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☆ 'House of the Dragon' Blood actor breaks down how the 'horrific' first episode was filmed. He says his character almost met an even grislier end.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Eammon Jacobs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewThe actor who played Blood in "House of the Dragon" season two broke down how the gruesome first episode was filmed in an interview with Business Insider. The child actors on the "House of the Dragon" set weren't involved in the killingMark Stobbart as Cheese and Sam C. Wilson as Blood in "House of the Dragon" season two. AdvertisementDon't worry, they didn't actually kick the dogBobby the dog in "House of the Dragon." HBOWilson and Stobbart were somewhat upstaged by the cute canine costar who accompanies Blood and Cheese on their mission. AdvertisementBlood's death in episode two was nearly much more gruesomeSam C. Wilson as Blood in "House of the Dragon."

Persons: —, Daemon Targaryen, Matt Smith, Sam C, Wilson, Stobbart, Prince Aemond Targaryen, Ewan Mitchell, Helaena, Phia Saban, Mark Stobbart, Ollie Upton, It's, Bobby, HBO Wilson, Cheese, didn't, Tom Glynn, Carney, I'd, Kit Harington, Richard Madden, Emilia Clarke, Bella Ramsey, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, There's Organizations: Service, Business, HBO, King Aegon, Aegon

☆ Judy Garland and ‘The Trolley Song’: Why an 80-year-old performance speaks to today’s LGBTQ community
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Scottie Andrew | Sydney Bishop | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“The Trolley Song,” a second-act standout from the 1944 movie musical “Meet Me in St. Louis,” was sung by Judy Garland in striking Technicolor. And yet it has found new life online nearly 80 years later as an unlikely anthem for LGBTQ Pride. “Happy pride month (sic) to Judy Garland in the trolley song. Kelleher likened it to Cher’s 1998 autotune fantasia “Believe” but “somehow even more gay.”Like Cher’s hit, “The Trolley Song” is dripping in artifice. “The Trolley Song” has been adopted by LGBTQ people since Garland first started singing it in concert.

Persons: ”, Louis, Judy Garland, Sabrina Carpenter’s, Oz, Dave Karger, Patrick Kelleher, Garland, ” Kelleher, “, huff, Esther Smith, ‘, clang ’, ’, zing ’, Paige Turner, … ” Turner, ” Paige Turner, Turner, Kelleher, Louis ”, Manuel Betancourt, “ Judy, Rufus Wainwright, –, Judy, Rufus, Wainwright, ” Wainwright, Garland’s, ” Karger, Dee Michel, Dorothy, ’ ”, Michel, ” Michel, Jim Bailey, Princess Diana, King Charles, Liza Minnelli, It’s, ” Turner, “ Gay Organizations: CNN, LGBTQ, Turner, TCM, Warner Bros ., Pride, Broadway, Carnegie Hall, Capitol Studios, Gay Boys Locations: St, Ireland, Missouri, New York, London, Los Angeles

☆ Opinion | Celine Dion Will Save Us From Our Diva Deficit
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-23 | by ( Elamin Abdelmahmoud | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nearly two years ago, I huddled with some co-workers over a phone watching a video Celine Dion had shared on Instagram. “I miss you all so much.” This was Ms. Dion as we’d never seen her — fragile, tentative, worried — and all of us watching got a little emotional. This week, Ms. Dion will premiere “I Am: Celine Dion,” a documentary about her life since that diagnosis. Ms. Dion, 56, released her first album in 1981 at age 13, and she’s come to stand as one of the last pillars of a dwindling category: the pop divas. In the opera world, being labeled a diva can come with sexist overtones, a shorthand for a famous woman who makes unreasonable demands.

