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    Know How the Beatles Ended? Peter Jackson May Change Your Mind.

    The director’s three-part documentary “Get Back” explores the most contested period in the band’s history and reveals there’s still plenty to debate.It is a cold January morning in 1969, and three of the four Beatles are assembled in a cavernous film studio in London, with cameras rolling and microphones everywhere. “Lennon’s late again,” Paul McCartney says matter of factly, as he plugs in his bass guitar.With Ringo Starr and George Harrison sitting groggily before him, a tray of toast and jam by their side, McCartney starts to strum and sing, searching for inspiration. Within minutes, a mid-tempo groove takes shape and a familiar vocal melody emerges. “Get back,” he sings in a faint howl. “Get back to where you once belonged.” Almost like magic, a Beatles classic begins to form out of nothing.Later that same day, after John Lennon arrives, the four rock deities gather in a circle and bicker. They have loose plans for a concert TV special featuring brand-new songs, but most of the men appear to be dreading it — and may be dreading each other, too. Lennon, who seems to space out for much of the meeting, declares vaguely that “communication” with an audience is his only aim, while an impatient McCartney challenges his bandmates to show some enthusiasm for the project or abandon it.Harrison blurts out what they may all be thinking: “Maybe we should have a divorce?”Those back-to-back scenes in Peter Jackson’s documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back,” a seven-hour-plus project that will be shown in three parts on Disney Plus from Nov. 25 to 27, encapsulate the twin sides of the most contested period in Beatles history — the glory of artistic creation by the world’s most beloved and influential rock band, and the grueling conflicts that led to its breakup, announced a year later.For Beatles fans, or any student of 20th-century pop culture, these are astonishing glimpses into the band’s working life and the tensions that surrounded them.“It’s sort of that one impossible fan dream,” Jackson said in a video interview from Wellington, New Zealand, where he has spent much of the last four years in a darkened editing suite surrounded by Beatles memorabilia. “‘I wish I could go in a time machine and sit in the corner of the stage while they were working,’” he said, describing a lifelong dream like a child praying for the ultimate Christmas present. “‘Just for one day, just watch them, and I’ll be really quiet and sit there.’”“Well, guess what?” he continued. “The time machine’s here now.”Peter Jackson pored over nearly 60 hours of footage for his documentary “Get Back.”Nicola Dove/DisneyJackson’s film is also a volley in one of the longest-running debates in Beatles scholarship. The band’s journey in January 1969 began with intense pressure to put on a high-concept live show and ended with something wonderfully low-concept: an impromptu lunchtime performance on a London rooftop that reminded the world of the band’s majesty, spontaneity and wit. “I hope we passed the audition,” Lennon quips at the show’s end.That period was already the subject of “Let It Be,” a 1970 vérité film by Michael Lindsay-Hogg; its soundtrack was the Beatles’ final studio LP. In time, that film took on a reputation as a joyless document of the band’s collapse, and later testimony from members of the Beatles seemed to buttress that view. Lennon described the sessions as “hell,” and Harrison called them the group’s “winter of discontent.”Yet that narrative has long been challenged by some Beatles aficionados. Lindsay-Hogg’s film, they argue, was selectively edited for maximum dreariness, perhaps to retroactively explain the breakup — “Abbey Road,” the Beatles’ true swan song, was made after “Let It Be” but released first — while evidence from bootlegged tapes suggests a mixture of pleasure and frustration familiar to any musician struggling through Take 24 on a deadline.The mere existence of “Get Back” is a sign that, more than half a century after the Beatles disbanded, their history is still unsettled, and remains endlessly ripe for deep-dive research and partisan counternarratives.Jackson’s film, arriving with the authority of a lightning bolt hurled from a mountaintop in Middle-earth, may become the final word in the argument over this period, though the story it tells is far from simple. Jackson, the Oscar-winning director of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy — and an avowed Beatles nut — was given access to nearly 60 hours of previously unseen footage by Apple Corps, the Beatles’ company, with no brief, Jackson said, but to restore the film and tell the full story.From left: Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the studio.Apple CorpsThe Beatles, or at least their corporate surrogates, have embraced Jackson’s retelling, and a preview of the film highlighted moments of brotherly silliness, like the band dancing and clowning in the studio. At a music industry event last year, Jeff Jones, Apple Corps’ chief executive, promised that the new film would “bust the myth” that these sessions were “the final nail in the Beatles’ coffin.” Yet Jackson said the band has had no influence over his work.“Everyone sort of thinks it’s a whitewash” because the Beatles have authorized the film, Jackson said with a laugh. “But actually it’s almost the exact opposite. It shows everything that Michael Lindsay-Hogg could not show in 1970. It’s a very unflinching look at what goes on.”For fans who remember Lindsay-Hogg’s film, or have read dismal anecdotes in any of dozens of Beatles books, Jackson’s scenes of lighthearted antics and creative breakthroughs jump off the screen. We see the Beatles cracking each other up at the mic, mimicking posh accents and performing absurdist slapstick as if in a “Monty Python” skit.“You see these four great friends, great musicians, who just lock in and develop these songs, and you see it all onscreen,” Jackson said.Day after day, new material takes shape. Polishing the lyrics to the song “Get Back,” McCartney and Lennon test out names for a character who departs his Arizona home: Jojo Jackson, Jojo Carter, Jojo Daphne. Shaving off the last name gives McCartney enough syllables for some more specificity in the story: “Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona …”Lennon, chewing gum, glances up to ask: “Is Tucson in Arizona?”The original “Let It Be” was shot on 16 millimeter film and blown up to grainy 35 millimeter. Generations of fans, if they’ve seen it at all, have had access to the movie only in crummy bootlegs transferred from videotape. It has never been officially released on DVD or in online formats.I told Jackson that when I finally saw “Let It Be,” 20-odd years ago, my local video rental shop required a $100 cash deposit. Jackson grabbed a vintage VHS copy and said he had long regretted not buying it when visiting the United States in the early 1980s, but the format was unplayable on his machine in New Zealand. While making “Get Back,” he tracked down an original on eBay for $200.