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Tag: Performing arts

  • Brandon Tsay, the hero who disarmed the Monterey Park shooting suspect, honored with medal of courage | CNN

    Brandon Tsay, the hero who disarmed the Monterey Park shooting suspect, honored with medal of courage | CNN

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    Alhambra
    CNN
     — 

    The City of Alhambra honored the man who has been hailed a hero for disarming the Monterey Park shooting suspect at a second dance studio during Lunar New Year celebrations last weekend.

    Brandon Tsay, 26, was awarded a medal of courage from the Alhambra Police Department during a ceremony Sunday.

    Tsay can be seen in surveillance video wrestling a firearm from the shooting suspect, Huu Can Tran, at a dance studio in Alhambra. Authorities say Tran had opened fire earlier at a Lunar New Year celebration at another dance studio in nearby Monterey Park, killing 11 people and injuring 10 others.

    “The carnage would have been so much worse had it not been for Brandon Tsay,” California Representative Judy Chu said during the award ceremony. There was a visible law enforcement presence at Sunday’s event, held during the city’s own Lunar New Year Festival.

    Tsay was surrounded by police officers when he came on stage to accept his award, where he was joined by his family. He received a standing ovation and some attendees had posters and signs bearing his name. One sign at the community event read: “Brandon Tsay is our hero.”

    Tsay was working the ticket office at the Alhambra dance studio when the armed man entered and pointed a firearm at him, Tsay told CNN last week. He lunged at Tran and struggled with him for about 40 seconds, he said. Tran hit him several times on the face, the back of his head and on his back and hands, Tsay said, before he was able to wrench the gun away from Tran.

    During the struggle, Tsay said he thought to himself, “If I let go of this gun, what would happen to me, the people around me, my friends, my family?”

    Chu, who presented Tsay with a certificate of congressional recognition, said Tsay’s story “was so amazing” that she called him to be her guest at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on February 7. But just one hour after Chu spoke with him, Biden called Tsay to personally invite him to be his guest, Chu said.

    Biden called Tsay last week to thank him for his act of bravery.

    “I wanted to call to see how you’re doing and thank you for taking such incredible action in the face of danger,” Biden told Tsay. “I don’t think you understand just how much you’ve done for so many people who are never going to even know you. But I want them to know more about you.

    “You have my respect,” the President said. “You are America, pal. You are who we are – no, no, you are who we are. America’s never backed down, we’ve always stepped up, because of people like you.”

    Chu called the President’s invitation a tremendous honor. “All the eyes of the nation will be on that address,” Chu said.

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  • After tragedy struck Monterey Park’s vibrant dance community, residents insist they will return to their beloved ballroom | CNN

    After tragedy struck Monterey Park’s vibrant dance community, residents insist they will return to their beloved ballroom | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    For years, dancers in high heels and glitzy dresses have hurried into Phillip Sam’s beauty supply store in Monterey Park ahead of big events, searching the maze of products for a finishing touch – strong hold hairspray, a swipe of glittery eyeshadow, a bejeweled claw clip. 

    It’s often their final stop before hitting the polished floors of Star Ballroom Dance Studio just across the street. But Sam thinks it will be quite some time before another dancer walks through his front door.  

    Two of his longtime customers, Mymy Nhan and Ming Wei Ma, were killed last weekend when a gunman opened fire inside the mirrored ballroom, leaving 11 dead and nine others wounded as the Asian-majority city ushered in the Lunar New Year. 

    “We went from celebrating – I have pictures of me with my family, happy, having dinner – and then that night, we’re texting, ‘Are you guys okay? Did you hear about this?,’” said Elizabeth Yang, an attorney who took ballroom classes at the studio every Monday.  

    A view overlooking Monterey Park.

    The tragedy has dealt a devastating blow to the city’s vibrant ballroom dance community. Star Ballroom has long served as an essential gathering spot, particularly for senior residents. Each day, rows of well-dressed dancers would glide across the brightly lit ballroom as a roster of competitive dance coaches guided them through the elegant steps of a waltz, tango, salsa or traditional Chinese dance. On weekend nights, dance parties would often fill the floor with over 100 people.

    “At the dance studio, at age 40, I’m probably the youngest member there,” Yang said, later adding, “There’s not too many active things for older people to do. … For those people who want to stay fit and get some form of exercise, they go ballroom dancing.”

    Many of the venue’s party attendees the night of the shooting were older, gathered there to relish in the final hours of Lunar New Year’s Eve. All but one of the shooter’s victims were in their 60s or 70s. The youngest, Xiujuan Yu, was 57.

    Now, the dance hall has been closed indefinitely, leaving its community without a crucial place of connection even as they mourn the losses of friends and beloved studio members.

    Attorney Elizabeth Yang, who took weekly classes at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, works in her office.

    Star Ballroom is at the epicenter of Monterey Park’s robust business district, a street lined with decades-old family businesses, mostly Asian-owned.

    When authorities announced the tragedy had struck along Garvey Avenue, many in the community could picture it immediately. It’s where residents crowd into Chinese cafes, stroll with their friends to tea shops and bakeries, and stop in markets to pick up fresh vegetables and herbs. Visitors could find the dance hall tucked next to a noodle shop and Chinese grocery and health store, its front door guarded by a pair of arched metal gates and strings of twinkling lights.

    The attack sent shock waves through the community, stunning even those who had never stepped foot in the studio. Many could call to mind a cousin, friend, uncle or aunt who has taken classes there.

    The gates outside the Star Ballroom Dance Studio have become surrounded by a makeshift memorial.

    A scene along the city's downtown Garvey Avenue near where the shooting took place.

    The victims included a caring father with plans to retire to his native Philippines, a longtime dance student, and the widely adored Ming Wei Ma, or “Mr. Ma,” who ran the studio with his significant other, Maria Liang, according to Yang and others close to them.

    Lian Zhang, who grew up in neighboring San Gabriel, arrived at Monterey Park’s city hall Monday night, clutching a packet of tea lights as she waited to meet friends for an evening vigil.

    “The most hurtful part is how close it was to home,” Zhang said. “We would have never thought that this was going to happen here. And I’m sure people say that everywhere. But it’s shocking … And of course, I’m going to think about my mom and think about my family, my aunts, my uncles. It could have been them,” she said.

    Ma taught dance classes at the elderly daycare where Zhang’s mother works, she said. Her mother remembered Ma as “very kind, very loving. Really sweet to all of the staff and to the elders that he teaches,” she said.

    Ma and Liang have cultivated a welcoming studio for dancers of all levels, often keeping members connected through WeChat groups where they would share updates, event photos and remind people of upcoming classes. The couple would be at the studio morning to night, encouraging new students to stand at the front of the class or watching dancers from one of the café tables lining the ballroom wall.

    Maria Liang, right, prays at the entrance of the dance studio during a ceremony led by Buddhist monks honoring the victims.

    “They’re like the cool aunt and uncle,” said Kevin Leung, a nurse who also rented space in the studio several days a week to teach traditional lion dancing and Kung Fu classes. When they heard Leung needed a space to teach his classes, they “welcomed us with open arms,” he said. “They’re like family.”

    It may take some time before dancers – many of whom are mourning the loss of multiple studio members – are ready to return to the venue again, Leung said, but he believes it’s what the community needs.

    “I was an ER nurse for 10 years. I’m used to seeing traumas. I’ve seen everything under the sun. It’s different when it happens to you. And then it’s like, wow, this is on your front doorstep. So we’ve got to push forward,” Leung said. One of his close family friends, 70-year-old Diana Man Ling Tom, was also killed in the shooting.

    “It’ll take time for (Liang) to get back on her feet, for the community to trust this place again. But I think it has to be here,” he said. He said he has already told Liang, “As soon as you’re back on your feet, we’ll be here.”

    Pictures of some of the shooting victims overlook a growing memorial outside the dance hall.

    Kevin Leung stands outside of the dance studio where he rented space for years to teach Kung Fu and traditional lion dancing. He knew two of those killed in the shooting.

    “I will not have any qualms about bringing my daughter back after they reopen,” Yang said. “We’ll still go back and we’ll still ballroom dance. We’re not going to be scared.”

    Several dancers close to Liang have assured her they will flood back into the studio as soon as she is ready, Yang said, and in the meantime they will continue to support her as she has always done for them.

    “It shows how resilient the community is,” she said. “Whenever there’s a challenge … the community can come back stronger than before.”

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  • Police are investigating motive after Monterey Park massacre leaves 10 dead and a city reeling during Lunar New Year celebrations | CNN

    Police are investigating motive after Monterey Park massacre leaves 10 dead and a city reeling during Lunar New Year celebrations | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Investigators in Monterey Park, California, are still searching for the motive of a gunman who killed 10 people and injured 10 others during a shooting inside a ballroom dance studio Saturday night, devastating the majority-Asian community on the eve of its Lunar New Year celebration.

    Terror continued overnight and into Sunday as the gunman had still not been caught and some had not been reunited with their loved ones. Ultimately, the city canceled the second day of its Lunar New Year festival, typically one of its most joyous holidays.

    Eventually, a suspect identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran was located in the nearby city of Torrance, where he died after shooting himself as police approached his vehicle, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday.

    Hours earlier, a gunman had walked into Star Ballroom Dance Studio shortly before 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, not long after the city’s streets had been crowded by thousands of festival-goers, the sheriff said.

    After releasing a barrage of gunfire on the people inside, the gunman drove to a second dance hall in neighboring Alhambra where he entered with a firearm but fled after being disarmed by two patrons, Luna said.

    When police arrived at the dance studio in Monterey Park less than three minutes after the first call for help, “they came across a scene that none of them had been prepared for,” city police chief Scott Wiese said. The shooter had inflicted “extensive” carnage, leaving behind chaos as people fled the building with those dead and injured still inside, he said.

    The suspected gunman had once been a regular patron of the dance hall, where he gave informal dance lessons and met his ex-wife, three people who knew him told CNN.

    The mass shooting is one of the deadliest in California’s history and was at least the 33rd in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. The violence came as a shock to many who felt Monterey Park was a safe enclave for the robust Asian community that has built a home there.

    “I’ve lived here for 37 years, and I could never have imagined such a terrible thing happening,” Rep. Judy Chu, who represents Monterey Park in Congress, told CNN Sunday, adding, “This is a tight-knit community and it has been very peaceful all these years, so that’s why it is even more shattering to have this happen.”

    Authorities have not named any of those killed or injured. The coroner’s office is still working to identify the deceased so police can notify their families, Luna said, adding that the victims are generally older than 50. Seven of the injured victims were still hospitalized Sunday, he said.

    Here’s what we know so far:

    • Suspect found in nearby city: At around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, police in the city of Torrance – about 30 miles southwest of Monterey Park – spotted a white cargo van matching the description of one seen leaving the scene of the Alhambra dance studio, Luna said. Officers followed the van into a shopping center parking lot and began getting out of their patrol car to approach the driver – later identified as Tran – but retreated when they heard a gunshot from inside the van, he said. Armored vehicles and SWAT teams arrived and eventually cleared the van, discovering Tran dead inside.
    • Evidence links suspect to shooting: Inside the van, investigators found “several pieces of evidence” linking Tran to both the Monterey Park and Alhambra dance studios, the sheriff said, not providing further details. They also found a handgun, Luna said. Police previously said a gun was wrestled from the armed man at the Alhambra dance studio.
    • Suspect was carrying semi-automatic weapon: Luna described the firearm taken from the man in Alhambra as a “magazine-fed semi-automatic assault pistol” with an extended, large-capacity magazine. A law enforcement official told CNN it was a Cobray M11 9mm semi-automatic weapon.
    • Motive still unknown: Investigators have yet to determine a motive, Luna said, but will be considering any available criminal or mental health history and issue a search warrant to find more details. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has obtained a search warrant for Tran’s home in Hemet, California, about 80 miles east of Monterey Park, a Hemet Police spokesperson confirmed.

