at its best, but a masterful work in its own right. As in “Dexter Laboratory,” the animation in “Samurai Jack” is full of sharp, geometric silhouettes and bold colors. But “Jack,” like “Unicorn,” uses a wider swath of artistic reference points, including paintings of the Edo and Meiji eras and Impressionist-style watercolor paintings.“Unicorn” comes the closest of Tartakovsky’s series to matching the stunning imagination behind the worlds and characters in “Samurai Jack,” which incorporates lengthy, intricately directed action sequences, split screens, modular frames and various aspect ratios. The sound design is so tactile that you can practically feel each stab, crunch or slice.Through Jack’s classic hero’s journey, his noble questing and his encounters with new places and people who need his help, the series gives its story an epic scope. However, that narrative, with its repetitive “Kung Fu” western formula, can start to feel dull after a few episodes, but the revamped final season in 2017 was an improvement.Though the story doesn’t always take off, “Samurai Jack” follows a fascinating line of questioning about what it means to control a historical narrative and how fascism is born and perpetuated through physical and mental slavery and oppression. Plus, it had an awesome theme song. Stream it on Max.‘Star Wars: Clone Wars’ (2003-05)“Star Wars: Clone Wars” includes well-known characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker while pushing the story in new directions.LucasfilmSeparate from the C.G.I. show “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” from 2008, this series explored the years between “Star Wars” films — specifically “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith” — long before Disney+ arrived with its ever-expanding cache of spinoffs. But the show succeeds where so many of the franchise’s extensions fail by including enough familiar characters to satisfy fans while pushing the story into invigorating new directions.In terms of the action sequences, “Clone Wars” and “Samurai Jack” are both first-rate, but the former’s combination of light-saber fighting and Jedi parkour, gymnastics and force-pushes makes for a more dynamic watch.Tartakovsky proves to be the perfect match for George Lucas, who is notorious for writing dialogue as stiff as the hinges of an unoiled C-3PO. Tartakovsky’s minimalist approach to dialogue allows the visuals and unfolding action to speak for themselves; the additions he does make, like fresh exchanges between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and the introduction of a new sith-in-training named Asajj Ventress, further illuminate the workings of the “Star Wars” universe. Stream it on Disney+.‘Sym-Bionic Titan’ (2010-11)“Sym-Bionic Titan” has the clean lines and balanced palettes of Tartakovsky’s other work but it lacks charm overall.Cartoon NetworkIn this throwback to ’80s and ’90s fantasy mecha (read: giant robot) shows, a princess, a moody warrior sent to protect her and a robot escape a war on their home planet to settle on Earth as normal human high schoolers. But when their enemies pursue them to Earth, the three discover that they can “Voltron” themselves together into a giant robot fighter via a psychic link, à la “Neon Genesis Evangelion.”This show somehow manages to be too much and not enough: too much camp without the bite, too much earnest replication of the flashy ’80s and ’90s animation style, too mecha and yet too little humor, too little grounding, too little nuance. The humor is D.O.A., the jokes and cookie-cutter dramatic scenarios (fish out of water, a wacky intrusive neighbor) are set up neatly but executed without finesse or charm.The backdrops still have the clean, simple lines and balanced palettes of Tartakovsky’s other work. But they get quickly swallowed by the unctuous gleam and artificial gloss of the central action sequences and by character art that feels dated and muddled, a mix between decades old anime and saturated graphic novels of the previous 10-15 years.“Sym-Bionic Titan” stands out as one of the more loquacious series in Tartakovsky’s career. It shares this quality with “Dexter’s Laboratory,” but “Sym-Bionic Titan” is more awkward and cringe-worthy. Rent it on iTunes.‘Primal’ (2019-present)“Primal,” about a primitive man and his dinosaur, is violent but artful.Adult SwimAt a glance, you might expect “Primal” to be defined by viciousness and machismo — “Metalocalypse” but with dinosaurs. The series, about a primitive man and a dinosaur traveling together, bonded by grief, is violent and masculine. But it is never gratuitous, even when a dying woolly mammoth’s eye looks out pleadingly before being blinded by a sharp stone.That wounded eye says it all. The show, which was renewed for a third season earlier this month, is grounded in a brutal, unflinching philosophy of empathy and survival, exploring how empathy can be both a necessity and hindrance in a fight for survival.From its visual artistry to its unblinking, unsentimental depiction of connection and loss to its well-placed moments of levity, “Primal” feels like a natural evolution for Tartakovsky’s style and writing following “Samurai Jack.” The animator has tended toward spare dialogue, but “Primal” is practically nonverbal. The result is a captivating series that pulls you in to its world and doesn’t let go. Stream it on Max.