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Tag: Renée Elise Goldsberry

  • ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and ‘Stereophonic’ lead Tony Award nominations, 2 shows honoring creativity’s spark

    ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and ‘Stereophonic’ lead Tony Award nominations, 2 shows honoring creativity’s spark

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    NEW YORK – Two Broadway shows celebrating the spark of sonic creativity — the semi-autobiographical Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” and the play “Stereophonic” about a ’70s rock band recording a star-making album — each earned a leading 13 Tony Award nominations Tuesday, a list that also saw a record number of women nominated for best director.

    “This is totally crazy. It took me about an hour to get myself together. I couldn’t even formulate words,” Keys said after a morning where the show loosely based on her life was nominated for best new musical and four acting awards as well as best scenic design, costumes, lighting, sound design, direction, choreography and orchestrations. “I am totally at a loss for words. Don’t ask me to write a song.”

    A total of 28 shows earned a Tony nod or more, with the musical “The Outsiders,” an adaptation of the beloved S. E. Hinton novel and the Francis Ford Coppola film, earning 12 nominations; a starry revival of “Cabaret” starring Eddie Redmayne, nabbing nine; and “Appropriate,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ searing play about a family reunion in Arkansas where everyone has competing motivations and grievances, grabbing eight.

    The nominations marked a smashing of the Tony record for most women directors named in a single season. The 2022 Tony Awards had held the record, with four total across the two races — musical and play. Only 10 women have gone on to win a directing crown.

    This year, seven women took the 10 directing slots. Three women were nominated for best play direction — Lila Neugebauer (“Appropriate”), Anne Kauffman (“Mary Jane”) and Whitney White (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”) — while four were nominated in the musical category — Maria Friedman (“Merrily We Roll Along“), Leigh Silverman (“Suffs”) Jessica Stone (“Water for Elephants”) and Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders”).

    “The one thing I feel is it’s starting to feel less remarkable, which is great news,” Stone said after her nomination. “We are directors and not women directors. I’m noticing it more and more and that’s a wonderful thing to think about. It’s a wonderful place to be.”

    “Stereophonic,” which became the most-nominated play in Tony history, earned nominations for playwright David Adjmi and for its songs by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire. It’s the story of a Fleetwood Mac-like band over a life-changing year, with personal rifts opening and closing and then reopening. Butler says it is about art’s “horror and its beauty.”

    An album of the rock-roots music heard during the play will be available next month and Butler has high hopes: “We wanted it to stand up against Tom Petty and ‘Rumors’ and the new Beyoncé country record,” he said. “Making it was its own reward.”

    Rachel McAdams, making her Broadway debut in “Mary Jane,” earned a best actress in a play nomination, while “Succession” star Jeremy Strong, got his first ever nomination, for a revival of “An Enemy of the People” and Liev Schreiber of “Ray Donovan” fame nabbd one for leading “Doubt.” Jessica Lange in “Mother Play,” Sarah Paulson in “Appropriate” and Amy Ryan, who stepped in at the last minute for a revival of “Doubt,” also earned nominations in the best actress in a play category.

    “The Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons earned a supporting nod for “Mother Play,” and Daniel Radcliffe on his fifth Broadway show, a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” won his first nomination.

    Radcliffe, caring for his infant son on Tony nominations morning, said he felt incredibly lucky and called being in the musical alongside Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez — both also nominated — “one of the most special experiences of my professional career.”

    “I have always felt like doing stage and particularly doing it here has been such a huge part of my career and sort of like finding out who I was as an actor outside of Harry Potter,” he said. “I think it’s kind of been the making of me.”

    Redmayne in his second show on Broadway got a nod as best lead actor in a musical, as did Brian d’Arcy James for “Days of Wine and Roses,” Brody Grant in “The Outsiders,” Jonathan Groff in “Merrily We Roll Along” and 73-year-old Dorian Harewood in “The Notebook,” the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks romantic tearjerker. Harewood, in his first Broadway show in 46 years, landed his first Tony nomination.

    It was one of three nominations for “The Notebook,” but the musical’s composer, Ingrid Michaelson, didn’t earn a nomination, nor did Barry Manilow for his show “Harmony.” A revival of “The Wiz” also failed to garner any nominations, nor did the Huey Lewis jukebox “The Heart of Rock and Roll.”

    Redmayne’s “Cabaret” co-star Gayle Rankin earned a nomination for best actress in a musical, as did Eden Espinosa in “Lempicka,” Maleah Joi Moon in “Hell’s Kitchen,” Kelli O’Hara in “Days of Wine and Roses” and 71-year-old Maryann Plunkett, who plays the elderly wife at the heart of “The Notebook.”

    Steve Carell in his Broadway debut in a poorly received revival of the classic play “Uncle Vanya” and “Sopranos” star Michael Imperioli in “An Enemy of the People” both failed to secure nods, but starry producers who did include Keys, Angelina Jolie (for “The Outsiders”) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (for “Suffs”).