“I don’t have a VHS machine,” he said, “so I still can’t play it.”Jackson’s restored images in “Get Back” are strikingly clear, and help flesh out a story of creative anxiety and creature comforts inside Fortress Beatle. Attendants pour glasses of wine as the musicians rehearse; Yoko Ono paints Japanese calligraphy while Lennon and McCartney, a few feet away, yuk their way through “Two of Us” in goofy accents.But the misery is never far away, and as the arguments grind on, it starts to seem miraculous that the Beatles can still come together at all. At one point, Harrison briefly quits the band, apparently fed up with his second-fiddle status. In the studio cafeteria, Lennon tells McCartney that the band’s rift with their lead guitarist has been “a festering wound.”After Harrison walks out, the remaining Beatles jam loudly and angrily. Starr tears through the drums. Ono, dressed all in black, stands at a microphone and wails to a wild climax — perhaps the most violent sound the Beatles ever created.A recurring theme is the band’s discomfort over the role of Ono, who sits by Lennon’s side constantly during the sessions and will come to be vilified by fans for her supposed role in the Beatles’ breakup. A companion book to the film, with further transcripts from the tapes, quotes Lennon telling McCartney: “I would sacrifice you all for her.”Jackson’s restored images in “Get Back” help flesh out a story of creative anxiety and creature comforts inside the Beatles’ cloistered world.Apple CorpsYet it is never clear whether the Beatles’ conflicts are caused by the events of the day or by the accumulated stress of years in the spotlight. Peter Brown, who was a top executive at Apple during this time, said in an interview that the troubles began with the success of “Sgt. Pepper” in 1967.“They were doing things that they’d never done before, and they were very, very worried that it was going to take off,” Brown said. “And of course it took off like crazy. Then how do you follow that?”Some of the drama, of course, may be typical band stuff. Neil Finn, of the New Zealand group Crowded House, said that Jackson showed his band about four hours of footage earlier this year. “We all wept,” he wrote in an email.“So much of it struck a chord with me from my own rehearsals and recording experiences,” Finn added. “Paul asking John if he had any new songs, and John kind of blustering with his answer: Uh, maybe, not really. You can see the others staring in disbelief. I’ve seen that look before.”But the stakes were incredibly high for the Beatles, and the prospect of the band’s dissolution hangs like a cloud over almost the entire film. Early on, McCartney floats an idea for the still-undefined TV special. Their performance, he proposes, would be interspersed with news reports about earthquakes and other “red hot” events around the world. “And at the end,” McCartney says, “the final bulletin is: ‘The Beatles have broken up.’”To some extent, “Get Back” and the original “Let It Be” are exhibits in a study of truth. Does the footage actually show the endgame of the Beatles, or has history gotten it wrong all these years? Does the weight of the evidence point to the band being joyful and creatively fecund, or fed up with each other’s company? The answer may be: all of the above.In one of many moments of levity, Starr hoists a mug behind the drum kit.Apple CorpsIn a note included with a new reissue of the album “Let It Be,” McCartney writes that the original film “was pretty sad as it dealt with the breakup of our band, but the new film shows the camaraderie and love the four of us had between us.”Lindsay-Hogg believes that not only fans, but likely also members of the Beatles themselves, have been misreading “Let It Be” for years.“I think part of the rap that ‘Let It Be’ has had is no one has seen it for a very long time,” he said in an interview. “And it got very confused with the time it came out, which was just after they’d broken up.”Of course, the Beatles did not disband in January 1969. They went on to record “Abbey Road” later that year, with great care; most of the songs on that album, including “Octopus’s Garden,” “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “Carry That Weight” and “Something,” are heard in early stages during “Get Back.”But Jackson’s film makes clear that the end was nigh. If there is a true culprit in the breakup, it was the business conflicts that ensued during 1969, when the group tussled over its management, and Lennon and McCartney tried but failed to take control of the company that held their songwriting rights.Those problems are foreshadowed in “Get Back” with the utterance of a single name: Allen Klein, the American business manager who arrives a few days before the rooftop show to pitch his services for the band. Shortly after the events shown in “Get Back,” Lennon, Harrison and Starr all signed on with Klein; McCartney declined, and the schism was never repaired. Klein died in 2009.“Our movie doesn’t show the breaking up of the Beatles,” Jackson said, “but it shows the one singular moment in history that you could possibly say was the beginning of the end.”If Beatles’ scholarship and fandom has proved anything, it is that even a contradictory summation of the band and its influence can still hold true. The Beatles were a pop boy band that ended up pushing the creative boundaries of rock music further than anyone else; nearly every day of their existence together has been documented exhaustively, though a full accounting of their motivations is impossible.“Get Back” seems to contain all those multitudes — the delight, the tension, the fighting and the wonder of the Beatles simply playing music on the roof.“There’s no goodies in it, there’s no baddies,” Jackson said. “There’s no villains, there’s no heroes. It’s just a human story.”Jackson’s scenes of lighthearted antics and creative breakthroughs jump off the screen. Apple Corps More

