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Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘Always Something There …' at Marriott Theatre is a fun and escapist cavalcade of '80s hits
What human fantasy is more powerful than the do-over, the chance to relive your life and fix your lousy youthful decisions? Most of us are stuck with our mistakes, but Samantha Craig, the heroine of the exuberant world-premiere jukebox musical at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, falls asleep one night on a business trip in a dull hotel bedroom and wakes up to find herself roaming the halls of her old high school. She's 18 again. Rick Astley's 'Together Forever' is the soundtrack of the moment and Samantha has the foreknowledge of a woman in her 40s and the ability to remake her sad lot. Out with that lousy boyfriend who became an even worse husband! Out with that job at the toilet manufacturer! Out with that soul-sucking material world, and in with the sensitive hunk, and with Samantha following her destiny of musical stardom. The search is over! (You were with me all the while.) 'Always Something There …' is not exactly original. At various moments, its plot recalls 'Freaky Friday, 'Back to the Future' and 'Peggy Sue Got Married,' not to mention the final acts of 'Our Town' and 'Carousel.' But Billy Bigelow, the humbled fool from that last musical, did not get to warble in the vogue of Johnny Hates Jazz or Boy George, nor did he get to declare 'I Want to Dance with Somebody' or that 'Love is a Battlefield,' unlike the characters in writer Sandy Rustin's show, a veritable plethora of 1980s music. A mostly youthful cast performs (among many others) songs made famous by Madonna, H.E.R., Thompson Twins, Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar and The Go-Gos. The playlist (or mixtape, if you will) contains 23 hits of the 1980s, by my account, mostly pop by one-hit wonders but with a few gentle nods toward New Wave. Most haven't shown up in jukebox shows before. This is my era of music, of stalking the dancefloor at Mean Mr. Mustard's, my club of youthful choice. And at several times during this show, I came to the realization that I was sitting here watching a bunch of mostly early career performers, reviewing a song filled with the songs that will be playing in the nursing home I hope to avoid. Can't say I look forward to a robot giving me a sponge bath with 'Even the Nights are Better' rolling out from the bathroom speaker, but better than existential silence. (I guess. We'll have to see.) The fabulous Heidi Kettenring, who plays adult Samantha, performs these 1980s dance-and-angst hits as if she were doing a Chekhov play with a score by Sondheim — so that ennobles the proceedings, you might say. And as her younger doppelganger, the wide-eyed and talented Christina Priestner certainly does all she can to match Kettenring's vocal chops, although just a hair more irony would not go unappreciated. Beyond those two leads, we get fun performances from Samantha's best pals (Emma Ogea, who I believe was in as an understudy at my performance, is an especially stellar singer), boyfriends bad and good (Ty Shay and Ian Coursey), Leah Morrow essaying a variety of 1980s adults, loosely speaking, and the various other detritus of the 1980s high school genre. As writ jukebox. You should know 'Always Something There …' (really not the best title in my view, especially with an ellipsis) is a modestly scaled show, production-wise, and it comes in at just one hour and 50 minutes, even with an intermission. Most of that is taken up by the songs. Not that the show needs to be much longer. The location mostly is non-specific (although apparently Chicagoland), conflicts are mild, situations familiar by design. Tyler Hanes' amusing choreography is carefully tailored to young singers rather than dancers. But the performers are enthusiastic in that theater summer camp way, it's all fun and, this being a theater in the round, I stared all night at row after row of grinning, nodding faces. Director James Vásquez's laudably zippy (thank god) production holds together, staging-wise, just fine until the last few minutes, where the production peters out a little and lacks a conclusionary button, the necessary cherry on the 1980s Cool Whip. Those final sequences need more work, and I think the script needs both more era-specific edge (Duckie Dale would be better than a nerd transplanted from the 1950s) and beefed-up, self-referential gags, but I'm tellin' ya, that do-over theme sparks emotions even if you are listening to a song first recorded by Debbie (now Deborah) Gibson, who I once sat next to at a show, and not only in my dreams, either. But I digress. 'Always Something There …' is the first new musical at Marriott in something like a decade, even though this theater used to develop many of them, including one based on 'Peggy Sue Got Married.' So that's a real positive this summer. This particular premiere doesn't feel Broadway-aimed (although you never know), so much as an affordable, good-time musical with aspirations to be performed at colleges and summer-stock operations at theaters like the Goodspeed Playhouse, or on some Royal Caribbean megaship off the coast of Curaçao, which I don't mean as condescending. I imagine future cruisers will be as delighted as many in the Marriott audience seemed to be, as we all sat together, nodding our heads to familiar beats and cycling back over our lives and pondering those shattered dreams, shattered dreams. Hey, there's still time. Or so musicals like to lead us to believe. Review: 'Always Something There' (3 stars) When: Through Aug. 10 Where: Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes Tickets: $73-$89 at 847-634-0200 and