‘Unicorn: Warriors Eternal’ (2023)“Unicorn: Warriors Eternal” is about magical immortals who are repeatedly reborn as ordinary people.Adult SwimTartakovsky started this series about 20 years ago, around the time he concluded work on “Samurai Jack” and “Clone Wars.” But “Unicorn,” which has been popular but has not yet been renewed for another season, has neither the sophistication of the former nor the fine-tuned action of the latter.The warriors of the title are magical immortals who are repeatedly reborn as different, seemingly ordinary individuals in order to fight an ancient evil — a robot named Copernicus locates each reborn warrior and awakens their dormant powers. “Unicorn” centers on the journey of Emma, who is struggling to adapt to her recently activated warrior alter ego, Melinda, a sorceress with devastating destructive power. She’s joined by Edred, a Legolas-type elven swordsman who was Melinda’s lover in a previous life, and Seng, a floating bald kid who recalls Avatar Aang, drifting in and out of the astral plane.Tartakovsky drew from Hayao Miyazaki (“Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Castle in the Sky”) for the wonderfully fantastical 19th-century steampunk setting — Copernicus’s speechless reactions, spare but full of meaning, are classic Tartakovsky. But the rest of the storytelling is more traditional, and it is flattened by a humdrum plot and a poorly written female protagonist.Tartakovsky’s projects tend to be predominantly male, so perhaps it is unsurprising that Emma/Melinda is saddled with a pat dilemma meant to give her character emotional complexity. She’s caught between a meek, accommodating persona and that of a powerful entity, a well-worn trope from animated series, especially anime. (See “Yu-Gi-Oh!” and “Jujutsu Kaisen,” among others.) It doesn’t help that her identity crisis is conflated with a romantic crisis, as lovers from the two halves of her life vie for her affection.Ultimately “Unicorn” builds worlds and mythologies but not the urgent stakes or interesting characters to drive them. For all of the magic in the series, it is missing the magic of Tartakovsky at his best. Stream it on AdultSwim.com and Max. More

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    ‘Just for Us’ Review: A Jew and 16 ‘Nerf Nazis’ Meet Cute

    Is it a stand-up act or a morality play? Either way, Alex Edelman’s look at race, religion and the limits of empathy is at home on Broadway.It may be too much to ask a human hummingbird like Alex Edelman to try to stick to the subject. In “Just for Us,” his three-jokes-per-minute one-man show, he zooms from punchline to punchline almost as fast as he caroms around the stage of the Hudson Theater. (At 34, he’s part of what he calls the overmedicated ADHD generation.) If you haven’t read about his act coming to Broadway, you might assume from his introduction — in which he describes his usual style as “benign silliness” and says this “isn’t Ibsen” — that you are in for a cheerful evening of laughs.And even though he’s telling a story about white supremacy, you are.That’s the glory and also the slight hitch of “Just for Us,” which opened on Monday after runs in London, Edinburgh, Washington and Off Broadway. No, it’s not Ibsen, a dramatist rarely noted for zingy one-liners. But it’s not silliness either. Despite its rabbi-on-Ritalin aesthetic, and its desperation to be liked at all costs, the show is so thoughtful and high-minded it comes with a mission statement. Edelman wants to open a conversation about the place of Jews on the “spectrum of whiteness,” he recently told my colleague Jason Zinoman, “without having a conversation about victimhood.”He’s well placed to draw the distinction. Growing up a “proudly and emphatically” Orthodox Jew in “this really racist part of Boston called Boston,” he clocked the wariness between races but also within them. And though he admits to experiencing “quite a bit of white privilege,” he was so alienated from mainstream culture that he didn’t know what Christmas was until his mother observed it one year when a gentile friend was in mourning.Oy, the tsouris it caused at his yeshiva!Hilarious as the ensuing story is, you have the feeling that “Just for Us” might have been little more than a millennial update on Jackie Mason-style Jewish humor were it not for that millennial accelerant, social media. “An avalanche of antisemitism” on Twitter, in response to some comments he’d posted, supercharged Edelman’s thinking about identity-based hatred and led him, one evening in 2017, to infiltrate a white supremacist get-together in Queens.