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    Stephen Colbert Is Tickled by a Judge’s Takedown of Trump

    “I haven’t seen such a brutal attack on an elected official since Jan. 6,” Colbert said on Wednesday night.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.Motion DeniedA judge ruled this week that Donald J. Trump can’t prevent the release of files related to the Capitol attack, saying of Trump that “presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president.”“Damn! I have not seen such a brutal attack on an elected official since Jan. 6,” Stephen Colbert said.“The last time Trump got a spanking like that was with a copy of Forbes magazine by Stormy Daniels.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“That is the worst denial for the former president since any time he tried to hold his wife’s hand.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Now Trump’s legal team is going to have to figure out what to obstruct next. At this point Trump’s lawyers are, like, the losingest team in history, of any team ever. More than the Clippers. More than the Lions. More than the Washington Generals. And the Globetrotters beat them, like, 5,000 games in a row.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“You think anyone ever took notes in a meeting with Trump? When they finally subpoena those notepads, they’re just going to be filled with random doodles and inscrutable comments like, ‘Ingest bleach maybe?’” — SETH MEYERS“And there’s no way Trump himself ever wrote anything down. He never even wrote any of his own books. They were ghostwritten, which I’m sure Trump took literally. [imitating Trump] ‘I didn’t write it — a ghost did, and I was pretty disappointed when I met the ghost. They said, ‘Donald, we’re getting you a ghostwriter,’ and I was hoping for a Slimer or, even better, a Patrick Swayze.” — SETH MEYERSHigh Price to PayInflation in America has reached a 30-year high. On “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah looked for a silver lining.“The only good part of inflation — I was always jealous of those old guys who would go, like, ‘Back in my day, you could buy a house with a dollar!’ It looks like now if inflation gets bad enough, we’ll get to be those old guys: ‘Oh, yeah? Back in my day, a million dollars could buy a whole lot more than just a haircut!’” — TREVOR NOAH“I feel like a million bucks, and that’s not nearly enough, because everything is getting so expensive.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“All your favorite stuff is more expensive. Prices have gone up for autos, energy, furniture, rent and medical care. That is terrible! One of my favorite things is being mobile, warm, comfortable, dry and alive.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“This is a big danger to Biden politically, because inflation is the one economic concept that normal people actually care about. Like, the debt ceiling, the Federal Reserve, derivatives — that’s all just [expletive] we pretend to understand: [mocking] ‘The debt ceiling, the debt ceiling.’ But when you hear inflation is rising, you know it means you’re about to be a broke [expletive].” — TREVOR NOAH“OK, how much more bad news is Biden going to get? At the end of the month, we’re going to find out the turkey he pardoned was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines ($33.80 Edition)“Yesterday, the N.F.L. fined Rodgers and the Packers for violating Covid-19 protocols. Phew. Now that Covid protocols are being enforced, we can get back to safely enjoying the beautiful game of 300-pound men crushing each other’s spines like a sleeve of Ritz crackers.” — STEPHEN COLBERT on the Green Bay Packers and their quarterback Aaron Rodgers“Rodgers attended a Halloween party despite being unvaccinated, for which the N.F.L. fined him $14,650. Which sounds like a lot of money, but it’s the equivalent of fining an average American $33.80 — or one beer at a Packers game.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Just to put that in perspective, CeeDee Lamb of the Cowboys was fined more than $15,000 for having an untucked jersey. So once again, the league’s priorities are in perfect order.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingSamantha Bee celebrated the passing of the infrastructure bill on Wednesday’s “Full Frontal.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightTaylor Swift will perform on Thursday’s “Tonight Show.”Also, Check This OutDaniel Kaluuya in Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” Universal Pictures/courtesy of Everett CollectionFrom “Get Out” to the recent “Candyman” sequel, Black horror has become America’s most powerful cinematic genre. More

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    Review: ‘Trevor’ Is a Musical That Dare Not Speak Its Theme

    In this bizarrely cheery adaptation of the Academy Award-winning film, suicide among young gay people proves difficult to sing about.There is no lack of cheese, God knows, in musicals. Worthiness is also plentiful — and sometimes more off-putting.Still, until “Trevor” opened on Wednesday at Stage 42, I’d seldom encountered, outside of after-school specials, the cheesy-but-worthy combo, a seemingly impossible platter that’s almost as righteous in the world as it is wrong in the theater.The righteousness of “Trevor” comes from its pedigree and its mission. Based on a 23-minute film of the same name, which won an Academy Award in 1995, it’s about a 13-year-old boy who can see only one solution — suicide — to the problem of being gay in a homophobic society. Told mostly in the form of voice-over diary entries, the film ably captures the desperate interiority of Trevor’s crisis, and the difficulty of relieving it with hope.Combating such hopelessness became part of the mission of the Trevor Project, founded in 1998 by the movie’s principal creators, including its screenwriter, James Lecesne, now known as Celeste. Through its 24-hour Trevor Lifeline and other services, the nonprofit aims to interrupt the cycle of hatred and self-hatred that can sometimes lead young people struggling with similar problems to dire acts.Though the organization and the musical are not affiliated, they do share the same name and the same source: a young gay character in Lecesne’s one-person show “Word of Mouth.” Less profitably, the musical also inherits the organization’s weighty responsibility in seeking to address despair without modeling it. However foundational it may be as a medical precept, “First, do no harm” is disastrous as a musical one.The result is a bizarrely cheery and thus tonally incomprehensible show in which everything potentially painful is anesthetized by saccharine songs and middle school clichés. When the very bright lights (by Peter Kaczorowski) rise on Donyale Werle’s Lakeview Junior High set, with its colorful linoleum, neat banks of lockers and prominent trophy case, you may feel you are in for an ordinary pubescent comedy along the lines of “Mean Girls.” Nothing suggests that Trevor (Holden William Hagelberger) will have anything worse to face in the course of the action than the general failure of the world to recognize his fabulousness.That fabulousness is a pileup of gay markers: Trevor is obsessed with Broadway, dance and, above all, Diana Ross, who appears in a series of fantasy sequences (and spangly outfits by Mara Blumenfeld) to encourage the boy on his journey of self-acceptance. Exactly what he has to accept is apparently hard to say, as the word “gay” occurs only once in the script, three-quarters of the way through. Even then, it’s oddly disowned and unidiomatic: “Everyone at school is saying that I’m a gay,” Trevor tells us, doubtfully.Setting the show in 1981 may be meant in part to excuse this “love that dare not speak its name” — or even think it — mentality. Even so, cloaking Trevor’s truth in euphemisms like “weird” and “artistic” decouples his self-discovery from the violence of his classmates’ response, and his own. It’s not because he’s “creative” that they turn on him or that he eventually turns on himself.Gotta dance: Hagelberger, right, with cast members in “Trevor.”Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesThis central obfuscation leaves you wondering, for most of the musical, whether something will ever happen worth singing about. There are only so many “I want” numbers and charm songs — two of the templates in the musical theater handbook — a show can support before a crisis had better step forward.Yet despite disengaged, Reagan-obsessed parents at home and goony boys and boy-crazy girls at school, Trevor is presented as basically happy in his life with the imaginary Ross (Yasmeen Sulieman) and his circle of genuine outcasts. Walter (Aryan Simhadri) may show him the wrong kind of porn (women wearing lingerie on a farm), and Cathy (Alyssa Emily Marvin) may misunderstand his intentions (she can’t wait to kiss him despite her braces), but they tolerate his idiosyncrasies. Cathy has “watched every Tony Awards with him since 1976.”Even the school’s dim heartthrob, a jock named Pinky (Sammy Dell), befriends him, encouraging Trevor to choreograph a Tommy Tune-like dance routine for the football team at the annual talent show. (The choreography by Josh Prince charts a careful middle course between unappealingly clumsy and unbelievably slick.) And though the first act ends with the implosion of this spectacle — the team performs a different routine instead — the stakes feel dangerously low until it’s almost too late to revive them.What went so wrong? In the first place, turning this material into a musical may not have been wise. Unlike naturalistic movies or prose fiction, musicals disperse the point of view to anyone who sings. Tonal subtleties delivered through Trevor’s eyes in the film cannot be contained that way onstage, and so a lot of the charming naïveté of the original becomes vague and clammy in Dan Collins’s book.The songs, with lyrics by Collins and music by Julianne Wick Davis, don’t do much better; though professional, they are mostly upbeat and synthetic regardless of the moment, marking time instead of making points. They also face an unfair fight against the Ross catalog, including excerpts from hits like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Upside Down,” “It’s My Turn,” “Endless Love” and, inevitably, “I’m Coming Out.”The exceptions to the score’s blandness are telling. A number in which Pinky teaches Trevor to play H-O-R-S-E in gym class — including the double-edged instruction “you don’t want to spell it out” — is characterful, specific and sweet. “One of These Days” has Trevor returning the favor, teaching Pinky to imagine what he might be like in 10 years. Later the song returns, poignantly, after Trevor swallows “way too many aspirin” and winds up in the hospital.It is only in such moments, when the musical acknowledges its givens, that it comes to life. The scene between Trevor and a candy striper, apparently gay himself but old enough to have passed through the tunnel of adolescence, is as frankly and thoughtfully written as you wish everything else were.Is it a surprise, then, that for the first time in the show, the performances, under Marc Bruni’s otherwise hectic and skin-deep direction, strike real notes and admit real feeling? Hagelberger, 13, finally seems 13, not 9, and Aaron Alcaraz, as the candy striper, achieves in two minutes what the rest of the show fails to in more than two hours: musical comedy lightness anchored in honest emotion.Hagelberger and Aaron Alcarez.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesIt’s not that the message of that hospital scene is so novel; it’s basically an It Gets Better ad, deftly dramatized. In less deft moments the musical feels as if it were written for, or even by, suicide prevention experts worried about copycatting.I understand the concern, but then why write a musical? You can’t keep saying that a show is not about what it’s obviously about. And yet, as I imagine “Trevor” being performed for young audiences, perhaps in middle schools that even today are scenes of vicious homophobia, I have to think the ends justify the means. In the level of heaven reserved for works of the imagination that have saved real lives, “Trevor,” in 10 years, may be holding court on a special and I hope very fabulous cloud.TrevorAt Stage 42, Manhattan; 212-239-6200, trevorthemusical.com. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes. More

