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News.com.au
25 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Versailles orchestra plays New York in 'Affair of the Poisons'
Acrobatics, fortune tellers, opulent gowns and palace intrigue: the New York debut of the Versailles Royal Opera Orchestra was a performance befitting the era it recalls. Monday's immersive show "Versailles in Printemps: The Affair of the Poisons" centered on France's 17th-century period of excess and seediness that its creator, Andrew Ousley, told AFP has parallels to the present day. At the evening staged in Manhattan's new Printemps luxury emporium, guests and performers alike donned velvet waistcoats, silky corsets, feathered headdresses and powdered makeup. Core to the performance's tale was the discovery of arsenic, Ousley said -- the first "untraceable, untasteable poison." "Everybody was just poisoning everybody." And at the web's center? A midwife and fortune teller named La Voisin, he said, a "shadowy-like person who basically would peddle poison, peddle solutions, peddle snake oil." "She was the nexus," Ousley continued, in a scheme that "extended up to Louis XIV, his favorite mistresses" -- inner circles rife with backstabbing and murder plots. The poisoning scandal resulted in a tribunal that resulted in dozens of death sentences -- until the king called it off when it "got a little too close to home," Ousley said with a smile. "To me, it speaks to the present moment -- that this rot can fester underneath luxury and wealth when it's divorced from empathy, from humanity." Along with a program of classical music, the performance included elaborately costumed dancers, including one who tip-toed atop a line of wine bottles in sparkling platform heels. The drag opera artist Creatine Price was the celebrant of the evening's so-called "Black Mass," and told AFP that the night was "a beautiful way to sort of incorporate the ridiculousness, the campness, the farce of Versailles with a modern edge." Drag is "resistance," she said, adding that her act is "the essence of speaking truth to power, because it really flies in the face of everything in the opera that is standard, whether it's about gender or voice type." - Period instruments - The Versailles Royal Opera Orchestra formed in 2019, and its first stateside tour is underway: the series of shows kicked off at Festival Napa Valley in California before heading to New York. On Wednesday it will play another, more traditional show at L'Alliance New York, a French cultural center in Manhattan. The orchestra aims to champion repertoire primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries, and plays on period instruments. "Playing a historical instrument really gives me a feeling of being in contact with the era in which the music was composed," said Alexandre Fauroux, who plays the natural horn, a predecessor to the French horn distinguished by its lack of valves. Ousley runs the organization Death of Classical, an arts non-profit that puts on classical shows in unexpected places, including the catacombs of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery and crypts in Manhattan. Monday's spectacle included over-the-top performance, but Ousley emphasized that the evening was ultimately a celebration of classical artists. "These are players who play with such energy, to me it's more like a rock band than an orchestra," he said. And the mission of putting on such shows is about something bigger, Ousley said: "How do you fight against the darkness that seems to be winning in the world?" "When you can sit and feel, with a group of strangers, something that you know you feel together -- that's why I work, because of that shared connection, experience and transcendence."
News.com.au
34 minutes ago
- News.com.au
New Tesla ‘retro-futuristic' diner could open in Australia soon
Tesla has officially opened it's highly anticipated diner in Los Angeles, which combines retro nostalgia with futurism and a version could be coming to Australia soon. Telsa CEO Elon Musk initially announced his plan to create a nostalgic drive-in restaurant, complete with roller skating and rock music, at Tesla supercharger locations in LA in 2018. Following his announcement, Tesla promptly filed a permit for the project. However the process has taken much longer than expected. Although Musk promised in 2023 that the diner would be open later that year, the restaurant chef – California food icon Eric Greenspan – wasn't revealed until earlier this year. The cool diner finally opened in LA on Monday (local time) to rave reviews. From videos published on YouTube and pictures on Musk's own X account, the stunningly aesthetic diner appears to be halfway between a flying saucer and a 1950s diner. This design aligns perfectly with Elon Musk's vision for the project when he first announced it seven years ago. According to Tesla's support page, the 24/7 Diner 'offers visitors a classic American diner experience with a retro-futuristic twist.' The Tesla Diner offers a convenient spot to grab comfort food, including burgers and fries (served in boxes shaped like Cybertrucks), as well as milkshakes, while charging a Tesla vehicle at one of 80 V4 supercharger stalls. Tesla software integration at its finest. As you are navigating to the Tesla Diner, a notification appears in your UI asking you if you want to order your food ahead of time so it’s ready on arrival. Everything about the Diner was so thoughtfully designed. Well done. — Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) July 22, 2025 Videos and photos posted on X by people who attended the soft launch over the weekend showed servers on rollerskates and the famous humanoid robot dubbed Optimus scooping popcorn. The official video on YouTube pays homage to both America's nostalgic past and it's 'optimistic future' in featuring an actor playing Olivia Newton-John's Sandy from Grease and a scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In addition to being a restaurant, the diner also features a giant screen, allowing Tesla enthusiasts and customers to watch movie clips while charging their cars. However, it's also possible to watch clips from a Tesla's screen while it's charging. The diner features 80 V4 Supercharger stalls available for all NACS-compatible EVs, making it the largest urban Supercharger in the world, according to Tesla. If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, @Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world, as well as at Supercharger sites on long distance routes. An island of good food, good vibes & entertainment, all while Supercharging! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2025 If the diner succeeds, there could be plans for similar buildings to pop up globally, as Elon states on his social media platform. 'If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world,' Musk wrote on X.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Netflix quietly scraps Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's lucrative Netflix deal after five years
Prince Harry and wife Meghan's $200 million deal with Netflix has been scrapped. The streamer will not renew their contract when it expires in September, The Sun reports. The Sussexes and Netflix have mutually decided not to make an official announcement, but streaming executives have quietly agreed to part ways. It comes after Harry's project, Polo, about the sport, was watched by just 500,000 people this year, according to Netflix's latest 'What We Watched' report, while With Love, Meghan was the 383rd most watched show, registering 5.3 million views. It's also understood that bosses were mildly infuriated by Meghan making her As Ever brand a priority. Meghan is still set to release the second season of With Love, Meghan later this year. 'The deal is done. No more shows will be made,' a source said. 'Netflix feel they've got all they can from the couple. 'Netflix were clever in that they got a hell of a lot of viewers for the first documentary series, and knew, realistically, it would prove the zenith of content from the Montecito pair. 'They're not unhappy with how things turned out — they got those initial hits, and produced one of the most talked-about shows of all time.' The source continued saying the 'content got weaker from there', though added there was no bad blood. 'There's no animosity from either side. Things have just run their course,' the source added. 'Netflix execs are well aware Meghan's priority now is her own brand, and they won't play second fiddle to that. 'Publicly, there will not be a statement and of course, if things change dramatically, they'd be open to a one-off project down the line. 'But for Harry, especially, this will be a blow. 'It's a huge loss of revenue.' Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos is believed to remain on good terms with Meghan. The source said streamer Paramount+ was thought to be keen to work with the couple, who would be open to it if the right project came along. Last month it was announced Netflix had signed a deal with King Charles and Idris Elba for a documentary exploring the impact of the King's Trust. And it was understood any deal with the Sussexes could be seen as a hindrance to that link-up.
