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    Sydney Lemmon Puts the Twisted Humanity Behind Tech on Broadway

    After a small part in “Succession,” the actor has a breakout role in “Job,” in which she plays a content moderator having a mental breakdown.Jane is a young professional living in the Bay Area whom you might find at SoulCycle. The actor Sydney Lemmon has taken that description of her character in “Job” with a grain of salt.The young woman she is presenting to Broadway audiences is not a stereotypical millennial. Instead, Lemmon’s Jane is a formidable vessel of reckless passion, someone who has been shaped by the corporate grind of a Silicon Valley job monitoring the heinous acts that people upload onto social media. She is a self-described “Xanax girlie” white knuckling her way through a mandated therapy session meant to determine whether she is ready to return to work after a psychological breakdown that went viral.Oh, and Jane has a gun, too.“She loves her job,” Lemmon said last week during an interview in her dressing room at the Helen Hayes Theater in Midtown Manhattan. “But the thing that most people seem to connect with when I talk to them at the stage door is her feeling of isolation.”Lemmon has played the character for more than a year, charting an unlikely path in a hit commercial production nearly seven years after she first appeared on Broadway, following her graduation from the Yale School of Drama. Smaller roles in film and television — including a short run on the acclaimed HBO series “Succession” — helped raise her profile within the industry; theater, however, is where she has developed a cult following.Lemmon and Peter Friedman in “Job,” which is running through Oct. 27 at the Helen Hayes Theater.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times“All of the show was crafted around Sydney,” said Michael Herwitz, the production’s director.“When we cast her, she was absolutely not what we thought we wanted,” he recalled. “We thought Jane was going to be someone demure, a petite white woman who graduated college two years ago and wouldn’t necessarily pose a physical threat.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    At a Festival Amid Industrial Ruins, Ivo van Hove Takes Charge

    For the Belgian director’s first edition as leader of the Ruhrtriennale, abandoned sites are “the starting point and the end point,” he says.The calling card of the Ruhrtriennale Festival of the Arts is to present shows in former industrial sites, like power stations or coal plants, among cities in the Ruhr region of northwestern Germany. For the theater-maker Ivo van Hove, who is presenting his first season as the festival’s artistic director, this is churning up feelings of déjà vu.“I was 20 years old at a time in Belgium when theater was the most old-fashioned thing you could imagine,” van Hove, 65, said. “My generation made a real change and we did that by, for instance, not playing in theaters. My first production was in an abandoned laundry. We played for 30 people and we had 30 actors onstage.”The scale is much larger at the Ruhrtriennale, but at least van Hove had staged five productions at the festival before taking the helm, so he is familiar with the artistic parameters.One of them is paying attention to musical theater, which can take on vastly different forms in Europe compared with English-speaking countries. According to Krystian Lada, a Polish director who helped van Hove put together the slate, the Ruhrtriennale is known for presenting “a new vision of music theater” in Germany, where so-called high and low cultures are often rigidly separated. Lada’s own entry in the 2024 festival, “Abendzauber,” combines works by Bruckner and Björk.Van Hove’s “I Want Absolute Beauty,” which kicks off the festival on Friday, revolves around the “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest” star Sandra Hüller (whom he had directed in Eugene O’Neill’s play “Strange Interlude” in 2013) performing a song cycle pulled from P.J. Harvey’s back catalog. (Van Hove’s take on musical theater, or any theater for that matter, is often divisive: A recent review in The New York Times called his musical adaptation of the film “Opening Night,” with new songs by Rufus Wainwright, “a travesty.”)Other offerings of note at the festival include “Legende,” the dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s take on the filmmaker Sergei Parajanov’s work; Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s new dance piece “Y”; and Philip Venables and Ted Huffman’s music-theater work “The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Seth Meyers Calls Trump ‘Desperate’ for Likes