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    Review: What’s Past Is Prologue in ‘While You Were Partying’

    This maddening, brain-scrambling show, which just opened at the esteemed Soho Rep, is nothing if not slippery, our critic writes.You wonder what’s real and what’s made up, what’s meant to be funny and what’s meant to be tragic during “While You Were Partying,” especially during a scene involving an accident. A character named Brian whips himself into a frenzy, goaded by his mother, and something unexpected happens. Or looks like it does.It’s certainly convincing enough, especially since shortly after that episode Brian frantically hurls himself at the walls, leaving the actor portraying him, Brian Fiddyment, beet-red, his face looking genuinely banged up. Is make-believe supposed to be painful? Where does the commitment to the authenticity of storytelling begin and end? This maddening, brain-scrambling show, which just opened at the esteemed Soho Rep, is nothing if not slippery.Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey, who wrote “While You Were Partying” with Fiddyment, are fascinated by the intersection of autobiography and fiction, and they scratch at it as if it were a scab. The pair investigate our culture’s narcissism and manipulative streak, its hazy relationship with truth and facts in a deeply unsettling way.Their masterful production “50/50 [old school animation]” (presented at the 2019 Under the Radar festival) was made up of two seemingly straightforward monologues and hit like a horror story. In the work-in-progress “Protec/Attac,” which the Brick Theater streamed on YouTube in March, Weiss asked Mounsey questions as they sat across from each other at a table, both of them speaking in a studiously blank, neutral tone that slowly made their conversation sound disturbing. (In addition to its in-person performances, “While You Were Partying” will livestream on Twitch Nov. 14 and 21.)The new piece, which is named after a meme that starts with “While you were partying, I studied the blade,” simultaneously embraces the confessional mode and demolishes it, all the while making us question the very nature of comedy.Brian’s paroxystic unraveling has been set up by a prologue from his childhood friend Julia (Mounsey). “​​It’s a true story,” she says. “About something that I did.” She also informs us that she has problems with the truth when telling people what happened: “I exaggerate certain parts and omit others.”Julia lost her job and her apartment in the pandemic, and moved back to her parents’ house to regroup. She learns that Brian had tried to kill himself a few weeks earlier. This she does not tell us directly: Julia never speaks live but plays a phone recording of herself. As we listen, she sits, staring. Her lips are slightly upturned in what convention might describe as a smile, albeit one that feels feral, dangerous.Julia introduces the rest of the play, which she says she wrote as an assignment from Brian: “You should write a comedy sketch about my suicide attempt,” he told her.Some audience members at last Saturday’s performance laughed loudly, in a way that felt performative, during Julia’s so-called sketch, especially when Weiss turns up as Brian’s mother and grills him in that same blank tone. Would those theatergoers have reacted the same way if the scene hadn’t been presented as funny? Were they trying to prove to themselves and the rest of us that they got it, whatever “it” was?“While You Were Partying” does not offer answers. It burrows under the skin like a parasite. There has not been a day since I saw this show when I did not think about it.While You Were PartyingThrough Nov. 28 at the SoHo Repertory Theater, Manhattan; 646-586-8982, sohorep.org. Running time: 55 minutes. More

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    Cherry Lane Theater Is Back on the Market After Sale Falls Through

