Scrappy opera company Heartbeat thrives by reimagining the classics
'We did Kurt Weill's 'The Seven Deadly Sins' accompanied by an upright piano that we got for free on Craigslist and a violin,' recalled Schlosberg, the company's music director and one of its founders.
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Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Breaking down Craigslist ad seeking seat fillers on day of Trump's DC parade
On June 11, 2025, a screenshot of an alleged Craigslist advertisement seeking "seat fillers" for an event in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2025 — the same day as a military parade on U.S. President Donald Trump's birthday — began to make the rounds on social media. The purported ad read, in part: T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th. Extras and Seat fillers will check in on the morning of June 14th at 9:00 a.m. Extras are required to wear Red, White and Blue clothing and will be provided a RED hat to wear. GOLD accessories are acceptable as well. The team will advise the extras where to stand or sit according to the line of sight from a VIP viewing platform area. Extras and Seat fillers will be paid a flat daily fee and will be provided a lunch of fast food and encourage people of color and ethnic groups to sign up for maximum perception control and these individuals will be prominently displayed on the televised broadcast and local viewing screens to be seen by the VIP platform. It also listed compensation as a "flat fee of $1,000 paid in cryptocurrency - Provided by FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT LLC." One X post (archived) that shared the alleged advertisement garnered more than 1 million views and 28,000 likes as of this writing: Posts about the Craigslist ad seeking seat fillers also gained traction on TikTok (archived) and Facebook (archived). Dozens of Snopes readers emailed us and searched our website to ask if the Craigslist ad was real. The ad itself was real and was posted on Craigslist (archived) on June 10, 2025. Snopes was unable to definitively confirm whether the ad was a prank or posted by someone from Trump's camp, which is why we've left this claim unrated. However, several elements of the ad suggest it may have been intended as a joke. First, the company mentioned in the advertisement was listed as T-Mellon Events. Searches for "T-Mellon Events" on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and Yahoo did not return any results directing us to the supposed company. Instead, they showed news articles and social media posts about the Craigslist ad. The alleged company name could be a reference to billionaire and Trump megadonor Timothy Mellon, heir to Pittsburgh's Mellon banking family. Snopes also looked into the photo in the ad and found it wasn't taken in the United States. Using RevEye, a reverse image search tool, we found the original image shared by The Associated Press on May 9, 2025, captioned, "Russian servicemen attend the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 9, 2025, during celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II." The ad also said participants would receive a flat fee of $1,000 paid in cryptocurrency, which could be poking fun at Trump's crypto-related ventures. Fight Fight Fight LLC, the company listed in the ad as providing payment to seat fillers, administers Trump's meme coin. A customer support representative for the meme coin's website, told Snopes via an emailed statement: "It's fake, we have nothing to do with it." Snopes reached out to the White House and Craigslist for comment on the ad's authenticity, and will update this story if we receive a response. We also emailed an address associated with the ad and await a response. Social media posts that call out supposed Craigslist ads soliciting paid actors frequently pop up before events connected to Trump. Snopes investigated a Craigslist ad that offered to pay "minority actors" to hold signs at a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2020, and another soliciting actors to play Trump supporters in Phoenix in November 2019. For further reading, Snopes also looked into claims that a Craigslist ad proves the 2025 anti-ICE demonstrations in Los Angeles were orchestrated. "Seat Fillers Needed - June 14th - Constitution Avenue - DC - Talent Gigs - Craigslist." Craigslist, 10 June 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Debusmann Jr, Bernd. "Who Is Donald Trump's Reclusive New Mega-Donor, Timothy Mellon?" 21 June 2024, Accessed 12 June 2025. "AP PHOTOS: Russia's Victory Day Parade Begins." AP News, 9 May 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Weissert, Will, and Alan Suderman. "Trump Hosts Dinner for $TRUMP Meme Coin Investors, Raising Ethical Concerns." AP News, 22 May 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Khalili, Joel. "Trumpworld Is Fighting over 'Official' Crypto Wallet." WIRED, 4 June 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Ibrahim, Nur. "Did a Craigslist Ad Seek 'Minority Actors' for Trump's Tulsa Rally?" Snopes, 15 June 2020, Accessed 12 June 2025. Huberman, Bond. "Did a CraigsList Ad Seek Actors to Play Trump Supporters in Phoenix?" Snopes, 22 Nov. 2019, Accessed 12 June 2025. June 12, 2025: This story was updated to include comment from Fight Fight Fight LLC.