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Jurassic World Rebirth Director Honored Steven Spielberg
Originally appeared on E! Online Gareth Edwards may have directed Jurassic World Rebirth, but he wants to take viewers back to how he felt watching the original film over 30 years ago. The British filmmaker recently shared what it's meant to him to have the chance to work on the follow-up to Steven Spielberg's 1993 Jurassic Park written by the original film's writer David Koepp, and, in turn, pay homage to the original director's iconic work. "As I started turning each page," Edwards exclusively told E! News' Erin Lim Rhodes of receiving the script, "each encounter is like its own mini movie, and its own genre in a way, and it feels like a love letter to an early Spielberg film of some sort." While it felt strange to create this new take on the original, he felt confident knowing that Spielberg himself, who served as an executive producer on the film, entrusted him with the task. "I would've thought it was sacrilegious, you can't do that," he explained, before joking about his deep bond with Spielberg. "But the fact that it was Steven himself—I call him Steven now, we're close friends—the fact that it was Mr. Spielberg handing you this script, you feel like I've got a bit of license. This is never going to happen in my wildest dreams ever again, so you've got to do it." And that's why Edwards, 50, doesn't take the opportunity to work on such a classic film franchise for granted. "You can't get used to it," he emphasized. "That's so surreal and so weird, you can pretend it's a dream, like I think I'm going to wake up, like in Back to the Future, and lthis whole thing, this whole last year or so, was just an illusion." More from E! Online Whitney Decker Breaks Silence After Ex Travis Decker Is Charged with Killing 3 Daughters YouTuber Mikayla Raines Dies by Suicide at 29 Tallulah Willis Shares Rare Photos of Dad Bruce Willis Amid Health Battle "I would've thought it was sacrilegious, you can't do that," he explained, before joking about his deep bond with Spielberg. "But the fact that it was Steven himself—I call him Steven now, we're close friends—the fact that it was Mr. Spielberg handing you this script, you feel like I've got a bit of license. This is never going to happen in my wildest dreams ever again, so you've got to do it." And that's why Edwards, 50, doesn't take the opportunity to work on such a classic film franchise for granted. "You can't get used to it," he emphasized. "That's so surreal and so weird, you can pretend it's a dream, like I think I'm going to wake up, like in Back to the Future, and this whole thing, this whole last year or so, was just an illusion." Ultimately, the director wanted to replicate the way he felt while watching the original film for today's viewers of the new installment. "I was 17 when the original Jurassic Park came out and that was the year I went to film school," he reflected. "This movie is a very selfish act, trying to recreate how I felt when I watched that first movie." He added that he wants to "take kids, and big kids, on that rollercoaster ride." To see more from the New York premiere of Jurassic World Rebirth, which hits theaters July 2, read on. (E! and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.) Scarlett JohanssonJonathan BaileyMahershala AliRupert FriendBrianna LaPagliaLuna BlaiseDavid IaconoBechir SylvainAudrina MirandaPhilippine VelgeEd SkreinErin Lim RhodesPatrick Crowley, Manuel García-Rulfo, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Gareth Edwards, Bechir Sylvain, Philippine Velge & Frank MarshallFrank Marshall, Manuel García-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Scarlett Johansson, Gareth Edwards, Rupert Friend, Bechir Sylvain, Philippine Velge, Ed Skrein & Patrick Crowley For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Time Out
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Heathers The Musical
Before Mean Girls there was Heathers, a pitch-black comedy about how high-school popularity can be murder. Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe'S 2014 musical based on that film now returns Off Broadway in a revised version, directed by the U.K.'s Andy Fickman, that is likely to appeal to newcomers as well as to the show's loyal fans (known as Corn Nuts, after one character's dying words). Heathers tells the story of a nice girl named Veronica who falls into the bad company of three cruel student dictators and a sociopathic newcomer who wants to rid the school of their ilk. The impressive cast includes Lorna Courtney (& Juliet), Casey Likes (Back to the Future), McKenzie Kurtz (Frozen), Olivia Hardy, Elizabeth Teeter and Broadway comic treasure Kerry Butler (Xanadu).
