Latest news with #AnnieGetYourGun
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cole Escola Pays Tribute to Bernadette Peters in Custom Wiederhoeft Dress at Tony Awards 2025
Cole Escola collaborated with Wiederhoeft to honor one of Broadway's leading ladies at the Tony Awards 2025. Held on Sunday in New York City, the red carpet event featured the actor in an elaborate silver-blue gown with a fitted bodice and a dramatic train, which was inspired by the dress Bernadette Peters wore at the 1999 Tonys to accept her Best Actress win for 'Annie Get Your Gun.' Escola's dress featured off-shoulder draped sleeves, sheer paneling at the chest, and intricate beaded embroidery running down the center. The silhouette was form-fitting through the torso and hips before flaring out into a full skirt with an extended train. More from WWD The Best Beauty Moments at The Fragrance Foundation Awards 2025: Laverne Cox, Vera Wang, Carolyn Murphy and More Dakota Johnson Goes Sheer in Long-sleeve Nensi Dojaka Midi Dress and Bodysuit While Promoting 'Materialists' on 'Seth Meyers' Kate Hudson Puts a Velvety Spin on the Little Black Dress for the Newport Beach TV Fest To complete their look, the actor wore a curly wig in an updo, nodding to Peters' signature hairstyle. Escola received five nominations for their play 'Oh, Mary!,' including Best Play and Best Leading Actor in a Play. Throughout the run of their Broadway hit, Escola has often worn over-the-top outfits with theatrical flair, including the vibrant, floral suit by Christopher John Rogers they wore at the 2025 Met Gala. The actor has also caught the attention of designers since starring in 'Oh Mary!'. Escola closed Presley Oldham's first-ever runway show in New York City in 2024, sat front row at Christian Cowan's fall 2025 show and cohosted Thom Browne's spring 2025 dinner during New York Fashion Week. The 78th Annual Tony Awards, Broadway's most prestigious honors, took place on Sunday at New York City's iconic Radio City Music Hall. Hosted by Tony and Emmy Award winner Cynthia Erivo, the ceremony recognized outstanding achievements in Broadway productions from the 2024–25 season. View Gallery Launch Gallery: Tony Awards 2025 Red Carpet Arrivals, Live Updates Best of WWD Mia Threapleton's Red Carpet Style Through the Years [PHOTOS] Princess Charlene of Monaco's Grand Prix Style Through the Years: Louis Vuitton, Akris and More, Photos Princess Charlene's Monaco Grand Prix Style Evolution at Full Speed: Shades of Blue in Louis Vuitton, Playful Patterning in Akris and More
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Langholm Operatic and Dramatic Society changes name and seeks new talent
Langholm Theatre Group, previously known as Langholm Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, is looking for new talent to join their next musical production. Members of the group decided to change their name at an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting as it was felt that the word "operatic" was a factor in deterring potential members from joining the society. The group, which has been running for 102 years, has put on a range of musicals, plays, and concerts, including The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, and Calamity Jane. Annie Get Your Gun stars Leona Mason in the lead role (Image: Naomi House) Last year, the group staged a production of Annie Get Your Gun. They are currently seeking new members, including both those interested in acting as well as joining the production team. Anyone over the age of 14 is welcome to join. The group is also seeking a producer or director for their March 2026 show. President Jackie Beckett said: "It has been fantastic to see new members coming along to join the society in recent years, but we need more. "If anyone has ever wanted to be on stage, or even help in other ways, please get in touch. "You don't need to live in Langholm as we have members who travel from outwith the town. "And you will be made most welcome." People interested in joining can email for more information. The group's annual general meeting was held on Thursday, May 12, at Langholm Town Hall.