    As details of the shooting unfolded Sunday, many state governors and national leaders voiced their support for the community and called for action to curb gun violence. President Joe Biden called the shooting a “senseless act.”

    “Even as we continue searching for answers about this attack, we know how deeply this attack has impacted the (Asian American Pacific Islander) community. Monterey Park is home to one of the largest AAPI communities in America, many of whom were celebrating the Lunar New Year along with loved ones and friends this weekend,” Biden said.

    Tran had once been a familiar face at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, three people who knew him told CNN, though it is unclear how often he visited the venue, if at all, in recent years.

    He even met his ex-wife there about two decades ago, she said in an interview. Tran saw her at a dance, introduced himself and offered her free lessons, she said.

    The two married soon after they met, according to the ex-wife, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the case. While Tran was never violent to her, she said he could be quick to anger. For example, she said, if she missed a step dancing, he would become upset because he felt it made him look bad. She said that after several years together, she got the impression that he had lost interest in her. Her sister, who also asked not to be named, confirmed her account.

    Tran filed for divorce in late 2005, and a judge approved the divorce the following year, Los Angeles court records show.

    Another long-time acquaintance of Tran’s also remembered him as a regular patron of the dance studio. The friend, who also asked not to be named, was close to Tran in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when he said Tran would come to the dance studio “almost every night” from his home in nearby San Gabriel.

    Tran often complained at the time that the instructors at the dance hall didn’t like him and said “evil things about him,” the friend remembered, adding that Tran was “hostile to a lot of people there.”

    More generally, Tran was easily irritated, complained a lot, and didn’t seem to trust people, the friend said.

    Tran’s friend said he hadn’t seen Tran in several years and was “totally shocked” when he heard about the shooting.

    “I know lots of people, and if they go to Star studio, they frequent there,” the friend said, adding that he was “worried maybe I know some of” the shooting victims.

    Tran worked as a truck driver at times, his ex-wife said. He was an immigrant from China, according to a copy of his marriage license she showed to CNN.

    In 2013, Tran sold his San Gabriel home, which he had owned for more than two decades, property records show. Seven years later, records show, he bought a mobile home in a senior citizens community in Hemet. A spokesperson for Hemet Police confirmed the location of his home to CNN Sunday.

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  • 10 people were killed at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, and the assailant is still at large | CNN

    10 people were killed at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, and the assailant is still at large | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Authorities are scrambling to find whoever killed 10 people Saturday night in Monterey Park, California, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

    Officers responded to a dance studio around 10:22 p.m. Saturday (1:22 a.m. ET Sunday) and found people “pouring out of the location, screaming,” Capt. Andrew Meyer said.

    The massacre Saturday night took place in the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, according to a CNN analysis.

    Ten people were pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s captain said.

    “There were at least 10 other victims who were transported to numerous local hospitals and are listed in various conditions from stable to critical,” Meyer said.

    The assailant fled the scene and remains at large Sunday morning, Meyer said.

    Police respond to the mass shooting Saturday night in Monterey Park, Caifornia.

    “As far as motive goes, it’s too early in the investigation to know what the motive is,” Meyer said.

    Monterey Park is about 7 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

    About 65% of Monterey Park’s residents are of Asian descent, according to the US Census Bureau.

    The shooting happened near Monterey Park’s Lunar New Year festival, which was scheduled to take place until 9 p.m. on Garvey Avenue between Garfield and Alhambra avenues.

    Meyer said it was too early to know whether the massacre was a hate crime.

    The Star Ballroom Dance Studio is in Monterey Park, California.

    Past Lunar New Year events in the city have drawn crowds estimated at over 100,000 people from across Southern California, according to the city. It’s unclear how many people were still gathered in the area when shots were fired.

    The local Lunar New Year festival that began Saturday and was scheduled to extend into Sunday has been canceled, Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said Sunday.

    “Out of an abundance of caution and reverence for the victims, we are canceling the event that’s going to happen later today,” Wiese said.

    Authorities are asking the public for any clues that may help with the investigation. Those with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 or provide an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

    This is a developing story and will be updated.

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  • ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ cast push back against hate, threats

    ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ cast push back against hate, threats

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    NEW YORK (AP) — As the cast of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” celebrated the new season, they credited the show’s creator with popularizing drag and expressed concern about the protests and threats to the performance style at the heart of the long-running series.

    “RuPaul really brought drag into the mainstream, truly made people aware that it’s an art form more than anything” contestant Marcia Marcia Marcia told The Associated Press at Thursday’s season 15 premiere in New York. The new season starts Friday on MTV.

    “I think everyone was like fine with drag for a little bit,” said the drag queen with the “Brady Bunch”-inspired name. “And now history is repeating itself and people are speaking out against it, which I think is so silly.”

    With a long and rich history, drag — the art of dressing as another gender, often for performance — has been attacked by right-wing politicians and activists who have falsely associated it with the “sexualization” and “grooming” of children. In recent months, protesters — sometimes bearing guns — have besieged drag story hours, during which performers read books to children. Bans on children at drag events have been floated. In late November, a shooter at a Colorado Springs nightclub turned a drag queen’s birthday party into a massacre and was charged with hate crimes and murder.

    Another contestant, Jax, said the threats, protests and hate were “disheartening” but not surprising: “Just like being a person of color, being a minority, growing up in certain communities, it’s something that I’ve had to undergo my entire life.”

    “But we always prevail,” Jax added. “We always prevail and we’re always going to come out on top because we’re on the right side of history and we love what we do and we’re not doing anything to harm anybody. We’re just trying to bring love to everything.”

    To contestant Loosey LaDuca, as well, this is nothing new: “It is really unfortunate that during this time, drag queens have become the new target. But LGBT people are no stranger to being the, you know, the public enemy.”

    Meeting threats with caution is fine, LaDuca said, but “we’ll never be scared.”

    Last month, New York City Councilman Erik Bottcher attended a drag story hour in his district. He filmed and posted video of “dozens of homophobic protesters outside with the most disgusting signs verbally attacking the families and the drag queen.” Two days later, he said, anti-drag activists vandalized the hallway outside his office and gained entry to his apartment building.

    “Two of them were arrested. A third was arrested for assaulting one of my neighbors,” he told the AP at the premiere. “This is all an attempt to intimidate those of us supporting drag story hour.”

    Contestant Irene Dubois has a theory about what’s behind the vitriol aimed at drag performers.

    “I think a man in women’s clothing is inherently hilarious just because we’re like, (gasps) ‘That’s not supposed to happen!’” Dubois hypothesized. “And it’s when the men in women’s clothing stop sort of doing the nudge, nudge, wink, wink and start actually enjoying the way they look in the women’s clothing that people start to sort of say, ‘Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. You’re supposed to be laughing at yourself. And if you’re not laughing at yourself, we don’t like it.’”

    “RuPaul’s Drag Race” judge Ross Mathews paints the progress and regression as “a pendulum swinging.”

    “The further we advance and the more that we are embraced, accepted, celebrated that pendulum — they’re going to try to swing it back, to move our movement back,” he says of anti-drag activists. “But you cannot put this genie back in the bottle. Darling, we are fabulous.”

    Marcia Marcia Marcia had a simple message for critics of drag, which she says is “all about fun and expression”: “If you have a problem with those things, I think you need to reevaluate.”

    In the end, contestant Princess Poppy hopes that it’s the impact RuPaul has made on culture with “Drag Race” that will prevail.

    “I feel like it’s helped a lot of people who don’t really quite understand drag people or gay people or drag queens,” she said. “They don’t really understand because they don’t really understand what we’re doing. But the show, it humanizes us, and it shows that we’re people, too.”

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  • China predicts COVID ‘normalcy’ within months, but experts forecast more than 1 million deaths

    China predicts COVID ‘normalcy’ within months, but experts forecast more than 1 million deaths

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    China’s closely watched reopening is now causing concern as the number of new COVID-19 cases grows and the country reports the first deaths in several weeks. 

    Much of the news out of China this week is in stark contrast to zero COVID, the strict policy that was in place up until a month ago. In response to widespread protests, authorities have lifted many of the restrictions that limited how people in China were able to move, work and treat their illnesses.

    Now some local governments are encouraging people with mild COVID to continue to work. Beijing reported five COVID deaths on Tuesday and two on Monday — the first COVID fatalities to be reported in the country in weeks. Cities like Guangzhou are expanding “fever clinics” that can handle up to 110,000 patients a day, up from 40,000. And basic cold medicines are in short supply.

    Chinese authorities have reportedly told state media that the surge is part of an “exit wave” of cases, according to the Financial Times. A headline from Monday’s China Daily, an English-language news outlet in China, reads: “Virus experts expect normalcy by spring.”

    Experts have predicted that millions of people in China will get sick, and up to 1.6 million people could die in 2023.

    COVID news to know: 

    • In the U.S., it’s still hard to find children’s cold medications. CVS Health
    CVS,
    -0.31%
    and Walgreens Boots Alliance
    WBA,
    +0.95%
    this week put limits on purchases of children’s cold and flu medicines in response to high demand amid a surge in cases of pediatric COVID, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, according to the Wall Street Journal. This includes medications like acetaminophen and ibuprofen. 

    • Testing positive a second or third time may worsen long-COVID symptoms, according to a study published in Nature in November. However, it can be hard to predict how each new infection will affect an individual patient. “It makes sense that repeat infections would not be beneficial to a person’s health,” one doctor told WebMD. “But I think it’s really hard to know what the additional risk of each subsequent infection would be because there are all sorts of other things in the mix.” 

    • COVID hospitalizations are rising in the U.S. There are about 40,000 people hospitalized with COVID right now, a figure that is 11% higher than it was two weeks ago, according to the most recent update of a New York Times tracker. The numbers of new infections and COVID-related deaths are also rising this month. The seven-day daily average of new cases is about 66,000, while about 413 people are dying each day.

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  • Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

    Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

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    Following a sharp and sustained rise in interest rates, U.S. stocks have taken a broad beating this year.

    But 2023 may bring very different circumstances.

    Below are lists of analysts’ favorite stocks among the benchmark S&P 500
    SPX,
    the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index
    MID
    and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index
    SML
    that are expected to rise the most over the next year. Those lists are followed by a summary of opinions of all 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA.

    Stocks rallied on Dec. 13 when the November CPI report showed a much slower inflation pace than economists had expected. Investors were also anticipating the Federal Open Market Committee’s next monetary policy announcement on Dec. 14. The consensus among economists polled by FactSet is for the Federal Reserve to raise the federal funds rate by 0.50% to a target range of 4.50% to 4.75%.

    Read: 5 things to watch when the Fed makes its interest-rate decision

    A 0.50% increase would be a slowdown from the four previous increases of 0.75%. The rate began 2022 in a range of zero to 0.25%, where it had sat since March 2020.

    A pivot for the Fed Reserve and the possibility that the federal funds rate will reach its “terminal” rate (the highest for this cycle) in the near term could set the stage for a broad rally for stocks in 2023.

    Wall Street’s large-cap favorites

    Among the S&P 500, 92 stocks are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts working for brokerage firms. That number itself is interesting — at the end of 2021, 93 of the S&P 500 had this distinction. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has declined 16% in 2022, with all sectors down except for energy, which has risen 53%, and the utilities sector, which his risen 1% (both excluding dividends).

    Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 with at least 75% “buy” or equivalent ratings that analysts expect to rise the most over the next year, based on consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    EQT Corp.

    		 EQT Oil and Gas Production

    		 $36.91

    		 $59.70

    		 62%

    		 78%

    		 69%
    Catalent Inc.

    		 CTLT Pharmaceuticals

    		 $45.50

    		 $72.42

    		 59%

    		 75%

    		 -64%
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN Internet Retail

    		 $90.55

    		 $136.02

    		 50%

    		 91%

    		 -46%
    Global Payments Inc.

    		 GPN Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $99.64

    		 $147.43

    		 48%

    		 75%

    		 -26%
    Signature Bank

    		 SBNY Regional Banks

    		 $122.73

    		 $180.44

    		 47%

    		 78%

    		 -62%
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM Software

    		 $133.11

    		 $195.59

    		 47%

    		 80%

    		 -48%
    Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. Class A

    		 BIO Medical Specialties

    		 $418.28

    		 $591.00

    		 41%

    		 100%

    		 -45%
    Zoetis Inc. Class A

    		 ZTS Pharmaceuticals

    		 $152.86

    		 $212.80

    		 39%

    		 87%

    		 -37%
    Delta Air Lines Inc.

    		 DAL Airlines

    		 $34.77

    		 $48.31

    		 39%

    		 90%

    		 -11%
    Diamondback Energy Inc.

    		 FANG Oil and Gas Production

    		 $134.21

    		 $182.33

    		 36%

    		 84%

    		 24%
    Caesars Entertainment Inc

    		 CZR Casinos/ Gaming

    		 $50.27

    		 $67.79

    		 35%

    		 81%

    		 -46%
    Alphabet Inc. Class A

    		 GOOGL Internet Software/ Services

    		 $93.31

    		 $125.70

    		 35%

    		 92%

    		 -36%
    Halliburton Co.

    		 HAL Oilfield Services/ Equipment

    		 $34.30

    		 $45.95

    		 34%

    		 86%

    		 50%
    Alaska Air Group Inc.

    		 ALK Airlines

    		 $45.75

    		 $61.08

    		 34%

    		 93%

    		 -12%
    Targa Resources Corp.

    		 TRGP Gas Distributors

    		 $70.42

    		 $93.95

    		 33%

    		 95%

    		 35%
    Charles River Laboratories International Inc.

    		 CRL Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $201.94

    		 $269.25

    		 33%

    		 88%

    		 -46%
    ServiceNow Inc.

    		 NOW Information Technology Services

    		 $401.64

    		 $529.83

    		 32%

    		 92%

    		 -38%
    Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

    		 TTWO Software

    		 $102.61

    		 $135.04

    		 32%

    		 79%

    		 -42%
    EOG Resources Inc.

    		 EOG Oil and Gas Production

    		 $124.06

    		 $158.24

    		 28%

    		 82%

    		 40%
    Southwest Airlines Co.

    		 LUV Airlines

    		 $38.94

    		 $49.56

    		 27%

    		 76%

    		 -9%
    Source: FactSet

    Most of the companies on the S&P 500 list expected to soar in 2023 have seen large declines in 2022. But the company at the top of the list, EQT Corp.
    EQT,
    is an exception. The stock has risen 69% in 2022 and is expected to add another 62% over the next 12 months. Analysts expect the company’s earnings per share to double during 2023 (in part from its expected acquisition of THQ), after nearly a four-fold EPS increase in 2022.

    Shares of Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN
    are expected to soar 50% over the next year, following a decline of 46% so far in 2022. If the shares were to rise 50% from here to the price target of $136.02, they would still be 18% below their closing price of 166.72 at the end of 2021.

    Read: Here’s why Amazon is Citi’s top internet stock idea

    You can see the earnings estimates and more for any stock in this article by clicking on its ticker.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    Mid-cap stocks expected to rise the most

    The lists of favored stocks are limited to those covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet.

    Among components of the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index, there are 84 stocks with at least 75% “buy” ratings. Here at the 20 expected to rise the most over the next year:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 ARWR Biotechnology

    		 $31.85

    		 $69.69

    		 119%

    		 83%

    		 -52%
    Lantheus Holdings Inc.

    		 LNTH Medical Specialties

    		 $54.92

    		 $102.00

    		 86%

    		 100%

    		 90%
    Progyny Inc.

    		 PGNY Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $31.21

    		 $55.57

    		 78%

    		 100%

    		 -38%
    Coherent Corp.

    		 COHR Electronic Equipment/ Instruments

    		 $35.41

    		 $60.56

    		 71%

    		 84%

    		 -48%
    Exelixis Inc.

    		 EXEL Biotechnology

    		 $16.08

    		 $26.07

    		 62%

    		 81%

    		 -12%
    Darling Ingredients Inc.

    		 DAR Food: Specialty/ Candy

    		 $61.17

    		 $97.36

    		 59%

    		 93%

    		 -12%
    Perrigo Co. PLC

    		 PRGO Pharmaceuticals

    		 $31.83

    		 $49.25

    		 55%

    		 100%

    		 -18%
    Mattel Inc.

    		 MAT Recreational Products

    		 $17.39

    		 $26.58

    		 53%

    		 87%

    		 -19%
    ACI Worldwide Inc.

    		 ACIW Software

    		 $20.75

    		 $31.40

    		 51%

    		 83%

    		 -40%
    Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

    		 MODG Recreational Products

    		 $21.99

    		 $32.91

    		 50%

    		 83%

    		 -20%
    Dycom Industries Inc.

    		 DY Engineering and Construction

    		 $86.03

    		 $128.13

    		 49%

    		 100%

    		 -8%
    Travel + Leisure Co.

    		 TNL Hotels/ Resorts/ Cruiselines

    		 $37.98

    		 $56.00

    		 47%

    		 75%

    		 -31%
    Frontier Communications Parent Inc.

    		 FYBR Telecommunications

    		 $25.21

    		 $36.18

    		 44%

    		 82%

    		 -15%
    Manhattan Associates Inc.

    		 MANH Software

    		 $120.06

    		 $171.80

    		 43%

    		 88%

    		 -23%
    MP Materials Corp Class A

    		 MP Other Metals/ Minerals

    		 $31.39

    		 $44.79

    		 43%

    		 92%

    		 -31%
    Lumentum Holdings Inc.

    		 LITE Electrical Products

    		 $54.45

    		 $76.44

    		 40%

    		 76%

    		 -49%
    Tenet Healthcare Corp.

    		 THC Hospital/ Nursing Management

    		 $44.22

    		 $62.00

    		 40%

    		 80%

    		 -46%
    Repligen Corp.

    		 RGEN Pharmaceuticals

    		 $166.88

    		 $233.10

    		 40%

    		 82%

    		 -37%
    STAAR Surgical Co.

    		 STAA Medical Specialties

    		 $59.57

    		 $82.67

    		 39%

    		 82%

    		 -35%
    Carlisle Cos. Inc.

    		 CSL Building Products

    		 $251.99

    		 $348.33

    		 38%

    		 75%

    		 2%
    Source: FactSet
    Wall Street’s favorite small-cap names

    Among companies in the S&P Small Cap 600 Index, 91 are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts. Here are the 20 with the highest 12-month upside potential indicated by consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    UniQure NV

    		 QURE Biotechnology

    		 $22.99

    		 $51.29

    		 123%

    		 95%

    		 11%
    Cara Therapeutics Inc.

    		 CARA Biotechnology

    		 $11.34

    		 $23.63

    		 108%

    		 88%

    		 -7%
    Vir Biotechnology Inc.

    		 VIR Biotechnology

    		 $25.50

    		 $53.00

    		 108%

    		 75%

    		 -39%
    Dynavax Technologies Corp.

    		 DVAX Biotechnology

    		 $11.22

    		 $23.20

    		 107%

    		 100%

    		 -20%
    Thryv Holdings Inc.

    		 THRY Advertising/ Marketing Services

    		 $18.40

    		 $36.75

    		 100%

    		 100%

    		 -55%
    Artivion Inc.

    		 AORT Medical Specialties

    		 $12.93

    		 $23.13

    		 79%

    		 83%

    		 -36%
    Cytokinetics Inc.

    		 CYTK Pharmaceuticals

    		 $38.33

    		 $67.43

    		 76%

    		 100%

    		 -16%
    Harsco Corp.

    		 HSC Environmental Services

    		 $7.17

    		 $12.30

    		 72%

    		 80%

    		 -57%
    Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 LGND Pharmaceuticals

    		 $64.80

    		 $110.83

    		 71%

    		 100%

    		 -35%
    Corcept Therapeutics Inc.

    		 CORT Pharmaceuticals

    		 $20.84

    		 $34.20

    		 64%

    		 80%

    		 5%
    Payoneer Global Inc.

    		 PAYO Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $5.70

    		 $9.33

    		 64%

    		 100%

    		 -22%
    Xencor Inc.

    		 XNCR Biotechnology

    		 $28.69

    		 $46.71

    		 63%

    		 93%

    		 -28%
    Pacira Biosciences Inc.

    		 PCRX Pharmaceuticals

    		 $45.50

    		 $72.90

    		 60%

    		 80%

    		 -24%
    BioLife Solutions Inc.

    		 BLFS Chemicals

    		 $19.72

    		 $31.38

    		 59%

    		 89%

    		 -47%
    Customers Bancorp Inc.

    		 CUBI Regional Banks

    		 $30.00

    		 $47.63

    		 59%

    		 75%

    		 -54%
    ModivCare Inc.

    		 MODV Other Transportation

    		 $92.22

    		 $145.83

    		 58%

    		 100%

    		 -38%
    Stride Inc.

    		 LRN Consumer Services

    		 $32.56

    		 $51.25

    		 57%

    		 100%

    		 -2%
    Ranger Oil Corp. Class A

    		 ROCC Oil and Gas Production

    		 $36.98

    		 $58.00

    		 57%

    		 100%

    		 37%
    Outfront Media Inc.

    		 OUT Real Estate Investment Trusts

    		 $17.59

    		 $27.00

    		 53%

    		 83%

    		 -34%
    Walker & Dunlop Inc.

    		 WD Finance/ Rental/ Leasing

    		 $82.22

    		 $125.20

    		 52%

    		 100%

    		 -46%
    Source: FactSet
    The Dow

    Here are all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average ranked by how much analysts expect their prices to rise over the next year:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM Software

    		 $133.11

    		 $195.59

    		 47%

    		 80%

    		 -48%
    Walt Disney Co.

    		 DIS Movies/ Entertainment

    		 $94.66

    		 $119.60

    		 26%

    		 82%

    		 -39%
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL Telecommunications Equipment

    		 $144.49

    		 $173.70

    		 20%

    		 74%

    		 -19%
    Verizon Communications Inc.

    		 VZ Telecommunications

    		 $37.95

    		 $44.60

    		 18%

    		 21%

    		 -27%
    Visa Inc. Class A

    		 V Misc.s Commercial Services

    		 $214.59

    		 $249.33

    		 16%

    		 86%

    		 -1%
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT Software

    		 $252.51

    		 $293.06

    		 16%

    		 91%

    		 -25%
    Chevron Corp.

    		 CVX Integrated Oil

    		 $169.75

    		 $191.20

    		 13%

    		 54%

    		 45%
    Cisco Systems Inc.

    		 CSCO Information Technology Services

    		 $49.30

    		 $53.76

    		 9%

    		 44%

    		 -22%
    UnitedHealth Group Inc.

    		 UNH Managed Health Care

    		 $545.86

    		 $593.30

    		 9%

    		 85%

    		 9%
    Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

    		 GS Investment Banks/ Brokers

    		 $363.18

    		 $392.63

    		 8%

    		 59%

    		 -5%
    Walmart Inc.