“A Jew walks into a bar,” the joke might start, though it wasn’t a bar, as Edelman had expected, but a private apartment. There he took a chair among 16 strangers with predictably pan-bigoted opinions. By marrying Prince Harry, Meghan Markle would be “degrading” one of Europe’s oldest families. Diversity initiatives constitute “a plan to slowly genocide white people.” Jews, the root of the weed of that genocide, “are sneaky and everywhere.”The comedian is making his Broadway debut with “Just for Us.” The set at the Hudson Theater, by David Korins, consists of little more than a miniature proscenium to rescale expectations, our critic writes.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesThat we rarely feel the horror or even the unpleasantness of Edelman’s encounter is partly deliberate; he portions his spinach with plenty of candied yams. Defanging the “sneaky and everywhere” comment, he admits that he was in no position, sitting there incognito, to disprove the point. Then he wheels sharply into a seemingly unrelated 10-minute story about vaccine denialists. Likewise, the racist disparagement of Meghan Markle is immediately interrupted by a bit about Harry snorting cocaine through a rolled-up “picture of his grandmother.”The indirection is not purposeless; Edelman is building the service roads to his main argument. But that argument surfaces far less than the jokes do, taking up only about 35 minutes of the 85-minute show — a proportion that betrays its origins in stand-up. The set, by David Korins, betrays those origins too, consisting of little more than a miniature proscenium to rescale expectations and a black stool straight from your local Komedy Korner.The real giveaway, though, is the compulsive ingratiation. Though it produces much laughter, including too many giggles from the comic himself, the doggy overeagerness could stand to be toned down, and probably would have been if Edelman’s longtime director, Adam Brace, had been able to complete his work on the production. (He died in March, at 43, after a stroke.) Alex Timbers, credited as the creative consultant, helped guide the show to Broadway, handsomely.And yet, the ingratiation, however distracting, is also strategic. The show wouldn’t work without its contrast between storytelling and joke plugging. By going “dumb and small” about such a serious subject — Edelman describes the arrangement of chairs at the meeting as an “antisemicircle” — he lays the groundwork for a denouement in which he turns the critique on himself as he turns to the bigger issues at hand.For as he promised, “Just for Us” is not about Jewish victimhood, or anyone’s victimhood, except perhaps that of the aggrieved supremacists, who are too puny and whiny to constitute a real threat. He calls them Nerf Nazis. Nor is “Just for Us” (which is how the supremacists ultimately describe their territory) really about the spectrum of whiteness. What’s at stake instead is the idea of empathy, a central value in Edelman’s vision of Judaism. How far does it extend? Is it unconditional? Do even the hateful deserve it? And, especially relevant to Edelman in this case: Is it vitiated by bad motives?Because, check it out, there’s a cute woman at the meeting who seems to be into him. Could he be the guy who “fixes” her? Who fixes the whole group? They too have been ingratiated: “I came as an observer,” he says. “I might leave as, like, the youth outreach officer.”This is moral vanity, Edelman admits: a professional charmer’s eagerness to flatter other people’s self-regard as a way of buttressing his own. That’s what makes “Just for Us” more than a Catskills club act washed ashore on Broadway like Mason’s. For all the dumb jokes (but yes, I laughed at every one) it winds up as a critique of both dumbness and jokes.If that’s a highly indirect route to insight, it’s a highly effective one too, taking us through the process by which a Jew, or anyone, may learn once again that the cost of being liked at all costs is too high.Just for UsThrough Aug. 19 at the Hudson Theater, Manhattan; justforusshow.com. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. More

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    Brooklyn Academy of Music Lays Off 13 Percent of Its Staff

    The organization, which made Brooklyn a destination for pathbreaking performances, is reducing programming next season as it seeks to rebound from the pandemic.The Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of the most important cultural organizations in New York, has laid off 13 percent of its staff members and reduced its programming as it seeks to plug a “sizable structural deficit” during a challenging time for the arts, officials confirmed on Monday.BAM moved last week to eliminate 26 positions, according to a letter sent to staff members by the organization’s president, Gina Duncan.In the letter, which was reviewed by The New York Times, Ms. Duncan said that the changes were necessary in part to help BAM to “weather the downturn in charitable giving for the arts, and address an outdated business model that heavily relies on a shrinking donor base.” She said that the organization faced a “sizable structural deficit” each year.