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CNN —A Palestinian writer who has been in an Israeli prison for 20 years has won a prestigious prize for Arabic fiction for his novel “A Mask, the Color of the Sky.”Basim Khandaqji won the prize on Sunday for his book, and was awarded $50,000 and funding for an English translation. The novel, published by Lebanon’s Dar Al-Adab, “dissects a complex, bitter reality of family fragmentation, displacement, genocide, and racism,” said Nabil Suleiman, a Syrian writer who chaired the 2024 prize. A Mask, the Colour of the Sky (2023) by Palestinian novelist, Basim Khandaqji, winner of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Khandaqji began to write “A Mask, the Color of the Sky” in 2021. During his time in prison, Khandaqji has written poetry collections, as well as three earlier novels, according to IPAF.

Persons: Basim Khandaqji, Nur, ”, Abu, Lebanon’s Dar, “, Nabil Suleiman, Suleiman, Yousef Khandaqji, Bahr, ” “, Khandaqji Organizations: CNN Locations: Ramallah, Abu Dhabi, Syrian, Palestinian, Nablus, Khandaqji, Tel, UAE, Abu, Bab

☆ A Finance Reporter Who Invests in Readers’ Well-Being
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. When Ron Lieber arrived at The Wall Street Journal’s office in 2002 for a job interview, a couple of editors immediately sized him up. “They said, ‘We know what your beat is: beating the system,’” said Mr. Lieber, who had last worked as a senior writer for Fast Company covering management, design and careers. “And now you’re going to come here and do that for us.”After cofounding the Personal Journal section of The Wall Street Journal and writing a separate money management column, he was hired by The New York Times in 2008 to take over Your Money, a personal finance column. Sixteen years later, he has gained a reputation for offering readers advice — often tinged with his own experience — on headache-inducing issues, like how to navigate the maze of paying for college or prepare for life after a layoff.

Persons: Ron Lieber, “, ‘, ’ ”, Lieber, ” Organizations: Fast Company, Street, The New York Times

☆ When the Oscars Were Held Against the Backdrop of Another Divisive War
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On March 23, 2003, as the rest of the world watched televised images of captives and corpses identified as American soldiers, limos carrying high-fashion-clad celebrities rolled up outside what was then known as the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. The United States had invaded Iraq just three days before, and, until that morning, there was still the possibility that the Oscars wouldn’t go on. As A-listers like Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry and Steve Martin — the host — were herded through metal detectors amid a large law enforcement presence, a few blocks away, police officers holding clubs faced off with demonstrators trying to get closer to the theater (none did). This year, another war is in the headlines as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mounts another Oscars. So far, almost no one has spoken out at precursor awards shows, but it was very different in 2003.

Persons: Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Steve Martin — Organizations: Kodak Theater, United, Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Sciences Locations: Los Angeles, United States, Iraq

☆ How to Watch the Oscars: Date, Time and Streaming
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Watching the Oscars doesn’t usually require an instruction manual. One: Be in your preferred watching position — popcorn popped, possibly in a “Dune” bucket, Snuggie on — an hour earlier on Sunday. And two: When we say 7 p.m., we mean what-was-until-2-a.m.-on-Sunday 6 p.m., because — that’s right — daylight saving time is here once again. Don’t forget to set your clocks — if you still have clocks — forward an hour. You may have heard that “Oppenheimer,” with a pack-leading 13 nominations, is a lock to win best picture.

Persons: Ryan Gosling, “ I’m, Ken ” —, —, Don’t, “ Oppenheimer Organizations: Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Sciences

☆ And the Oscars Carpet Color Goes … Back to Red
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It will probably get dirty — maybe it wasn’t the best choice,” Ms. Love said at the time. Last year’s champagne carpet — the first time in more than six decades that the academy’s arrival rug was not red — was part of a trend of colorful carpets that have swept premieres, galas and award ceremonies across the country in recent years. See the Emmys (gray) and the world premiere of “Barbie” in Los Angeles in July (pink, obviously). Red carpets have been a staple at premieres and galas since 1922, when the showman Sid Grauman rolled one out for the 1922 premiere of “Robin Hood,” which starred Douglas Fairbanks, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. The Oscars adopted it beginning with the 1961 ceremony, and, ever since, the special shade — known as Academy Red — has been instantly recognizable in photos.