Persons: Celine Dion, ”, “, Dion, we’d, —, she’s, Barbra, Tina, Whitney, Patti, Chaka, Gladys, Mariah, Dolly, Cher, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin Organizations: North Star Locations: New York, gigawatts

☆ I live in Germany where there are laws around how to name your child. Kids can't be named after titles, places, or brands.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-25 | by ( Naomi Kaye Honova | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementAmong my kids' classmates and friends, I can't name a single child born in recent years whose name falls into this category. Related storiesOne of my kids technically has a gender-neutral name, but admittedly, it wasn't an issue when we named him in Germany. Another interesting fact is that common German last names, like Schroeder or Fischer, can't be given as first names in Germany. The reason for these names being rejected is due to child protection grounds, as they are seen by German law as acts of child cruelty. Fortunately, this particular law was never an issue for us — we certainly never intended to give our children names like Stalin or Captain Marvel.

Persons: —, Frank Zappa's, Dweezil, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian's, Luca, It's, didn't, Sir, Chanel, Bentley, Schroeder, Fischer, Parker, Sawyer, Carter, Adolf Hitler, Carola, Schokominza, Lenin, Stalin, Marvel Organizations: Service, Moon Unit, Kanye, Business, Prada, Nazi, Pepsi Locations: United States, Saint, Chicago, Germany, London, Ireland, Brooklyn, Memphis, Berlin, Oslo, Dublin

☆ Opinion | Rita, Anita, My Mother and Me
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Deborah Paredez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Some Latina mothers teach their daughters how to spoon masa or plátano onto a corn husk or banana leaf when making tamales or pasteles. My Latina mother taught me to love musicals. Perhaps it’s because, like all musicals, “West Side Story” is a complex form of representation that revels in both its messiness and its marvelousness. My mother was showing me a diva who could move across these imposed limits. Many of us have cataloged and condemned the musical’s depictions of criminal youth and blatantly sexual women all speaking in exaggerated accents.

Persons: Barbra Streisand, Fanny Brice, Diana Ross, Rita Moreno, Anita, ” Organizations: Broadway Locations: “, America

☆ The Man Who Never Says No to Zendaya
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Vanessa Friedman | More About Vanessa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last March, Law Roach seemed to be at the peak of his career as a celebrity stylist. He had won the first stylist of the year award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and was working with Zendaya, Celine Dion, Anya Taylor-Joy and Anne Hathaway, among others. Rumors that he had thrown a tantrum because Louis Vuitton wouldn’t seat him next to Zendaya in the front row. On May 6, Mr. Roach is dressing Zendaya, a host of the Met Gala, which he is also attending. And he is plotting a certification course for would-be stylists, which will, essentially, mass-market and formalize his approach.

Persons: Law Roach, Zendaya, Celine Dion, Anya Taylor, Joy, Anne Hathaway, “, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Louis Vuitton, ”, Roach, Julia Fox Organizations: of Fashion Designers of America

☆ Early retail bulls chart Nvidia's transformation from gaming icon to AI superpower — a ride that's paid for cars, dream homes, and lavish vacations
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Ana Altchek | Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Nvidia has been a cash cow for retail investors lucky enough to buy before the huge AI-fueled rally. Early retail investors told Business Insider their gains have paid for cars, vacations, and dream homes. The stock's steep climb — up over 1,500% since 2019 — has transformed the lives of some of Nvidia's long-term retail investors, resulting in comfier retirements, new cars, and gains worth millions for some. Nvidia shares tumbled by more than 30% in 2018. That sense of security that such a windfall provides was the top theme among the Nvidia investors Business Insider connected with.

Persons: —, I'm, ChatGPT, Tom, he'll, Danial hadn't, Danial, Roth, Jeff Roberts, Rick, He's, Chris Downs, Downs, he's Organizations: Nvidia, Business, Service, Vanda Research, Apple, Invest, Mexico City Locations: New Jersey, Texas, Costa Rica, Missouri, Bolivia, Paris, Mexico, Spain

☆ Cher, Dave Matthews Band and A Tribe Called Quest Join Rock Hall of Fame
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton and Mary J. Blige are part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2024, along with Dave Matthews Band, Kool & the Gang, Foreigner and A Tribe Called Quest, the hall announced on Sunday. The latest crop of stars will officially join the pantheon in a ceremony on Oct. 19 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, where the hall’s affiliated museum is also located. Of those artists, four were elevated to the hall on their first nomination: Cher, Foreigner, Frampton and Kool & the Gang. Osbourne was nominated for the first time as a solo act, though he had joined the hall as part of Black Sabbath in 2006. The Rock Hall has come under increasing pressure in recent years to diversify its ranks with more women and artists of color, and has made progress in that regard, though some critics say it is not enough.

