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Celebs love Levi's jeans — shop styles worn by Pamela Anderson, Beyonce and more

Celebs love Levi's jeans — shop styles worn by Pamela Anderson, Beyonce and more

Yahoo02-05-2025
When it comes to a wardrobe that stands the test of time, well-made, figure-flattering jeans are essential. Whether you're wearing them for a low-key date night or running errands, comfortable jeans that fit like a dream just work because they're so versatile. You can dress them up with heels, jewelry and the right makeup, or keep them casual with sneakers and a simple T-shirt or sweater.
Levi's has been in the business of making high-quality jeans for over 100 years, and it's safe to say that the iconic brand has perfected the art. Regular shoppers (myself included!) give its denim rave reviews, but Levi's also has a host of famous fans including Pamela Anderson, Beyonce and Blake Lively. Curious about which styles A-listers trust for strutting their stuff? We rounded them up below, and good news — they're all under $100.
Back in 2024, Pamela Anderson gave us a masterclass in denim-on-denim dressing when she paired classic Levi's 501s with a denim shirt. She finished the 'fit with a blazer and heels, proving that, yes, the Canadian tuxedo can be totally chic.
Queen Bey doesn't just sing about Levi's jeans; she actually wears them. She recently modeled a pair of leg-baring 501 denim shorts that should be a staple in any warm-weather wardrobe.
Olivia Rodrigo likes the Levi's Ribcage Straight Jeans so much that she was spotted wearing them not once, but twice last year. Yahoo Senior Home and Garden Editor Jessica Dodell-Feder is also a fan. "In my opinion, these are the perfect wide (but not too wide) jeans," she says. "They feel timeless and also trendy, which is pretty impressive!"
The perfect not-too-constricting jeans to run around town in? The Levi's 94 Baggy style that Hilary Duff was spotted in earlier this year. She paired them with rain boots and a cashmere sweater, but they look just as good with sneakers and a tee. Or, consider dressing them up with heels and silky tank top.
Like Pamela Anderson, Blake Lively also makes a convincing case for adding a pair of iconic Levi's 501 jeans to your collection. She wore them back in December for a night out, proving denim can definitely be dressed up with the right accessories.
Way back in 2016, Rihanna stepped out wearing a Levi's denim skirt and a matching jean jacket. Nearly a decade later, her look is still fab and totally worth recreating on your own. Sadly, Riri's OG skirt is no longer available, but you can't go wrong with the brand's Icon Skirt.
Your wardrobe isn't complete without a denim jacket, so take a cue from Hailey Bieber and snag the oversized trucker style she wore in a 2021 Levi's campaign. It's a great year-round piece that you can wear over a tee in the warmer months and over a sweater when the temps drop.
The stylish jeans Emma Roberts wore to channel some serious French "it girl" vibes back in 2024? The uber-flattering (and sometime controversial) Wedgie cut.
The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.
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New movies to watch this weekend: See 'The Fantastic Four' in theaters, rent 'Materialists,' stream 'Happy Gilmore 2' on Netflix and more
New movies to watch this weekend: See 'The Fantastic Four' in theaters, rent 'Materialists,' stream 'Happy Gilmore 2' on Netflix and more

Yahoo

time5 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

New movies to watch this weekend: See 'The Fantastic Four' in theaters, rent 'Materialists,' stream 'Happy Gilmore 2' on Netflix and more