“This is us putting on our oxygen mask so that we can continue to fulfill our promise to be a home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas,” she wrote in the email.Ms. Duncan noted that the academy had already pared down its Next Wave Festival scheduled for this fall and added that programming for next season as a whole would be reduced. (The festival, often a highlight of the city’s cultural year, will feature seven programs this year, down from 13 last year.)“These difficult decisions were made after a rigorous organizational review process,” Ms. Duncan wrote in the memo.“We cannot spend our way out of a deficit, and we cannot present programming beyond what we can afford,” she added.The year before the pandemic, in April 2019, BAM obtained a $2.8 million loan from Bank of America, according to its financial papers. The papers said that the balance, more than $2.4 million, would come due next June.Megan Grann, a union representative of Local 2110, which represents technical, office and professional workers, said that 17 of the people who lost jobs had been in the union. She said that at least three had been offered “possible new positions” within the arts institution.“We are really just not happy with this development, to say the least,” she said. “Our primary goal right now is to try to mitigate the damage as much as possible.”The layoffs come as BAM, which began presenting work in 1861, finds itself having to navigate the post-pandemic challenges that many arts organizations around the country are facing. Earlier this month the Center Theater Group, a flagship of the Los Angeles theater world, laid off 10 percent of its work force and halted productions at one of its three stages, the Mark Taper Forum.But BAM is facing those difficulties while also experiencing significant leadership turnover after many years of relative stability.David Binder, the institution’s artistic director, is expected to step down next month after roughly four years at the helm. His two predecessors, Joseph V. Melillo and Harvey Lichtenstein, each spent more than three decades at the institution.On the executive side, Ms. Duncan took over as president in 2022, after the departure of Katy Clark, who held the job for five years (and was permitted to keep an apartment that BAM helped her purchase). Clark had succeeded Karen Brooks Hopkins, who spent 36 years at the institution, including 16 as president.Nora Ann Wallace took over as chair of BAM’s board in 2020, after the death of its previous board chair, Adam Max.Like other arts organizations, BAM has also had to contend with headwinds generated by the pandemic, which shuttered live performance for months. While many organizations survived the shutdown with the help of federal aid, once they reopened many found that it had become more difficult to attract audiences and donors alike.When Mr. Binder announced this year that he was leaving, the institution had 222 full-time staff positions, down from 256 before the pandemic. Most recently, the number of such positions had dwindled to around 200, and the latest round of cuts are expected to move the number below that threshold. More

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    ‘The Idol’ Season 1, Episode 4 Recap: Just a Jealous Guy

    Destiny goes undercover as tensions rise at Jocelyn’s mansion. Tedros’s hair evolves from rattail to ponytail.Season 1, Episode 4: ‘Stars Belong to the World’On the track that plays over opening and closing of this week’s episode of “The Idol,” the Weeknd sings: “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry that I made you cry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m just a jealous guy.” It’s the classic text of an abuser now made to sound pretty in Abel Tesfaye’s sensitive warble.The Weeknd music that scores scenes has been a confusing element of the series. Is this just the star and co-creator putting more of his stamp on the show? Or is he actually in character? This song, at least, sounds to be coming less from the Weeknd and more from Tedros. That is, if you listen to the lyrics. (I’m not sure if Tedros can sing.)In the fourth — and apparently penultimate — episode of this season, we finally get some details on Tedros Tedros’s past. His real name, it turns out, is Mauricio Costello Jackson. In 2012 he was arrested and accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend, holding her hostage for three days and beating her. During his trial more accusations arose.He told a version of this story to Jocelyn, apparently, that turned him into a victim of a “crazy ex-girlfriend.” Jocelyn blithely explains to her manager Destiny that he was acting in self-defense when he hit her, and that the other girls that emerged with charges that he was their pimp were just musical artists he was working with trying to extort him for money.It seems unbelievable, frankly, that anyone could believe that story, but in the context of “The Idol,” everyone is somehow seduced by Tedros, no matter how suspicious they are of him or how violently he acts