    Meyers said the former president’s return to X shows he yearns “for the spotlight and for some praise or positive coverage from anyone, anywhere.”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.‘The Worst of All Worlds’Former President Donald Trump’s conversation with Elon Musk continued to be fodder for late night jokes on Wednesday.Seth Meyers called the X livestream on Monday night “disastrous,” saying Trump only returned to the platform because he “is desperate for the spotlight and for some praise or positive coverage from anyone, anywhere.”“OK, but it’s not what it used to be, dude. That’s like going back to your old high school and finding out it’s a Big Lots now.” — SETH MEYERS“The plan backfired because the conversation was the worst of all worlds. It was insane, it was a tactical disaster and it was boring.” — SETH MEYERS“Also, I like how Musk teed up this conversation as being for open-minded independent voters. You know how independent voters are always looking for good information on the fifth-most-popular feature of a dying app. Why don’t you just hold a round table in the chat feature on Words with Friends?” — SETH MEYERS“But, sure, finally, someone speaking to the American voter who believes bacon is too expensive and nuclear war isn’t that bad.” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (V.P. Edition)“According to a new report, former President Trump is furious at his campaign staff for letting him make the ‘terrible decision of picking JD Vance as his V.P.’ Yeah, Trump regrets pairing up with Vance. He’s like, ‘This is why I always sign a prenup.’” — JIMMY FALLON“According to FiveThirtyEight, Tim Walz has a net favorability rating of plus 5, while JD Vance is at minus 9.4. I think what we get from this is, apparently, people want ‘coach’ — not ‘couch.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Meanwhile, ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are taking a bus tour together through Pennsylvania. Yeah, and this is interesting — this is interesting — it’s the same bus the Democrats threw President Biden under.” — JIMMY FALLON“Former Vice President Mike Pence said in a recent interview that he cannot endorse former President Trump because Trump wanted him to overturn the 2020 election, and he can’t endorse Kamala Harris because that’s third base, and he’s married.” — SETH MEYERSThe Bits Worth WatchingJanet McTeer imitated what it was like to work with her “Kaos” co-star Jeff Goldblum on Wednesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightBillie Eilish will take The Colbert Questionert on Thursday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutMissy Elliott onstage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday night.Alexis SmithThe multifaceted music artist Missy Elliott’s first headlining tour in her 30-year career is as exhilarating as it is visually and theatrically ambitious. More

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    ‘Life and Trust’ Review: Choose Your Own Faustian Adventure

    A new theatrical experience in the Financial District is composed of 25 individual stories, but it’s hard to make sense of any of them.In one room in Conwell Tower, a stately skyscraper in the Financial District, a police officer strips off his shirt and flogs himself — passionately, even sensually — before coolly donning his uniform again. At the end of a long hall, a woman performs a Houdini-esque escape from a straitjacket. Elsewhere, in a dark underground boxing ring, two men trade punches in a cinematic fight scene where lights flash and dim with each maneuver, the bodies sometimes moving in slow motion like scenes from a “Rocky” film.What are these characters’ motivations, and what is their connection to one another? Your guess is as good as mine.In “Life and Trust” — the new theatrical experience from Emursive, producers of the popular “Sleep No More” with Punchdrunk — the story never rises to meet the spectacle, creating a visually appealing yet narratively incoherent piece of exploration theater.The show, directed by Teddy Bergman, begins on Oct. 23, 1929, the evening before the stock market crash. The audience has been invited to a “prospective investors fete” by the head of the Life and Trust Bank, a J.G. Conwell, who has made his fortune mass-producing a mysterious bright green syrup that’s something between a panacea and an addictive opiate.There is, of course, something shady about this invitation: Early in the show a suited man purrs to the audience, “If you choose to invest with us, you’re one of ours … forever.” (It turns out “forever” means roughly three hours in this site-specific show … which can sometimes feel like an eternity.) Faced with the imminent fall of his financial empire, Conwell takes a devilish offer to travel back in time to the Gilded Age.In this earlier time of glamour and pleasures, we meet a younger Conwell and dozens of other characters based on real historical figures, from eugenicists to magicians. The show is mostly dialogue-free; acrobatic choreography by the Tony nominees Jeff and Rick Kuperman is meant to fill some of the role speech would. Sometimes it works, as when one character shows otherworldly control over another through mirrored movements — a wave of one’s hand seems to command another’s body to tumble forward. Other instances, particularly during scenes of confrontation or seduction, when the characters’ bodies repeatedly swoon into one another, feel less novel and instead highlight how unclear the relationships and stories are.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Tony Winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Returns to Broadway With ‘Purpose’