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" shows that "Superman" was the start of a new trend. Hello, Yahoo readers! My name is Brett Arnold, film critic and longtime Yahoo editor, and I'm back with another edition of Trust Me, I Watch Everything. This week, there are a handful of movies coming to streaming services you're likely already paying for, including Wes Anderson's latest, an indie gem about baseball and a fun self-aware horror flick. The biggest new release is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the latest attempt at making the Marvel characters pop onscreen with a buzzy new A-list cast, including Pedro Pascal. If you're looking for more Pascal, make it a double feature: His rom-dram Materialists is available to rent. Read on for more, because there's something here for everyone! What to watch in theaters Movies newly available to rent or buy Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have 🎥What to watch in theaters My recommendation: The Fantastic Four: First Steps Why you should watch it: The Fantastic Four: First Steps proves that James Gunn's Superman wasn't a one-off and instead was the start of an emerging trend of superhero movies. Both are comic book flicks that are meant to be introduction films, as well as reboots featuring iconic characters we've already seen onscreen before. They both purposefully avoid harping much on a character's origin story. The Fantastic Four: First Steps depicts it very quickly up top, whereas Superman throws you right into the action. Both rely on the audience knowing who these people are and what they do without getting bogged down by lore. That being said, each movie is meant to emulate the experience of reading a comic book, picking up an issue and getting caught up in that one arc without having to worry about its place in the larger universe. The best thing about The Fantastic Four: First Steps is that it doesn't adhere to the Marvel house style and has a unique look that's decidedly its own: a retro-futuristic take on the 1960s that feels as indebted to The Jetsons as it does the comic books its based on. Superman opened with Clark Kent having already been Superman for three years, and First Steps similarly opens with our heroes celebrating four years as America's superhero protectors. The public knows who they are and appreciates their efforts to keep them safe. But Marvel's First Family is soon forced to balance their roles as heroes and the strength of their family bond while defending Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) is pregnant with the child of Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), and the movie explores how Reed tries to 'babyproof the world,' as a character in the film puts it, and protect their kid from real and specific dangers — in this case, Galactus. The film is at its best when its leaning into either the silliness or the scale of the sci-fi comic book world these characters inhabit, like when we get a glimpse of villain Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser, a highlight) and his underground world of Subterranea, or when the plot turns to the idea of teleporting entire planets in order to save lives. The foreboding Galactus, who is the size of a skyscraper and more menacing than any villain I can think of in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is an undeniable selling point. Maybe it's just my love for science fiction showing, but a bad guy that's just the Death Star incarnate, destroying planets as if they were nothing, is scary, strong stuff. If I have a major complaint, it's that the Fantastic Four's powers are never really utilized in a way that feels specific to each character. It's all just generic superhero zipping around and shooting forceful beams out of their hands. The wildly specific skillsets all feel incidental here, rather than expertly written and woven into the narrative or the action. The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bacharach is terrific as the voice of the Thing, but the character feels like he has little to do here, and the entirely CGI creation of his being pales in comparison to the onscreen depiction 20 years ago, when Michael Chiklis was transformed into the character with extensive makeup. Joseph Quinn is fun as Johnny Storm, but he too just flies around while on fire. The Fantastic Four: First Steps may be the third attempt at bringing these classic comic book characters (the fourth, actually, if you count the hastily-made-to-keep-the-rights unreleased 1994 version) but it's undeniably the most successful of that very cursed bunch. The speed-run character development is a barrier at first, but by the end, I was worn down and accepted that this is what comic book movies are now, nearly 20 years after Iron Man changed everything for the genre. On paper, I love the idea of skipping the origin story, but after Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, I just think more work needs to be done setting up these worlds if I'm expected to buy in. For those unfamiliar with the characters, who have never seen a Fantastic Four movie or read one of their comic books, I do wonder if the experience is meaningfully different. What other critics are saying: Most agree that Marvel finally got it right this time. William Bibbiani at The Wrap says it's first-rate, writing, "whatever its drawbacks, feels like a real Fantastic Four movie, and that's no small achievement." The Associated Press's Jake Coyle agrees that the villains steal the show and calls it "a very solid comic book movie." How to watch: The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in theaters nationwide July 25. Get tickets 🤔 But that's not all! This ridiculously bonkers horror movie starring Pete Davidson and directed by The Purge mastermind James DeMonaco was shot in early 2022 and is only now sneaking into theaters. Davidson plays a troubled man who starts working at a retirement home and realizes its residents and caretakers harbor sinister secrets. It's unpredictable in a fun way, even if it feels like you're watching a different movie in the final 10 minutes. Get tickets. : A derivative found-footage horror vehicle for Kris Collins, aka KallMeKris, a Canadian TikToker who has a massive following on the social media platform. It's ripping off The Blair Witch Project for most of the runtime, until it gets to the third act and imitates a different popular horror movie. It doesn't amount to much, sadly. Get tickets. 