Persons: “, ”, Love, Ms, galas, “ Barbie ”, Sid Grauman, “ Robin Hood, Douglas Fairbanks, — Organizations: Times Locations: Los Angeles, Hollywood

☆ New York’s School of American Ballet Toasts 90th Anniversary
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Sarah Bahr | Dolly Faibyshev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When the choreographer George Balanchine co-founded the School of American Ballet in New York City in 1934, the last thing on many people’s minds was dance. The United States was still digging out from the Great Depression and often children dropped out of school to work. But nonetheless, the 29-year-old Balanchine believed a dance school was crucial to establishing a professional ballet company — which would become New York City Ballet. Now, 90 years later, the school he opened with 32 students has exploded into the most prestigious academy for young dancers in the United States. Nearly 800 students from 34 states and 12 countries were enrolled at the school’s Lincoln Center campus in the most recent fiscal year, and graduates serve as artistic directors at more than 18 ballet programs around the country, including Los Angeles Ballet, Miami City Ballet and New York City Ballet.

Persons: George Balanchine, Balanchine Organizations: School of American Ballet, New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center, Los Angeles Ballet, Miami City Ballet Locations: New York City, United States, New, Lincoln

☆ How to Watch the Screen Actors Guild Awards 2024: Date, Time and Streaming
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Cord-cutters rejoice: Normally, watching an awards show involves subscribing to a live TV service (or remembering which of your email addresses you haven’t already used for a free trial). But on Saturday, for the first time, Netflix will be streaming the annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, potentially bringing them to a much wider audience. The 15 awards, which are voted on by actors and other performers who belong to the SAG-AFTRA union, honor the best film and television performances from the past year. They can be a bellwether for the Oscars, happening this year on March 10. (Since 1996, 83 of the 112 stars and films that won Oscars for best picture or acting first won a SAG Award.)

Persons: ”, — “ Oppenheimer, ” Christopher Nolan’s, “ Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s Organizations: Netflix, SAG, Mattel

☆ What it’s really like to go to the Super Bowl
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Harmeet Kaur | Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The person who attended the Super Bowl nine timesMike Quackenbush has been to the Super Bowl nine times — but he didn’t personally pay for tickets because, technically, he was there on business. It’s a great event and I was super lucky to go all those years.”The first-time Super Bowl attendee who went during the pandemicChelsea Bear was all smiles at the 2021 Super Bowl. Lennox McLendon/AP Most rushing yards in a Super Bowl: Washington quarterback Doug Williams won the Super Bowl MVP award in 1988, but rookie running back Timmy Smith set a Super Bowl record that year with 204 rushing yards against Denver. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Longest pass in a Super Bowl: Carolina wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad caught an 85-yard touchdown pass from Jake Delhomme during Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004. Paul Sancya/AP First score in Super Bowl history: In the first quarter of what we know now as Super Bowl I, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Max McGee scored a touchdown on a 37-yard pass from Bart Starr.