Persons: Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton, Mary J, Blige, Dave Matthews, Osbourne, Frampton, Foreigner, X, Matthews Organizations: Roll, Rocket Mortgage, Kool Locations: Cleveland

☆ I worked for Beyoncé for a year. She wasn't a diva and wasn't passive — it was a master class in executing a creative vision
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Michelle Mastro | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Marcus Collins shares the major lessons he learned helping Beyoncé to bring her fan base online. I started working with her in 2009, as her director of digital strategy and new media. The team would put together our recommendations, and we'd present these ideas to her father, Matthew Knowles, who was overseeing Music World Entertainment, which produced her earlier work. We stopped working on building Beyoncé an online community and instead started engaging with the online community that already existed. It was at this point that her community started to take shape.

Persons: Marcus Collins, Beyoncé, Collins, —, Matthew Knowles, Sasha Fierce, She's, it's, you've Organizations: Service, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Beyoncé, World Entertainment, Facebook

☆ I worked for Beyoncé for a year. She wasn't a diva and wasn't passive — it was a master class in digital strategy
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Michelle Mastro | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I started working with her in 2009, as her director of digital strategy and new media. Don't build community, facilitate itPart of my job in overseeing Beyoncé's digital strategy was maintaining her Facebook page and Twitter account. The team would put together our recommendations, and we'd present these ideas to her father, Matthew Knowles, who was overseeing Music World Entertainment, which produced her earlier work. We stopped working on building Beyoncé an online community and instead started engaging with the online community that already existed. It was at this point that her community started to take shape.

Persons: Marcus Collins, Beyoncé, Matthew Knowles, Sasha Fierce, She's, it's, you've Organizations: Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Beyoncé, World Entertainment, Facebook

☆ Having a common name can be frustrating. But so can be having a less common one.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Beth Caplin Stoneburner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

However, I quickly learned that having a common name was going to make that difficult. Instead, the precocious little diva that I was, every Sarah I encountered posed a threat to my uniqueness. I combined my first and middle names, Sarah Elizabeth, into something I thought was unique, yet not so different that friends and family couldn’t catch on: Sarahbeth. No sooner than the ink dried on my new Social Security card did I learn the challenges of having a unique name, which I hadn’t anticipated. One particular annoyance sprouted immediately: having to spell it out or explain it every time I introduced myself (“Sarahbeth, one word, no hyphen, lowercase b…”).

Persons: Sarah I, they’ve, YouTuber, ”, Sarah Elizabeth, Mary, Kate Olsen, Beth, it’s, Sarah, Sarahbeth Caplin Organizations: Social Security, Google

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez Smith, a renowned soprano known for her performance in the 1981 French cult-classic film “Diva” and who sang through the U.S. and Europe during her operatic career, has died at age 75. Funeral services were held Friday for Fernandez Smith at a church in Lexington, Kentucky, where she had moved after residing for years in her native Philadelphia. She died of cancer Feb. 2 at her home in Lexington, daughter Sheena Maria Fernandez told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Billed as Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, she opened the movie directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix wearing a white gown and singing in an aging theater the aria “Ebben? “Wilhelmenia was always a very quiet person and did not crave the limelight,” Everett McCorvey, director of the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, told the Lexington newspaper.