💸Movies newly available to rent or buy My recommendation: Why you should watch it: You can get a double helping of Pedro Pascal this weekend, if you're into that sort of thing, as the controversial Materialists is now watchable from your couch. As I wrote when it debuted in theaters, it disappoints in comparison to Past Lives, writer-director Celine Song's debut film, and the script ultimately lets down the actors, even if the performances are all very good. What other critics are saying: There are strong opinions on both sides here. Stephanie Zacharek at Time writes that it's "more bittersweet than sweet, which is what makes it so wonderful, in a wistful, elusive way." The Daily Beast's Nick Schager dubs it a disappointing letdown, calling it "the cinematic equivalent of a sugary soda gone terribly flat." How to watch: Materialists is now available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV and other VOD platforms. Rent or buy 'Materialists' ➕ Bonus recommendation Why you should watch it: The always-great Danielle Deadwyler stars in this postapocalyptic thriller about a Black family of Canadian farmers descended from American Civil War migrants defending their homestead against cannibals trying to seize their resources. Its specific approach to the apocalypse, that it's about food scarcity and the importance of farms in that future, makes it stand out from plenty of similar fare, as does the terrific and dynamic gunplay that unexpectedly takes up the latter half. The focus on family is also very effective. Much better than you'd expect from this sort of low-budget affair. What other critics are saying: Most agree it's worth your time! Rolling Stone's David Fear writes, "She's not better than the movie. Deadwyler just makes the movie better by every choice she's making as an actor." Amy Nicholson at the Los Angeles Times agrees, writing that "there's not one false beat in Deadwyler's performance." How to watch: 40 Acres is now available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV and other VOD platforms. Rent or buy '40 Acres' 🤔 But that's not all! : This is a horror movie about a serial killer whose method of killing is feeding his victims to sharks. I wish I didn't have to tell you that because the opening scene is such a shocking introduction, but the trailer gives it away immediately. It's still absolutely worth watching, if that sounds like your kind of thing. Rent or buy. Disney's live-action remake became the first and only movie to gross $1 billion this year, and now you can help it make more money by paying to rent it! As per usual with these things, it's not as nice to look at as the animated original, but it gets the job done. Rent or buy. 📺Movies newly available on streaming services you may have My recommendation: Why you should watch it: My colleague Kelsey Weekman was lucky enough to catch it early, and her review is below! What I at first thought was a depressingly obvious cash grab involving one of Adam Sandler's most beloved characters turned out to be a shockingly sweet (and still very funny) follow-up about the lengths even the biggest weirdos will go to for family. Nearly 30 years after the original came out, I wasn't sure how many more times they could turn hitting a golf ball so hard it makes rocket launcher noises into an effective gag, but thanks to some new characters who kept it true to the Sandler ethos (loud, ridiculous, playfully violent), it felt like a truly fresh franchise installment rather than a ham-handed appeal to nostalgia. But trust me, there are still plenty of nods to the original. Bad Bunny, aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, steals the show. What other critics are saying: There aren't any other reviews as of publication time. You'll have to trust Kelsey on this one! How to watch: Happy Gilmore 2 is now streaming on Netflix. Stream 'Happy Gilmore 2' ➕ Bonus recommendation: Why you should watch it: Sometimes, all you need is a cheap but satisfying B-movie about a creature on an island killing people in increasingly gory ways. Bonus points if the creature just so happens to be a guy in a suit. This World War II-set throwback is as inspired by the films of Jack Arnold (specifically Creature From the Black Lagoon) as it is Predator, and it delivers on the promise. The story about two guys from opposite sides of the war forced to band together against a greater threat works quite well! What other critics are saying: There aren't many reviews for this one yet, so you'll have to take my word for it. If you're into low-budget stuff buoyed by great practical FX work and better-than-average performances, check it out. How to watch: Monster Island is now streaming on Shudder. Stream 'Monster Island' 🤔 But that's not all! The latest film from Wes Anderson is a decidedly silly one. Imagine the usual Andersonian look and feel, now with cartoonish violence, and a terrific performance from Benicio Del Toro at its center. I wrote more about it here. Now streaming on Peacock. This quietly profound indie about a baseball team playing their last-ever game functions as a metaphor about life and the eventual bitter end of the things we love. How can you not be romantic about baseball?! I wrote more here. Now streaming on Mubi. This horror flick based on a popular video game leans more Cabin in the Woods send-up than earnest horror, and fans of the genre will enjoy the way it plays with conventions. Now streaming on Netflix. Steve Coogan is sensational in this cute movie inspired by the true story of a disillusioned Englishman who went to work in a school in Argentina in 1976 and how his life is transformed when he befriends a penguin. Streaming on Netflix July 26. This A24 movie starring Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd is a high-concept fantastical comedy that eventually turns into goofy horror. I found it insufferable, but, hey, it's on HBO Max now, so you're not paying for streaming on HBO Max. That's all for this week — we'll see you next Friday at the movies!