New York Times
13-06-2025
- New York Times
Review: Macheath, Polly and the Gang Wash Up in Five Points
After weeks of rain that interrupted rehearsals, conditions seemed perfect at the start of 'The Counterfeit Opera' Wednesday on Little Island, with balmy temperatures and zero chance of precipitation. As members of the cast swarmed the stage shouting questions into the steeply raked rows of the amphitheater, conditions also seemed ripe for some political rabble-rousing. After all, this show with a libretto by Kate Tarker and music by Dan Schlosberg was billed as a new take on John Gay's 'Beggar's Opera,' which punctured the cultural pretensions of 18th-century London and inspired Brecht's darker indictment of social inequality in 'The Threepenny Opera' (1928). 'Can you afford your rent?' 'No!' the audience shouted back. 'Can you afford health insurance?' 'No!' 'Can you afford to support a lawless, self-serving government of con men?' This time, the 'no' came out as a roar. At that point, it almost seemed possible that a revolution might start up right here on this artificial island developed by the billionaire Barry Diller. But as the sun set, the heat drained out of the day and with it the performance. With toothless satire, goofy humor and an absence of memorable tunes, 'The Counterfeit Opera' falls short of its wildly successful historical models. The closing chorus — 'Class wars repeat. Con men don't sleep. Fight to break the dark spell of a world made of deceit!' — was met with mild-mannered applause and a version of a standing ovation that masks competition for the exits. The meteorological chance of political action breaking out was back to zero. More unforgivably, perhaps, the piece fails to infuse the material with a distinct New York flavor. Aside from a few quips at the expense of Boston and New Jersey, this self-declared 'Beggar's Opera for a Grifter's City' feels like it could unfold anywhere. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Is Trump really trying to buy seat fillers for Saturday's parade?
(NewsNation) — A job posting on Washington, D.C. Craigslist has been circulating on social media, appearing to seek seat-fillers for the upcoming military parade on June 14. But is it real? President Donald Trump is holding a large military parade to commemorate the Army's 250th birthday on Saturday, a date that also happens to be the president's birthday. Trump has long expressed admiration for militaristic parades that are often held by countries with authoritarian leaders, including China and North Korea. The parade has also been the subject of criticism. Democratic governors defend sanctuary policies before Congress The ad purports to be seeking seat fillers for an event on Jun. 14, with potential attendees instructed to wear red, white and blue with gold accessories. People of color are encouraged to apply for 'perception control.' The ad states that attendees will be given a red hat to wear, a fast food lunch will be provided and they will receive a flat fee of $1,000 paid in an unnamed cryptocurrency. Watch: Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chair testify before Senate on Defense budget There are numerous elements in the ad that could indicate a hoax posting, and fake postings for paid attendees at Trump events have been posted before. The picture accompanying the ad shows a Russian military parade, potentially a nod to Trump's long-standing entanglements with Russia. The group purporting to host the event, T-Mellon Events, also doesn't appear to have any digital footprint or evidence that it exists. Trump has allegedly paid people to attend events before, and mega donor Elon Musk is facing legal challenges over payments made to voters during the election. 'God Bless the USA' singer Lee Greenwood to perform at Army parade T-Mellon Events has no footprint, but could have a connection to Trump donor Timothy Mellon. The company said to be providing the cryptocurrency, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT LLC, is the one that administers Trump's memecoin. NewsNation has reached out to Craigslist for information on the posting and has not heard back. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
