Rising production costs threatening viability of UK theatre, says report
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Western Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Trump names Stallone and Crawford among Kennedy Centre Honours nominees
Crawford starred in Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway and the West End, and writer Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber was himself a Kennedy Centre Honours recipient in 2006. Other previous British recipients have included Sir Elton John in 2004 and Dame Julie Andrews in 2001. President Donald Trump stands beside photos of Kennedy Centre Honours nominees, from left country music star George Strait, actor-singer Michael Crawford and Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone (Alex Brandon/AP) Mr Trump said he will 'fully renovate' the entire infrastructure of the Kennedy Centre to make it a 'crown jewel' of arts and culture in the United States. 'We're going to bring it to a higher level than it ever hit,' he said, adding that the venue would be featured in next year's celebrations of America's 250th anniversary. The Republican president said he did not want to host the programme but was invited to do so and agreed. Mr Trump avoided the Kennedy Centre Honours awards programme during his first term after artists said they would not attend out of protest. This year, the president has taken over as the Kennedy Centre's new chairman and sacked the board of trustees, which he replaced with loyalists. President Donald Trump speaks at the Kennedy Centre in Washington (Alex Brandon/AP) In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Mr Trump teased a name change for the centre, formally the John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, and said it would be restored to its past glory. 'GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,' he wrote. Mr Trump said work was being done on the site that would be 'bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment'. 'It had fallen on hard times, physically, BUT WILL SOON BE MAKING A MAJOR COMEBACK!!!' he wrote. In a statement on its social media feed, the Kennedy Centre said it is 'honoured' to host Mr Trump, who will be visiting for the third time since January, and hinted that he would announce a construction project. Sylvester Stallone is unveiled by President Donald Trump to be a recipient of the Kennedy Centre Honours at the Kennedy Centre in Washington (Alex Brandon/AP) 'Thanks to his advocacy, our beautiful building will undergo renovations to restore its prestige and grandeur,' the venue said. 'We are also excited to be announcing this year's INCREDIBLE slate of Kennedy Center Honorees.' Mr Trump complained during a March visit that the building is in a state of 'tremendous disrepair'. The president, who had indicated he wanted a more active role in the selection process, said he was 'about 98% involved' in choosing the honorees. He said he 'turned down plenty' of names, saying those individuals were 'too woke', or too liberal. Mr Trump described the slate of artists he announced on Wednesday, which include several of his personal favourites, as 'great people'. Gloria Gaynor is among those being honoured (Alex Brandon/AP) Historically, a bipartisan advisory committee selects the recipients, who over the years have ranged from George Balanchine and Tom Hanks to Aretha Franklin and Stephen Sondheim. In the past, Mr Trump has floated the idea of granting Kennedy Centre Honours status to singer-songwriter Paul Anka and Stallone, one of three actors Mr Trump named as Hollywood ambassadors earlier this year. Anka was supposed to perform My Way at Mr Trump's first inaugural and backed out at the last moment. The Kennedy Centre Honours were established in 1978 and have been given to a broad range of artists. Until Mr Trump's first term, presidents of both major political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed politically with a given recipient. Prominent liberals such as Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were honoured during the administration of Republican George W Bush, and a leading conservative, Charlton Heston, was feted during the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton. In 2017, after honoree Norman Lear declared that he would not attend a White House celebration in protest over Mr Trump's proposed cuts to federal arts funding, Mr Trump and first lady Melania Trump decided to skip the Kennedy Centre event and stayed away throughout his first term. The rock band Kiss will be a recipient of the Kennedy Centre Honours (Alex Brandon/AP) Honorees during that time included such Trump critics as Cher, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sally Field. Since taking office for a second time, Mr Trump has taken a much more forceful stance on the Kennedy Centre and inserted himself into its governance. Besides naming himself chairman and remaking the board, he has also indicated he would take over decisions regarding programming at the centre and vowed to end events featuring performers in drag. The steps have drawn further criticism from some artists. In March, the producers of Hamilton pulled out of staging the Broadway hit musical in 2026, citing Mr Trump's aggressive takeover of the institution's leadership. Country music artist George Strait (Alex Brandon/AP) Other artists who cancelled events include actor Issa Rae, singer Rhiannon Giddens and author Louise Penny. House Republicans added an amendment to a spending Bill that Mr Trump signed into law in July to rename the Kennedy Centre's Opera House after Melania Trump, but that venue has yet to be renamed. Maria Shriver, a niece of the late President Kennedy, a Democrat, has criticised as 'insane' a separate House proposal to rename the entire centre after Mr Trump. Recipients of the Kennedy Centre Honours are given a medallion on a rainbow ribbon, a nod to the range of skills that fall under the performing arts. In April, the centre changed the lights on the exterior from the long-standing rainbow to a permanent red, white and blue display.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Groundbreaking 90s TV show is available to stream in the UK in full for free