Adults of all ages are paying $1,000-plus to play like kids at summer camp again — and they say it's worth it
Adults of all ages are paying $1,000-plus to play like kids at summer camp again — and they say it's worth it

Yahoo

time35 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Adults of all ages are paying $1,000-plus to play like kids at summer camp again — and they say it's worth it

Where tug of war and 'tini time' unite. For Jaime Gullotti, the week away couldn't have come at a better time. 'I was going through an ugly divorce, and my parents were like, 'You need to go do something new,'' the 43-year-old office manager from New Hampshire tells Yahoo. Gullotti was intrigued by an ad she saw on social media for 'Camp' Camp, a summer camp for LGBTQ adults in Maine. She had relished her childhood summers at sleepaway camp and was curious about how the experience would translate into adulthood. So in 2014, she packed her trunk and headed north. Turns out, camp was just as good as she remembered. 'It was just really fun,' she says. 'It was all the things that you want on a vacation: lots of activities, really good food and really good people.' Fast forward to today: Gullotti has been to 'Camp' Camp every summer for the past decade and also volunteers as a group leader. She has a tight-knit community of camp friends and even met her partner of 10 years on the grounds. 'You go on a vacation and say, 'It was really nice to meet you,' but then you never keep in touch,' Gullotti says. 'At camp, I've become not just vacation friends but actual friends with these people.' Fulfilling a need Why would a grown adult willingly sleep in a cabin with strangers, eat food from a mess hall and participate in wacky team-building activities like Olympic games and lip-sync battles? For Mike Farley, who has been to Camp No Counselors events across the country for the past 14 summers, it's a break from reality with some of his favorite people. 'Looking forward to the experience is one thing, but looking forward to seeing those people in that setting makes it fun,' the 42-year-old operations director from Orlando tells Yahoo. Last year, he went on a cruise with 25 friends from camp, and in March, 30 of his buddies descended upon Orlando for a mega-birthday celebration. More and more adults are seeking out adventure, friendship and fun in the woods: Yelp's 2025 trend forecast notes a staggering 347% increase in searches for adult summer camp between 2023 and 2024. In an era in which more than half of adults under 44 feel lonely or isolated most or all of the time, camp can be a powerful antidote to the lack of connection so many are experiencing. At camp, age is just a number. In 2024, for example, 'Camp' Camp hosted Gen Z-ers, octogenarians and everyone in between. 'When you put aside what you do for work or what circles you would normally run in, things feel so much more open and easy,' says Makyla Harvey, 22, a digital marketing specialist from Maryland. She has attended Camp Social, a women-only retreat, for the past two years and is returning again this summer. 'I connected with women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.' At camp, attendees get to relive (or experience for the first time) that all-American, Parent Trap-style summer. Campers can sign up for quintessential camp activities such as boating, archery and arts and crafts, while on-site bars, gourmet meals, live music and nighttime skinny dips add grown-up excitement. Camp No Counselors runs Slip 'N Slide flip cup and morning ''tini time' — 8 a.m. espresso martinis to start the day strong. At Club Getaway in Connecticut, you can sign up for inflatable jousting and let loose at a toga party. 'At some point you have to grow up, but what's that look like?' asks Farley, who swears by arts and crafts as the ultimate hangover cure. 