    The best new musical crown will be a battle between “Hell’s Kitchen,” “The Outsiders,” the dance-heavy, dialogue-less stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 album “Illinois,” “Suffs,” based on the American suffragists of the early 20th century, and “Water for Elephants,” which combines Sara Green’s 2006 bestseller with circus elements.

    The best new play Tony will pit “Stereophonic” against “Mother Play,” Paula Vogel’s look at a mother and her kids spanning 1964 to the 21st century; “Mary Jane,” Amy Herzog’s humanistic portrait of a divorced mother of a young boy with health issues; “Prayer for the French Republic,” Joshua Harmon’s sprawling family comedy-drama that deals with Zionism, religious fervency and antisemitism; and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about the lives of West African women working at a salon.

    Lamar Richardson, an actor-turned-producer, had many reasons to smile Tuesday. He helped produce the three new revivals of “The Wiz, ““Merrily We Roll Along“ and “Appropriate.”

    “I really think this is Broadway at its best,” he said. “There’s really something for everyone. There’s the quintessential big jukebox musical. There’s the niche moving three-hander plays. I think that this really is a smorgasbord of what Broadway can offer up, and showing it still, of course, is a major player on the art scene. And it’s here to stay.”

    A spring barrage of new shows — 14 shows opened in an 11-day span this year — is not unusual these days as producers hope their work will be fresh in the mind of voters ahead of the Tony Awards ceremony on June 16.

    There were some firsts this season, including “Here Lies Love” with Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast, which earned four nominations, including best original score for David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim. And seven openly autistic actors starred in “How to Dance in Ohio,” a first for Broadway but which got no Tony love.

    Academy Award winner and Tony Award-nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted both the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, will be back this year and will produce and choreograph the opening number.

    Like last year, the three-hour main telecast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m.-8 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV, and some Tony Awards handed out there.

    ___

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

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

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  • Opportunity for female directors at 2024 Tony Award nominations

    Opportunity for female directors at 2024 Tony Award nominations

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    After a final, frantic push to open the last raft of Broadway shows before the eligibility window closed, the final list of almost 40 plays and musicals vying for Tony Award nominations this year are ready and hoping for their closeups.Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry will announce nominees for the 26 competitive Tony Awards on Tuesday morning, the result of voting by the 60 members of the nominating committee.Video above: Actors from ‘The Lion King’ share their experiences of being on a Broadway stageThe spring barrage — 14 shows opened in an 11-day span this year — is not unusual these days as producers hope their work will be fresh in the mind of voters ahead of the Tony Awards ceremony on June 16. But no clear single musical juggernaut has emerged, like the megahit “Hamilton” in 2016 or a critical darling like last year’s “Kimberly Akimbo.”One possible change this year indicates women may be poised to outnumber the men for the first time in directing nominations. Nearly half of the 21 musicals — new and revivals — that opened this season were helmed by a woman or featured a team of co-directors where at least one was a woman. Five out of the season’s 16 new plays and play revivals were also staged by women.The 2022 Tony Awards currently holds the record for most female directing nominees, with four total across the two races. Only 10 women have gone on to win the directing crown.The eligible shows this season include reworking of existing movies or books — “The Outsiders,” “The Great Gatsby,” “The Notebook,” “Back to the Future” and “Water for Elephants” — and new works transferring over to Broadway, like the suffrage play “Suffs,” the dance-heavy Sufjan Stevens-scored “Illinoise,” the rock band imploding “Stereophonic” and “Hell’s Kitchen,” loosely based on Alicia Keys’ life.There are some coincidences, like that Huey Lewis & The News songs are heard at both his jukebox show “The Heart of Rock and Roll” and an unconnected musical of “Back to the Future.” Rachel McAdams, who made a breakthrough in the film version of “The Notebook,” is competing against the musical version of that movie a few blocks away in the play “Mary Jane.” Plus, “The Wiz” and “Wicked” now share Broadway, and Nazis are in both “Cabaret” and a musical about artist Tamara de Lempicka.This season attracted plenty of big stars to Broadway in addition to McAdams, like Jessica Lange and Jim Parsons in “Mother Play,” Steve Carell in a revival of “Uncle Vanya,” Eddie Redmayne in a new “Cabaret,” Liev Schreiber in “Doubt,” “Succession” star Jeremy Strong in a revival of “An Enemy of the People” and Sarah Paulson in the play “Appropriate.”There were some firsts this season, including “Here Lies Love” with Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast, as well as mostly Filipino producers, including singer H.E.R., comedian Jo Koy and Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.Ap. And seven openly autistic actors starred in “How to Dance in Ohio,” a first for Broadway.Big musical revival splashes were made by “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” “The Wiz,” “The Who’s Tommy,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” and the fourth revival of “Cabaret.” Academy Award winner and Tony Award-nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted both the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, will be back this year and will produce and choreograph the opening number.This year’s location — the David H. Koch Theater — is the home of New York City Ballet and in the same sprawling building complex as Lincoln Square Theater, which houses the Broadway venue Beaumont Theater.Like last year, the three-hour main telecast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m.-8 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV, and some Tony Awards handed out there on June 16.This season’s Broadway numbers — about $1.4 billion in grosses and 11.1 million tickets — is running slightly less than the 2022-23 season, off about 4% in grosses and down 1% in tickets.