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Here's what the redesigned Bruins uniforms for the 2025-26 season will look like
Now, it's time. The team will bring back, with a twist, its dual-use, spoked-B uniforms it wore from 1948-85. The black home jerseys will have a gold 'B' crescent and the road whites will use a black 'B,' with each 'B' keeping serifs that were added in 2007. Advertisement The Bruins' road white uniform for the 2025-26 season. Courtesy of the Boston Bruins The team used the logos in its 2023-24 centennial season, Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up All the talk about a 'new' look began when the club's season-long 100th year celebration ended. 'Obviously, we've had a number of different uniforms, whether it's from the Winter Classic or the Stadium Series or out in Tahoe for the Winter Classic, and we always have looked back deep into our rich history and what was worn in the early years,' said Neely. 'I really feel like this is a jersey that a lot of people will be able to relate to and are very fond of.' Related : With the exception of the centennial season, the Bruins' black home jerseys have featured the single black 'B' since 1995. Advertisement Neely believes the return of the gold 'B' will not go unnoticed. 'The first thing we all notice is the color of the 'B' — that's very prominent on the jersey, right in the middle of the jersey and the crest, so my feeling is they'll pick up on that right away,' said Neely. The Bruins did not forget to include a video that accompanies every brand or uniform refresh in the 2020s. Some of the details of the Bruins' uniform change for the 2025-26 season. Courtesy of the Boston Bruins Neely, his longtime friend Michael J. Fox, and a current Bruins player who's almost unrecognizable under several pounds of makeup and a garish shirt, ham it up in the slickly produced clip that leans hard into the time-space continuum themes of the 'Back to the Future' franchise that starred Fox. Fox phones Neely to tell him 'how cool it would be to go back,' which Neely somehow thinks is a suggestion that Neely should return to the ice. 'I've got four joint replacements, I can't see — seriously,' says Neely. Fox corrects him, and texts him a picture of the gold 'B' black jersey. 'People love going back,' says Fox. That prompts Neely to get on his office phone and order in the Bruins player to make Fox's wish come true. Related : Without giving away every second of the spot, after some flashing lights and smoke, the heavy-breathing Bruins star hobbles into Fox's office with a cane and presents him with the new black jersey, 'a special delivery from your good buddy Cam.' Advertisement The spot ends with a famous but altered Emmett 'Doc' Brown quote and the new Bruins logo. A look Back. With an eye to the Future. — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) 'We have so many wonderful uniforms from our history, and if you look back, our uniform changes in history often signify a more significant transition, like from era to era, for example,' said Cam Neely (left), Ray Bourque, and Terry O'Reilly (right) all wore the Bruins' sweater as players the new version is modeled after. John Tlumacki Also among the uniform changes: a new shoulder patch with a bear silhouette filled in by the word 'Boston' on the road whites, and 'Bruins' on the home blacks. There's a new hem loop and a throwback stripe on the sleeve. The Rapid 7 sponsor patch stays on the right front of the jersey. Looking ahead, that should do it, for a bit, on the Bruins' uniform front. 'I can't see a change any time soon, but if we're involved in some other outdoor games, we'll probably introduce something else,' said Neely. Michael Silverman can be reached at
Toronto Sun
5 days ago
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
Pro squash gets studio treatment in Toronto ahead of Olympic debut in 2028