toward them. This is the most baffling aspect of the series. In an interview with GQ, Tesfaye explained that Tedros is a “douchebag,” a fact that is painfully obvious to any viewer. And yet this “douchebag” is apparently so alluring that he can assault people in plain view while everyone just shrugs and chalks it up to his unorthodox methods. The only character who is seemingly immune to all of this is Jocelyn’s best friend and assistant, Leia, the lone voice of reason who ends up getting blasted with a water gun full of tequila.Take Jocelyn’s manager Destiny, for instance. After digging up the facts of Tedros’s life — and suggesting that he might need to be literally assassinated — she decides to go on an undercover mission at the compound to gather information. At first, she reports back to her partner Chaim that there is “weird, scary” stuff going on after she watches Tedros blindfold and get Jocelyn off in front of a room full of people in order to re-record her vocals as she builds to a climax. But eventually, even Destiny is at least a little impressed. After about a week there, she is telling Chaim about the talented people that Tedros has assembled and saying, “Tedros is Tedros.” In her assessment, he is making hits with Jocelyn, and even though his methods are brutal, ‌‌the hits are worth preserving. She still wants to handle the situation, but for now she’s letting it play out.That’s nothing, however, compared to how Xander turns around over the course of this hour. In one of the more messily constructed plot threads, Tedros listens to Xander sing in the shower and then pops up like a poltergeist. What begins as an interrogation as to why Xander no longer sings professionally eventually turns into a torture session in which Jocelyn participates almost gleefully.The contours of Jocelyn and Xander’s relationship are muddy. They were both child performers. Xander lived with Jocelyn and her mom and stood by while the abuse took place, but also Jocelyn’s mom outed Xander and possibly made him sign a contract saying that he wouldn’t sing anymore. Clearly there is resentment that might be worth exploring if this were a more nuanced show, but the situation ends with Xander tied up and relentlessly shocked by a collar around his neck.Despite all of that, by the end of the episode he appears to be doing Tedros’s bidding, orchestrating a situation to humiliate Jocelyn’s superhero actor ex-boyfriend, Rob (Karl Glusman), whom she invited over for sex in an act of revenge.Yes, Jocelyn at least starts to stand up for herself just a little bit when she learns that Dyanne, who has now been offered the chance to record “World Class Sinner” as a debut single, brought her to Tedros’s club on Tedros’s bidding. Rob is genuinely concerned for her when he arrives. She has just gone public about the abuse her mother inflicted upon her, recording a teary iPhone video for social media. But she doesn’t want to talk about that with Rob. She just wants to seduce him in a play to make Tedros jealous. Cue: an extremely explicit sex scene.As Rob is leaving, Xander and a bikini-clad woman accost him. The woman poses seductively as Xander snaps photos in what is likely some sort of blackmail attempt.With only one episode remaining, it feels as if “The Idol” is both running out of steam — how many times can we watch Tedros blindfold Jocelyn? — and has too many threads left dangling. Most crucially: I still don’t feel I understand Jocelyn or why she is so drawn to Tedros beyond the thin explanation of her history of being abused. And as for Tedros, by this point I’m not sure why we’ve spent so much time watching a man who is a one-note abuser himself.I expect that Jocelyn will reclaim some of her power and there will be some moment of comeuppance for Tedros. Will it answer any of my questions or be at all satisfying? That remains to be seen.Liner notesI still think “World Class Sinner” is a better song than any of the tracks Jocelyn is making with Tedros.Yes, Mike Dean is a real record producer. No, I do not know whether that is his giant bong, but it is a very large bong.Is Tedros really that connected that he would know Dean? Or is that just another messy blurring of the lines between the Weeknd and his character?Suzanna Son, so great in Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket,” is also a standout here. I genuinely enjoyed her scene opposite Da’Vine Joy Randolph and her crocodile song.I will admit, the shot of Tedros watching Xander in the shower was a pretty good jump scare.I was wondering when the noted pop star Troye Sivan (as Xander) was going to sing.Five episodes does feel awfully short for as hyped an HBO project as this is. More

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    What’s on TV This Week: ‘The Bachelorette’ and ‘Casa Susanna’