    NEW YORK —

    After a final, frantic push to open the last raft of Broadway shows before the eligibility window closed, the final list of almost 40 plays and musicals vying for Tony Award nominations this year are ready and hoping for their closeups.

    Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry will announce nominees for the 26 competitive Tony Awards on Tuesday morning, the result of voting by the 60 members of the nominating committee.

    Video above: Actors from ‘The Lion King’ share their experiences of being on a Broadway stage

    The spring barrage — 14 shows opened in an 11-day span this year — is not unusual these days as producers hope their work will be fresh in the mind of voters ahead of the Tony Awards ceremony on June 16. But no clear single musical juggernaut has emerged, like the megahit “Hamilton” in 2016 or a critical darling like last year’s “Kimberly Akimbo.”

    One possible change this year indicates women may be poised to outnumber the men for the first time in directing nominations. Nearly half of the 21 musicals — new and revivals — that opened this season were helmed by a woman or featured a team of co-directors where at least one was a woman. Five out of the season’s 16 new plays and play revivals were also staged by women.

    The 2022 Tony Awards currently holds the record for most female directing nominees, with four total across the two races. Only 10 women have gone on to win the directing crown.

    The eligible shows this season include reworking of existing movies or books — “The Outsiders,” “The Great Gatsby,” “The Notebook,” “Back to the Future” and “Water for Elephants” — and new works transferring over to Broadway, like the suffrage play “Suffs,” the dance-heavy Sufjan Stevens-scored “Illinoise,” the rock band imploding “Stereophonic” and “Hell’s Kitchen,” loosely based on Alicia Keys’ life.

    There are some coincidences, like that Huey Lewis & The News songs are heard at both his jukebox show “The Heart of Rock and Roll” and an unconnected musical of “Back to the Future.” Rachel McAdams, who made a breakthrough in the film version of “The Notebook,” is competing against the musical version of that movie a few blocks away in the play “Mary Jane.” Plus, “The Wiz” and “Wicked” now share Broadway, and Nazis are in both “Cabaret” and a musical about artist Tamara de Lempicka.

    This season attracted plenty of big stars to Broadway in addition to McAdams, like Jessica Lange and Jim Parsons in “Mother Play,” Steve Carell in a revival of “Uncle Vanya,” Eddie Redmayne in a new “Cabaret,” Liev Schreiber in “Doubt,” “Succession” star Jeremy Strong in a revival of “An Enemy of the People” and Sarah Paulson in the play “Appropriate.”

    There were some firsts this season, including “Here Lies Love” with Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast, as well as mostly Filipino producers, including singer H.E.R., comedian Jo Koy and Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.Ap. And seven openly autistic actors starred in “How to Dance in Ohio,” a first for Broadway.

    Big musical revival splashes were made by “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” “The Wiz,” “The Who’s Tommy,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” and the fourth revival of “Cabaret.”

    Academy Award winner and Tony Award-nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted both the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, will be back this year and will produce and choreograph the opening number.

    This year’s location — the David H. Koch Theater — is the home of New York City Ballet and in the same sprawling building complex as Lincoln Square Theater, which houses the Broadway venue Beaumont Theater.

    Like last year, the three-hour main telecast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m.-8 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV, and some Tony Awards handed out there on June 16.

    This season’s Broadway numbers — about $1.4 billion in grosses and 11.1 million tickets — is running slightly less than the 2022-23 season, off about 4% in grosses and down 1% in tickets.

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  • Girls5eva Season 3 Explores the Struggle Between the Group’s Bid For Worldwide Fame and Simply Settling for the “Medium Time” Instead of the Big Time

    Girls5eva Season 3 Explores the Struggle Between the Group’s Bid For Worldwide Fame and Simply Settling for the “Medium Time” Instead of the Big Time

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    If Girls5eva is seeking to achieve anything (apart from de-glamorizing late 90s/early 00s pop) in season three, it’s that, sometimes, “settling” is for the best. But this is a revelation that does not arrive until the sixth and final episode, titled “New York” (indeed, all the episodes are named after the cities the band is touring in). In the wake of the series’ transition to Netflix, the third season has only six episodes where the previous two consisted of eight. Whether that bodes well or not remains to be seen, but, either way, Girls5eva has been set up with a cliffhanger that leads one to believe season four is secured. Even though Netflix is known to pull the plug arbitrarily (*cough cough* GLOW). 

    One can only hope that isn’t the case here, with much more material to be mined as Dawn Solano (Sara Bareilles), Wickie Roy (Renée Elise Goldsberry), Summer Dutkowsky (Busy Philipps) and Gloria McManus (Paula Pell) finally become comfortable with the idea of the “medium time.” That “sweet spot” between being total nobodies and being too famous to engage in everyday activities. 

