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☆ Why Ford believes its $1.9 billion shift in EV strategy is the right choice for the company
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-23 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

So it might surprise investors that the automaker believes its new path to profitability for electric vehicles will first be led by smaller, more affordable vehicles. “We’re quite convinced that the highest adoption rates for electric vehicles will be in the affordable segment on the lower size-end of the range,” he told CNBC on Thursday. Gjaja’s comments came a day after the automaker announced updates to its EV strategy that will cost up to $1.9 billion. Gjaja said the decision wasn’t taken lightly, especially the cancellation of the upcoming three-row vehicle, which Ford CEO Jim Farley and other executives had been touting as a game changer for several years. He said the Ford, in part, developed the skunkworks team to prove that Ford can compete against the Chinese automakers.

Persons: Marin Gjaja, We’re, “, Warren Buffett, Gjaja, Jim Farley, ” Farley, Ford, ” BofA’s John Murphy, John Lawler, Lawler, ” Gjaja, ” There’s, we’ve, ” Ford, Thursday, ” Organizations: DETROIT, Ford, CNBC, North America, EV, “, ICE, Wall Street, GM, General Motors Locations: U.S, Europe, North, California, China, ”

☆ Tony Awards 2024: See the full list of winners (Updating live)
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-16 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The 2024 Tony Awards are underway at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Heading into the ceremony, Alicia Keys’ ambitious musical “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Stereophonic,” a play set in the ’70s about fictional band, led with 13 nominations each. Cast members from productions including “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” “The Who’s Tommy,” “Water for Elephants” and the Hillary Clinton-produced “Suffs,” among others, are slated to perform. The Tony Awards are airing on CBS at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT and will stream on Paramount+ in the US. Here is a look at the full list of nominees, with winners indicated in bold, including those that were announced prior to the telecast.

Persons: Tony, David H, Oscar, Ariana DeBose, Billy Porter, Isabelle Stevenson Tony, Alicia Keys, ”, Kat, Tommy, Hillary Clinton, “ Mary Jane ”, “, Tommy ”, William Jackson Harper, “ Uncle Vanya ” Leslie Odom, Jr, Liev Schreiber, Jeremy Strong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Betsy Aidem, Republic ” Jessica Lange, ” Rachel McAdams, “ Mary Jane ” Sarah Paulson, Amy Ryan, Brody Grant, Jonathan Groff, Dorian Harewood, Brian d’Arcy James, Eddie Redmayne, Eden Espinosa, Maleah Joi Moon, Kelli O’Hara, ” Maryann Plunkett, ” Gayle Rankin, Will Brill, Eli Gelb, Jim Parsons, Tom Pecinka, Corey Stoll, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Juliana Canfield, Celia Keenan, Bolger, Sarah Pidgeon, Kara Young, Roger Bart, Joshua Boone, Brandon Victor Dixon, Lynch, Daniel Radcliffe, Steven Skybell, Bean, Amber Iman, “ Lempicka, Nikki M, James, “ Suffs ” Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, “ Monty Python’s, Kecia Lewis, ” Lindsay Mendez, Bebe Neuwirth, ” Kristoffer Diaz, ” Adam Rapp, Justin Levine “ Suffs, ” Shaina Taub, ” Rick Elice, Adam Guettel, David Byrne, Fatboy Slim, David Byrne “, Jonathan Clay, Zach Chance, Justin Levine, Will Butler “ Suffs, Shaina Taub, Derek McLane, ” David Zinn, Tatiana Kahvegian, Robert Brill, Peter Nigrini, Takeshi Kata, David Korins, Riccardo Hernández, Lempicka, Tim Hatley, Finn Ross, Tom Scutt, Dede Ayite, Enver Chakartash, Emilio Sosa, Linda Cho, David Israel Reynoso, Paul Tazewell, “ Suffs, Isabella Byrd, Amith, Republic ” Jiyoun Chang, Jane Cox, Natasha Katz, Brandon Stirling Baker, “ Illinoise, ” Natasha Katz, ” Bradley King, David Bengali, Brian MacDevitt, Hana S, Kim, Justin Ellington, Stefania Bulbarella, Leah Gelpe, “ Mary Jane ” Tom Gibbons, ” Bray, Will Pickens, Ryan Rumery, Cody Spencer, Kai Harada, Nick Lidster, Gareth Owen, Daniel Aukin, Anne Kauffman, “ Mary Jane ” Kenny Leon, Lila Neugebauer, Whitney White, Maria Friedman, Michael Greif, ” Leigh Silverman, Jessica Stone, Annie, Parson, Camille A . Brown, Rick Kuperman, Jeff Kuperman, Justin Peck, Jesse Robb, Shana Carroll, Timo Andres, ” Will Butler, Justin Craig, Matt Hinkley, Tom Kitt, Adam Blackstone, Jonathan Tunick Organizations: CNN, Koch, Lincoln Center, Performing Arts, CBS, Paramount, “ Patriots, Lakota, Jamestown, ” Bray Poor Locations: New York City, Hinton, Republic, “

☆ 5 Ways This Year’s Tony Awards Reveal That Theater Is Changing
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-16 | by ( Michael Paulson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tonight’s Tony Awards ceremony will celebrate the best work on Broadway. Here are some things I’ve been thinking about as this awards season unfolded:Nonprofit theaters are struggling. Short of money, nonprofit theaters around the country are staging fewer shows, shedding jobs, and in a few cases, closing. Among plays, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” “Mary Jane,” and “Prayer for the French Republic” were all staged on Broadway by the nonprofit Manhattan Theater Club. (“Mary Jane” had an earlier Off Broadway run at another nonprofit, New York Theater Workshop.)