    Branden Jacobs-Jenkins had Broadway success this year with a drama starring Sarah Paulson. In February, he’ll return with a new play directed by Phylicia Rashad.Branden Jacobs-Jenkins won a Tony Award in June for the Broadway production of “Appropriate,” his blistering play about a white Southern family grappling with some serious baggage.This season, Jacobs-Jenkins will return to Broadway, now with “Purpose,” a stormy play about a Black Midwestern family wrestling with its own legacy.“Purpose,” which had a well-received run earlier this year at Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, is to begin previews Feb. 25 and to open in mid-March at the Helen Hayes Theater. The Broadway production is being directed by Phylicia Rashad, who also directed the play at Steppenwolf; Rashad, best known for “The Cosby Show,” has won two Tony Awards as an actor, for “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Skeleton Crew”; this will be her first time directing on Broadway.Set in contemporary Chicago, “Purpose” is about the Jaspers, a civically engaged family of preachers and politicians. There are some parallels to Jesse Jackson’s family, but the story is fictional.In the play, the family gathers at the home of its patriarch — a civil rights activist and preacher who had marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — to welcome the eldest son, a politician, home from prison as his wife prepares to serve her own sentence. The gathering is complicated by the presence of the younger son, a divinity school dropout, who shows up with an unexpected friend.The critic Chris Jones, writing in The Chicago Tribune, called it an “absolutely not-to-be-missed” play.Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, with the Tony for best revival of a play for “Appropriate.”Evan Agostini/Invision, via Associated PressPhylicia Rashad, with her Tony for best actress in a play for “Skeleton Crew” in 2022. This will be her Broadway directorial debut.Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJacobs-Jenkins, 39, has for a decade been touted as among the nation’s most important young playwrights. He is a two-time Pulitzer finalist (for “Gloria” and “Everybody”), but “Appropriate” was his first play on Broadway. It took so long for it to get there that the production, which starred Sarah Paulson, was deemed a revival and won the Tony Award in that category. Now, Jacobs-Jenkins is working on a musical adaptation of Prince’s “Purple Rain” that will have an initial production in Minneapolis next spring, while also preparing to return to Broadway with “Purpose.” (And before then, he has a new Off Broadway show this fall: “Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!” at Soho Rep.)“I’m shocked, honored, surprised, confused, nervous,” Jacobs-Jenkins said in a phone interview, referring to having two Broadway plays in a row. “I definitely feel like there’s some kind of turnover: In this post-recovery period, lots of surprising things are happening.”“I feel like suddenly my cohort is stepping into some new space that wasn’t available to us before,” he added.And are “Appropriate” and “Purpose” related? “Not really,” Jacobs-Jenkins said. “But it wouldn’t be ridiculous to read them against each other.”Though the nonprofit Second Stage Theater owns the Helen Hayes Theater, this will be a commercial production. The lead producers include David Stone and Marc Platt, who are the lead producers of “Wicked”; the film producer Debra Martin Chase; the actress LaChanze; and Rashad V. Chambers, Aaron Glick and Steppenwolf. More

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    How ‘The Challenge’ Lasted 40 Seasons and Changed Reality Stardom

    When Johnny Devenanzio swiveled in his chair and playfully called for his mother to bring some meatloaf, he knew exactly what he was doing. In his impression of Will Ferrell’s man-child from “Wedding Crashers,” he was really evoking Johnny Bananas, the Peter Pan-like alter ego he has played for much of his adult life on the grandfather of all reality-competition shows: MTV’s “The Challenge.”Devenanzio, 42, said he’d likely be a stay-at-home-son had his life not so permanently veered into the world of reality television. Or maybe he would have used his Penn State college degree to enter the world of finance. Of his large flock of one-time castmates, many have forged ahead with new careers, gotten married, started families. Not Devenanzio.“When I die I’m going to donate my brain to science to study what the long-term side effects of reality TV has been,” Devenanzio said over a Zoom interview. “Because I have literally clocked more hours than anyone on the show.”Devenanzio spoke just before embarking for Vietnam to film the 40th season of “The Challenge,” the flagship show on which he has appeared in more than half the seasons. Subtitled “Battle of the Eras,” the new season (premiering on Aug. 14) will feature 40 cast members representing various generations of the show vying for a slice of a million-dollar prize.That’s a long way from the show’s summer camp-vibes origin. The series premiered before the first Real Housewife ever chucked a drink, ahead of any chef-judge barking, “Hands up, utensils down,” and earlier than anyone surviving to outwit, outplay and outlast their competition. “The Challenge” even outstayed MTV predecessors like “The Real World” and “Road Rules,” which initially served as feeders for contestants to enter the show.The often harrowing daily challenges may be the underpinnings of the show, whether leaping from cars suspended over water or trying to fling fellow castmates off moving trucks.Paramount+We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Late Night Recaps Musk’s and Trump’s Two-Hour Chat on X