    The 20th season of the reality dating show premieres on ABC, and PBS presents a documentary about a safe home for trans women in the ‘50s and ’60s.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, June 26 — July 2. Details and times are subject to change.MondayKevin Jonas, left, and his youngest brother, Frankie Jonas, in “Claim to Fame.”John Fleenor/ABCCLAIM TO FAME 8 p.m. on ABC. A new group of 12 A-list celebrity relatives will live together and compete in a series of challenges while trying to conceal their identities in the second season of this game show from the executive producer of “Love Is Blind.” Hosted by the singer Kevin Jonas and his youngest brother, Frankie, these lesser-known relatives must guess whom their fellow housemates are related to before they themselves are found out and eliminated. The last person standing will win $100,000.THE BACHELORETTE 9 p.m. on ABC. Charity Lawson, a child and family therapist from Georgia, will be “The Bachelorette” in the 20th season of this reality dating show. Last year, Lawson was a contestant on the 27th season of “The Bachelor,” becoming a fan favorite before she was eliminated in Week 8. Hosted by Jesse Palmer (a former football player and Season 5’s “Bachelor”), the show will follow Lawson on her search for lasting love as she is courted by 25 men in dates across the globe.POV: AFTER SHERMAN 10 p.m. on PBS. The 36th season of this documentary series follows the New York-based filmmaker Jon-Sesrie Goff as he explores his Gullah Geechee heritage by returning to the South Carolina Lowcountry, where his family purchased land after emancipation. Through interviews with his family and locals and a mix of animation and home movies, Goff explores themes of Black inheritance, trauma and survival. “The film is expressionistic but never at a cost to its subjects and archival material,” wrote Lisa Kennedy in her review for The New York Times, adding that the documentary is an “investigative and intimate work of belonging.”TuesdaySusanna “Tito” Valenti in “Casa Susanna.”Collection of Cindy ShermanCASA SUSANNA 9 p.m. on PBS. As a part of its Pride Month programming, PBS presents a documentary about Casa Susanna, a home in New York’s Catskills region where transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge during the 1950s and ’60s. Through a collection of photos, archival footage and interviews, the film explores the cultural significance of the house and dives deep into the lives of the transgender woman Susanna Valenti and her wife, who owned it.WednesdayMarcus ScribnerMike Taing/FreeformGROWN-ISH 10 p.m. on FREEFORM. The sixth and final season of this “Black-ish” spinoff follows Andre Johnson Jr. (Marcus Scribner) as he navigates college. The first episode of the new season begins the summer before Andre’s sophomore year, which finds him stressing over choosing a major, his relationship with his girlfriend and what the new school year might have in store for him. The season will also feature his older sister, Zoey (Yara Shahidi), as she attempts to revive her company, in addition to a number of guest stars including Kelly Rowland, Lil Yachty and Anderson .Paak.ThursdayREVEALED 10 p.m. on HGTV. This home renovation show blends design with culture as the interior designer Veronica Valencia Hughes remodels homes into modern spaces that reflect her clients’ family histories and life stories.FridayMichel Serrault, left, and Ugo Tognazzi in “La Cage aux Folles.”United ArtistsLA CAGE AUX FOLLES (1978) 10:30 p.m. on TCM. Based on the 1973 play of the same name by Jean Poiret, this French-language farce tells the story of a middle-aged gay couple — Renato Baldi (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin “Zaza” Mougeotte (Michel Serrault) — who operate a drag nightclub in a French resort town. Comedy ensues when Renato’s son brings his fiancée and her conservative parents home to meet them. Despite its multiple Academy Award nominations and two sequels, the movie failed to impress The Times movie critic Vincent Canby, who wrote that the performances were “energetic, broad, much too knowing and superficial.”SaturdayTrevante Rhodes, left, and André Holland in “Moonlight.”David Bornfriend/A24MOONLIGHT (2016) 5:05 p.m. on HBO2e. This coming-of-age drama begins in a Miami housing project and follows the young Black protagonist, Chiron, through childhood, adolescence and early adulthood as he grapples with his sexuality and masculinity. In his review for The Times, A.O. Scott said it is “both a disarmingly, at times almost unbearably personal film and an urgent social document, a hard look at American reality and a poem written in light, music and vivid human faces.” Directed by Barry Jenkins, who received an Oscar nomination for best director and won the award for best adapted screenplay with Tarell Alvin McCraney, “‘Moonlight’ is about as beautiful a movie as you are ever likely to see,” Scott concluded.SundayTOUGH AS NAILS 8 p.m. on CBS. From the Emmy Award-winning producer Phil Keoghan (“The Amazing Race”), this competition show takes place, for the first time, in Ontario, with 12 American and Canadian contestants vying for $200,000 and a pickup truck. The premiere of the fifth season challenges them to see who can cut, grind and torch 500 pounds of scrap metal the fastest. More