    It seemed as if the Lucille Lortel Theater Foundation’s purchase of the theater was a done deal in July. But now the property is back on the market.A contract was signed, both the buyer and seller authorized a sale announcement, but the deal — involving the Cherry Lane Theater in Greenwich Village — was not quite done.The sale, to the Lucille Lortel Theater Foundation for $11 million, has fallen through, Bloomberg first reported on Monday. Now Cherry Lane, the oldest continuously running Off Broadway theater in New York City, is on the market for $12.95 million.The closing had not taken place when the deal was announced in July, Sam Rudy, a spokesman for the theater, said on Wednesday. The theater and the foundation disagreed over the price of the property after the foundation requested a valuation from an additional real estate firm while doing due diligence. (The foundation had conducted an initial appraisal of the property that supported the asking price of $11 million.)George Forbes, executive director of the foundation, confirmed Wednesday that the deal fell through because of the valuation.Rudy said that when the foundation challenged the theater over its price, Angelina Fiordellisi, the theater’s executive director, hired a lease lawyer. That lawyer upheld the original valuation, and in the end, the two sides couldn’t come to terms.“The seller had always had in mind to ask something in excess of $12 million,” Rudy said, “but because of her longstanding relationship with the buyer, agreed to $11 million.”Forbes added, “We are continuing to do research on our end and we hope that we will ultimately be able to move forward.”Mary Vetri, a real estate agent in charge of the sale, said in an email on Tuesday that Fiordellisi had expressed a preference for a buyer with ties to the theater.The foundation, which has been managing the 97-year-old theater for the last decade, had been set to take over the theater’s buildings. Forbes would have succeeded Fiordellisi as the theater’s executive director.“It has been a great run,” Fiordellisi said in a statement when the sale was announced. “To stand on the stage where so many of our greatest artists, crews and theater providers have stood is to know what theater history feels like.”The listing includes a 179-seat main stage at 38 Commerce Street and a renovated 60-seat studio theater, as well as eight apartments that are housed at 40-42 Commerce Street.Cherry Lane was started by a group of artists who were colleagues of Edna St. Vincent Millay and has produced work by Samuel Beckett, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams. Under Fiordellisi, Cherry Lane has mentored writers including Katori Hall, who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “The Hot Wing King”; Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, whose play “Pass Over” premiered on Broadway this summer after being presented at Cherry Lane in 2016; and Jocelyn Bioh, whose “Merry Wives,” a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” ran at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park this summer.Fiordellisi had announced plans to sell the building in 2010, citing financial challenges. At the time, she told The New York Times that the theater was operating at a deficit of $250,000.But eight months later she reversed her decision because of a significantly reduced deficit, the support of the theater’s neighbors and a new managing agent. Cherry Lane Alternative, the resident theater company Fiordellisi established in 1997, was running a deficit of $100,000, Rudy said in July. But now, he said, the debt was retired thanks to money from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.Neal Brennan’s stand-up show “Neal Brennan: Unacceptable” is at the theater through Nov. 21, and that will be followed, Dec. 1-19, by Alex Edelman’s “Just for Us” — about a meeting of neo-Nazis that Edelman attended in New York. More

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    What Does Abba's Music Mean to You? Readers Respond.