'Why do I have to? I can still do all the same stuff.' Finding your kind Some camps are out to make the experience life-changing in more ways than one. Campowerment, another women-only summer camp in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, offers an inner child workshop that helped Jennie White, a mental health and wellness counselor and advocate for children with special needs in New York City, heal from a childhood trauma. 'It gave that little girl breath,' says White, 43. 'It brought her out of that experience, and she was actually allowed to play and experience wonder in a way that I've never thought possible.' Upon her return, White left an abusive relationship, went to graduate school and learned how to drive — literally putting her in the driver's seat of her own life. She says being with other women made her feel safe during such a vulnerable experience. That's intentional, says Chelsea Leader Gold, Campowerment's CEO. 'It feels very protected,' she says. '[You are] in the sanctity of sisterhood. When you put women in an intentional space and with programming that allows them to explore, really cool stuff happens.' Gullotti agrees that being with like-minded people makes for an especially meaningful experience: At 'Camp' Camp, 'we all have queerness as a common denominator,' she says. But at the same time, part of the fun of camp is meeting people you'd never come across in daily life. 'You have different jobs, you have different circles of people, but when you're at camp, you might be holding a tug-of-war rope with this person, and all of a sudden, you have the same set of interests,' Farley says. Cozy vibes — for a cost Another draw of the experience? Screen-free time in nature. Instead of doomscrolling after dinner, for example, nights are spent hanging out in front of the campfire with s'mores or yukking it up at the talent show. At Camp No Counselors, photographers capture the experience and send pictures out after camp ends so campers can just enjoy being in the moment. 'I go and put my phone down for three days,' Farley says. 'You don't need it. If something happens at your job, what are you going to do? You're out in the woods.' Bear in mind a few days of roughing it can carry a steep price tag. A week at 'Camp' Camp is $1,975, while a weekend in the Poconos at Camp Social will set you back nearly $900. The (sold-out) Labor Day weekend session in New York at Camp No Counselors is $1,000, and four days at Campowerment will cost you nearly $2,000. A place to do you At camp, adults can strip away the persona they have in the real world to be true to themselves. 'Camp' campers, for example, are encouraged to try on new pronouns and dress however they're most comfortable. At Campowerment, campers are not allowed to share their occupation for the first 24 hours. 'Otherwise, it would become a networking event,' Leader Gold says. 'This is a place where we can be all the other parts of who we are.' That might include karaoke queen, amateur archer, capture the flag crusader or any other identity that doesn't often get air. But there's also the option to put all of that aside and just rest. Everyone's camp experience looks different. 'It's almost like freshman year of college,' Farley says. 'You have access to all of these things, but no one's watching you, so you don't have to do any of it.' Importantly, if you do want to do something, there's no pressure to do it well. Harvey says she appreciates that there's no 'competitive, mean girl energy' at Camp Social. For three blissful days, 'Kumbaya' really is a state of mind. 'It's like stepping into the Barbie movie,' she says. 'Literally a before and after' It's no surprise that after one memorable summer at camp, many people return. At Campowerment, for example, more than half of the attendees are repeat campers. Veterans like Farley and Gullotti take new campers under their wing, hoping they have the same transformative experience they did. 'It is literally a before and after for me,' Gullotti says. 'I would not have the community that I have now, the partner I have now or the life that I have now without camp.' Solve the daily Crossword