Persons: Tonight’s Tony, They’re, Tony, “, ” “ Mary Jane, ”, Republic ”, “ Mary Jane ” Organizations: Nonprofit, Broadway, Manhattan Theater Club, New York Theater Workshop, Playwrights Horizons Locations: Republic

Here are our thoughts on this season’s inadvertent (and possibly advertent) snubs, delightful (or mystifying) surprises and other notable anomalies. A melancholy morning for ‘Vanya.’Television stars are considered good box office but not always good Tony bait. This year’s crop, including Sarah Paulson, Jeremy Strong, Steve Carell and William Jackson Harper, complicates that wisdom. Spreading all that love helped take the show to Number One with a Bullet — the most nominated play in Broadway history. On the other hand, the superb ensemble casts of “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” and “Illinoise” were skunked.

Persons: “, ‘ Vanya, ’, Tony, Sarah Paulson, Jeremy Strong, Steve Carell, William Jackson Harper, Paulson, Carell, Harper, Uncle Vanya, ”, Chekhov, David Adjmi’s, Tom Pecinka, Sarah Pidgeon, Juliana Canfield, Will Brill, Eli Gelb, Illinoise Organizations: Broadway, Lincoln Center Theater

☆ 10 Performances That Pushed Emotional Limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’Even if the hairstyles in this play weren’t as fabulous as they were, Jocelyn Bioh’s “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” about a day in the life of African immigrants working in a Harlem hair-braiding shop, would still be a sparkling Broadway delight. That’s thanks to Bioh’s colorful characters and brisk, playful dialogue. I didn’t know until I saw David Adjmi’s “Stereophonic,” which kept me fully engaged through its full three-hour running time. We learn about the characters through the parts they play in making and performing this music — which, by the way, is amazing, and written by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire. (Read our review of “Flex.”)

Persons: ‘, Jocelyn Bioh’s “, Whitney, it’s, guiltily, Daisy Jones, ”, Fleetwood Mac, David Adjmi’s, Will Butler, David Zinn’s, Ryan, you’re, Erica Matthews, Mitzi E, Newhouse, “, Lileana Blain Organizations: Broadway, Center Theater Locations: Harlem, Arkansas

☆ For Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Hair Is Rooted in Pride
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Martha Schwendener | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Black hair has been a rousing topic for politicians, comedians and artists for decades. Malcolm X argued that straightening Black hair to conform to white beauty standards was a form of racist brainwashing. Regina Kimbell made a documentary with the brilliant title “My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage” (2010) and the comedian Chris Rock made a similar documentary, “Good Hair” (2009), about the Black hair industry (and, of course, got in trouble at the Oscars for mentioning a Black actress’s lack of hair). Now a Broadway play, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” written by Jocelyn Bioh, celebrates the “masterpieces” created by West African immigrants on women’s heads in a Harlem braiding shop. What’s often missing from the Black hair narrative is the experience of Black nonbinary people.

Persons: Malcolm X, Regina Kimbell, ”, Chris Rock, “, Jocelyn Bioh, What’s, Black, Jonathan Lyndon Chase’s Organizations: West Locations: Harlem, Philadelphia

☆ When a Seat in the Theater Means a Seat in the Salon
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a scene in Jocelyn Bioh’s “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” a man rolls in a cart of items to sell to the clients and stylists at the titular salon. I wasn’t the only one: A small contingency of the audience at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater started snickering and laughing before he had even fully stepped onstage. “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” draws its comedy from this world — a world familiar to many Black women audience members like me. Bioh’s salon isn’t an abstraction or callback; it’s a Black business set in modern-day Harlem. Bioh’s writing captures the quirks of a Black hair salon, and the characters who populate it: the unfortunate early-bird client who’s first to arrive when the shop’s late to open, the internal salon politics of stylists competing for clients, the inappropriate gossip, the sense of community.

Persons: Jocelyn Bioh’s “, ”, Samuel J, “, Whitney White, it’s Organizations: Friedman Locations: Harlem, Jaja’s

Alongside the comedy and drama, “Jaja’s” features a multitude of strand mastery, as Bioh and the director Whitney White (“Our Dear Dead Drug Lord”) were determined to show a range of hairdos coming to life onstage. To pull this off, most of these styles are executed in real time with a little stage magic courtesy of wigs constructed by the hair and wig designer Nikiya Mathis. Cast members, who braid hair onstage, practiced during rehearsals on wigs she designed for the performance. “There are so many moving pieces to the show that involve hair, and it’s not just me backstage,” Mathis said. “It’s also the actors onstage, it’s what Jocelyn has written, and it’s what Whitney will be helping us to reveal.”“Part of that,” she continued, “is going to be the magic of figuring out how we’re going to construct the wigs and how to potentially take them apart.”

Persons: Whitney White, ”, Nikiya Mathis, it’s, ” Mathis, “ It’s, Jocelyn, Whitney

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