    It’s only after a combination of getting that advice from medium-time “star” Richard Kind and seeing how imprisoned the Taylor Swift-level famous Gray Holland (Thomas Doherty, perhaps best known for playing sexually fluid Max Wolfe on the Gossip Girl reboot) is that the group can come to terms with their so-called mediocrity. In fact, the majority of the season explores a certain grappling with this reality. One that reaches a crescendo when Wickie a.k.a. Lesley Wiggens returns to her hometown of Clarksville, Maryland with the rest of the group in tow (plus their assistant/driver, Percy [John Lutz, of 30 Rock notoriety], the victim of a Punk’d-style prank reality show that Girls5eva was on in the 2000s, and who they feel guilty enough about humiliating to want to give him a “fresh start” in life). For, as far as any of the other band members knew, Wickie lived a “hardscrabble” life before becoming famous. 

    Turns out, what she meant by that is that she would play really hard games of Scrabble with her upper middle class parents. To be sure, the entire “Clarksville” episode is all about the curse of being born into an upper middle class family in terms of how it ruins one’s chances of becoming a famous icon. After all, it’s not enough of a sob story to make for a compelling biopic later on, nor is it in the nepo baby category of privilege that somehow makes a person more “interesting.” 

    Gloria definitely agrees with that sentiment upon realizing that Wickie grew up in a privileged, loving environment as she snaps, “You’re no Shania Twain. Look it up, she’s a hero.” Wickie shrugs, “All I did was create a more intriguing narrative…without technically lying.” And it’s true, Wickie has an answer for every lie her bandmates try to throw back in her face. Later, at the dinner table, Dawn asks Mr. and Mrs. Wiggens (played by Ron Canada and Adriane Lenox, respectively) if they always bail Wickie out when she gets herself in a financial bind. They confirm that, yes, they do—because she’s their daughter. Mr. Wiggens then tells Wickie, “You know we always support you.” She balks, “Maybe that’s the problem.” Confused, he asks, “What is?” Wickie replies, “All of this…wonderful support.” She continues, “You coddled me! Why couldn’t you be one of those sick pageant parents that live your shattered dreams through me?” She then brings up how they even let her quit tap dancing lessons so that now she’s just “pretty good.” Another mark of averageness under her belt. She concludes her speech by screaming, “I wish I’d never been born upper middle class!”

    The reconciliation with being average/par/middle-of-the-road is a running motif throughout the season. And it’s only when the group is allowed to “revert to the past,” so to speak, that they can fully understand why they’re still so hellbent on pursuing global superstardom in the present. This moment for “time travel” to the height of their heyday comes in episode four, “Orlando.” Enlisted by a millennial with money to burn (such a rare breed) named Taffy England (Catherine Cohen) for a private performance at her birthday party, the quartet is flown out on a private jet to attend the event. One in which they quickly find they aren’t the only performers. Turns out, Taffy’s birthday theme is bringing all the posters from her teen girl bedroom to life. Thus, cameos by Rebecca Lobo, a real Monet painting, “Zeke from California High,” “Pixie Jones” (a Jewel-like folk singer played by Ingrid Michaelson) and “Torque” (Loic Mabanza), a Tyrese-like model/actor who used to “date” Wickie as a PR maneuver. 

    As Dawn starts to realize how much Girls5eva had an impact on Taffy’s “teen girl mind,” she starts to feel even less enthusiastic about this performance, even bringing up one of her more toxic 00s memories when Taffy mentions first seeing them live at the Disney Summer Spectacular “hosted by Jar Jar Binks and Bill Cosby.” Dawn cringes at the thought, then tells Taffy, “Fun memory. ‘Cause backstage Fred Durst and Kid Rock realized you could fill Super Soakers with liquid shit.” Taffy is appropriately appalled before Gloria leads her away to tell her that her “vibe sucks” and that she has to keep her mouth shut in order to do this. 

    Dawn grudgingly agrees, but when Taffy then requests that they play “Sweet’n Low Daddy” from the Heartbreakers Soundtrack (a very specific film reference), it’s more than Dawn can bear. Especially in her fragile pregnant state—the one that asks her if she would want her own daughter growing up listening to the music that she used to churn out. 

    “Our old music was pretty toxic,” Dawn says from the outset of their private plane ride. And yet, she tells herself she’s willing to do it for the sake of their “real art.” And that, if Bob Dylan can sell out for Victoria’s Secret, she can do it for this private, one-off thirty-thousand-dollar gig. Because, unlike most people (millennials and Gen Z alike), Dawn declares, “I’m sorry I’m not nostalgic for the 2000s… I’m just not interested in looking back.” Yet, though she claims the reason she doesn’t want to look back is because of how toxic and (even more) misogynistic the culture was at that time, part of the truth is that it’s also painful to remember how famous and “in their prime” they once were. Two qualities that helped to make the Dawn of that era what she calls “fearless.” 