    From around the world, readers sent in memories of loved ones, dancing, childhood and musical inspiration.From left, Leena Hamad, Bobae Johnson, Paul Tamburro and Nishita Sinha dressed as Abba for Halloween in 2019.“I firmly believe that there is an Abba song for any and every occasion that might arise in life,” said Paul Tamburro, a reader who lives in Cambridge, Mass. “Sad and lonely? Try ‘One of Us.’ Happy and energetic? Try ‘Rock Me.’ Feeling a little bit wild? ‘Summer Night City.’ I could go on and on.”This sentiment was shared by many readers who responded to a request for thoughts on what Abba’s music means to them. Readers from 20 to 70 years old described how the Swedish group has provided the soundtrack to moments joyful and heartbreaking, mundane and extraordinary. With a new Abba album recently released, many were looking forward to that continuing.Here is a selection of reader memories and stories, edited for clarity and length.Dancing QueensEleanore, left, and Marjorie Woodruff at an Abba tribute concert in 2019.Stephen Hayes “I loved Abba in the ’70s, because the sound was upbeat and danceable. I am now 60 with a 21-year-old daughter. We don’t share many common interests, especially in music, but are both Abba fans! We go to the tribute show every time it comes to town.” MARJORIE WOODRUFF, 60, Weehawken N.J.“Their music makes me happy. I can’t sit still when their music is playing: I bob, dance, swing my head, wave my arms, and feel sooo good afterward. Always.” MARLENE CARTAINA, 78, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.“My first memory of Abba is dancing to the Greatest Hits vinyl album with my little brother and sister in our living room in 1980. We’d turn off all the lights, use flashlights as a disco ball, dress up in my mom’s flowy nightgowns and pretend we were in the band.” KATE KELLY, 49, Seattle“To me, Abba means the joy and freedom that comes with dancing alone — usually sans pants — with a bottle of wine in hand.” ALEKSANDRA FITZGERALD, 27, Middletown, Conn.“There’s nothing more purely joyful than hitting the dance floor with friends to dance to ‘Dancing Queen’ and sing at the top of your lungs. Every bad thing that might have happened that day or week completely vanishes.” ADENA BARNETTE, 40, Ripley, W.Va.Remembering Loved Ones“Abba’s music always reminds me of my grandmother, who was a big fan and made me a fan. When I went to visit her at her house, the two of us would dance, and sing ‘Chiquitita’ in Spanish, her favorite song. She passed away last year, so I continue to enjoy Abba’s music, not only because I’m a fan, but also to remember her.” FERNANDA GONZÁLEZ PÉREZ, 22, Santiago, Chile“Our dad, Paul E. Brackbill, enjoyed Abba for as many years as I can remember. Music was important to him. When we would ride in the car, we would sing along to Abba with gusto. Over his happy life of 102 years, he noted that ‘Thank You for the Music’ was his favorite song.” JAN TUCKER, 74, Fayetteville, Ga.“My most precious Abba memory is from the summer of 2020: I had quit my job and moved in with my grandmother (who took me to see “Mamma Mia!” on Broadway), to take care of her during Covid-19 and for what turned out to be the final months of her beautiful life.She and I had a blast together. My old truck just has a CD player, and Abba Gold was one of the only CDs I had. I’d drive along the highway, windows down, ‘Take a Chance on Me’ or some other Abba banger blaring at top volume, singing my head off and feeling so free. It was my soundtrack of the summer, of the most beautiful months of joy and freedom and family and purpose I have ever felt.” ELLIE DUKE, 28, Cambridge, Mass.Global SuperstarsAt the Abba Museum in Stockholm in 2016, Julia Weis, center left, and her sister Jessica, center right, joined the band.Annie Weis“Growing up as a Swedish American, I was taught you have to pick a side — you either love Abba or you hate Abba. My mom hates Abba. But I love Abba. I think they mean so much to me because growing up in the U.S., everyone always confused my homeland with other countries (particularly Switzerland), so it felt good to be recognized for great music that anyone can dance to. And for something other than cheaply built furniture.” JULIA WEIS, 24, San Antonio, Texas“In the ’80s I lived in a small steel town in India where families were protective of their daughters while sons partied with gay abandon! Just to get girls to experience fun and dance, my dad organized a May Day party. My tween friends and I danced until sundown to ‘Dancing Queen’ on repeat and then wound up (or attempted to wind up) with slow dances to ‘Fernando.’ I meet girls who are lawyers and doctors now and they remember that May Day disco!” RICHA BHATNAGAR, 47, Denver“My parents immigrated to the U.S. from Honduras when I was a toddler. One of their first jobs and my first memories (since they had to bring me along) was cleaning furniture showrooms at night, where they were allowed to play music. The soundtrack? Abba in Spanish. Their music has always made me feel safe, cared for and happy. Later it allowed me to not feel like such an outsider as a child of immigrants, because I knew all the melodies to some of the biggest songs of that generation.” MAYRA QUINTANO, 29, San Francisco“I remember Abba’s concert aired on the Polish TV station TVP2 in 1976, during the country’s Communist era. That was a very special event, and the flavor of the West in ’70s Poland was the sound of Abba. I was listening to Pink Floyd and Abba and didn’t see any dissonance. Ah, happy days.” JAROSLAW PLUCIENNIK, 54, Lodz, Poland“In 1979 I was a model working for five months in Japan. I did not speak any Japanese and my co-workers in the densely packed, camera-filled photo studios oftentimes spoke very little English, but they knew the words to every Abba song. Every studio I worked in played this band nonstop, clapping with excitement to boost the energy with ‘Dancing Queen’ or ‘When I Kissed the Teacher.’ I cannot hear any Abba tune without remembering to face the box light and smile.” LYNKA ADAMS, 68, Napa, Calif.The Music’s Complexity“As the drummer for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, I recall that while recording the song ‘Prove It All Night’ for the 1978 album ‘Darkness On The Edge Of Town,’ reference was made to get that ‘Abba keyboard sound’ for the opening signature melodic hook. Listening to it again I believe we did!” MAX WEINBERG, 70, Delray Beach, Fla.“Getting to know Abba in a country like Colombia, charged with tropical rhythms and influences, and right when I was enjoying a happy and carefree adolescence, meant discovering that my senses could vibrate like never before to the beat of delicious, almost subliminal energies.” JUAN CARLOS RIVERA MEDINA, 59, Cali, Colombia“I love their happy music juxtaposed with Bjorn’s depressing and heartbreaking lyrics. Pure brilliance. Abba helps me write music. I study their chord progressions, harmonies, instrumentation, lyrics, style, and so much more. They give me constant inspiration.” KAYLA NORTH, 32, Seattle“I’ve been a fan since ‘Waterloo’ became a worldwide smash and I think it’s very telling, some 47 years later, that I broke down in tears when I heard Frida’s voice, deepened and enriched by time, sing the first lines of ‘I Still Have Faith in You.’ For me, it’s always been a mix of the vocals, the harmonies, the production and the craftsmanship. It’s a magical combination.” JIM STEVENS, 61, Altamonte Springs, Fla.‘Chiquitita, You and I Know’“I was a young child when my dad gave me an Abba LP that included the song ‘Chiquitita.’ We played it often and its music became part of the soundtrack of my suburban childhood. The group’s music is and forever will be a favorite, but ‘Chiquitita’ holds a special place in my heart — more than a song, it is a safe and happy place where I feel loved and protected.” LAURA RENTAS, 44, San Juan, Puerto Rico“I have loved Abba’s music since I was a kid. My all-time favorite song of theirs is actually ‘Chiquitita,’ because it’s my mom’s favorite, but also because of these lyrics: ‘Chiquitita, you and I cry, but the sun is still in the sky and shining above you.’ That has gotten me through some really hard days.” ALANA GEORGE, 22, Birmingham, Ala.“My best friend and I found a mutual fondness for Abba in high school. The song that stands out the most is ‘Chiquitita,’ which my friend burned onto a mix CD and mailed to me at college (along with brownies) after I got dumped by my high school boyfriend. Now, I’m newly graduated with a master’s, restarting my career and newly engaged. I play ‘Chiquitita,’ think of my friend, and remember that I am strong, loved and capable of change.” ISABELLE THOMSON, 29, Durham, N.C.Elda Cantú and Ana Sosa contributed reporting. More

