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San Francisco Chronicle
9 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. musical about Luigi Mangione looks to expand internationally after extending run
San Francisco's buzzy new musical about Luigi Mangione has extended its run once more, with its creators looking to expand the production beyond the Bay Area. ' Luigi: The Musical,' inspired by the social media discourse surrounding the 27-year-old suspect in the murder case of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has added an Aug. 6 show at the Independent after selling out all previous performances. The satirical show follows Mangione as he encounters his prison mates — Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who was recently convicted on prostitution-related charges, and fallen FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried — at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, in a production staged in the style of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical 'Chicago.' Tickets for the August show, currently the only upcoming performance, are available now. Even before its debut at Taylor Street Theatre on June 13, the musical attracted national attention — 'If only the show itself could justify the hype,' wrote Chronicle theater critic Lily Janiak in her opening night review of the production. Nonetheless, 'Luigi: The Musical' went on to sell out its initial run at the 49-seat venue through June 28. Due to high demand, four additional performances were staged in July at the Independent, a 500-capacity venue on Divisadero Street. Now its creators are considering runs in Los Angeles, New York, and Edinburgh, Scotland. 'It's so fun and cathartic for us to perform the show, and audiences are really loving it,' Caleb Zeringue, an executive producer, writer and actor in the show, told the Chronicle. 'We are hearing from the audiences that the show helps them process our current society. … We want to give more people the chance to see it.' Despite describing the show as 'terrible,' Janiak acknowledged that it drew 'younger-than-usual theatergoers' and serves as proof that people 'still crave theater that helps us make sense of current events and envision fresh political possibilities.'
New York Post
15 hours ago
- New York Post
Broadway is in a bizarre uproar over the race of an actor playing a robot
Broadway has enjoyed a quiet, relaxing and peaceful summer. But show people can't have that! They always need, as Betty sang in the recently shuttered 'Boop! The Musical,' something to shout about. And their something has finally arrived in the form of a piping hot controversy at this year's Best Musical Tony Award winner, 'Maybe Happy Ending.' It's a doozy. Some members of the theater industry are hollerin' 'It's a scandal! It's a outrage!' over the race of an actor who's been cast to play — believe it or not — a robot. 'Maybe Happy Ending,' by the writing team of Hue Park and Will Aronson, is a sweet little science-fiction romantic-comedy that's set in Seoul, South Korea, during the year 2060. The main characters are Oliver and Claire, played by Darren Criss, who's half Filipino, and Helen J. Shen, who's Chinese. Oliver and Claire are robots. 5 There's a controversy brewing over at Broadway's 'Maybe Happy Ending.' Getty Images But the nuts-and-bolts duo have become defunct, so they embark on a quirky adventure to find Oliver's old owner. It's perhaps the nicest show to ever come to Broadway. Or it was. Until this latest fracas. The happiness dimmed when the wonderful, Tony-winning Criss's replacement was announced: actor Andrew Barth Feldman, the fantastic 'No Hard Feelings' star who's also Shen's boyfriend. He's white. Uh oh! In private, many on Broadway are largely OK with that. The most common refrain I've heard is: 'Well, they're robots.' But social media, as it does best, has poured gas on the fire. 5 Andrew Barth Feldman takes on the role of Oliver in September. WireImage Playwright and actor BD Wong, who was a strong voice in 1991 against British actor Jonathan Pryce playing the Eurasian Engineer in 'Miss Saigon' (Wong was absolutely right about that), wrote an essay slamming the choice. And the Asian American Performers Action Coalition came out against it, too. What do the creators have to say? They didn't write the roles to be culturally specific. Because they're robots! Robots don't have a culture. Well, except the Terminator, of course. He loves schnitzel and strudel. 