    Stephen Colbert called it “a big night for weird old rich guys with no friends.”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.Excuses, ExcusesAfter a glitchy start, Elon Musk had a two-hour conversation with former President Donald Trump on X on Monday night.Stephen Colbert called it “a big night for weird old rich guys with no friends.”“But here’s the thing about Trump doing anything on Twitter now: It just reminds people of the awful reason he was banned to begin with.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe broadcast was delayed 40 minutes after its scheduled start, which Musk blamed on a cyberattack. Musk later implied it was done to silence Trump.“[imitating Trump] Hey, there. Lying is my thing, buddy.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“[imitating Trump] Stay in your lane, Elon. Oh wait, you can’t because you’re in a self-driving Tesla. Boom, you’re roasted by your Tesla. It’s on fire.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“It’s nice to know the guy who builds self-driving cars and spaceships hasn’t quite figured out how to broadcast a phone call.” — JIMMY FALLON“According to CNN fact checkers, former President Trump made at least 20 false claims during his interview last night with Elon Musk, starting with, ‘It’s great to be here.’” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Sufferin’ Succotash Edition)“Elon Musk interviewed former President Trump live last night on X, and however crazy you think it was, it was crazier.” — SETH MEYERS“Also, what’s going on with his voice? He sounds like a sugared-up kid on Halloween who won’t take out his plastic vampire teeth.” — SETH MEYERS“I know the guy’s big on slurs, but this is next level.” — DESI LYDIC, guest host of “The Daily Show,” on Trump’s speech sometimes sounding slurred during the interview“[imitating Sylvester the Cat] Sufferin’ succotash!” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Can we get the guy some Fixodent?” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingThe actress Elizabeth Banks played jinx with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightThe actress Janet McTeer will sit down on Wednesday with Jeff Goldblum, her “Kaos” co-star and the guest host this week on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This OutPatti Smith.Vagabond Video/Getty Images.A new documentary about Electric Lady Studios highlights the Greenwich Village institution where artists like Jimi Hendrix, Patti Smith and Frank Ocean have recorded tracks. More

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    ‘Industry’ Blends ‘Succession’ With ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

    Set in the high-pressure world of investment banking, the series, now in Season 3, started out unremarkably but has since become appointment viewing.When “Industry,” a jargony drama about climbing the ladder in the investment banking industry, debuted back in 2020, it was clunky and too generic, and it often telegraphed its twists. But the show found its sea legs, and its slick second season was a ruthless, breathless treat — fast and good-mean. Each episode turned the temperature up and up and up, taking the conflict among our miserable bank bébés from a simmer to an aggressive boil.Then it cranked things even hotter, turning steam to plasma in its last moments — a wilder, more significant phase change.Season 3, which began on Sunday, picks up a few months into this shift. Harper (Myha’la) is licking her wounds after her ouster from the high-pressure London firm Pierpoint, but she has landed at FutureDawn, the female-led, ostensibly socially-conscious fund from Season 2. She is working as an assistant, well outside — and, in her eyes, well beneath — her biz-whiz skill set, but she has never been one to follow workplace rules. She aligns herself with an equally disgruntled senior portfolio manager, Petra (Sarah Goldberg, of “Barry” fame), and starts sharpening her knives.“Industry” can sometimes feel like “Succession Jr.” with its icy palate, its appetite for financial lingo, its characters’ soulless scheming and lines like “I haven’t done blow since 9/11” and “the only famous salesman is Willy Loman.” The incessant shouting, lies, secrecy and debt recall “The Bear,” and its snappy critiques of faux liberalism remind me of “Hacks.” (“I never watch [porn] … unless it’s directed by women,” brags one guy, on a private jet.)But the show it reminds me of most is still “Grey’s Anatomy”: “Industry” also begins on everyone’s first day, with our crew of newbies jockeying for top spots and hooking up with each other, enduring grueling hours and harsh — alluring — mentorship. The rookies’ ingenuity is sometimes valorized, but sometimes it is illegal, and sometimes super-duper illegal. Each character’s family of origin has some murky secret, and none of them are quite sure whether they should be ride-or-die loyal to one another or “all’s fair in work and war” competitors.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More