    Indeed, there was certainly no fear about offending anyone with the majority of the rhetoric. Case in point, a flashback to another song of Girls5eva’s from the period, “Your Wife Sux.” A single that Dawn also believes infected Taffy’s mind when she describes how she secured her sugar daddy. At one point, Dawn laments to Gloria, “Our old shitty songs wormed their way into her squishy teen brain and made her want this.” Gloria scoffs, “We didn’t invent the idea of a sugar daddy. Women have always traded puss for boots.” And it’s true, Taffy made her romantic decision all on her own, finally schooling Dawn on why she wanted Girls5eva to perform after asking her why she’s “happy to sit this one out” and let Taffy go onstage in her place. 

    Dawn explains, “I’m not really a big fan of our early stuff. I don’t love the messages. And I’d feel bad if they became like a life road map for some impressionable young girls.” Taffy demands, “Are you talking about me?” Dawn breaks down, “Taffy, I’m so sorry. I feel terrible that I made you.” Looking at Dawn like she’s off her meds, Taffy responds, “You think you made me? You wanna know why Girls5eva is here?” Feebly, Dawn suggests, “Because we’re your heroes?” “No. Because you made me feel like I felt back when I had your poster on my wall. Back before I found out my dad had a second family and I lit all those fires and my mom got blamed and we lost the apartment and I had to drop out of school and dig graves behind the vet’s office.” Feeling humbled, Dawn just awkwardly replies, “Okay.” But Taffy isn’t done yet. “That’s what people love about nostalgia, dumb-dumb. Makes them feel like they did when life was easy, you know?… So get over yourself, and let me enjoy my party.” Dawn concedes, wishing her a happy birthday. Except Taffy has just one more point to make: “You’re doing the same thing, by the way.” “Excuse me?” Dawn inquires with offense in her tone. “Come on. Back with your girl group from twenty years ago. You think you’re too good for ‘Sweet’n Low Daddy’ or ‘I’m A Guy’s Girl (Girls Are Crazy)’? But, there’s something you miss about it too.” 

    With this assessment slapped down, Dawn can’t deny that there’s truth in what Taffy says. That she misses the glory of such a brightly-burning spotlight, even if the material that secured it was dubious then and certainly doesn’t stand the test of time now. Musing about that period to Rebecca Lobo, she bemoans, “I didn’t know it’d all be gone in a matter of months. But life happens. You know, you grow up, nobody thinks you’re special anymore.” Then, looking at the image of herself from the 00s (that’s actually her current image with a different hairstyle) on Taffy’s poster, Dawn admits, “I miss her. And when I’m onstage, I feel like her again.” So it is that she joins Taffy and the others for an enthusiastic rendition of “Sweet’n Low Daddy.” Principles be damned!

    Those principles are no longer put into question, though, when Girls5eva settles for the medium time because they truly love what they do. And yes, settling for the medium time is playing to an empty Radio City Music Hall on Thanksgiving, but not needing to worry about the fact that no one real bought tickets thanks to Summer gaming the system with a bot army that prevents them from being sued by the venue for failure to draw in enough ticket buyers. As Dawn looks out to pretty much no one, she sings a new song inspired by her recent revelation, featuring the lyrics, “The middle is the riddle of it all” and “The middle time is just fine.” The caveat being, “…for now.”

    Those two words are what come into play when one of Wickie’s old songs from Yesternights gets played on The Crown (or rather, the version of The Crown that exists in the Girls5eva universe). Assuring her that coveted Kate Bush-being-played-on-Stranger Things resuscitation. And when Nance Trace (Vanessa Williams) actually calls Wickie to offer her a deal to do a song for a “female Garfield movie,” Wickie insists she’s still a package deal. When Dawn urgently reminds her that they were supposed to be happy with the medium time, the episode ends just as Wickie is about to give her answer. 

    Obviously, this cliffhanger reiterates the central dilemma of the season: does one settle for what they can get and cease risking constant humiliation or does one keep chasing the dream? Knowing Girls5eva, it will continue to be the latter in season four.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Celebrity birthdays for the week of Jan. 1-7

    Celebrity birthdays for the week of Jan. 1-7

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    Celebrity birthdays for the week of Jan. 1-7:

    Jan. 1: Actor Frank Langella is 85. Singer-guitarist Country Joe McDonald of Country Joe and the Fish is 81. Comedian Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci) is 80. Actor Rick Hurst (“The Dukes of Hazzard”) is 77. Rapper Grandmaster Flash is 65. Actor Renn Woods is 65. Actor Dedee Pfeiffer (“Cybill”) is 59. Actor Morris Chestnut (“The Brothers,” ″The Best Man”) is 54. Singer Tank is 47. Actor Eden Riegel (“The Young and the Restless”) is 42. Bassist Noah Sierota of Echosmith is 27.

    Jan 2: TV host Jack Hanna (“Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild”) is 76. Actor Wendy Phillips (“I Am Sam”) is 71. Actor Cynthia Sikes (“St. Elsewhere”) is 69. Actor Gabrielle Carteris (“Beverly Hills, 90210″) is 62. Actor Tia Carrere is 56. Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is 55. Model Christy Turlington is 54. Actor Renee Elise Goldsberry (Broadway’s “Hamilton”) is 52. Actor Taye Diggs (“The Best Man,” ″How Stella Got Her Groove Back”) is 52. Singer Doug Robb of Hoobastank is 48. Actor Dax Shepard (“Parenthood”) is 48. Sax player-guitarist Jerry DePizzo Jr. of O.A.R. is 44. Singer Kelton Kessee of Immature and of IMX is 42. Musician Ryan Merchant of Capital Cities is 42. Actor Kate Bosworth is 40. Actor Anthony Carrigan (“Barry,” “Gotham”) is 40. Musician Trombone Shorty is 37. Singer Bryson Tiller is 30.