Persons: who’ve, who’d, —, he’d, Mike Quackenbush, didn’t, Quackenbush, Washington Redskins —, ”, he’ll, Peyton Manning’s, it’s, It’s, Bear, Chelsea Bear, Chelsea Bear’s, Chloe, ” Bear, couldn’t, Tom Brady —, I’ll, San, Judy Abad, “, Steve Young, Tom DiPace, Tom Brady, Brady, John David Mercer, Jerry Rice, Lennox McLendon, Doug Williams, Timmy Smith, Bob Galbraith, Rod Martin, Jeff Roberson, Bill Belichick, Belichick, Al Bello, Baltimore's Jacoby Jones, Ezra Shaw, Muhsin Muhammad, Jake Delhomme, Brian Bahr, Willie Parker, Paul Spinelli, Pittsburgh's James Harrison, Kurt Warner, Leon Lett, Lett, Buffalo's Don Beebe, Rick Stewart, Manny Ramirez, Peyton Manning, Denver's Knowshon Moreno, Paul Sancya, Max McGee, Bart Starr, McGee, Neil Leifer, Scott Norwood, Phil Sandlin, Abad, ” Abad, Mike Ryan, Chris Jeter, Ryan, Patrick Mahomes wasn’t, “ I’d Organizations: CNN, Super, Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, NFL, Super Bowl, NFL Players Association, Bowls, Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills, Chelsea, Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, South Florida, Bucs, New England Patriots, Philadelphia, Patriots, Atlanta, USA, Cincinnati, Famer, Washington, Denver, Oakland, Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, New, New York Giants, Ravens, San Francisco, Getty, Pittsburgh, Dallas Cowboys, Rose, Green Bay Packers, San, 49ers, Buffalo, Bills, Kansas City, Bowl, I’m Locations: Tampa, San Francisco, Diego, Francisco, New England, Carolina, Denver, Seattle, Kansas, Miami

☆ How Sofía Vergara Created Her Tony Soprano Role
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Sofía Vergara invited the “Narcos” showrunner Eric Newman to her home in Los Angeles in 2015 to pitch a TV show about the Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco, she’d done her research. “I watched the ‘Cocaine Cowboys’ documentary in 2006, and I was like, ‘Wow, this character has so many layers,’” Vergara, 51, said of Blanco, the kingpin who was suspected of being involved in more than 200 murders before being shot dead in her hometown, Medellín, in 2012 at age 69. The facts of Blanco’s life — the murders, the kidnappings, the tense backroom meetings with drug bosses — hardly needed embellishment for TV. But what had so hooked Vergara, she said, was the idea that “this innocuous-looking woman was raising four kids while building this insane, brutal empire.”She knew it would be a tougher sell to persuade people that after a little over half a decade portraying the feisty, fun-loving mother Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on the ABC sitcom “Modern Family,” Vergara was the right person to play the cutthroat Blanco.

Persons: Sofía Vergara, Eric Newman, Griselda Blanco, she’d, “, ” Vergara, Blanco, —, Vergara, Gloria Delgado, Pritchett Organizations: Cocaine Cowboys, ABC Locations: Los Angeles, Colombian, Medellín

☆ ‘Heartstopper’ Star Joe Locke Has a Soft Spot for ‘The Goonies’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Joe Locke was so moved when he saw “Next to Normal” at the Donmar Warehouse in London last fall that he called his agent with a request. “I was like, ‘I want to do a musical so bad,’” said Locke, 20, who for two seasons has played the sensitive teenager Charlie Spring in Netflix’s L.G.B.T.Q. coming-of-age drama “Heartstopper.”Soon after, his agent said he’d gotten an email from the casting team of Broadway’s “Sweeney Todd,” and the show was looking for a new Tobias Ragg, an urchin taken in by the scheming pie-maker, Mrs. Lovett. “The easiest way to play him is that he’s a bit simple — he’s not a full egg, as the Irish would say,” Locke said in a phone conversation in early January from his Manhattan apartment, before one of his first rehearsals. “But I think he’s a very street-smart character who’s survived in a world where people like him shouldn’t survive.”

Persons: Joe Locke, “, ’ ”, Locke, Charlie Spring, ”, he’d, Broadway’s “ Sweeney Todd, Tobias Ragg, Lovett, ” Locke Organizations: Donmar Locations: London, Netflix’s L.G.B.T.Q, Manhattan

NEW YORK (AP) — Joyce Randolph, a veteran stage and television actress whose role as the savvy Trixie Norton on “The Honeymooners” provided the perfect foil to her dimwitted TV husband, has died. Randolph died of natural causes Saturday night at her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, her son Randolph Charles told The Associated Press Sunday. Randolph would later cite a handful of favorite episodes, including one in which Ed is sleepwalking. She’s too well-known as Trixie,’” Randolph told the Orlando Sentinel in 1993. Gleason died in 1987 at age 71, followed by Meadows in 1996 and Carney in 2003.