    		 WMT Specialty Stores

    		 $148.02

    		 $159.86

    		 8%

    		 72%

    		 2%
    JPMorgan Chase & Co.

    		 JPM Banks

    		 $134.21

    		 $143.84

    		 7%

    		 59%

    		 -15%
    Home Depot Inc.

    		 HD Home Improvement Chains

    		 $327.98

    		 $346.61

    		 6%

    		 61%

    		 -21%
    American Express Co.

    		 AXP Finance/ Rental/ Leasing

    		 $157.31

    		 $164.57

    		 5%

    		 43%

    		 -4%
    McDonald’s Corp.

    		 MCD Restaurants

    		 $276.62

    		 $288.67

    		 4%

    		 72%

    		 3%
    Johnson & Johnson

    		 JNJ Pharmaceuticals

    		 $177.84

    		 $185.35

    		 4%

    		 36%

    		 4%
    Coca-Cola Co.

    		 KO Beverages: Non-Alcoholic

    		 $63.97

    		 $66.62

    		 4%

    		 73%

    		 8%
    Boeing Co.

    		 BA Aerospace and Defense

    		 $186.27

    		 $192.69

    		 3%

    		 77%

    		 -7%
    Intel Corp.

    		 INTC Semiconductors

    		 $28.69

    		 $29.54

    		 3%

    		 13%

    		 -44%
    Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.

    		 WBA Drugstore Chains

    		 $41.06

    		 $42.24

    		 3%

    		 17%

    		 -21%
    Merck & Co. Inc.

    		 MRK Pharmaceuticals

    		 $108.97

    		 $110.62

    		 2%

    		 65%

    		 42%
    Caterpillar Inc.

    		 CAT Trucks/ Construction/ Farm Machinery

    		 $233.06

    		 $236.23

    		 1%

    		 41%

    		 13%
    Honeywell International Inc.

    		 HON Aerospace and Defense

    		 $214.50

    		 $217.35

    		 1%

    		 54%

    		 3%
    Nike Inc. Class B

    		 NKE Apparel/ Footwear

    		 $112.07

    		 $112.58

    		 0%

    		 64%

    		 -33%
    3M Co.

    		 MMM Industrial Conglomerates

    		 $126.85

    		 $127.30

    		 0%

    		 5%

    		 -29%
    Procter & Gamble Co.

    		 PG Household/ Personal Care

    		 $152.47

    		 $150.22

    		 -1%

    		 59%

    		 -7%
    Travelers Companies Inc.

    		 TRV Multi-Line Insurance

    		 $187.11

    		 $184.24

    		 -2%

    		 18%

    		 20%
    Amgen Inc.

    		 AMGN Biotechnology

    		 $276.78

    		 $264.79

    		 -4%

    		 24%

    		 23%
    Dow Inc.

    		 DOW Chemicals

    		 $51.11

    		 $48.73

    		 -5%

    		 15%

    		 -10%
    International Business Machines Corp.

    		 IBM Information Technology Services

    		 $149.21

    		 $140.29

    		 -6%

    		 33%

    		 12%
    Source: FactSet

    Don’t miss: 10 Dividend Aristocrat stocks expected by analysts to rise up to 54% in 2023

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  • Brendan Fraser is back. But to him, ‘I was never far away’

    Brendan Fraser is back. But to him, ‘I was never far away’

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    NEW YORK — In a darkened hotel room in New York’s Soho neighborhood, Brendan Fraser kindly greets a reporter with an open plastic bag in his hand. “Would you like a gummy bear?”

    Fraser, the 54-year-old actor, is in many ways an extremely familiar face to encounter. Here is the once ubiquitous ’90s presence and action star of “The Mummy” and “George of the Jungle,” whose warm, earnest disposition has made him beloved, still, many years later.

    But Fraser, little seen on the big screen for much of the last decade, is also not quite as you might remember him. His voice is softer. He’s more sensitive, almost intensely so. He seems to bear some bruises from an up-and-down life. If Fraser seems both as he was once was but also someone markedly different, that’s appropriate. In Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” he gives a performance unlike any he’s given before. And it may well win him an Academy Award.

    Fraser’s performance been hailed as his comeback — a word, he says, that “doesn’t hurt my feelings.” But it’s not the one he’d choose.

    “If anything, this is a reintroduction more than a comeback,” Fraser says. “It’s an opportunity to reintroduce myself to an industry, who I do not believe forgot me as is being perpetrated. I’ve just never been that far away.”

    Fraser is very close at hand, indeed, in “The Whale.” In the adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s play, which A24 releases in theaters Friday, Fraser is in virtually every scene. He plays a reclusive, obese English teacher named Charlie whose overeating stems from past trauma. As health woes shrink the time he has left, the 600-pound Charlie struggles to reacquaint himself to his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink).

    Fraser’s performance, widely celebrated since the film’s Venice Film Festival premiere, has two Oscar-friendly traits going it for: A comeback narrative and a physical metamorphosis. For the role, Fraser wore a massive body suit and prosthetics crafted by makeup artist Adrian Morot that required hours in makeup each morning.

    But regardless of all the role’s transformation trappings, Fraser’s performance resides in his sad, soulful eyes and compassionate interactions with the characters that come in and out of his home. (Hong Chau plays a friend and nurse.) It adds up to Fraser’s most empathetic performance, one that has returned him to the spotlight after years making quickly forgotten films like “Hair Brained” (2013) and the straight-to-DVD “Breakout” (2013). On stages now from London to Toronto, standing ovations have trailed Fraser — a leading man reborn — wherever he goes.

    For Fraser, who spent much of his previous heyday in Hollywood swinging on vines and racing through pyramids, playing Charlie in “The Whale” has a cosmic symmetry. He could identify with him, Fraser says, “in ways that might surprise you.” When he was in his late 20s trying to be as fit as he could be for “George of the Jungle,” Fraser encountered his own body-image issues.

    “All I knew is that I never felt like it was enough. I questioned myself. I felt scrutinized, judged, objectified, often humiliated,” Fraser says. “It did play with my head. It did play with my confidence.”

    Some have questioned whether Fraser’s role in “The Whale” ought to have gone to someone who was authentically heavy. But Fraser, who collaborated with the Obesity Action Coalition in building the performance, says he intimately understands a different kind of appearance-based judgment.

    “The term was ‘himbo,’” he says. “I wasn’t sure if I appreciated it or not. I know that’s bimbo, which is a derogatory term, except it’s a dude. It just left me with a feeling of profound insecurity. What do I have to do to please you?”

    “It didn’t matter, really, because life took over. I did other things. I now arrive at a place where I see the flip side of the coin.”

    After seeing the play 10 years ago at Playwrights Horizon, Aronofsky, the director of “Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan,” spent years contemplating different actors who could play the protagonist of “The Whale” without any success. Then he had Fraser come in and read for the part.

    “It wasn’t like I went into this with a calculation: Oh, a forgotten American-Canadian treasure,” says Aronofsky. “He was the right guy for the right role at the right time. If anything, I was wondering would people think it was a silly choice or something. There wasn’t any cool factor that I could see.”

    Aronofsky instead depended on his gut and an old axiom: “Once a movie star, always a movie star.” Plus, Fraser was hungry. He wanted the part desperately and was ready to put in all the work, all the time in the make-up chair. Still, Aronofsky would later marvel, watching a clip reel of Fraser at an awards ceremony, at the juxtaposition of “The Whale” with movies like “Encino Man,” “Bedazzled” and “Airheads.”

    “He plays this kind of very present, truthful, innocent goofus kind of guy,” says Aronofsky. “Then you intercut it with ‘The Whale.’ It was kind of jaw-dropping to me that this was one human being. There’s a gap in between of a lot of years.”

    Fraser never stopped working, but his movie star days mostly dried up in the years after his 2008 films “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” and the 3D “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Around that time, he and his wife, Afton Smith, with whom he has three sons, divorced.

    “I took some personal time. It was important,” says Fraser. “Mostly connecting with my life as a father. It gave me an appreciation for my capacity to love. What I learned informs the latter half of my professional life now.”

    “Now I know my purpose. Take everything I’ve learned. Own it. And, if possible, let if fuel the work that comes before me,” adds Fraser. “It’s a nice idea, but what work will come before me?”

    At a Beverly Hills, California, luncheon in 2003, Fraser was groped by Hollywood Foreign Press Association member Philip Berk, Fraser said in 2018. (Berk disputed Fraser’s account.) The experience, Fraser told GQ, made him feel like “something had been taken away from me” and “made me retreat.”

    Last month, Fraser announced he won’t attend the Golden Globes in January, whether he’s nominated or not. “My mother didn’t raise a hypocrite,” Fraser said. Still, the nature of awards campaigns will likely keep Fraser in the public eye through the Oscars in March. Is he at all trepidatious about being back in the spotlight?

    “I think it’s going to be for the rest of my career,” Fraser replies. “No. I have an obligation to do this. I feel duty bound to, as politely as a I can, to use that casual prejudice to describe this character, to remind them that there’s a better way of doing that. Obesity is the last domain of accepted, casual bigotry that we still abide.”

    During shooting on a sound stage in Newburgh, New York, Chau was often impressed by how Fraser worked steadily with a hundred pounds of cumbersome prosthetics on him and crew members buzzing around him before every take.

    “I just thought Brendan was such an angel and so gracious in the way he managed that and compartmentalized all that was going on around him,” says Chau. “I naturally felt like taking care of him on set. Making sure his water bottle was someplace close by. Holding his hand and making sure he got up off the couch OK.”

    Little about the film, or Fraser’s journey with it, was inevitable. His first meeting with Aronofsky was in February 2020. The pandemic nearly led to the production’s cancellation.

    “I gave it everything I had every day,” he says. “We lived under existential threat of COVID. An actor’s job is to approach everything like it’s the first time. I did but also as if it might be the last time.”

    Instead, Fraser’s performance opened an entire new chapter for him as an actor. He recently shot a supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Pondering what comes next, though, will have to wait until another day. When the time for the interview is through, Fraser stands up and graciously pulls a bag out of his pocket.

    “Gummy bear for the road?” Fraser asks. “I recommend pineapple.”

    ———

    Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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  • George Clooney, Gladys Knight among Kennedy Center honorees

    George Clooney, Gladys Knight among Kennedy Center honorees

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    WASHINGTON — Performers such as Gladys Knight or the Irish band U2 usually would be headlining a concert for thousands but at Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors the tables will be turned as they and other artists will be the ones feted for their lifetime of artistic contributions.

    Actor, director, producer and human rights activist George Clooney, groundbreaking composer and conductor Tania León, and contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant will join Knight, and the entire crew of U2 in being honored by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

    The organization honors a select group of people every year for their artistic influences on American culture. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their respective spouses are slated to attend.

    The 61-year-old Clooney — the actor among this year’s musically leaning group of honorees — has television credits going back into the late 1970s but became a household name with the role of Doug Ross in the television show ER.

    From there he starred in movies such as “Batman & Robin,” “Three Kings,” “Ocean’s Eleven” (and Twelve and Thirteen), and his most recent movie “Ticket to Paradise.” He also has extensive directing and producing credits including “Good Night, and Good Luck.” He and his wife, humanitarian rights lawyer Amal Clooney, created the Clooney Foundation for Justice, and he’s produced telethons to raise money for various causes.

    “To be mentioned in the same breath with the rest of these incredible artists is an honor. This is a genuinely exciting surprise for the whole Clooney family,” said Clooney in a statement on the Center’s website.