San Francisco Chronicle
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
From stutter to stage star: David Everett Moore's journey in theater
When David Everett Moore landed his first big role in a school play, he had an epiphany. 'That was the first time that I noticed that I was on stage speaking these lines, and I didn't stutter,' he told the Chronicle. 'And I was like, 'What? Interesting! I didn't know that was possible! '' He was 12 years old in Los Angeles and the play was 'Annie Get Your Gun.' Discovering that onstage he could speak without his stutter 'was freeing. It was empowering,' he recalls. Now 46, the Berkeley resident and professional union actor doesn't think of the speech impediment he's had since early childhood as a tragedy or a cage. More Information 'Crumbs From the Table of Joy': Written by Lynn Nottage. Directed by Elizabeth Carter. Opens Saturday, April 26. Through May 25. $38-$68. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. 510-843-4822. Instead, Moore learned, 'It has to do with flow.' He contrasted extemporaneous speech with recited lines or music: 'When words are already living in your brain, when it's already memorized, there's a flow for that.' That's especially true with Shakespeare, with its rhythmic iambic pentameter, which Moore frequently performs. Moore, currently performing in Lynn Nottage's 'Crumbs From the Table of Joy' at Aurora Theatre, said that to get where he is now, he suffered less prejudice than one might think. But the system he had to devise for himself requires a dedication to craft that might make many lesser men quit. 'There's never been a point where I was like, 'Oh, I should give up acting because of this,'' he said. And he's hardly the only public-facing professional with a speech impediment; former President Joe Biden, James Earl Jones and Samuel L. Jackson all had or have stutters. Moore's stammer isn't severe, but you do notice it in conversation. When he meets people for the first time, he might ask them not to suggest words to him when he pauses. 'I know the word; I'm just having trouble getting it out,' he said. In prior years, when he'd meet new collaborators in audition or rehearsal rooms, he'd explain that he speaks more fluidly onstage, 'just to make sure they knew I could do it,' he said. Then one time, he gave no preamble, and no one ever raised an eyebrow. Same thing every time after that. Eventually, he realized that his reputation and resumé, with roles at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Crowded Fire Theater and Colorado Shakespeare Festival among many others, speak for themselves. Victoria Evans Erville, a playwright, director and erstwhile leader of the now-defunct TheatreFirst, described Moore as an ideal actor, and he credits her with seeing his potential before he could. 'When he acts, you don't ever hear it, ever,' she said of his speech impediment. Instead, his other qualities shine: his focus, bravery and willingness to play, his ability to work with actors of any experience level. Most of all, he doesn't have to be in the spotlight if it doesn't serve the story. 'He loves the craft more than he loves himself,' she said. But being onstage doesn't 100% cure his stammer, Moore cautioned. He still occasionally stutters in performance, such as that one time in 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Colorado Shakespeare Festival. 'I just got stuck onstage in front of 1,100 people,' he recalled. 'The play ground to a halt because I couldn't get the word out. It was probably like five seconds, but five seconds onstage is an eternity.' After he exited, one of the show's more seasoned actors pulled him aside to say, 'Hey, it's not your fault' — a gift he still remembers fondly. Over time, Moore has learned more about how his brain works and developed mitigation strategies to decrease the likelihood of such incidents. For example, he learned that words that start with hard consonants followed by short vowels are harder for him. 'Dine' is easy; 'dinner,' not so much. When he first reads a script aloud to himself, he notes all the words that could be 'spicy,' he said with a laugh. He tries to make sure he's at or toward the beginning of a breath on tough words, a bit like the way singers and reed and brass players might plot where in a score they inhale. Or he'll imagine other words coming before a tough word, but not say them, and then mentally put a little music to the whole phrase as well. All the audience hears is 'dinner is served,' but in his head he appends 'what time shall I tell them that' to the beginning. All professional actors learn to be aware of where they're holding tension in their bodies, but for Moore the practice takes on additional importance. If he gets stuck on a word, he tries to take a 'mental photograph' of his physicality and ask himself, 'Is the tension in my throat? Is there tension in the neck muscles, or in my tongue?' Then, if he identifies the spot, he can try to release it or breathe through it. Sometimes he simply has to slow down, even when a play's scene demands urgency, presenting an intriguing artistic challenge of 'playing the tension of the moment without bringing physical tension,' as Moore put it. When all else fails, Moore might ask a director for permission to change a word in a script. Surveying his career, Moore attributes his success first to his parents, who took him to see theater growing up, which is 'still not commonplace for Black people,' he said. As a young boy, he saw Dulé Hill ('The West Wing') in a national tour of 'The Tap Dance Kid,' which showed him that people who look like him can be actors. 'Representation matters,' he said. Now he tries to pay that forward. He works frequently as a teaching artist, and once, working with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he gave a talkback to students, showing them that the actor they'd just seen onstage speaks with a stutter. Afterward, a student wrote him a note saying he made her feel better about her own speech impediment. 'That's everything,' Moore said. When other theater artists ask him for advice about working with speech impediments, he makes it a point to give them however much time they need, too. I thought I remembered docking Moore for vocal stumbles in my reviews of his work, before I learned about his speech impediment, but then didn't find any evidence in the Chronicle's archives. Still, I can say I at least thought about doing so. I recently asked Moore what he might think about such a criticism. 'If the person said that it took away from their enjoyment of the experience,' he replied, 'then I I would encourage that person to ask themselves why it took them out of it.' Flawlessness is illusory anyway, he noted: 'Seeing something different than my expectations doesn't make that thing bad.'