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    in Theater

    ‘Chicago’ Pops the Cork on 25 Years of Razzle Dazzle

    Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, John Kander and others discuss the Broadway revival’s surprising early success and its lasting legacy.When “Chicago” had its debut in 1975 no one expected it to become the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.The reviews were mixed. Walter Kerr wrote that it was “altogether too heavy to let the slender, foolish story breathe.” And though the show had a two-year run, it was dwarfed in impact by “A Chorus Line.”It “seemed too chilly, in those days, to be truly loved,” Ben Brantley wrote two decades later, reflecting on the show’s themes of “murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery.”But then came the “Encores!” production, in 1996 at City Center, a streamlined reworking that bubbled “like vintage Champagne,” Brantley wrote.The delirious reception to the concert staging was “like ice cubes down your back,” John Kander, the musical’s composer, recalled recently. “The original production was not exactly what you’d call a blockbuster.”That four-night concert event propelled the show back to Broadway, where the revival opened 25 years ago, on Nov. 14, 1996, at the Richard Rodgers Theater. (The same theater in which the show debuted in 1975, though back then it was known as the 46th Street Theater.)“This new incarnation,” Brantley wrote in his review, “makes an exhilarating case both for ‘Chicago’ as a musical for the ages and for the essential legacy of Fosse.”Six Tony Awards, three Broadway houses, an Oscar-winning film adaptation and over 30 international reproductions later, this Jazz Age satire has become both a cultural touchstone and a New York City landmark. And the show has continually renewed itself through headline-grabbing cast replacements, which have included Broadway veterans (like Norm Lewis and Jennifer Holliday), singers (Patti LaBelle, Usher and Mel B), screen actors (Brooke Shields and Patrick Swayze) and even media and reality TV figures (Wendy Williams and NeNe Leakes).Adapted from the journalist Maurine Dallas Watkins’s 1926 play, based on the sensationalist murder trials she covered, the vaudeville-style musical follows the ascent to fame of the down-on-her-luck chorine Roxie Hart after she murders her lover. She soon becomes a media spectacle, thanks to her sleazy lawyer, Billy Flynn; but her husband, Amos, and the vaudevillian, Velma Kelly — in the same jail as Roxie for double homicide — are none too pleased.A stable of frequent collaborators made up the creative team: John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the music and lyrics; Ebb and Bob Fosse wrote the book; and the choreography, of course, is Fosse’s.Ann Reinking, Fosse’s protégée and romantic partner, played a vital role in keeping his legacy alive. Reinking, who died last year, adapted his work for the revival; she also filled in as Roxie in the original production (replacing Fosse’s wife, Gwen Verdon), and starred, again as Roxie, in the revival.In advance of the anniversary, which will be celebrated Nov. 16 with a special performance, I spoke about the musical’s history and legacy with several important figures. Here are edited excerpts from our conversations.From Encores! to BroadwayBebe Neuwirth, seated, won the Tony for best actress in a musical for playing Velma.Sara Krulwich/ The New York TimesJAMES NAUGHTON (played Billy Flynn, Roxie’s lawyer, in 1996 and 2004) That first opening night at Encores! left a tremendous impression on me. I was standing backstage and, at the end of the first number, “All That Jazz,” the audience exploded. It was the kind of sound you just don’t hear very often in the theater, or certainly not often enough.JOHN KANDER (composer) I had never experienced anything like this. Fred [Ebb] and I didn’t know much about what Encores! was going to do, so we were totally unprepared.JOEL GREY (played Amos Hart, Roxie’s simpleton husband, in 1996 and in London in 1998) I remember standing next to Jimmy Naughton backstage, and we looked at each other in pure amazement and joy.WALTER BOBBIE (director) I thought the score deserved to be heard again because “Cabaret” had kind of eclipsed it. I was watching the O.J. Simpson trial at the time I started reading the script and thought it felt completely newly minted. It is astonishing to me that the show is almost 50 years old, yet it doesn’t feel that way. It still feels vital: it has theatrical muscle, the characters are vivid, and its issues are ongoing in our public discourse.Joel Grey as Roxie’s husband, Amos, “achieves the miracle of turning passivity into pure show-biz electricity,” Brantley wrote in his review.Sara KrulwichFRAN WEISSLER (Broadway producer) Barry [Weissler] and I were so blown away by the Encores! production that we ran home to call Kander and Ebb and ask for just a little piece of it. Fred Ebb finally told us we could have the whole show. He said, “To tell you the truth, no chandelier is dropping, there’s no French Revolution, or a helicopter onstage; nobody wants to do it.”BEBE NEUWIRTH (Velma Kelly in 1996; Roxie Hart in 2006; and Matron “Mama” Morton in 2013) Pretty much every time you do anything onstage, there’s talk of it going to Broadway. When these talks happened, I was like, “Yeah right,” but then it really transferred, and just kept going and took on a life of its own.The Reinking FactorAnn Reinking updated Bob Fosse’s choreography for the revival and her Roxie was “the most entertainingly erotic cartoon character since Jessica Rabbit,” Brantley wrote.Sara Krulwich/The New York Times NEUWIRTH The strength and longevity of this production would not have been possible without Annie. She had such respect for Bob, and was incredibly attuned to his very specific style.WEISSLER There was nobody like her. She was not only stunning and amazingly talented, with the greatest legs I’ve seen in my life, but she was so kind and giving in her direction to the performers.NAUGHTON I don’t think there are many pieces that are as focused on performers as “Chicago.” Given Walter and Annie’s decision to keep the brilliant, bare-bones Encores! staging when we went to Broadway, when you look at this show, it is pure performing.BOBBIE I said this when I gave my speech at the reopening performance on Sep. 14: “Chicago” has turned into the legacy of Ann Reinking. She really carried the legacy of [Fosse’s] choreography through to this production, which sort of sharpened the aesthetic of his work.Stunt Casting? Or Flexible Casting?Usher took on the role of Billy Flynn when he joined the cast for a few months in 2006.Evan Agostini/Getty ImagesBARRY WEISSLER (Broadway producer) The word “stunt” really comes from the unexpected. The onlooker doesn’t believe that a singer like Usher can play Billy Flynn, so they start calling it a stunt. It’s not a stunt: We don’t take anyone that can’t fulfill the stage work. And there have been people — even important people in the music world — who couldn’t cut it onstage, so didn’t make it into the show.KANDER No matter how bizarre the casting might seem, it always seems to fit right into our original intentions. You could cast a Bulgarian tap dancer as Billy Flynn and, if intelligently cast, it will still be that character, but with whatever personality that performer brings.LILLIAS WHITE (Matron “Mama” Morton, jail matron, in 2006 and 2021) The show is very clear; you see who’s who, and what’s what, from the very beginning. It’s lasted this long because its numbers, with great music and stunning dancing, come up very quickly, so if you like musical theater, you’re going to love this. It’s simple: when you’re good to Mama, Mama’s good to you.CHITA RIVERA (Velma in the 1975 production, and Roxie on the U.S. tour in 1999) Liza Minnelli joined our original production’s cast because she realized it was a wonderful piece, and that it would be great for her. When Gwen [Verdon, the original “Roxie”] got sick, she expressed that she would like to take on the role, and people ate it up.BRANDY NORWOOD (Roxie on Broadway in 2014 and 2017; Los Angeles in 2016; Washington, D.C., in 2017) I didn’t want to be the new R&B chick that comes in and messes everything up. It was the music that sustained me; these are the kind of solid, jazzy numbers I saw myself singing, and I knew I could put my own flavor into them without disrespecting their very Broadway style.GREY When they called me about Encores!, I thought, “No, I can’t play Amos: that’s a big, seven-foot, overweight mechanic.” I didn’t see myself in that. But, after Annie [Reinking] called me, I realized the show just has these great solo spots that could be tailored for each actor.Cross-Cultural RelevanceRyoko Yonekura, who originated the role of Roxie in the Japanese-language production in 2008, made her Broadway debut in 2012, after learning the role in English.Masahiro NoguchiPAULO SZOT (Billy Flynn in 2020 and 2021) I saw [“Chicago”] on Broadway years and years ago, and then, after seeing a production in Paris, knew I had to do it. People just love the script, and the choreography. I’ll be starring in a São Paulo production next year, and I know everyone there will relate to its message and humor.BIANCA MARROQUÍN (Roxie in Mexico City in 2001 and on Broadway, on and off, from 2002-2018; Velma on Broadway in 2021) There was a similar case to the plot’s going on in Mexico when I played Roxie there 20 years ago: Gloria Trevi, a pop star who was in jail at the time, popped the big news that she was pregnant — it’s the same thing! When I’d say the line about how I was going to have a baby, people would lose it.WEISSLER At one point, we wanted to have a Japanese presence in New York, and Japan wanted an American presence in their company. So we brought in Ryoko Yonekura and taught her Roxie, phonetically, and Amra-Faye Wright learned Japanese phonetically and played Velma in the Japanese company. You don’t get that with most Broadway shows.BOBBIE I’m very pleased that we’ve never had issues with ethnicity, going back to our first national tour, which was headed by Obba Babatundé and Jasmine Guy. We have been really vigilant about this for 25 years, and it was not something that we went talking about, we just did it. [When the show reopened after the shutdown, four of its five leads were played by Latinx and Black actors.]Crime ContinuesBrandy Norwood played Roxie on multiple occasions and in multiple cities. “Roxie never stopped dreaming,” Norwood said, “she was going to turn that whole world into her own vaudeville.”Jeremy DanielANA VILLAFAÑE (Roxie in 2021) This show is still incredibly relevant, especially after the pandemic, when we’ve been living on our phones in a completely different way. Roxie has this famous line — “You want to know something? I’ve always wanted to have my name in the papers” — but now it’s not about your name in the paper, it’s about how many followers and likes you have online. I started reading the script on my phone and realized its themes of fast fame, and this obsession with who we are versus who we appear to be, immediately translated to what I am usually looking at on my phone.NORWOOD You fall in love with these characters who are always doing what they want to do, even if it’s dark. Roxie never stopped dreaming, and it didn’t matter if she was just hanging around in bars, she was going to turn that whole world into her own vaudeville. That was her way of coping with the fact that she wasn’t everything she dreamed she was.KANDER We were certainly aware of the piece’s darkness when we created it. There are two ways of dealing with catastrophe: One is that you can pick up banners and yell about it, and the other is to do the same thing by simply holding the evil up to ridicule, and making an audience feel entertained before they realize what it is they’re seeing.RIVERA It seems to be an American thing where, much later, somebody else says something’s brilliant, and critics come back and agree. I go, “Why couldn’t they acknowledge it?” when thinking about the original, but the revival just came along at a better time. Kander, Ebb, and Bob Fosse are true artists, and something that’s really great will last forever. More