Persons: — Joyce Randolph, Trixie Norton, Randolph, Randolph Charles, Jackie Gleason’s, Gleason, Ralph Kramden, Audrey Meadows, Alice, Art Carney, Ed Norton, Trixie, Ed, Carney, ‘ Thelma, ”, Jackie Gleason, “, ’, ’ ”, She’s, ’ ” Randolph, Meadows, Jane Kean, Joyce Sirola, Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Danny Thomas, Fred Allen, Angus, Chez Josephine, Richard Lincoln, Charles . —, Lindsey Bahr Organizations: Associated Press, Television Academy Foundation, The New York Times, “, Yale, San Antonio Express, Orlando Sentinel, Lambs Club, Lambs Locations: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Gleason’s, Sardi’s, Detroit, New York

☆ Broadway Babies, Singing Show Tunes for Seniors
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

“Oh, baby, give me one more chance,” sang Corey J, a former Little Michael in the Broadway musical “MJ.” Dressed in a black rimmed hat and a black turtleneck, jacket and pants, he slipped through the explosion of joy that is the chord progression of the Jackson 5 song “I Want You Back.”He had performed the song hundreds of times in the Broadway show, a biographical Michael Jackson jukebox musical, at the Neil Simon Theater. But on this particular afternoon, he was on a much smaller stage: an Upper East Side senior center, where about 50 residents seated in floral chairs clapped along to the beat.

Persons: ”, Corey J, Little Michael, Jackson, Michael Jackson, Neil Simon Organizations: Broadway, East

“I really want to be friends with a whale,” Mikey Day, the “Saturday Night Live” cast member, said this week as he stood inside the American Museum of Natural History and discussed his favorite displays. “They just look so magical.”“Sorry, it’s Thursday,” he continued. “I just came from work, and my brain is fried.”In keeping with a longstanding tradition, members of the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” deep in preparations for their upcoming show, put on tuxedos and feathery gowns to join benefactors of the American Museum of Natural History for the institution’s largest annual fund-raiser, held at the museum in Manhattan. “It’s always a nice cast bonding moment,” the “S.N.L.” cast member Bowen Yang said on a red carpet near the large dinosaur models in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda. “It’s like a perfect little reception for the new people.”The gala was chaired by Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of “S.N.L.”; his wife, Alice Barry; the writer and actress, Tina Fey, who was once the show’s head writer; and her husband, the composer Jeff Richmond.

Persons: “, ” Mikey Day, ”, “ It’s, Bowen Yang, Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda, Lorne Michaels, Alice Barry, Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond Organizations: American Museum of Locations: Manhattan

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A high-profile entertainment marketing consultant was targeted by a woman who had been stalking one of his friends before she fatally shot him after her forcing her way inside his Los Angeles home, prosecutors said Thursday. This week's slaying of Michael Latt sent shockwaves through Hollywood as the suspect faces charges of murder and burglary. Latt, 33, had worked on projects with filmmakers including Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay, as well as rap artist Common. Prosecutors allege that Jameelah Elena Michl, 36, knocked on his home's door and forced herself inside once it was open. Latt had also worked at the Sundance Institute, which issued a statement on behalf of his family.