The 90s mega-hit won dozens of awards during its original run, and the comedy-drama was known for its unique storytelling style The '90s smash hit Ally McBeal is poised for a British comeback, with Channel 4 offering the full five seasons to stream for free on their platform. The news comes as Netflix fans rejoice as Love Is Blind UK returns to screens after dramatic first season. The legal comedy-drama, which originally ran from 1997 to 2002 and launched stars like Lucy Liu and Jane Krakowski into the spotlight, is available as a full collection for both devoted fans and fresh audiences to enjoy . Calista Flockhart, who portrayed the eccentric solicitor Ally at the Boston practice Cage and Fish, fronted the programme that gained recognition for its mixture of romance, personal turmoil, and fantastical comedy, including Ally's amusing habit of tumbling when meeting a potential love match. In 2022, there were rumours that ABC was in early development of a revival of Ally McBeal, potentially following a young lawyer who joins the firm, with Calista reprising her role as Ally. Industry figures were excited about the potential comeback with a source revealing: "There has been talk of reviving Ally McBeal for years, as the central premise is so desirable to modern audiences. It's the perfect female-driven character drama, really." They continued: "Frankly, it was always ahead of its time, so execs see a reboot as a total no-brainer. They are desperate for Calista to jump on board but hope the scripts will convince her to sign up." While the programme explored legal cases, it was the characters' romantic entanglements and personal adventures, peppered with quirky and frequently surreal humour, that truly captivated viewers. 'Hilarious' 2020s comedy is an 'instant classic' and streaming for free Channel 4 viewers make same complaint about new thriller In Flight minutes after debut Since its premiere in 1997, the series received critical acclaim in its early seasons, scooping up Golden Globes and Emmy Awards. However, Fox decided to axe the show after five seasons.
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Local outrage as topless Brit tourist caught riding cow in Tenerife
Shoppers were left stunned when the holidaymaker decided to mount the life-sized model bovine outside a popular Ale-Hop store in Playa Fañabé, Costa Adeje, causing consternation among locals Anglo-Iberian relations have taken another dent after a British man rode a well-known cow in Tenerife. Shoppers were left stunned when the holidaymaker decided to mount the life-sized model bovine outside a popular Ale-Hop store in Playa Fañabé, Costa Adeje. With the help of one of his two friends, the man was spotted climbing onto the plastic cow's back before bellowing, 'Yeehaw!' Within seconds, alarmed employees of a nearby shop ran over to remove the man from the cow. They then had to ensure that the tourists didn't steal the cow. It comes after 'the King of Benidorm' warned that Brits make the same mistake when the visit the city. The shop employees calmed the man, who had declared himself a "real cowboy", according to Canarian Weekly. He gave up on his attempts to remove the cow after giving it one big tug on its horns. The incident has caused ire among locals, who have been left unimpressed by the daytime antics. "It's called disrespect, but well, that's already normalized, like so many things," one wrote beneath a post online including the video. Another wrote: "That's the kind of tourism they send to the Canary Islands. It's like this everywhere, and then the British press is surprised by the protests that take place." The incident is not the first cow-related shock to cause alarm on the Canary island. Back in 2019, tourists visiting Tenerife were left baffled by the sight of dead cows floating in the sea and being washed up onto the beaches. The animals were spotted in areas popular for Brits over a seven-day period. One cow was washed up on the tourist beach of Playa de La Jaquita near the coastal resort of El Médano. Council workers were called to dispose of the carcass. The cow corpses came from freighters loaded with live cattle, which travelled from South America. Such boats are forbidden from mooring at some ports in Europe, including Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. If and when cows die during the crossing, they are tossed overboard. When it comes to alcohol-related incidents that have caused strife between Spaniards and Brits, there are plenty. Late-night brawls that have spilled onto the streets of Playa de las Américas have been a regular occurrence, as have visitors leaping into hotel pools fully clothed. A group of holidaymakers were fined for climbing onto a parked police car for photos back in 2023, around the same time that a stag party blocked traffic by staging an impromptu conga line over a busy roundabout in Costa Adeje.