    Knight, 78, said in a statement that she was “humbled beyond words” at receiving the Kennedy honor. The Georgia-born Knight began singing gospel music at the age of 4 and went on to a career that has spanned decades.

    Knight and family members started a band that would later be known as “Gladys Knight & The Pips” and produced their first album in 1960 when Knight was just 16. Since then she’s recorded dozens of albums with such classic hits as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Along the way she’s acted in television shows and movies. When Knight and the band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Mariah Carey described Knight as “… a textbook you learn from.”

    Sometimes the Kennedy Center honors not just individuals but groups; “Sesame Street” once got the nod.

    This year it’s the band U2. The group’s strong connection to America goes back decades. They performed in Washington during their first trip to America in 1980. In a statement the band — made up of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. — said they originally came to America with big dreams “fueled in part by the commonly held belief at home that America smiles on Ireland.”

    “And it turned out to be true, yet again,” read the statement. “It has been a four-decade love affair with the country and its people, its artists, and culture.”

    U2 has sold 170 million albums and been honored with 22 Grammys. The band’s epic singles include “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” Lead singer Bono has also become known for his philanthropic work to eradicate poverty and to raise awareness about AIDS.

    Christian music performed Amy Grant said in an interview with The Associated Press that she’d never even been to the Kennedy Center Honors even though her husband, country musician Vince Gill, has performed during previous ceremonies. Grammy winner Grant is well known for crossover pop hits like “Baby, Baby,” “Every Heartbeat” and “That’s What Love is For.” She’s sold more than 30 million albums, including her 1991 record “Heart in Motion,” that introduced her to a larger pop audience.

    Composer and conductor Tania Leon said during an interview when the honorees were announced that she wasn’t expecting “anything spectacular” when the Kennedy Center initially reached out to her. After all, she’s worked with the Kennedy Center numerous times over the years going back to 1980 when she was commissioned to compose music for a play.

    But the 79-year-old Pulitzer prize winner said she was stunned to learn that this time the ceremony was going to be for her.

    Leon left Cuba as a refugee in 1967 and eventually settled in New York City. She’s a founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series.

    ——

    Follow Santana on Twitter @ruskygal.

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  • New version of ‘The Wiz’ to tour and end up on Broadway

    New version of ‘The Wiz’ to tour and end up on Broadway

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    NEW YORK — A new production of “The Wiz” is heading out on a national tour next year before following the yellow brick road to Broadway, with its director hoping the show becomes a “touchstone for a new generation.”

    Director Schele Williams tells The Associated Press that it’s a very personal musical for her, creating possibilities in her mind as a girl when she saw it.

    “It was the first time I was able to ever imagine myself on Broadway. It was because of ‘The Wiz.’” she said. “I’m really excited to awaken those dreams in other little Black girls like me.”

    The tour launches in the fall in Baltimore, home of the 1974 world premiere of the musical. Following its run at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, the tour will cross the country before it starts its limited engagement on Broadway in spring 2024.

    “My goal with this show is for it to be an extraordinary celebration of Black culture, for it to be a touchstone for a new generation in the way that it was for my generation,” said Williams.

    The new show will be choreographed by JaQuel Knight and music supervision, orchestrations and music arrangements are by Joseph Joubert.

    The show was adapted from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, with a book by William F. Brown, and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.

    “The Wiz” opened on Broadway in 1975 and won seven Tonys, including best musical. It has such classic songs as “What Would I Do If I Could Feel” and “Ease On Down the Road.”

    “I don’t want ‘The Wiz’ to become anything that it’s not. But I am excited for it to become a more timeless score. So we’re going to look at how do we do that while also honoring where it came from and the sound that it originally had,” said Williams.

    She will be making her Broadway directorial debut with “The Wiz.” Previously, she was the associate director of “Motown: The Musical,” and re-conceived and directed the recent national tour of the show. She is currently in London directing “Mandela,” a new musical inspired by the life of anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.

    A 1978 movie version of “The Wiz” starred Diana Ross, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor. Michael Jackson co-starred as the Scarecrow, with Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man and Ted Ross as the Lion. NBC televised a live version in 2015 with Queen Latifah, Ne-Yo and David Alan Grier.

    The original Broadway production featured Stephanie Mills as Dorothy, Dee Dee Bridgewater as good witch Glinda and Andre De Shields as the Wiz. Mills returned as Dorothy in a 1984 revival.

    “I’m mostly excited more than anything that this is going to be a show that my kids are going to enjoy. My daughters are 11 and 12, and this is now going to be their show, and I’m really excited about that,” said Williams.

    ———

    Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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  • ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ extends its long Broadway goodbye

    ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ extends its long Broadway goodbye

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    NEW YORK — The masked man of Broadway is going out strong.

    “The Phantom of the Opera” — Broadway’s longest-running show — has postponed its final performance by eight weeks, pushing its final curtain from February to April after ticket demand spiked. Last week, the show raked in an eye-popping $2,2 million with a full house.

    The musical — a fixture on Broadway since 1988, weathering recessions, war and cultural shifts — will now play its final Broadway performance on April 16. When it closes, it will have played 13,981 performances.

    “We are all thrilled that not only the show’s wonderful fans have been snapping up the remaining tickets, but also that a new, younger audience is equally eager to see this legendary production before it disappears,” lead producer Cameron Mackintosh said in a statement.

    Producers said there would be no more postponements. “This is the only possible extension for the Broadway champion, as the theater will then be closed for major renovations after the show’s incredible 35-year run.”

    Based on a novel by Gaston Leroux, “Phantom” tells the story of a deformed composer who haunts the Paris Opera House and falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lavish songs include “Masquerade,” ″Angel of Music,” ″All I Ask of You” and “The Music of the Night.”

    The closing of “Phantom” would mean the longest-running show crown would go to “Chicago,” which started in 1996. “The Lion King” is next, having begun performances in 1997.

    Broadway took a pounding during the pandemic, with all theaters closed for more than 18 months. Some of the most popular shows — “Hamilton,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” — have rebounded well, but other shows have struggled. Breaking even usually requires a steady stream of tourists, especially for the costly “Phantom,” and visitors to the city haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.

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  • ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’ singer-actor Irene Cara dies at 63

    ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’ singer-actor Irene Cara dies at 63

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    NEW YORK — Oscar, Golden Globe and two-time Grammy winning singer-actress Irene Cara, who starred and sang the title cut from the 1980 hit movie “Fame” and then belted out the era-defining hit “Flashdance … What a Feeling” from 1983’s “Flashdance,” has died. She was 63.

    Her publicist, Judith A. Moose, announced the news on social media, writing that a cause of death was “currently unknown.” Moose also confirmed the death to an Associated Press reporter on Saturday. Cara died at her home in Florida. The exact day of her death was not disclosed.

    “Irene’s family has requested privacy as they process their grief,” Moose wrote. “She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.”

    During her career, Cara had three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Breakdance,” “Fame” and “Flashdance … What A Feeling,” which spent six weeks at No. 1. She was behind some of the most joyful, high-energy pop anthems of the early ’80s, including “Out Here On My Own” and “Why Me?”

    Tributes poured in on Saturday on social media, including from Deborah Cox, who called Cara an inspiration, and Holly Robinson Peete, who recalled seeing Cara perform: “The insane combination of talent and beauty was overwhelming to me. This hurts my heart so much.”

    She first came to prominence among the young actors playing performing arts high schoolers in Alan Parker’s “Fame,” with co-stars Debbie Allen, Paul McCrane and Anne Meara. Cara played Coco Hernandez, a striving dancer who endures all manner of deprivations, including a creepy nude photo shoot.

    “How bright our spirits go shooting out into space, depends on how much we contributed to the earthly brilliance of this world. And I mean to be a major contributor!” she says in the movie.

    Cara sang on the soaring title song with the chorus — “Remember my name/I’m gonna live forever/I’m gonna learn how to fly/I feel it coming together/People will see me and cry” — which would go on to be nominated for an Academy Award for best original song. She also sang on “Out Here on My Own,” “Hot Lunch Jam” and “I Sing the Body Electric.”

    Allen took to Twitter Saturday to mourn, posting pictures of them together and calling Cara a “a gifted and beautiful genius. Her talent and her music will live forever! Forever remember her name!”

    Lenny Kravitz addressed Cara in a tweet: “You inspired me more than you could ever know. Your songwriting and vocals created pure energy that will never cease. You also defined an era that is so close to my heart.” Stephanie Mills. who co-starred with Cara in “Maggie Flynn” on Broadway in 1968, wrote: “Such an amazing talent and sweet person.”

    Three years after her triumph with “Fame,” she and the songwriting team of “Flashdance” — music by Giorgio Moroder, lyrics by Keith Forsey and Cara — were accepting the Oscar for best original song for “Flashdance … What a Feeling.”

    The movie starred Jennifer Beals as a steel-town girl who dances in a bar at night and hopes to attend a prestigious dance conservatory. It included the hit song “Maniac,” featuring Beals’ character leaping, spinning, stomping her feet and the slow-burning theme song.

    “There aren’t enough words to express my love and my gratitude,” Cara told the Oscar crowd in her thanks. “And last but not least, a very special gentlemen who I guess started it all for me many years ago. To Alan Parker, wherever you may be tonight, I thank him.”

    The New York-born Cara began her career on Broadway, with small parts in short-lived shows, although a musical called “The Me Nobody Knows” ran over 300 performances. She toured in the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” as Mary Magdalene in the mid-1990s and a tour of the musical ”Flashdance” toured 2012-14 with her songs.

    She also created the all-female band Irene Cara Presents Hot Caramel and put out a double CD with the single “How Can I Make You Luv Me.” Her movie credits include ”Sparkle” and “D.C. Cab.”

    ———

    Associated Press reporters Hillel Italie and Freida Frisaro contributed to this report.

    ———

    Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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  • ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’ singer-actor Irene Cara dies at 63

    ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’ singer-actor Irene Cara dies at 63

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    NEW YORK — Oscar, Golden Globe and two-time Grammy winning singer-actress Irene Cara, who starred and sang the title cut from the 1980 hit movie “Fame” and then belted out the era-defining hit “Flashdance … What a Feeling” from 1983’s “Flashdance,” has died. She was 63.

    Her publicist, Judith A. Moose, announced the news on social media, writing that a cause of death was “currently unknown.” Moose also confirmed the death to an Associated Press reporter on Saturday. Cara died at her home in Florida. The exact day of her death was not disclosed.

    “Irene’s family has requested privacy as they process their grief,” Moose wrote. “She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.”

    During her career, Cara had three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Breakdance,” “Out Here On My Own,” “Fame” and “Flashdance … What A Feeling,” which spent six weeks at No. 1. She was behind some of the most joyful, high-energy pop anthems of the early ’80s.

    Tributes poured in on Saturday on social media, including from Deborah Cox, who called Cara an inspiration, and Holly Robinson Peete, who recalled seeing Cara perform: “The insane combination of talent and beauty was overwhelming to me. This hurts my heart so much.”

    She first came to prominence among the young actors playing performing arts high schoolers in Alan Parker’s “Fame,” with co-stars Debbie Allen, Paul McCrane and Anne Mear. Cara played Coco Hernandez, a striving dancer who endures all manner of deprivations, including a creepy nude photo shoot.

    “How bright our spirits go shooting out into space, depends on how much we contributed to the earthly brilliance of this world. And I mean to be a major contributor!” she says in the movie.

    Cara sang on the soaring title song with the chorus — “Remember my name/I’m gonna live forever/I’m gonna learn how to fly/I feel it coming together/People will see me and cry” — which would go on to be nominated for an Academy Award for best original song. She also sang on “Out Here on My Own,” “Hot Lunch Jam” and “I Sing the Body Electric.”