Persons: — Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez Smith, ”, Fernandez Smith, Sheena Maria Fernandez, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, Jean, Jacques Beineix, La Wally, “, Andrew Smith, “ Wilhelmenia, ” Everett McCorvey, Fernandez Smith’s, Kerr Organizations: U.S, Philadelphia Inquirer, Academy of Vocal Arts, Juilliard School, Filmmakers, Inquirer, Kentucky State University, Lexington Herald, Baptist Church, University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, Lexington Locations: LEXINGTON, Ky, Europe, Lexington , Kentucky, Philadelphia, Lexington, New York, Paris, Kentucky

☆ Coldplay has a request: They really, really want to play in China
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

He really, really wants to play in China. “I promise we’ll play in China one day,” Martin said to the screaming crowd when he invited two lucky fans up on stage. “You know, we can’t get the permission (to play in China),” he told concertgoers. Chris Martin and Coldplay aren’t alone in wanting to serenade mainland Chinese audiences. Chinese authorities have also been known to vet the content of shows, including setlists and lyrics.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN — Coldplay, Chris Martin, “, ” Martin, don’t, Coldplay, ”, Martin, concertgoers, “ Coldplay, China …, Paul Kane, Coldplay aren’t, Jon Bon Jovi, Jovi, Bon Jovi’s, Lama, Xi Jinping, –, Xi, Golshifteh Farahani, “ Young, Bjork, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry's, Sam Yeh, Katy Perry, Madonna, James Hetfield, we’re Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, CNN, Coldplay, Tourism Ministry, Oasis, Communist Party, China’s Communist Party, Tibet, Municipal, of Culture, Getty, Taiwan, Chinese Culture Ministry, South China Morning Locations: Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Guangzhou, British, Asia, Tokyo, –, Beijing, Shanghai, Macao, Covid, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Worth, Iranian, Buenos Aires, Iran, Taipei, AFP, Taiwan

☆ 5 key life skills you can learn from Martha Stewart
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Fold a fitted sheetYou start with the best intentions, but you end with a balled-up fitted sheet tossed into a linen closet, right? Then use your right hand to tuck that corner inside out over the one in your left hand. Keeping the two corners in your left hand, pull the top edge straight with your right hand. Using your right hand to secure the fold, shake out the sheet to even out the bottom. Follow the elastic edge down with your right hand until you get to the third corner, and fold that one over to join the other two in your left hand.

Persons: Martha Stewart ”, Martha Stewart, Stewart Organizations: CNN, Everett

☆ Fox News Suddenly Wants Celebrities Out of Politics. Well, One Celebrity.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( James Poniewozik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And now she’s living rent-free in Fox News hosts’ heads. was rigging the Super Bowl for the Chiefs; and that it was all an unholy plot to supercharge an eventual Biden endorsement. The Fox host Jesse Watters even flirted with the speculation, floating the idea that Swift’s success was a psyop masterminded by the Defense Department. Of course, people are entitled to their opinions on celebrity political speech or the possible existence of a secret Pentagon diva lab. But if Fox News’s hosts truly believe that it’s irresponsible and dangerous to invite celebrities to weigh in on politics, they might want to turn their attention to … Fox News.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Biden, Don’t, ” Jeanine Pirro, Charly Arnolt, “, ” Sean Hannity, ”, MAGA, Swift, Jesse Watters, “ Paul, Fox, … Organizations: Kansas City Chiefs, Fox News, Biden, Bowl, Chiefs, Fox, Defense Department, … Fox News

☆ ‘El Otro Oz’ Review: There’s No Place Like (Your Ancestral) Home
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Laurel Graeber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Every dramatization of “The Wizard of Oz” seems to offer a pilgrimage to the Emerald City. But “El Otro Oz,” the inspired and imaginative interpretation now playing at Atlantic Stage 2, introduces additional journeys that are ultimately more poignant and profound. When I first saw this Latin-flavored retelling of L. Frank Baum’s tale two years ago, I was most impressed by its comic inventiveness. More an admirer of Beyoncé than of merengue, the American-born Dora deeply resents her Mexican immigrant mother’s plans for a quinceañera, the traditional celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday. After she reluctantly dons a voluminous pastel dress for the occasion, Dora wails, “I look like cotton candy!” (Stephanie Echevarria designed the vivid costumes.)