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    in Television

    Jimmy Kimmel: Biden Is Steady but Slow, Like ‘Grandpa at the Wheel’

    “He’ll get us there, it’ll just happen very slowly with the blinker on the whole ride,” Kimmel joked of the president and his 38 percent approval rating.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.How Low Can He Go?A new poll found President Biden’s approval rating is at 38 percent.“That was before Congress passed the infrastructure bill, though,” Jimmy Kimmel said on Tuesday night. “And if anything can get the American people fired up, it’s infrastructure.”“We’re also not even a year into his presidency, Joe Biden. Don’t worry, he’s like Grandpa at the wheel. He’ll get us there, it’ll just happen very slowly with the blinker on the whole ride.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“The poll did have one bit of good news for Biden: He’s not Kamala Harris.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Kamala Harris has an approval rating of 28 percent, which is — makes no sense, because she basically has nothing to do. I mean, it’s like criticizing a backup quarterback: ‘Tom Brady is OK — I don’t love the way Blaine Gabbert has his legs folded on the bench.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Kamala’s approval rating of 28 percent is even lower than the 30 percent who approved of Dick Cheney in 2008 after he shot a guy in the face.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“[imitating Joe Biden] Thirty-eight percent ain’t so bad, Jack. Why, I remember when 38 was the highest percent that existed. Then ol’ Patty Numberton came out and said, ‘Hey, fellas, what about 39?’ We all said, ‘That’s the greatest idea since sliced bread.’ Then we all went, ‘Yeah, why don’t we start slicin’ bread? I’m tired of choking on a loaf! No, I’m serious, folks.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“There’s only one president in the history of polling whose approval rating was worse than Biden’s at this point. You want to guess which president it was? I’ll give you a hint — his name rhymes with ‘garbage dump.’” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Responsible Parties Edition)“The congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot issued subpoenas today for 10 of Donald Corleone’s associates.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“The big headline is that the Jan. 6 committee has issued six subpoenas to the ex-president’s top campaign associates, a collection of powerful dumb-dumbs who helped orchestrate the last-ditch efforts to steal the election, a high-stakes, low-I.Q. heist on democracy, starring pardoned criminal Michael Flynn, a.k.a. General Grumpypants. Pardoned criminal Bernie Kerik: the Scalp. Disgraced lawyer John Eastman: the Accessorizer. Campaign manager Bill Stepien: Bland Master Flash. Executive assistant Angela McCallum: the Spare Tiffany. And senior campaign adviser Jason Miller as the Honey Trap. — STEPHEN COLBERT“In the days leading up to Jan. 6, these Traitor Joes were plotting how to throw out election results, huddled together in a set of rooms and suites in the posh Willard Hotel in downtown D.C. Their room bar tab must’ve been huge. It’s, like, 20 bucks a pop for those mini Molotov cocktails.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Now, just to be clear, a subpoena doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong — although in this case, it absolutely means you did something wrong.” — JAMES CORDEN“We’re so close to figuring out who’s responsible for this. What a mystery.” — JAMES CORDENThe Bits Worth WatchingStephen Colbert auditioned Paul Rudd for People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” on Tuesday’s “Late Show.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightWill Ferrell returns to “The Tonight Show” on Wednesday night.Also, Check This OutObservations of how people interact when they think no one is watching recur in Courtney Barnett’s songs.OK McCausland for The New York TimesCourtney Barnett’s third album is a study of both the simple certainties of life and the big thing that comes after. More