5 'Maybe Happy Ending' won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Christopher Sadowski After the backlash, Aronson and Hue — kind and humble as it gets — explained on Instagram that they set out to create 'a modern 'Fantasticks,' able to be comfortably performed by anyone, anywhere — yet distinctly set in Korea.' Fair enough. Oliver and Claire, they said, are 'products created by a global company' who are 'ethnically undefined.' That makes a lot of sense. Because the characters are robots. The production said in a statement to the Times, 'We are proud to have created a show where every role can authentically be portrayed by an Asian actor, although the roles of the robots were not envisioned to always be cast that way.' 5 Darren Criss won a Tony for his performance. Bruce Glikas/WireImage And that openness has been true throughout the 'Maybe Happy Ending' journey. Aronson told the LA Times back in March that during an early workshop, the parts were taken on by Denée Benton, who's black, and Corey Cott, who's white. See? There's lots of flexibility when casting robots. Look, it's Hue and Aronson's show. They wrote it. Who's to tell them what they can and cannot do and what their intentions were? 5 'Maybe Happy Ending' is the rare musical about robots. CBS via Getty Images The fact is 'Maybe Happy Ending' is the only Broadway musical I am aware of in which the leads are made of metal. (Although I've seen plenty of shows where it sure seemed like they were). It's an extremely unusual circumstance, and hardly one to draw broad conclusions from. In works about Asian humans, like the Imelda Marcos musical 'Here Lies Love,' something like this would never happen anymore. Feldman, who was nothing short of sublime in last season's 'We Had A World,' starts performing at the Belasco Theatre on Sept. 2. The uproar should die down well before that. And then fall on Broadway can resume being 'Happy.'
Newsweek
16 hours ago
- Newsweek
Johnny Manziel Sounds Off on Philadelphia Eagles' Superfan
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. As the Philadelphia Eagles navigated through their successful 2024 Super Bowl run, 'Million Dollaz Worth of Game' host Gillie Da King became the team's biggest hype man. Although the Super Bowl run is over, Gillie is still taking his victory lap as a fan. Recently, he rubbed in the Eagles' Super Bowl victory, trading shots with Cam Newton. "Cam ain't never had one of these!" said Gillie, who was holding the Lombardi Trophy. "I ain't going back and forth with you. Thank you, Jalen! Appreciate you, Jalen! The viral video of Gillie calling out Newton caused former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel to step up and sound off on the podcast host. "Yo @gilliedakid you may be the biggest [expletive] loser on the planet," Manziel wrote on X. "Talking like you've [expletive] done anything on a football field. If I see you just know I'm going to slap the [expletive] out of you, trust." Johnny Manziel throws a pass during half time of the spring game at Kyle Field on April 24, 2021 in College Station, Texas. Johnny Manziel throws a pass during half time of the spring game at Kyle Field on April 24, 2021 in College Station, then followed up by expressing his "love" for Gillie's podcast, but making it clear he didn't appreciate the comments towards Newton. While eagerly waiting for Gillie's response, Manziel publicly stated he would like to "set up the Rough & Rowdy" and "call it a day." Rough & Rowdy is a boxing promotion owned by Barstool Sports. It is promoted as "boxing chaos like you've never seen before." The Gillie-Newton situation stems from the former Carolina Panthers quarterback's criticism over Jalen Hurts' standing as a top quarterback in the NFL. As the Eagles' passer just wrapped up a Super Bowl-winning season, where he was named the game's MVP, Hurts still hasn't gained recognition as a top five quarterback in the league, for the most part. Read More: Famous Eagles Fan Trades Shots With Cam Newton Over Jalen Hurts Debate Cam Newton recently explained why he believes that Hurts shouldn't even be placed in the top ten. "Jalen Hurts is a great quarterback, but if we're talking about what they bring to the table, it's hard to judge what Jalen Hurts can do when you're throwing to a guy like AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, you have tight end skillset, you have a dominant defense, the best running back in the game. Download Madden and see how many stars are on the offensive side of Philly," said Newton "Jalen Hurts does not have to play elite for the Philadelphia Eagles to win. He has to play good—but he doesn't have to play elite. We're not asking you to win the game, we're just asking you not to lose it." Since Gillie, a Philly native, grew up as a fan of the Eagles and has been embraced as a high-profile supporter of the team, he felt he should defend Hurts by publicly calling out Newton on multiple occasions. Manziel seems to be waiting impatiently for the podcaster's response. For more Philadelphia Eagles and NFL news, head over to Newsweek Sports