Persons: Michael Latt, shockwaves, Ryan Coogler, Ava DuVernay, Jameelah Elena Michl, haven’t, Michl, Oscar Grant, Michael B, Jordan, Michelle Satter, Quentin Tarantino, David Latt, Latt, “ Michael, ” Latt, “, Forbes, Lindsey Bahr Organizations: ANGELES, Prosecutors, Angeles County, Attorney's, Love, Sundance, Sundance Institute, Justice Locations: Los Angeles, Hollywood, ”, Oakland , California

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Henry Kissinger, the most powerful U.S. diplomat of the Cold War era, who helped Washington open up to China, forge arms control deals with the Soviet Union and end the Vietnam War, but who was reviled by critics over human rights, has died aged 100. While many hailed Kissinger for his brilliance and statesmanship, others branded him a war criminal for his support for anti-communist dictatorships, especially in Latin America. Kissinger won the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, but it was one of the most controversial ever. When Nixon's pledge to end the Vietnam War helped him win the 1968 presidential election, he brought in Kissinger as national security adviser. And in the India-Pakistan War of 1971, Nixon and Kissinger drew heavy criticism for tilting toward Pakistan.

Persons: Henry Kissinger, Kissinger, Richard Nixon, Nixon's, Gerald Ford, Joe Biden's, John Kirby, Biden, Le Duc Tho, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Abdul Momen, Kissinger's, Momen, Ford, Henry, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, Heinz Alfred Kissinger, Egon Bahr, Fabrizio Bensch, Lyndon, Nixon, Premier Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, China Winston Lord, Leonid Brezhnev, Salvador Allende, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W, Bush, Xi Jinping, Ann Fleischer, Nancy Maginnes, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Steve Holland, Arshad Mohammed, Dan Whitcomb, Don Durfee, Kanishka Singh, David Brunnstrom, Trevor Hunnicutt, Jarrett Renshaw, Bill Trott, Diane Craft, Rosalba O'Brien, Tomasz Janowski, Frances Kerry, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Jewish, Kissinger Associates, Arlington National, Republican, Paris Peace, Democratic, U.S, HARVARD, Nazi, Social Democratic, Mary's, REUTERS, Army, Harvard University, State Department, Paris Peace Accords, Communist, Premier, Former U.S, Ford, CIA, Democrat, House, New York Governor, Thomson Locations: U.S, Washington, China, Soviet Union, Vietnam, German, Connecticut, New York, Arlington, Israel, Paris, North Vietnam, America, Cambodia, North Vietnamese, Beijing, Russian, statesmanship, West, East Pakistan, Bangladesh, Fuerth, Germany, United States, St, Berlin, Europe, Jerusalem, Damascus, Syria, Golan, Vladivostok, Egypt, Sinai, India, Pakistan, Saint Paul , Minnesota, Long Beach , California

☆ Engaging and Aging on ‘The Golden Bachelor’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. In August, Julia Jacobs visited a Mediterranean-style mansion in Agoura Hills, Calif., the backdrop of “The Golden Bachelor.” The show is a spinoff of the popular “Bachelor” reality TV franchise, with a surprising twist: Participants are at least 60 years old. In the show’s premiere on Sept. 28, viewers met Gerry Turner (pronounced Gary), a 72-year-old widowed retiree from Indiana looking for romance, and nearly two dozen women hoping to court him on national television. Their relationships unfold on-air every Thursday. Audiences seem to be loving it: The series premiere was the most watched debut for a “Bachelor” franchise season since 2021 and the most watched of any “Bachelor” premiere on the streaming platform Hulu.

Persons: Julia Jacobs, ”, Jacobs, Gerry Turner, Gary Organizations: The New York Times, Hulu Locations: Agoura Hills, Calif, Indiana

☆ Charles Barkley: NBA great criticizes Ja Morant and opens up about his own politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Ben Church | Chris Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —NBA great and popular TV analyst Charles Barkley has urged Ja Morant to focus on basketball and “stay out of trouble” as the Memphis Grizzlies’ star continues to serve a lengthy suspension for incidents involving firearms. In June, the NBA suspended Morant for 25 games without pay after he was involved in several incidents where he was caught on video with guns which were published on social media. The first game Morant would be eligible to play is on December 19 against the New Orleans Pelicans. “I think you can be one of those things, but you don’t think that way on every subject. With the new NBA season back underway, Barkley isn’t shy about predicting this year’s champion.