    Allen took to Twitter Saturday to mourn, posting pictures of them together and calling Cara a “a gifted and beautiful genius. Her talent and her music will live forever! Forever remember her name!”

    Three years later, she and the songwriting team of “Flashdance” — music by Giorgio Moroder, lyrics by Keith Forsey and Cara — was accepting the Oscar for best original song for “Flashdance … What a Feeling.”

    The movie starred Jennifer Beals as a steel-town girl who dances in a bar at night and hopes to attend a prestigious dance conservatory. It included the hit song “Maniac,” featuring Beals’ character leaping, spinning, stomping her feet and the slow-burning theme song.

    “There aren’t enough words to express my love and my gratitude,” Cara told the Oscar crowd in her thanks. “And last but not least, a very special gentlemen who I guess started it all for me many years ago. To Alan Parker, wherever you may be tonight, I thank him.”

    The New York-born Cara began her career on Broadway, with small parts in short-lived shows, although a musical called “The Me Nobody Knows” ran over 300 performances. She toured in the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” as Mary Magdalene in the mid-1990s and a tour of the musical ”Flashdance” toured 2012-14 with her songs.

    She also created the all-female band Irene Cara Presents Hot Caramel and put out a double CD with the single “How Can I Make You Luv Me.” Her movie credits include ”Sparkle” and “D.C. Cab.”

    ———

    Associated Press reporters Hillel Italie and Freida Frisaro contributed to this report.

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  • New musical brings high-energy world of K-pop to Broadway

    New musical brings high-energy world of K-pop to Broadway

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    NEW YORK — There are some familiar storylines in a new musical opening on Broadway — a singer and her relationship with the mentor who guided her; a newcomer trying to find his place; young women chasing their dreams.

    But they’ve never sounded quite like this.

    The global sensation that is Korean pop music is coming to center stage in “KPOP,” opening Sunday at the Circle in the Square Theatre.

    With an almost entirely Asian American and Asian cast, many of whom are making their Broadway debuts, the musical is set as a backstage look at some K-pop performers as they get ready for their debut show in New York City. Conflicts break out and get resolved, ending in a concert-like performance.

    The show’s Broadway arrival has been a long time coming for playwright Jason Kim, who first conceived of a play around K-pop about a decade ago and staged an off-Broadway version in 2017, with music and lyrics composed by Helen Park and Max Vernon.

    Born in South Korea, Kim came to the United States as a child, settling with his family in the Midwest. K-pop has been a fixture in his life, as have Korean television dramas. He also loved musical theater, especially shows like “A Chorus Line” and “Dreamgirls” where the story is about what’s happening behind the scenes.

    “I love backstage shows,” he said. “Is there fighting going on in-between everybody? Do they all love each other? These are the questions that I asked myself.”

    In the initial stage version of the show, Kim was introducing the machine of K-pop to an American audience largely unfamiliar with it; five years later, it’s been rewritten for a world where K-pop musical heavy-hitters like BTS and Blackpink are pop chart mainstays, amid a slew of other Korean entertainment in movies and television like “Squid Games” becoming more popular in the U.S. as well.

    Back then, America “didn’t really know what K-pop was, and so there was a lot of explaining that I had to do. … This time around, I didn’t have to really take the stance of having to apologize for anything or having to explain anything, and just let the story unfold,” said Kim, a writer in television and film.

    He called the timing “really serendipitous.”

    “It’s been really profound and moving actually to watch the world shift in this way.”

    A Broadway musical showcasing the sounds of K-pop is a sign of how “the U.S. is finally catching up with what was already going on around the world,” said Robert Ji-Song Ku, an associate professor of Asian American studies at Binghamton University.

    K-pop has been growing in popularity globally for the last 20 years, even though other attempts to break into the American market over the years haven’t met with the same success until recently, he said.

    “If there’s a spectrum of universality, K-pop is engineered to be as universal as possible,” he said.

    Casting the show took about two years, Kim said, with open calls both in the U.S. and South Korea. Some of those in the show have K-pop backgrounds, including Luna, a former member of the group f(x), who plays the central character of MwE, a singer who has spent years working toward her dreams and has come to a crossroads.

    It’s a step forward for Asian American representation on Broadway, which matters a great deal to Kim.

    “That talent exists, and they just need a platform,” he said. “So it was really important to me to put these Asian people on stage and see them not playing the typical roles that they play, but playing rock stars, playing pop stars, dancing their faces off and acting their faces off and just being spectacular.”

    For her part, Park called the experience an honor.

    “K-pop and Broadway have both been my passion for a long time; K-pop has been like comfort food for me, and Broadway was my seemingly unattainable dream, given there haven’t been many Asian composers, let alone Asian female composers that I can see and dream to be like,” she said in an email. “To be able to bring something that feels like home to me, to my dream stage, Broadway, feels like the most miraculous gift that I’ll cherish for a lifetime.”

    Kim said it was also important that the show includes some Korean interspersed among the English, both in the songs and the dialogue.

    It’s “a way to be really authentic to the experience of K-pop idols and Korean people,” Kim said, pointing out that “when I speak to my mom, I’m switching back and forth all the time, depending on what we’re talking about.”

    “The design of the bilingual nature of the show was very intentional.”

    Clearly, a musical built around K-pop has a built-in base of potential audience members. But Kim says there’s something for everyone, even those who have never heard a K-pop tune.

    “Hopefully if we do our jobs right, you’re watching a fun musical with a bunch of great K-pop songs,” he said. “But really what you’re getting as you leave the theater is a universal story.”

    —-

    Hajela is a member of the AP’s team covering race and ethnicity. She’s on Twitter at twitter.com/dhajela

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  • Break it down: Dancers begin charting path to Paris Olympics

    Break it down: Dancers begin charting path to Paris Olympics

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    NEW YORK — Breaking is in Victor Montalvo’s blood. He is a descendant of twin breakers — his father and uncle — who were performing in Mexico long before they taught a young Montalvo to spin on his back.

    Born in Kissimmee, Florida, the 28-year-old who also goes by B-Boy Victor has mastered the foundations of the dance form. He has power. He has the flavor and swagger expected of a diehard b-boy. His movement syncs with the breakbeat flowing from the DJ’s turntables.

    Scribble, chirp, rip, boom, blip.

    He hopes to take breaking further than his relatives ever dreamt, to battle his way to a medal ceremony, when the now-global dance art debuts at the Olympic Summer Games less than two years from now.

    “I feel like I have a really high chance,” Montalvo told The Associated Press.

    He is among dozens of champion b-boys and b-girls — a term for a male or female entrenched in the culture of hip hop — who are charting a path to the 2024 Games in Paris. The International Olympic Committee announced two years ago that breaking would become an official Olympic sport, a development that divided the breaking community between those excited for the larger platform and those concerned about the art form’s purity.

    But after the Red Bull BC One World Final, held earlier this month in the birthplace of hip hop and a short distance from the very streets where Black and Puerto Rican New Yorkers pioneered the art of breaking, the field of Olympic competitors is starting to take shape. The Nov. 12 event also attracted some of the original b-boys and b-girls, as the hip hop community prepares to celebrate 50 years since the culture’s founding in 1973.

    “You never thought that something you were doing for fun was going to go around the world,” said Douglas “Dancin’ Doug” Colón, a b-boy of the first generation of breakers from Harlem who beamed with pride over the dance form’s acceptance into the Olympics.

    Along with Colón, first generation b-boy Trixie sat near a circular stage in the center of Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom. One by one, Red Bull BC One World Final competitors from Canada, China, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, South Korea and Venezuela took to the battle stage. The energy drink beverage company runs the world’s largest breaking competition.

    The OGs offered blessings to their descendants by giving them dap — a friendly gesture of greeting in the Black and Latino communities that communicates solidarity and well wishes to the recipient. Joe Conzo, Jr, a photographer known in the community as “Joey Snapz,” who documented hip hop in the Bronx from its infancy, also sat stageside taking pictures of the Olympic hopefuls.

    “Nothing’s going to change the culture, the culture stays the same,” Colón said. “Even though it’s now an Olympic sport, people back in the hood will still be doing their thing.”

    Victor Alicea, a Red Bull BC One World Final judge, told the AP that judging competitions within the hip hop culture has always been very subjective. But that won’t be the case with the Paris Olympics, where officials will use a newly developed judging system to decide which b-boy or b-girl bested their opponent in one-on-one battles.

    The Trivium judging system, created for the debut of breaking at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, is a digital scoring platform that allows judges to react in real time to breakers’ physical, artistic and interpretative qualities or their “body, mind and soul.” A panel of five judges scores each breaker on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. The scores can adjust throughout the battle, based on how a breaker responds to their opponent.

    Scores can be lowered if a breaker “bites,” or copies, a set of moves from their opponent. Misbehavior, such as deliberate physical contact with an opponent, and other unsportsmanlike conduct can also lower a breaker’s score.

    “I look for someone that takes over the floor. It’s a battle. It’s not just you dance and then I dance. You’ve got to bring it,” said Alicea, who is also known as B-boy Kid Glyde.

    Montalvo, who was ranked as the world’s top b-boy after a world championship competition in Paris last December, said his path to the Olympics will require intense training. It will also require more winning performances at competitions sanctioned by the World DanceSport Federation, an IOC-approved body administering the battles. Breakers who do well in those events score points that help them qualify for the Paris Games. Olympic qualifiers kick off in September and run through June 2024.

    At the end of the process, 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls will be allowed to compete over two days at the iconic Place de la Concorde, an outdoor public square in Paris.

    That gives Olympic hopefuls lots of opportunities to sharpen their skills for the high stakes battles.

    MEET THE CONTENDERS

    B-BOY VICTOR

    What sets Montalvo apart from other b-boys, he said, is his command of judge-favored foundations of breaking: “toprock” moves, footwork, “downrock” moves done closer to the floor, “power” moves showing acrobatics and strength, along with the classic “headspins,” “windmills” and “freeze” poses.

    “I feel like the foundations are the most important thing,” he said. “I see a lot of dancers doing big moves, but then they don’t have those small details. They don’t know how to get out of those big moves. It’s important to create a story, and the foundations are like creating a story.”

    B-BOY YU-KI

    During a Red Bull BC One quarterfinal round battle against Japan’s Yuki Minatozaki, Montalvo transitioned from a windmill into a downrock move in which his legs moved back and forth so quickly that they looked like turning Double Dutch ropes. Minatozaki responded with a smirk, half-hearted applause and sarcastic thumbs up — all in the spirit of good sportsmanship — before exploding into a headspin and showcasing energetic standing footwork.

    “It feels great that the sport now has a lot more eyeballs on it,” Minatozaki, who goes by B-boy Yu-Ki, told the AP through a translator. The 23-year-old has been breaking since the age of five. He intends to seek a spot in the Paris Games, he said.

    Minatozaki lost his battle against Montalvo, who also went on to the final to defeat Lee-Lou Demierre of the Netherlands, another likely Olympic contender. That victory did not earn Montalvo points toward qualifying for the Olympics.

    B-GIRL INDIA

    India Sardjoe, a 16-year-old breaker from the Netherlands, won the Red Bull BC One World Final b-girl title. She said she planned to focus next on competing in crew battles – this entails a team of breakers competing against another for a group title and bragging rights, reminiscent of breaking’s roots in the Bronx. Sardjoe was fresh off of claiming the top honor at the European Breaking Championships, a WDSF event held in Manchester, England on Nov. 6.

    The Red Bull title is an accomplishment, nonetheless.

    “I had to battle the defending champion, so that’s not nothing,” Sardjoe said. “But I was super happy to battle against her.”