Persons: Oz ”, El Otro, Frank Baum’s, “ El, ”, Oz, Melissa Crespo’s, Mando Alvarado, Tommy Newman, Newman, Jaime Lozano, Dora, Nya, Beyoncé, Dora wails, Stephanie Echevarria Organizations: Atlantic, Atlantic for, Atlantic Theater Company Locations: Emerald City, Chihuahua, Toquito, Oeste, Chicago, American

Sandra Milo, an icon of Italian cinema who played a key role in Federico Fellini’s “8½” and later became his muse, died Monday, her family said. Milo, noted for her distinctive high-pitched voice, died in her sleep at home in Rome, surrounded by her family and beloved dogs Jim and Lady, according to a statement from the family carried by state-run RAI television. “Ciao Diva!” the Venice Biennale posted on social media, calling Milo an “unforgettable and versatile” actor both in comedy and drama. Believing the caller, a terrified Milo fled the studio wailing “Ciro, Ciro!” only to subsequently learn that her son was fine and that she had been tricked. She is survived by Ciro and her two other children, according to the statement carried by RAI.

Persons: Sandra Milo, Federico Fellini’s “, ”, Milo, Jim, Elena Salvatrice Greco, Roberto Rossellini’s, Della Rovere, General Della Rovere, Alberto Sordi, Marcello Mastroianni, ” Milo, Carla, Guido, Fellini, Juliet, “ Caro Federico, Ciro, “ Ciro Organizations: RAI Locations: Rome, Venice

☆ Opinion: 17 syllables a day that are changing your lives
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Opinion Tess Taylor | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —For me, writing a haiku a day began as a practice on my birthday, October, 2022. As my birthday rolled around that fall, the idea of writing a haiku a day was simply a way of promising myself that that day, I’d steady myself make note of — ha — just one thing. No matter the day, I was sure I could find a way to write down one sentence, one spattering of roughly 17 syllables. Tink Boord-Dill wrote in that liked that he loved writing haiku because it was daily creativity without performance pressure. Robin from Maryland wrote “the daily writing of seventeen syllables quickly created a rhythm to my thinking and even my walking….

Persons: Tess Taylor, —, Tess Taylor Adrianne Mathiowetz, Robert Hass, I’d, Basho, we’d, Tink, Dill, Elaine Questell, ” Carla White, ” Paul Nelson, Allen Ginsberg, Linda Neves, …, Candace Waldron, “, birdsong, — Linda Neves, Brad Taylor, Nancy B, — Philip Chan, Carolyn W, — Susan B, Karen Jacobs, Weren’t, — Stephen Schwei, Derek Thaczuk, I’m Organizations: “, CNN Locations: California, Maryland, Virginia, New York, Quebec, Bill, Alaska, Arizona, Guynn , Texas, Ohio, Derek Thaczuk , Ontario

ANGELINA JOLIE has found her voice. But first, she says, she lost it. It was during hours of training to portray the opera singer Maria Callas in her turbulent final days, for an upcoming movie in which Jolie’s voice will be blended with the diva’s famously dramatic renditions of operatic arias.

Persons: ANGELINA JOLIE, Maria Callas

☆ OK, sure: Gen Z still thinks George Santos is kind of funny
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

George Santos was expelled from Congress on Friday. AdvertisementTrue diva representation in Congress is now back to zero after scandal-plagued representative George Santos was formally expelled by his colleagues on Friday. Because, for Gen Z, Santos has become something of a star, a man worth having a shrine erected in his honor, per one post on X , "in memory of a Jew-ish icon ." As Santos exits the halls of Congress with post-congressional gym membership perks in tow, Gen Z says, "Gone but never forgotten." Representatives for George Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Persons: George Santos, —, you've, Gen, Santos, Gen Z, He's, scamming, Lauren Boebert, Mary Magdalene, grumbled, hasn't Organizations: Service, Republican Locations: Washington, Manhattan

☆ Blue Ivy begged Beyoncé to leave 'Diva' in her setlist during an important 'Renaissance' film scene that ignited a gentle parenting debate online
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-02 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A clip of Beyoncé correcting her daughter, Blue Ivy, in the film is sparking a conversation online. AdvertisementA brief conversation between Beyoncé and Blue Ivy in the "Renaissance" film sparked a discussion about gentle parenting. When a crew member suggested cutting Beyoncé's 2008 song "Diva," Blue Ivy, 11, immediately began advocating for the fan-favorite tune. Others discussed Beyoncé's approach to parenting Blue Ivy, applauding her for using gentle parenting. During the film, Beyoncé revealed that Blue Ivy got permission to dance onstage during a concert in Paris.