Published Jun 23, 2025 • 3 minute read Egypt's Mostafa Asal takes on England's Marwan El Shorbagy at the PSA Squash Tour Finals in Toronto on Monday, June 23, 2025. Photo by Chris Young / The Canadian Press Much has changed on the pro squash scene since Lee Beachill was last in Toronto as a tour player nearly two decades ago. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The broadcast product has improved exponentially. Replay challenges have helped match flow and cut down on player-referee interaction. And the biggie, of course, is squash can finally be called an Olympic sport. The SmartCentres PSA Tour Finals, which started Monday at the Revival Film Studios in the city's east end, are serving as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the Los Angeles Games in 2028. 'I just think the tie-in with the whole film side of it and the fact that we're going to be on the Back to the Future lot in Universal (Studios) in three years time is just quite a nice tie-in,' said Beachill, now the Pro Squash Association's chief operating officer. The Toronto studio, which lists Good Will Hunting , Cinderella Man and Pixels among the 200-plus films on its credit list, is hosting the five-day competition. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. With limited invites to the top eight men's and women's players in the world, the all-glass showcourt shines brightly in the heart of the 12,000-square-foot Stage 3, complete with a backcourt grandstand with theatrical touches throughout. Read More A set that mimicked the Harrow School — a facility near London where squash was born nearly two centuries ago — has been erected behind the court. Photos of the sport's greats adorn the walls inside the doors — Hashim Khan, Nicol David and Canada's Jonathon Power, to name a few — along with an Olympic poster featuring the L.A. Games logo. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I think we'll be the talk of LA28 in terms of the venue being so unique,' Beachill said. 'I think it'll be one of those tickets that people will want to get their hands on to come and watch. 'Not just necessarily because it's squash but just the experience of going to watch an Olympic sport at Universal Studios is probably a once-in-a-lifetime (opportunity).' Beachill, a former world No. 1, made several appearances as a player in Toronto when the city hosted the YMG Capital Classic (later called the Pace Canadian Squash Classic) at nearby Brookfield Place. When plans to hold the 2004-25 Tour Finals in Bellevue, Wash., fell apart, the Ontario capital moved to the forefront as a host city. Beachill said it helped that Toronto has always been a solid squash market. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I want to continue to try and bring this level of event and this level of athlete back here year after year,' he said. 'So that's what we're going to be working on, hopefully we can have a few conversations this week and see where we go for next year and the years to come.' RECOMMENDED VIDEO An image of Power's diving frame is imprinted on the top of the Power Court that's being used for the $635,000 US tournament. Each eight-player field is split into two pools for group play with competition continuing through the finals on Friday. In Monday afternoon play, top-ranked Mostafa Asal of Egypt dumped England's Marwan ElShorbagy 11-1, 11-3 and Joel Makin of Wales defeated Egypt's Youssef Soliman 11-5, 11-8. In the women's draw, Japan's Satomi Watanabe outlasted Egypt's Fayrouz Aboelkheir 11-7, 9-11, 13-11 and American Olivia Weaver topped Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam 11-9, 11-9. Toronto has a rich history with pro squash. In addition to the YMG/Canadian Classic era, legendary rivals Jansher Khan and Jahangir Khan met in a memorable match at the 1990 Mennen Cup. The city has hosted several editions of the national championships. Squash was also played at Exhibition Place when the city hosted the 2015 Pan Am Games. The Canadian Women's Open was added to the tour in 2023 and rose to silver status last year. Toronto & GTA Toronto Blue Jays Toronto Maple Leafs Television Other Sports