    B-GIRL LOGISTX

    Sardjoe defeated 19-year-old Logan Edra, also known as B-girl Logistx, who won last year’s Red Bull BC One World Final in Gdansk, Poland. Hailing from San Diego, Edra began breaking at age eight, after first training in ballet and jazz. Her father nudged her into hip hop lessons.

    Like Sardjoe and Montalvo, Edra told the AP she will compete in WDSF events over the next year and half for a spot in the Olympics. On Saturday, she competed in the Breaking for Gold Challenge Series in Tokyo and took home a silver medal behind Lithuania’s Dominika Banevič, known as B-Girl Nicka, who won gold.

    “I’m competing against the best of the best,” Edra said. “Because I have such a high standard for myself, I try to out-train everybody. The training is crazy — I’ve got bruises on my elbows and my knees from practicing moves over and over. It’s a lot of commitment because we don’t have as many resources as other sports do.”

    B-GIRL ISIS

    Isis Alexandra Granda Chalen, a b-girl who grew up in Ecuador before moving to the U.S., started young in ballet, folk and contemporary dance. But breaking spoke to her rebellious nature, particularly at a time when she questioned if those other dance forms were aligned with her dreams.

    “The moment that I understood that I have more responsibility for myself, I put more work into breaking and I got the opportunities to be here,” Chalen, 27, said ahead of the Red Bull BC One World Final.

    “Now, we’re going to do this transition, from artists to athletes,” she said of her Olympic dreams. “It’s a big opportunity for every country. I came from Latin America, where there aren’t as many opportunities. But the Olympics are for everybody.”

    B-GIRL SUNNY

    Sunny Choi, a Queens, New York-based b-girl who won the 2022 Red Bull BC One Cypher USA in September, said there’s an accessibility to the art and sport of breaking that will make it a huge draw at the Paris Olympics. She hopes to earn a spot on the U.S. team.

    “We have a lot of diversity in breaking, which is really beautiful about what we do, because there aren’t many financial barriers to entry,” Choi told the AP. “If you have a clean floor and, nowadays, access to YouTube or something where you can learn, and some music, you can just do this on your own.”

    She said her nascent Olympic journey has already required personal and professional sacrifices that initially had her questioning if she wanted to compete at all.

    “I’m one of those all or nothing people,” Choi said. “I’ve done a lot of soul searching to remove some of the mental blocks. I feel like this journey is going to pull out a lot from me and I just need to be ready for that.”

    ————

    Aaron Morrison is a New York City-based national writer and member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.

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  • ‘My Favorite Year,’ comic salute to TV’s golden age, hits 40

    ‘My Favorite Year,’ comic salute to TV’s golden age, hits 40

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    LOS ANGELES — Peter O’Toole was famed for his commanding, Oscar-nominated turns. Mark Linn-Baker was a fledgling stage actor. Richard Benjamin, who’d made a leading-man splash in “Portnoy’s Complaint” and “Westworld,” had a few TV directing credits.

    The sum of these unlikely parts was the zesty 1982 movie comedy “My Favorite Year,” starring O’Toole and Linn-Baker, directed by Benjamin and produced by Mel Brooks. It paid loving tribute to the original golden age of TV in the mid-20th century and the variety shows that were the “Saturday Night Live” hits of their day.

    When Benjamin read the script by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo, he immediately turned to his wife, actor Paula Prentiss.

    “I hope they want me for this, because it’s just great,” Benjamin recalled saying.

    The film, marking its 40th anniversary, is set in 1954 and topped by O’Toole as faded but still-glam movie idol Alan Swann, who’s appearing on “Comedy Cavalcade” only to pay off his IRS debt. Linn-Baker plays Benjy Stone, an energetic young writer tasked with keeping Swann out of trouble (read: sober) until the broadcast.

    The inspirations for “My Favorite Year” included Sid Caesar, the decade’s reigning TV comedy star, and “Your Show of Shows,” the hit he topped from 1950-54 and was followed by “Caesar’s Hour.” The movie also is infused with the spirit of Errol Flynn’s swashbuckling films such as “Captain Blood,” with Swann’s “Captain from Tortuga” seen in a faux clip.

    Brooks, who wrote for “Your Show of Shows” alongside another future giant of stage and screen, Neil Simon, said in his 2021 memoir “All About Me!” that the movie represented “my love letter to Sid Caesar and the early days of television, and it was also a damn good story.”

    “It’s one of the three best productions about live TV that I’ve ever seen,” said David Bianculli, a TV critic for NPR’s “Fresh Air” and author of “Dictionary of Teleliteracy.” His other top picks: “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and Simon’s play “Laughter on the 23rd Floor.”

    “My Favorite Year,” which is available on streaming services, had a respectable box office opening in October 1982, coming in third behind “An Officer and a Gentlemen” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”

    Joseph Bologna plays the talented, manic (and sexist) King Kaiser. Others in the impeccable cast include Lainie Kazan ( “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and sequels ), Jessica Harper (“See”), Bill Macy (“Maude”) and Selma Diamond. A character actor on sitcoms, among them the 1980s “Night Court,” Diamond’s TV roots were in writing and included “Your Show of Shows.”

    Benjamin was a teenage fan of Caesar’s program and recalled how he and his equally devoted friends would get on the phone after it aired Saturday nights to recap and reenact the highlights.

    “The show changed everything. Comedians used to stand up and tell jokes, but here was comedy that was behavior” and unfolded in extended sketches, Benjamin said. “It seemed like a miracle that this (film) would come to me.”

    His agent had talked him up for the job, and a meeting with Brooks and producer Michael Gruskoff convinced them that Benjamin could handle it.

    The role of Swann had yet to be cast, and it was a quirk of Hollywood fortune that it went to O’Toole, yielding his seventh of eight leading-actor Oscar nods (he lost to Ben Kingsley in “Gandhi”). O’Toole received an honorary Academy Award in 2003.

    Albert Finney had been offered the part but was dragging his feet. Benjamin was dispatched to the San Francisco area, where Finney was working on another film, to talk him into it — or risk seeing the project fall apart.

    Finney said he liked the script for “My Favorite Year.” But after making several movies in the United States, he longed to get back to the London stage despite the fact he’d earn only “£125 pounds a week,” as he put it.

    “Why don’t you get O’Toole?” Finney helpfully suggested. “We do this all the time. I turn something down, he turns something down” and the other one takes the role.

    Prentiss, who’d starred opposite O’Toole in the 1965 film “What’s New Pussycat,” seconded the idea. So did the producers, who again tasked Benjamin with getting an actor to say yes. O’Toole deemed the script excellent but was curious about a scene that included Swann’s tombstone, with the birthdate of Aug. 2.

    O’Toole asked if the date been tailored to each actor who’d been pitched the project. When told it wasn’t, he replied, “That’s my birthday, and that’s how old I am. Therefore, I must do the film.”

    (The cemetery scene was filmed but cut when it proved too downbeat for test audiences, Benjamin said.)

    O’Toole proved a breeze during filming. Benjamin recalled expressing concern to him about a scene in which the actor’s head would hit an unpadded tile wall. “I was trained in music hall, ” the English-born O’Toole said, referring to his country’s version of vaudeville. “I can do this all day.”

    Linn-Baker (TV’s “Ghosts,” “Perfect Strangers”) found O’Toole a kind and generous mentor and remains awed by his body of work, which includes “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Becket” and “The Lion in Winter.” O’Toole died in 2013 at age 81.

    “The relationship that Benjy and Swann had on film is pretty much the relationship that we had off screen,” said Linn-Baker, currently on Broadway in “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman. “He took me under his wing. The little I know about film acting, I know from watching him and listening to him.”

    Kazan, who played Belle Steinberg Carroca, Benjy’s widowed and remarried mom, recalls meeting O’Toole for the first time when she and Brooks knocked on the actor’s dressing room door, heard a muffled “come in” and found an underwear-clad O’Toole seated at the sink and washing his hair.

    “He stands up and says, ‘Miss Kazan, my extreme pleasure,’” the actor and singer recounted with delight. “I fell in love with him. He was so wonderful to me.”

    Kazan, who earned a Tony nomination for reprising the role of Belle in the 1992-93 musical adaptation of “My Favorite Year,” said she based the outspoken Jewish mother on her relatives, including an aunt who was “a real dominant figure” and Kazan’s mother, a beautiful woman who wore “all these fantastic clothes.”

    A Brooklyn dinner invitation from Belle to Swann results in a culture clash of epic comedy proportions. At one point, Benjy’s middle-aged aunt Sadie enters wearing an elaborate wedding gown, prompting a dubious compliment from sister Belle.

    “You like it? I only wore it once,” replies a beaming Sadie, while Swann, amused, looks on.

    For all its entertaining punchlines and slapstick, “My Favorite Year” is a deserved Valentine to the groundbreaking creativity of early TV makers. The templates they created remain copied and popular, even amid the medium’s drastic 21st-century changes.

    The movie’s plot is fanciful, but “the world in which it is set is the zany reality, and it’s just so good,” Bianculli said. “I show ‘Your Show of Shows’ in my class (at Rowan University), and it still works.”

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  • Robert Clary, last of the ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ stars, dies at 96

    Robert Clary, last of the ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ stars, dies at 96

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    LOS ANGELES — Robert Clary, a French-born survivor of Nazi concentration camps during World War II who played a feisty prisoner of war in the improbable 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes,” has died. He was 96.

    Clary died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in the Los Angeles area, niece Brenda Hancock said Thursday.

    “He never let those horrors defeat him,” Hancock said of Clary’s wartime experience as a youth. “He never let them take the joy out of his life. He tried to spread that joy to others through his singing and his dancing and his painting.”

    When he recounted his life to students, he told them, “Don’t ever hate,” Hancock said. “He didn’t let hate overcome the beauty in this world.”

    “Hogan’s Heroes,” in which Allied soldiers in a POW camp bested their clownish German army captors with espionage schemes, played the war strictly for laughs during its 1965-71 run. The 5-foot-1 Clary sported a beret and a sardonic smile as Cpl. Louis LeBeau.

    Clary was the last surviving original star of the sitcom that included Bob Crane, Richard Dawson, Larry Hovis and Ivan Dixon as the prisoners. Werner Klemperer and John Banner, who played their captors, both were European Jews who fled Nazi persecution before the war.

    Clary began his career as a nightclub singer and appeared on stage in musicals including “Irma La Douce” and “Cabaret.” After “Hogan’s Heroes,” Clary’s TV work included the soap operas “The Young and the Restless,” “Days of Our Lives” and “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

    He considered musical theater the highlight of his career. “I loved to go to the theater at quarter of 8, put the stage makeup on and entertain,” he said in a 2014 interview.

    He remained publicly silent about his wartime experience until 1980 when, Clary said, he was provoked to speak out by those who denied or diminished the orchestrated effort by Nazi Germany to exterminate Jews.

    A documentary about Clary’s childhood and years of horror at Nazi hands, “Robert Clary, A5714: A Memoir of Liberation,” was released in 1985. The forearms of concentration camp prisoners were tattooed with identification numbers, with A5714 to be Clary’s lifelong mark.

    “They write books and articles in magazines denying the Holocaust, making a mockery of the 6 million Jews — including a million and a half children — who died in the gas chambers and ovens,” he told The Associated Press in a 1985 interview.

    Twelve of his immediate family members, his parents and 10 siblings, were killed under the Nazis, Clary wrote in a biography posted on his website.

    In 1997, he was among dozens of Holocaust survivors whose portraits and stories were included in “The Triumphant Spirit,” a book by photographer Nick Del Calzo.