    Jan 3: Actor Dabney Coleman is 91. Singer-songwriter Van Dyke Parks is 80. Singer Stephen Stills is 78. Bassist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin is 77. Actor Victoria Principal is 73. Actor Mel Gibson is 67. Actor Shannon Sturges (“Port Charles”) is 55. Jazz saxophonist James Carter is 54. Contemporary Christian singer Nichole Nordeman is 51. Musician Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk is 48. Actor Jason Marsden (“Ally McBeal”) is 48. Actor Danica McKellar (“The Wonder Years”) is 48. Actor Nicholas Gonzalez (“The O.C.”) is 47. Singer and former “American Idol” contestant Kimberley Locke is 45. Actor Kate Levering (“Drop Dead Diva”) is 44. Actor Nicole Beharie (“Sleepy Hollow”) is 38. Drummer Mark Pontius (Foster the People) is 38. Singer Lloyd is 37. Guitarist Nash Overstreet of Hot Chelle Rae is 37. Actor Florence Pugh (“Don’t Worry Darling,” “Little Women”) is 27.

    Jan 4: Actor Barbara Rush (“Peyton Place”) is 96. Actor Dyan Cannon is 84. Country singer Kathy Forester of the Forester Sisters is 68. Guitarist Bernard Sumner of New Order (and Joy Division) is 67. Actor Ann Magnuson (“Anything But Love”) is 67. Country singer Patty Loveless is 66. Actor Julian Sands (“24”) is 65. Singer Michael Stipe of R.E.M. is 63. Actor Dave Foley (“NewsRadio,” ″Kids in the Hall”) is 60. Actor Dot Jones (“Glee”) is 59. Actor Rick Hearst (“The Bold and the Beautiful”) is 58. Former Pogues singer Cait O’Riordan is 58. Actor Julia Ormond is 58. Country singer Deana Carter is 57. Harmonica player Benjamin Darvill of Crash Test Dummies is 56. Actor Josh Stamerg (“The Affair,” “Drop Dead Diva”) is 53. Actor Jeremy Licht (“Valerie”) is 52. Actor Damon Gupton (“Empire”) is 50. Actor Jill Marie Jones (“Girlfriends”) is 48. Actor D’Arcy Carden (“The Good Place”) is 43. Singer Spencer Chamberlain of Underoath is 40. Comedian-actor Charlyne Yi (“House,” “Steven Universe”) is 37.

    Jan 5: Actor Robert Duvall is 92. Singer-bassist Athol Guy of The Seekers is 83. Former talk show host Charlie Rose is 81. Actor Diane Keaton is 77. Actor Ted Lange (“The Love Boat”) is 75. Drummer George “Funky” Brown of Kool and the Gang is 74. Guitarist Chris Stein of Blondie is 73. Actor Pamela Sue Martin (“The Poseidon Adventure,” ″Dynasty”) is 70. Actor Clancy Brown (“Highlander,” ″SpongeBob SquarePants”) is 64. Actor Suzy Amis (“Titanic”) is 61. Actor Ricky Paull Goldin (“All My Children,” “Guiding Light”) is 58. Actor Vinnie Jones (TV’s “Deception,” film’s “X-Men: The Last Stand”) is 58. Drummer Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson) is 57. Actor Joe Flanigan (“Stargate Atlantis,” ″Sisters”) is 56. Dancer and talk show host Carrie Ann Inaba (“The Talk,” “Dancing with the Stars”) is 55. Guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age is 55. Singer Marilyn Manson is 54. Actor Shea Whigham (“Fast and Furious 6,” ″Boardwalk Empire”) is 54. Actor Derek Cecil (“House of Cards,” ″Treme”) is 50. Actor-comedian Jessica Chaffin (“Man with a Plan”) is 49. Actor Bradley Cooper is 48. Actor January Jones (“Mad Men”) is 45. Actor Brooklyn Sudano (“My Wife and Kids”) is 42. Actor Franz Drameh (“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”) is 30.

    Jan 6: Accordionist Joey, the CowPolka King, of Riders in the Sky is 74. Singer Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds is 72. Country singer Jett Williams is 70. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson (“Mr. Bean”) is 68. Singer Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge is 64. Chef Nigella Lawson is 63. Singer Eric Williams of BLACKstreet is 63. Actor Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”) is 54. TV personality Julie Chen is 53. Actor Danny Pintauro (“Who’s The Boss”) is 47. Actor Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) is 42. Actor Eddie Redmayne (“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them,” ″The Theory of Everything”) is 41. Comedian Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”) is 39. Actor Diona Reasonover (“NCIS”) is 39. Singer Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys is 37.