Review: ‘Billie Jean' at Chicago Shakes is a straightforward account of a champion's story
Review: ‘Billie Jean' at Chicago Shakes is a straightforward account of a champion's story

Chicago Tribune

time36 minutes ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Review: ‘Billie Jean' at Chicago Shakes is a straightforward account of a champion's story

In the final few minutes of 'Billie Jean,' the new play with Broadway aspirations at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, we follow Billie Jean King and her spouse, Ilana Kloss, the South African former tennis player. King, one of the most extraordinary living Americans and once (frankly, still) one of the most famous women in the world, came fully out of the closet relatively late in life, and the scenes involve King's loving but traditional Southern California parents accepting the lesbian couple. Those moments are deeply emotional and, quite frankly, beautiful enough in their simplicity to bring a tear to the eye. Chilina Kennedy, the Canadian star who plays King, is finally allowed a chance to breathe and Callie Rachelle Johnson, who plays Ilana (among others), is one of those performers capable of creating a character to whom one inherently warms. King has come home in all the ways we all crave and the gravitas and challenges of her journey feel at once familiar and extraordinary. In a world seemingly bereft of heroes and heroines, these last few minutes send the audience out on a genuine high. I wouldn't normally talk about the end of a show like this, but this hardly is a spoiler for any tennis fans who have followed King's career. More importantly, this script and production would be so much better if more scenes took their time to land emotionally and felt the same way. Biographical shows about very famous, and very impressive, living people are tricky. The writer inevitably wants to please and hail the subject, who holds the keys to her own life, having been there. As we've seen with many Broadway jukebox biographies, even if the subject doesn't want a hagiography (and I can't imagine that the famously honest King did), that doesn't mean she won't get one. There's also commercial motivation: No one coming to a play about Billie Jean King is looking for something that does not celebrate her achievements. So it's easy for the authorial voice to blur with the subject, and that is what happens here, a bit too much. Supporting characters, many of whom remain overly one-dimensional, are seen through a singular lens. On some levels, that's fair enough. We can read whose name is on the marquee. And why not celebrate the struggles and triumphs of such an icon? Given that King is now 81 years old, it's also likely that generations of Americans are less than fully aware of all she achieved and I can see mothers, especially, taking their daughters to this show and saying, 'See?' The piece is also a celebration of the multi-decade LGBTQ struggle, and of the LGBTQ community as a whole, especially since it includes King's full-throttle support of the pioneering transsexual player Renée Richards (Murphy Taylor Smith), tacitly distinguishing King from, say, Martina Navratilova on that issue. All of the above are valid reasons for a piece of biographical theater. But I also think plays, even plays about a person as virtuous and courageous as King, also have an imperative to challenge and surprise their audiences. You don't get other points of view here on anything, at least not beyond the appearance of various stereotypical obstacles to King's progress. So when the play, say, posits the Australian player Margaret Court mostly as a villain, one cannot help but wonder what she would have had to say, given the chance. The same is true of Larry King (Dan Amboyer), who is a confusing and underwritten presence here, kinda supporting the heroine one moment and behaving like the classic controlling dude the next, so as to fit the overall narrative in which his influence must be vanquished for full self-actualization. I wonder what he would have said, too. Plus, human lives like this one are long, and they can feel that way when plays precede chronologically. 'Billie Jean' sets itself the task of exploring its subject from girlhood through emergent doubles accomplishment, through her astonishing list of singles titles at Wimbledon, where she thrived, to her complicated but abiding marriage to Larry, through the famous 'Battle of the Sexes' match with Bobby Riggs to the scandal involving King's relationship with Lenne Klingaman's wacky Marilyn Barnett (who filed a palimony suit against King in 1981), to King's work to create the Virginia Slims tournament (and by extension the WTA tour), to how the media treated her to her admirable philosophies of life to her impact on Venus Williams (Courtney Rikki Green). Along the way, it heralds many of King's views of sports and life, including her conviction, rare among professional athletes of all stripes, that 'pressure is a privilege.' King's life has, to say the least, been amply documented. For decades. So for those of us who have followed tennis, we already know about her astonishing 39 Grand Slam titles and her unstinting advocacy for women's tennis, especially the need to persuade the tennis establishment that women deserved to have a place to play, equal and fair compensation, and to be recognized and understood not just for their looks or as amateur curiosities but as some of the world's greatest professional athletes. And, of course, we also know what King achieved in tennis also (eventually) crushed barriers to women in other sports from golf to soccer. 'Billie Jean' tells its laudatory story very capably, thanks in no small part to a very energized and fluid production from director Marc Bruni. The show does not feature actual tennis (beyond a few stylized arm movements and sound effects), nor does it get into the tennis weeds at all; 'Billie Jean' actually never really explores what made King so good at the game besides chronicling her determination and love of winning. Some sense of her formidable technique surely would help round out the picture. The show also glosses over her first singles title, which seemed strange to me, but then there's a lot to cover in such a life. The battle with Riggs also zips by, presumably since the show well knows it already was the subject of an excellent movie. At times, it feels like you are watching a staged Wikipedia entry, frankly, given all the narrative interjections from the eight-person ensemble, not all of which are needed. But at others, playwright Lauren Gunderson's skills with poetic language really kick in, the text takes more risks of style and form and Kennedy, who is superbly cast in this difficult role, handles everything anyone hurls her way with aplomb. I'm sure many of King's fans will love this piece, which is set on a revolving tennis court set designed by Wilson Chin, but I hope the next draft deviates a little more from the straight race through an incredible American life and sits longer with the beating heart of its most human of subjects. That, after all, was Billie Jean King's actual secret weapon. Review: 'Billie Jean' (3 stars) When: Through Aug. 10 Where: Chicago Shakespeare's Yard Theatre on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes Tickets: $73-$134 at 312-595-5600 and

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