Persons: Charles Barkley, Ja Morant, “, ”, Morant, Barkley, Gayle King, Chris Wallace, Chris Wallace ”, Max, “ He’s, can’t, ’ ”, “ We’re, We’re, ” Charles Barkley, Doug Pensinger, Michael Jordan, Brian Bahr, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barkley’s, ‘ King Charles, ’ Organizations: CNN, NBA, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, “, ” CNN, Basketball Hall of Fame, Star, Republican, Democratic, Conservative, Liberal, Getty, Boston Celtics Locations: Glendale , Colorado, Denver, Alabama, America, AFP

☆ Ali Stroker Has Tips for Fellow Sleep-Deprived Working Moms
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The actress Ali Stroker never thought she would write a book. “Growing up, I didn’t like reading,” said Stroker, who in 2019 became the first performer who uses a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. “Books didn’t have any characters I related to.”But when Stacy Davidowitz, the author of the middle-grade series Camp Rolling Hills, asked to interview her because a character she was working on had a disability and worked in theater, Stroker had an idea: What if they wrote a story together? “That’s what I always tell anybody who wants to do something they’re not sure they know how to do: Find somebody who does and collaborate with them,” Stroker, 36, who lives in Westchester County, said in a phone interview on the way to a rehearsal in Manhattan. Their partnership led to “The Chance to Fly,” a middle-grade novel published in 2021, and a sequel out this month, “Cut Loose!”

Persons: Ali Stroker, ”, Stroker, Stacy Davidowitz, ” Stroker Organizations: Rolling Hills Locations: Westchester County, Manhattan

☆ What to Know About ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’: A Guide to the Osage Murders
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mollie Kyle was a single woman from a wealthy Osage family, which made her a target. First, in 1918, a sister, Minnie Smith, died of what doctors called a “peculiar wasting illness” (probably poisoning). With each death, Mollie — and therefore Ernest — inherited additional headrights. The Osage Tribal Council suspected Hale early on, but it couldn’t get anyone to testify against him: Hale had bribed or threatened many witnesses into silence. (It would later be renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation.)

Persons: Mollie Burkhart, Mollie Kyle, Ernest Burkhart, William Hale, Mollie’s, Minnie Smith, Anna Brown, Hale, Lizzie Q, Rita Smith, Mollie —, Ernest —, J, Edgar Hoover, —, Tom White, Jesse Plemons Organizations: Osage Tribal, Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation Locations: Osage

☆ Melissa Etheridge Is Ready to Rewatch ‘Barbie’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

5Esther HicksWhen I went through cancer 19 years ago, it was a big wake-up call about health and life. 6My Gibson Chuck Berry 1970s ES-355 Replica Murphy Lab GuitarI recently went down to Nashville with my band and my crew, and we all went to the Gibson Garage. I have to have it.” I think I’ll use it in the last few numbers of the show. It started 20 years ago when I was undergoing chemotherapy and didn’t have the energy to do anything else. I saw “Barbie” on the road recently at a dine-in theater in Lexington, Ky.

Persons: Esther Hicks, Gibson Chuck Berry, Taylor Swift, Barbie ” Organizations: Gibson Locations: Nashville, New York City, Washington Square, Chicago, Kansas City, Westlake, Lexington, Ky

☆ Apple buys Swedish classical record label
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple has acquired BIS Records, a 50-year-old Swedish record label with a focus on classical music, as part of its continuing efforts to attract classical music fans. BIS Records founder Robert von Bahr said Tuesday that Apple recently bought his record company and will fold it into its Apple Music Classical and Platoon music services. The acquisition is another example of Apple attempting to distinguish itself from streaming-music rival Spotify by focusing on classical music. In 2021, it bought the classical music streaming service Primephonic for an undisclosed sum. Eventually, the tech giant debuted its own Apple Music Classical streaming app this past spring, pitching it as a way for current Apple Music subscribers to access over five million classical tracks that can be searched via data like composer, conductor or catalog number.