    Jan 7: “Rolling Stone” magazine founder Jann Wenner is 77. Singer Kenny Loggins is 75. Singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman is 74. Actor Erin Gray (“Silver Spoons,” ″Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”) is 73. Actor Sammo Hung (“Martial Law”) is 71. Actor David Caruso is 67. TV anchor Katie Couric is 66. Country singer David Lee Murphy is 64. Bassist Kathy Valentine (The Go-Go’s) is 64. Actor David Marciano (“Homeland,” ″The Shield”) is 63. Actor Hallie Todd (“Lizzie McGuire”) is 61. Actor Nicolas Cage is 59. Singer John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting is 58. Actor Rex Lee (“Entourage”) is 54. Actor-rapper Doug E. Doug (“Cool Runnings,” ″Cosby”) is 53. Actor Kevin Rahm (“Desperate Housewives,” ″Judging Amy”) is 52. Jeremy Renner (“The Avengers,” ″The Bourne Legacy”) is 52. Country singer John Rich of Big and Rich is 49. Actor Reggie Austin (“Agent Carter,” ″Pretty Little Liars”) is 44. Singer-rapper Aloe Blacc is 44. Actor Lauren Cohan (“The Walking Dead”) is 41. Actor Brett Dalton (“Marvel’s Agents of Shield”) is 40. Actor Robert Ri’chard (“One on One”) is 40. Actor Lyndsy Fonseca (“Marvel’s Agent Carter,” “Nikita”) is 36. Actor Liam Aiken (“Lemony Snicket”) is 33. Actor Camryn Grimes (“The Young and the Restless”) is 33. Actor Marcus Scribner (“black-ish”) is 23.

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  • She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law Bites Back at the Incel Demographic That Would Condemn It

    She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law Bites Back at the Incel Demographic That Would Condemn It

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    While many (men) were quick to dismiss She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law as yet another attempt on Marvel’s part to “feminize” and “ethnify” everything, anyone willing to look past their inherent prejudices would see that series creator Jessica Gao has provided a gem in what is usually a pile of meaningless and/or repetitive schlock. Aiding in the delivery of She-Hulk’s inherently political nature (for whenever a woman steps into a “man’s role,” things always get political) is Tatiana Maslany in the part of Jennifer Walters a.k.a. She-Hulk.

    And yes, one might say there is a “political” angle to Bruce Banner a.k.a. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) “contaminating” his cousin with his Hulk blood (it feels like there’s an allegory here for when a woman gets knocked up through no choice of her own). Were it not for his careless masculinity—getting in a car crash with Jen and letting her help him out of the vehicle with an open wound—Jen might have remained a full-stop lawyer, instead of a lawyer-by-day/Hulk when the mood strikes or the situation warrants it. Just as it does at the end of the first episode, “A Normal Amount of Rage.” But before the denouement of it, we see Jennifer being held essentially against her will by Bruce so that he can now teach her the “trade” of Hulking. Of course, his fragile male ego is offended when she masters every aspect of being a “mutant” in hardly any time at all. Still, he insists that she stay and become “one of them” (read: the Avengers). If nothing else, to keep touting her theory, “Obviously, Captain America was a virgin.”

    To Bruce’s dismay, Jennifer would do no such thing. After all, she just landed a gig at a firm and she didn’t spend all those years studying law only to throw it out the window for the “gift” of being a full-time Hulk. Unfortunately, when “superpower influencer” Titania (Jameela Jamil) bursts into her courtroom at the end of the episode, she gives into her newfound clout by “turning”—albeit at the urging of her best friend and paralegal, Nikki Ramos (Ginger Gonzaga). Much to Jennifer’s chagrin in the second episode, “Superhuman Law,” word spreads fast about her supernatural exploits in the courtroom as opposed to her intellectual ones.

    Thus, reports featuring a man describing what happened are reduced to, “This chick turned into a chick-Hulk.” “A She-Hulk?” the newscaster offers. And so, a new identity is coined. That Jennifer didn’t get to come up with it herself is, naturally, one of the running jokes of the series in that, as a woman, she still has no agency whatsoever in this universe (or any other)—even when it comes to something as rightfully hers as getting to choose her own moniker.

    Even so, Jennifer embraces her She-Hulk alter ego, setting up an account on a dating app to meet men in that guise. At least, after her corporate headshot does little to attract much “buzz.” Obviously, it’s Nikki who urges her to “use what she’s got” to lure them in—which is: being a green woman who looks like a hotter version of Shrek’s Fiona when she’s in ogre form.

    At first, Jen is reluctant to do so, already irritated that she has to “play” She-Hulk all day at the new law firm she works at, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, in their superhuman law division. And yet, when Nikki remarks, “Oof hetero life is grim,” as she looks through the “Matcher” app, it seems Jen is sold on the “marketing technique” of “putting herself out there” as She-Hulk. But hetero life turns out to be especially grim when you’re a She-Hulk who now apparently only appeals to fetishists who never really want to see the real Jen. Which is exactly what happens when she has what she feels is a great night with a “hot doctor” who only leaves her in the morning when Jen is no longer in She-Hulk form.