The Guardian
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
June Opitz obituary
My aunt June Opitz, who has died aged 100, spent 50 years in the Northern Territory outback of Australia, first setting up a store and motel that became part of the Kakadu national park, and then at Charles Darwin University, where she finished a PhD aged 84 before returning to her native UK. It was in 1958 that June became a 'ten pound Pom', sailing from Tilbury Docks. She worked her way across the country before taking a job at the remote Nourlangie safari camp, 300 miles east of Darwin. There, June met Tom Opitz, a crocodile hunter who called her Judy, a name she adopted throughout her time in Australia. They married in 1963, then set up the Cooinda Trading Post and Motel. In 1980 they returned the site to the traditional owners, and it was eventually absorbed into the newly proclaimed Kakadu national park, now a world heritage site. June was born in London, the fourth of six children of Irene (nee Molesworth) and Charles Rowley, an army captain, and initially lived in Tonbridge Wells, Kent. A brother, Charles, died when he was two. In 1935, her father died, and the family moved to London, where June attended Glendower school in South Kensington. When she was 16 years old, her mother married Frank Ash, an ex-army captain and friend of June's father. With the onset of the second world war, Glendower was closed and June was sent to stay with friends in Winchester. There, her studies suffered, and she left school without qualifications. After studying shorthand and typing at a commercial college, June joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) aged 18. She was posted to RAF Bourn in Cambridgeshire with 105 Squadron, where she transported the Mosquito aircrew to and from the dispersal points for flights as well as driving ambulances to crash sites. Demobbed in 1946, June auditioned for a production of the musical Annie Get Your Gun, and was taken on as a chorus girl. However she got to play Annie on its opening night at the Empire, Liverpool, when the show's star, Barbara Shotter, and her understudy both fell ill. More acting and other jobs followed, but June yearned to see more of the world. In 1957 she set off overland by bus for India, with a view to getting a boat to Australia. She made it through Europe, Turkey and Persia but became ill with hepatitis so returned to England, sailing to Australia the following year. Tom died in 1982, and she did a series of access courses that led to a degree in archaeology and anthropology at the Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University), followed by her doctorate. She published her autobiography, An English Rose in Kakadu, in 2009. In 2012 June returned to the UK to live in Cambridge with her sister, before moving into a retirement home in Cambourne, near RAF Bourn. She remained an honorary fellow at Charles Darwin University. A letter from the university to mark her 100th birthday noted her contribution to widening understanding of the Kakadu national park. She is survived by seven nephews and nieces.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Susan Lucci Reveals Unconventional Ritual She Still Follows as She Returns to Broadway (Exclusive)
Susan Lucci is excited to take the stage. The legendary actress is part of the second cast of My First Ex-Husband, a new comedy play from Joy Behar and directed by Randal Myler, now playing at the MMAC Theater in New York City. The play features a rotating lineup of luminaries from theater, television, and film, bringing fresh voices and perspectives to stories about the messy truths of love, marriage, and divorce, revealing the chaotic, funny, and often eye-opening realities of relationships. Speaking with PEOPLE about her role, the Emmy-winning actress, 78, says she's excited to be on stage in a comedy. "First of all, I love doing comedy and the material, I love the material. Joy Behar called and asked if I would do this. When I saw the material, I realized Joy and I were so on the same page. I thought, 'Of course I'm going to do this.' " "The material is so funny," she continued. "It's true material, too... They're stories written by individual women who have been in bad marriages. And I don't think they meant them necessarily to be funny. They are just true." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Related: Susan Lucci Reveals the 3 Foods She Eats Every Day Since Having 2 Heart Operations Lucci is no stranger to the stage, having been in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway in 1999. The idea of being back in front of a live audience is thrilling for the actress. "Performing live comes with its own set of excitement and involvement. The audiences gets engaged, and it's terrific. I think especially when you —well, anytime, but especially with comedy — anytime the audience gets engaged, it's really nice. You're in this together. The audience is there to laugh, and you're there to find the laughs. It's very fun to get the response from the audience." As for rituals, Lucci has one she's adopted as a rule and one she unconsciously developed. "I don't eat before I perform. That's always the case," she says. "And I love to eat, but I have no desire to before I go on stage, so that works out." "I found out a ritual I wasn't even aware of when I was doing Annie Get Your Gun," she continues. "There were some very quick changes backstage, and one involved changing my shoes and my top. There were two dressers there and when it came time, she asked me, 'Do you put your left shoe on first or your right shoe?' " Lucci continues, "I frankly had never thought of it before, but I thought, oh, oh, I could think I'm in the right business here. Okay, it's my left. I realized at the time then, I do put on my left shoe first. So I have continued that ritual." From February 26 to March 23, Lucci will appear alongside Judy Gold, Tonya Pinkins and Cathy Moriarty in My First Ex-Husband. Read the original article on People