Persons: Robert von Bahr, Von Bahr, von Bahr, Apple, Primephonic Organizations: Apple, BIS Records, CNBC, Spotify, Apple Music, Artists

Jay Alan Zimmerman, a deaf composer and musician, was used to positioning himself near the speakers at clubs, straining to feel the vibrations of songs he could not hear. So when he was invited to test a new technology, a backpack, known as a haptic suit, designed for him to experience music as vibrations on his skin — a kick drum to the ankles, a snare drum to the spine — he was excited. “With captioning and sign language interpretation, your brain is forced to be in more than one place at a time,” Mr. Zimmerman, who began losing his hearing in his early 20s, said in a recent video interview. “With a haptic system,” he continued, “it can go directly to your body at the exact same moment, and there’s real potential for you to actually feel music in your body.”

Persons: Jay Alan Zimmerman, ” Mr, Zimmerman, ”

☆ PlayStation and BTS Help Lea Salonga Clear Her Head
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lea Salonga was feeling under the weather earlier this month. “I had to miss shows, which is unfortunate,” she said before one of her final performances in the Broadway disco musical “Here Lies Love.” “But I was still able to stand over a stove and cook this soup that had a lot of garlic and a lot of ginger,” she recalled during a phone interview from her Manhattan home. “It’s called tinola, which is a Filipino chicken soup. It’s what would be cooked every time I was sick at home.”That connection to the Philippines — where Salonga was born and raised — is one she also feels with “Here Lies Love,” which recounts the rise and fall of the country’s ousted leader and first lady, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. “Normally, if I’m watching a theater piece, I could just feel whatever feelings there are, or that the show wants me to feel,” said Salonga, 52, who on Saturday finishes her guest run as Aurora Aquino, the mother of Benigno Aquino Jr., Ferdinand’s political rival.

Persons: Lea Salonga, “, ”, “ It’s, Salonga, Ferdinand, Imelda Marcos, Aurora Aquino, Benigno Aquino Jr, Kim Organizations: Aurora, Broadway Locations: Manhattan, Philippines, “

☆ 72 Regional Theaters, One Shared Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

We need to pay more attention to nonprofit theaters and theaters outside New York — because there are real challenges in those places we need to be telling our readers about. Theaters that once saw themselves either as competitors or just strangers are much more interested in finding ways to help one another. There’s a coalition forming of theaters in Connecticut that is talking about whether the theaters might be able to share set-building functions. A lot of theaters are talking about the possibility of either more government assistance or for more foundations to take seriously the challenges facing this field. How will we see an effect on Broadway, which depends on nonprofit theaters to develop material and support artists?

Persons: ”, I’m, There’s Organizations: Repertory Theater, Barrington Stage Company, Studio Theater, Washington , D.C, Shakespeare Theater Company, D.C Locations: Boston, Washington ,, New York, Connecticut

☆ Maggie Siff and Erica Schmidt on a Williams Play ‘Shot Through With Desire’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

She felt the theme would resonate in 2020, when the play was originally set to be staged before the pandemic forced a postponement — even more so now, amid a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment nationwide. “That’s possibly why it hasn’t been so successful in the past,” Schmidt, 48, said at a rehearsal on a sweltering Wednesday last month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Why did you want to do this play? ERICA SCHMIDT The play is shot through with desire; this need to really live life and to cling to what matters to you with both your hands until your fingers break, as Carol [an eccentric aristocrat character] says. It felt like an undeniable piece of work that one would need to throw oneself into.

Persons: Schmidt, ”, “, ” Schmidt, Williams, Schmidt —, —, ERICA SCHMIDT, Carol, Thornton Wilder, MAGGIE SIFF Organizations: Brooklyn Academy of Music Locations: London, United States, “ Our

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