    To add insult to injury, she’s served with court documents stating Jen has been “misusing” Titania’s so-called trademark: She-Hulk. Because, silly Jen, in all her contempt toward the name, she never thought to actually trademark it. “But that’s my name,” Jen says aloud in front of the server. He condescends, “Not if she trademarked it first.” “Oh is that how it works, Your Honor?” she jibes sarcastically as she closes the door, this just being one of countless belittling microaggressions she endures with men on a day-to-day basis.

    But that doesn’t mean women can’t be her foes, too. Just like Titania in the following episode, “Mean, Green and Straight Poured Into These Jeans.” As is the signature of the series, a meta allusion (often including the breaking of the fourth wall) is made to Titania owning the trademark via the title card to the episode reading, “She-Hulk by Titania.” This, incidentally, being what she decides to call the line of beauty products she’s selling on the back of She-Hulk’s fame.

    To combat this “frivolous lawsuit,” She-Hulk’s boss enlists the best (non-superhuman) lawyer at the firm, Mallory Book (Renée Elise Goldsberry), to represent Jen. And the first thing she asks her about is why she didn’t trademark her name. Jen has no good answer, saying she just didn’t think about it and, “Did Dr. Strange have to trademark his name? Did Thor?” Rather than “allowing” Jen to make this a “sexist thing,” she points out that, in those instances, that was actually the name of each man. But the inevitable sexism of what Jen has to go through rears its ugly (male) head in the courtroom, when she allows Mallory to sift back through all the dates she had on the Matcher app as She-Hulk to establish that Jen was using the name well before Titania trademarked it. With these men as witnesses, Jen is forced to sit through their testimonies of how they were specifically interested in her solely because she had advertised as She-Hulk.

    This becomes a running theme of the nine-episode series: Jen constantly feeling as though “Just Jen” (the name of episode six) is never enough—where the hell is Mark Darcy when you need him?

    Yet she’s still disappointed that she can’t appear as She-Hulk at an old “friend’s” wedding. For that would upstage Lulu’s (Patti Harrison) limelight. Thus, Jen must dim herself and settle for the comfort of drinking, never imagining that she could attract someone at the reception who might actually like her just for herself. The dude in question is plainly-named Josh Miller (Trevor Salter). A little too plainly, it turns out. For no one could be that “mild-mannered” without hiding an ulterior motive. Which is exactly what Josh does as he bides his time until Jen finally lets her guard down long enough to sleep with him, whereupon he extracts her blood and flees the scene.

    Once again, Jen is ghosted. And because her self-esteem is so shot, it never even occurs to her that Josh might have done something shady as she stresses over her unanswered texts. Ending up at Emil Blonsky’s (Tim Roth) newly-founded retreat center for reforming villains, she finds herself confessing in group, “You know in high school, that friend you have that’s, like, way cooler than you are? Like more attractive and athletic, they get all the attention from everyone?” She then points to herself in her She-Hulk form and says, “Hello?” continuing, “You think, ‘Life would be so much easier if I were that person.’ And I can turn into that person anytime I want to. And everyone pays attention when I’m this… But it feels like cheating. Because would they like me if I didn’t have all of this?” It’s a question that Jen persists in grappling with as we learn that, as it happens, Josh is part of the 4chan-esque Intelligencia website, led by a man who has the gall to wield the user name HulkKing.

    This setup in the penultimate episode leads to a finale rife with all the irreverent meta flavor the series paraded thus far. For example, meeting with the Marvel overlord called K.E.V.I.N. (a nod to Kevin Feige) to discuss the ostensibly undesirable conclusion to the series, Jen takes him to task with her legal prowess/knack for arguing. Advocating for a better ending than the one She-Hulk seems to be getting, Jen says that adding a bunch of “plot and flash” at the end, as MCU is known for, is not what Jen, nor her audience, wants. Something she explains to K.E.V.I.N. when she tells him, “It distracts from the story. Which is that my life fell apart. Right when I was learning to be both Jen and She-Hulk. Those are my stakes.”

    When he demands what ending she would propose, at the top of the list is not having Bruce come down to save the day. Because, in case one needs it spelled out yet again, such a “convenient” plot point is completely sexist and degrading to Jen and her alter ego.

    Despite how well the season (and series) wraps itself up, review sites would seem to indicate otherwise. Unsurprisingly, before She-Hulk had even aired more than one episode, it was review-bombed to the point where it presently has four or five stars out of ten on most websites. Needless to say, it’s evident that She-Hulk struck far too much of a cord with the anti-female, “Make Marvel Great Again” viewers that would seek to bury it so that MCU never does something like this again.

    The recent fate of Warner Bros. kiboshing Batgirl is also telling on this front. So maybe that’s why it feels even more poetic that the crux of the final scene of She-Hulk speaks to taking accountability for one’s actions. Particularly their innately sexist ones that would inhibit the simple admission that a show is fly just because its focus is no longer on a man.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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