Persons: Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, —, Ivy, you've, Beyonce, — Jamel Stefan, @stefanartistry, isn't, It's, Ivy Carter, Kevin Mazur, Blue Organizations: Service, Blue, Cleveland Clinic, Boomers, Parkwood Locations: Paris

☆ Maria Callas Was Opera’s Defining Diva. She Still Is.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | More About Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

She left her husband for the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, largely giving up performing in the process. When Onassis eventually married Jackie Kennedy instead, Callas was alone and bereft, without either the vocation that had given her purpose or the man who had replaced it. There was always that sense of every phrase being considered, without feeling studied — of a voice with a purpose. But among the most pernicious stereotypes about Callas is that she was an actress who could barely sing, who got by on charisma alone. Listen to her tender “O mio babbino caro.” Listen to her delicate yet commanding “D’amor sull’ali rosee.” She was always a bel canto singer at heart.

Persons: Aristotle Onassis, Onassis, Jackie Kennedy, Callas, direly, “, ”, Francesco Siciliani, —, caro, D’amor Organizations: “, Juilliard School

☆ Review: ‘Florencia’ Brings Spanish Back to the Met Opera
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | More About Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That happens to be the year the Met last put on a Spanish-language opera, and there’s something amusing in the fact that next to nothing in “Florencia,” which premiered in Houston in 1996, would have surprised an audience back then. You almost want to applaud the impressive, if perverse, achievement of a score that so thoroughly rejects all the galvanic musical developments since the early 1900s, when the opera is set. The action — hardly complex, but crowded — takes place aboard a steamboat in the Amazon rainforest. The passengers are on their way to hear the great diva Florencia Grimaldi sing at the Belle Époque opera house in Manaus, Brazil. There’s a swooning pair of young lovers, and a bickering married couple; a would-be Grimaldi biographer and a mystical narrator; oh, and Florencia, too, somehow unrecognized by everyone else and returning to Manaus in search of her lover, a butterfly hunter she lost long ago.

Persons: Catán, Giacomo Puccini, “ Florencia, Florencia Grimaldi, There’s, Grimaldi, Florencia, Marcela Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez Organizations: Met, Belle Locations: “, ”, Houston, Manaus, Brazil

☆ An Opera’s Riverboat Journey Brings the Rainforest Onboard
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Elisabeth Vincentelli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There really was no reason for Mary Zimmerman to get stuck while directing her new production of “Florencia en el Amazonas,” which premieres on Thursday at the Metropolitan Opera. The staging is her sixth for the Met, and at first glance, the work looked to be square in her wheelhouse. Yet when time came to start conceptualizing her production, Zimmerman found herself stalling. “I’m quite a bit overidentified with Florencia,” Zimmerman said after a recent rehearsal. A lot of us performers and artists with broken hearts, partly everything we put on is for that person, whether they’re going to see it or not.”

Persons: Mary Zimmerman, Florencia, Gabriel García Márquez, Zimmerman, ” Zimmerman, “, ” Organizations: Metropolitan Opera, Met Locations: el Amazonas, ”, Manaus

☆ Forgotten film reels bring Maria Callas' Paris debut to colourful life
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A new film "Callas - Paris, 1958" is about to transport audiences back to the night 65 years ago when opera legend Maria Callas for the first time dazzled a Paris audience. Celebrities including Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, as well as then French president René Coty attended the three-hour performance at the Paris Opera. It was also broadcast live on television to more than 30 million people, but until film-maker Tom Volf and his team meticulously restored film reels that had lain forgotten, it had only been seen in black and white. He said the work of his team made the film "as vivid as if it was shot last month". It will be released in cinemas in some 40 countries between November and December in celebration of the centenary of Callas' birth.

Persons: Callas, Maria Callas, Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot, Duke, Duchess of, René Coty, Tom Volf, Volf, Norma, Hanna Rantala, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Paris, Thomson Locations: Paris, Duchess of Windsor, New York

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