    “I beg the next generation not to do what people have done for centuries — hate others because of their skin, shape of their eyes, or religious preference,” Clary said in an interview at the time.

    Retired from acting, Clary remained busy with his family, friends and his painting. His memoir, “From the Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary,” was published in 2001.

    “One Of The Lucky Ones,” a biography of one of Clary’s older sisters, Nicole Holland, was written by Hancock, her daughter. Holland, who worked with the French Resistance against Germany, survived the war, as did another sister. Hancock’s second book, “Talent Luck Courage,” recounts Clary and Holland’s lives and their impact.

    Clary was born Robert Widerman in Paris in March 1926, the youngest of 14 children in the Jewish family. He was 16 when he and most of his family were taken by the Nazis.

    In the documentary, Clary recalled a happy childhood until he and his family was forced from their Paris apartment and put into a crowded cattle car that carried them to concentration camps.

    “Nobody knew where we were going,” Clary said. “We were not human beings anymore.”

    After 31 months in captivity in several concentration camps, he was liberated from the Buchenwald death camp by American troops. His youth and ability to work kept him alive, Clary said.

    Returning to Paris and reunited with his two sisters, Clary worked as a singer and recorded songs that became popular in America.

    After coming to the United States in 1949, he moved from club dates and recording to Broadway musicals, including “New Faces of 1952,” and then to movies. He appeared in films including 1952’s “Thief of Damascus,” “A New Kind of Love” in 1963 and “The Hindenburg” in 1975.

    In recent years, Clary recorded jazz versions of songs by Ira Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim and other greats, said his nephew Brian Gari, a songwriter who worked on the CDs with Clary.

    Clary was proud of the results, Gari said, and thrilled by a complimentary letter he received from Sondheim. “He hung that on the kitchen wall,” Gari said.

    Clary didn’t feel uneasy about the comedy on “Hogan’s Heroes” despite the tragedy of his family’s devastating war experience.

    “It was completely different. I know they (POWs) had a terrible life, but compared to concentration camps and gas chambers it was like a holiday.”

    Clary married Natalie Cantor, the daughter of singer-actor Eddie Cantor, in 1965. She died in 1997.

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  • R.E.M., Blondie, Snoop Dogg get nods for Songwriters Hall

    R.E.M., Blondie, Snoop Dogg get nods for Songwriters Hall

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    NEW YORK — Bryan Adams, R.E.M., Blondie, Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, Heart and The Doobie Brothers are among the nominees for the 2023 Songwriters Hall of Fame, part of a dazzling list of talented acts who left their mark on country, pop, rap, Broadway, post-punk, Latin and New Jack Swing.

    The ballot includes the musical theater duo of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who wrote “Ragtime” and “Anastasia,” as well as soul-jazz vocalist Sade, whose 1980s soft rock hits include “Smooth Operator” and “The Sweetest Taboo.”

    Two veteran rock stars are also nominees: Patti Smith — whose songs include “Because the Night” and “Dancing Barefoot” — and Steve Winwood, whose hits include “Higher Love” and “Roll With It.” Vince Gill is once again a nominee, having first made the ballot in 2018.

    Eligible voting members have until Dec. 28 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from the songwriter category and three from the performing-songwriter category. The Associated Press got an early copy of the list.

    Jeff Lynne of ELO, who penned “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Evil Woman,” faces off against the “Losing My Religion” R.E.M. quartet led by Michael Stipe, as well as sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, who showed women could rock hard with songs like “Barracuda” and “Crazy On You.”

    Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and Clem Burke are eligible for the hall as Blondie, who gave us the New Wave hits “Call Me” and “Rapture,” and Snoop Dogg would join such rappers as Missy Elliott and Jay-Z should he make the cut. Estefan is credited for popularizing Latin rhythms with such crossover smashes as “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” and “Let’s Get Loud.”

    Two classic rock icons compete as Adams — with radio staples like “Summer of ’69” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” — contends with The Doobie Brothers and their always-in-rotation “Listen to the Music” and “Long Train Running.”

    Nominees who work behind the scenes include Glen Ballard, who helped write Alanis Morissette’s monster 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” and was involved in the recording and writing of Michael Jackson’s albums “Thriller,” “Bad” and “Dangerous.”

    Veteran songwriter Tom Snow, who worked with Olivia Newton-John, Barbra Streisand, Cher, The Pointer Sisters and co-wrote “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” from the movie “Footloose,” is also eligible. “Footloose” connects another nominee, Dean Pitchford, who collaborated on the score, which went to No. 1 on the Billboard album charts, knocking off “Thriller” in 1984.

    The nominee list includes Teddy Riley, the singer, songwriter, and producer credited with creating New Jack Swing and its top anthems like Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative” and Keith Sweat’s “I Want Her,” and Liz Rose, who co-wrote many songs with Taylor Swift, including “You Belong with Me,” “Teardrops on My Guitar” and “White Horse.”

    There’s also country songwriter Dean Dillon, who wrote songs with Toby Keith, George Strait and Lee Ann Womack; pop songwriter Franne Golde, behind such hits as Jody Watley’s “Don’t You Want Me” and “Nightshift” by the Commodores; and the duo of Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce, who penned many of The Monkees’ hits.

    The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating the popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

    Some already in the hall include Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond and Phil Collins.

    ———

    Online: http://www.songhall.org

    ———

    Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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  • ‘Black Panther’ sequel scores 2nd biggest debut of 2022

    ‘Black Panther’ sequel scores 2nd biggest debut of 2022

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    The box office roared back to life with the long-awaited release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

    The Marvel sequel earned $180 million in ticket sales from more than 4,396 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to estimates from The Walt Disney Co. on Sunday, making it the second biggest opening of the year behind “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” Overseas, it brought in an additional $150 million from 50 territories, bringing its worldwide total to $330 million.

    “Wakanda Forever” was eagerly anticipated by both audiences and exhibitors, who have weathered a slow spell at the box office since the summer movie season ended and there were fewer bigger budget blockbusters in the pipeline. The film got off to a mighty start a bit stronger than even the first film with an $84 million opening day, including $28 million from Thursday previews.

    “Some may have hoped for $200 million like the first film, but this is solid,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. “This is the type of movie that theaters really need to drive audiences.”

    The first film opened to $202 million in February 2018 and went on to gross over $1.4 billion worldwide, making it one of the highest grossing films of all time and a cultural phenomenon. A sequel was inevitable, and development began soon after with director Ryan Coogler returning, but everything changed after Chadwick Boseman’s unexpected death in August 2020. “Wakanda Forever” became, instead, about the death of Boseman’s King T’Challa/Black Panther, and the grieving kingdom he left behind. Returning actors include Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke and Danai Gurira, who face off against a new foe in Tenoch Huerta’s Namor. The film would face more complications too, including Wright getting injured and some COVID-19 related setbacks. All told, it cost a reported $250 million to make, not accounting for marketing and promotion.

    AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote in his review that, “‘Wakanda Forever’ is overlong, a little unwieldy and somewhat mystifyingly steers toward a climax on a barge in the middle of the Atlantic. But Coogler’s fluid command of mixing intimacy with spectacle remains gripping.”

    It currently holds an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and, as is often the case with comic book films, the audience scores are even higher.

    Superhero films have fared well during the pandemic, but none yet have reached the heights of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which opened to $260.1 million in Dec. 2021. Other big launches include “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($187.4 million in May), “Thor: Love and Thunder” ($144.2 million in July) and “The Batman” ($134 million in March).

    “Wakanda Forever” is first film to open over $100 million since “Thor” in July, which has been difficult for exhibitors that are already dealing with a calender that has about 30% fewer wide releases than in a normal year.

    Holdovers populated the rest of the top five, as no film dared launch nationwide against a Marvel behemoth. Second place went to the DC superhero “Black Adam,” with $8.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $151.1 million. “Ticket to Paradise” landed in third, in weekend four, with $6.1 million. The Julia Roberts and George Clooney romantic comedy has made nearly $150 million worldwide. “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” and “Smile” rounded out the top five with $3.2 million and $2.3 million, respectively.

    Some awards hopefuls have struggled in their expansions lately, but Searchlight Pictures’ “The Banshees of Inisherin,” with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, looks like an exception. The Martin McDonagh film expanded to 960 theaters in its fourth weekend and got seventh place on the charts with $1.7 million, bringing its total to $5.8 million.

    “It’s been a very interesting post-summer period for movie theaters, with some gems out there doing well like ‘Ticket to Paradise’ and ‘Smile,’” Dergarabedian said. “But movie theaters can’t survive on non-blockbuster style films. The industry needs more of these.”

    After “Black Panther,” the next blockbuster on the schedule is “Avatar: The Way of Water,” arriving Dec. 16.

    The weekend wasn’t completely without any other high-profile releases. Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical drama “ The Fabelmans ” opened in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles with $160,000. Universal and Amblin will roll the film out to more theaters in the coming weeks to build excitement around the likely Oscar-contender. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano play parents to the Spielberg stand-in Sammy Fabelman, who is falling in love with movies and filmmaking as his parents’ marriage crumbles.

    “This will be an interesting holiday season,” Dergarabedian said. “I think a lot of the dramas and independent films will have their time to shine over the next couple months.”

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” $180 million.

    2. “Black Adam,” $8.6 million.

    3. “Ticket to Paradise,” $6.1 million.

    4. “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,” $3.2 million.

    5. “Smile,” $2.3 million.

    6. “Prey for the Devil,” $2 million.

    7. “The Banshees of Inisherin,” $1.7 million.

    8. “One Piece Film Red,” $1.4 million.

    9. “Till,” $618,000.

    10. “Yashoda,” $380,000.

    —-

    Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

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  • Oscar, Tony-nominated writer-director Douglas McGrath dies

    Oscar, Tony-nominated writer-director Douglas McGrath dies

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    Stage, TV and film writer-director Douglas McGrath, who earned a Tony nomination for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” and an Oscar nod for the “Bullets Over Broadway” screenplay he co-wrote with Woody Allen, has died

    NEW YORK — Stage, TV and film writer-director Douglas McGrath, who earned a Tony nomination for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” and an Oscar nod for the “Bullets Over Broadway” screenplay he co-wrote with Woody Allen, died Thursday. He was 64.

    The death was announced by the producers of McGrath’s solo off-Broadway show, “Everything’s Fine,” which opened last month. A show representative said the cause was a heart attack. McGrath had written and was starring in “Everything’s Fine,” and was directed by John Lithgow.

    “The company of ‘Everything’s Fine’ was honored to have presented his solo autobiographical show,” the producers said in a statement. “Everyone who worked with him over the last three months of production was struck by his grace, charm, and droll sense of humor, and sends deepest condolences to his family.”

    McGrath began his writing career on the staff of “Saturday Night Live” and went on to pen the plays “Checkers,” “The Age of Innocence” and the musical “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” which ran on Broadway from 2013-2019.

    “Doug was smart, funny, talented, kind, a great friend, and a wonderful storyteller who leaves a legacy of love and laughter,” King wrote in tribute on Instagram.

    McGrath was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay of 1994’s “Bullets Over Broadway,” which he co-wrote with Allen. The screenplay was used as a basis for Allen’s 2014 Broadway stage adaptation.

    McGrath’s other films included “Emma” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and “Nicholas Nickleby” starring Charlie Hunnam, both of which he wrote and directed. He also wrote and directed the 2006 Truman Capote biopic “Infamous,” starring Toby Jones.

    He earned two Emmy Awards nominations for directing two documentaries for HBO: “His Way,” about legendary music promoter and movie producer Jerry Weintraub, and “Becoming Mike Nichols.”

    He is survived by wife, Jane Read Martin, and son Henry McGrath.

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