logo
Nick Jonas garners mixed reviews for new Broadway show

Nick Jonas garners mixed reviews for new Broadway show

Yahoo07-04-2025

Nick Jonas has been widely panned for his latest stage performance.
Jonas is currently starring in the Broadway production of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. The theatrical revival also stars Tony winner Adrienne Warren.
The production's official opening took place on Sunday evening at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.
The Last Five Years explores the five-year relationship between mismatched couple Jamie Wellerstein (Jonas), a rising novelist, and Cathy Hiatt (Warren), a struggling actor.
Time Out reviewed the show: "The problem is not that Jonas can't sing the part, though he doesn't sing it especially well. It's that the persona he has crafted over time - the ingratiating moves, mild pop riffs and bouncy strut of a cute, athletic, slightly cocky but basically nice All-American boy next door - are at a polar distance from what he is asked to play."
Vulture agreed, "It's not his voice that lets him down; it's the lack of contours in his character."
New York Theatre opined, "Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas, who are appealing and talented singers, just don't seem like a match for these roles, or for each other."
Jonas began acting on Broadway at the age of seven, playing Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol. He has since appeared in a raft of shows including The Sound of Music, Les Miserables and Hairspray.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Sasha Velour's ‘Big Reveal' redraws the boundaries of drag and theater
Sasha Velour's ‘Big Reveal' redraws the boundaries of drag and theater

San Francisco Chronicle​

time23 minutes ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Sasha Velour's ‘Big Reveal' redraws the boundaries of drag and theater

Other performers might dread glitches during shows. Sasha Velour makes them her co-stars. Her 'The Big Reveal Live Show!' offers no straightforward lip sync. Phone rings, TV static and vertical colored bars, smashed dishes, recording skips, computer viruses and flickering lights constantly interrupt her drag numbers, video art, autobiographical anecdotes and mini lectures on drag history and theory. But if these on-purpose mistakes rip the fabric of the mostly solo show, which opened Wednesday, June 4, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the 'RuPaul's Drag Race' champion, author and Berkeley native widens them into wormholes and crawls inside to do battle with them. As she tries to claw back control of her bit, she might wind up on the floor in tears, but she's the winner all the same. It's partly a clown show: the garish makeup, the padded body parts, the nightmarish facial expressions, the wordless physical theater fight against absurdist forces too large to understand. But in all those gaffes, larger ideas are also at work. Imperfection is key to understanding drag and camp more generally, Velour says at one point. The art form doesn't work if you don't have self-awareness — if you don't understand your flaws but 'press on' anyway. (The implied corollary: Someone like Trump couldn't do camp even if he wanted to.) In a tough time for theater locally and nationwide, with companies scaling back or closing as funding sources dwindle, 'The Big Reveal Live Show!' suggests that institutional theater programming more drag might be one way forward. Audience members certainly showed up on Wednesday, some even glammed up in drag as opposed to the standard Berkeley Rep audience uniform of earth tones and sensible shoes. And Velour's show itself is more daring, artistic and intellectual than a lot of straight plays. Some of her patter — 'After so many years of backlash,' 'Drag serves as a mirror,' 'We are here, and we are not going away' — is boilerplate; the points might be more effectively made without didacticism. But other bits of monologue evince the scholarly yet frisky understanding of drag that undergirds her book, also called 'The Big Reveal,' with the subtitle 'An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag.' 'Queerness isn't shocking or groundbreaking at all,' she says in the show. 'It's normal. It's boring.' Cultures throughout history have had some kind of drag performance, she points out — even the American military in World War II. It only becomes threatening, she says, when it's no longer performed by straight men. Her costumes — by Diego Montoya Studio, Pierretta Viktori, Jazzmint Dash, Gloria Swansong and Casey Caldwell — are celestial wonders. One skirt hem resembles the orbit of the sometime-planet Pluto, both elliptical and noncoplanar, forming part of an outfit that looks like a bottle of pink Champagne frozen right in the moment of exploding. Another piece blurs the boundary between human and furniture. In one heart-stopping moment, she lines herself up with an outline of a human form projected on a large screen behind her. Without any perceptible change in lighting, she seems to change color, blazing in the gold of a desert sunset. Graffiti gets written on her, and ropes wrap around her; body parts metamorphose and enlarge. Your eyes search for signs as to what's projected and what's tangible. She dissolves in flames. By the end, you half expect her to be able to step through the screen and get swallowed whole, the wormholes covering their tracks like magic. As Velour finds the deviant in the familiar — talk shows, Disney princesses having animal friends, audio montages of iconic phone calls in film, the pixelated desktop of 1990s-era Windows — she makes the case that drag is available to everyone, no matter how weird or normie you are. That thing that tickles you? That you find yourself returning to again and again? Drag is a way you can talk about it, and it belongs on every stage and in every sitting room in America.

Tom Felton's Viral Comments On J.K. Rowling & Harry Potter Are Bad — Here's Why
Tom Felton's Viral Comments On J.K. Rowling & Harry Potter Are Bad — Here's Why

Buzz Feed

timean hour ago

  • Buzz Feed

Tom Felton's Viral Comments On J.K. Rowling & Harry Potter Are Bad — Here's Why

Tom Felton is facing a ton of backlash right now, but I actually think it's fully deserved, so let's get into it. If you don't know, Tom played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, and he's about to return as Draco again for his Broadway debut in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the end of this year. However, while attending the Tony Awards on Sunday, he was asked about J.K. Rowling's disgusting anti-trans comments over the years. (For reference, she also just launched an organization to help fund anti-trans legislation, which is described as a "legal fighting fund for women protecting their sex-based rights.") Tom was specifically questioned about how Rowling's controversies and anti-trans views have impacted him and his work. The full question was: "Does the sort of Twitterverse controversy around J.K. Rowling's views impact you at all or impact your work on the world at all?" First of all, it's incredible how bad that response is. It's even more embarrassing when you realize that a PR rep probably prepared it for him. Like, he's had years of media training and should have anticipated that every interviewer's first question would be about J.K. Rowling. And if this response ~wasn't~ prepped, then, well, double shame on him. Anyway, Tom has expressed similar sentiments over the years, like in 2022 when he claimed to "not know enough about the specifics" in reference to Rowling's constant blows against trans people. He continued by saying, "My dog takes up far too much time for me to go into such matters," as if that was a valid excuse. He then backtracked a little, saying, 'I mean, the obvious things to say are that I'm pro-choice, pro-discussion, pro-human rights across the board, and pro-love. And anything that is not those things, I don't really have much time for." However, in that same interview, Tom also talked about how it's okay for people to have differing opinions and that he doesn't "take any pleasure in putting crosshairs on people that may have said things that we disagree with." The issue I have with this, though, is that basic human rights do not warrant differing opinions. It's disheartening for him to suggest otherwise. Like, we can disagree about favorite colors and movies and foods, but not about the existence and support of trans people. Tom's response is a verrrrry different tune from his Harry Potter co-stars. For example, Daniel Radcliffe wrote an op-ed back in 2020 where he correctly stated that trans women are women. He also called out J.K. Rowling specifically, saying, "Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I." Emma Watson has done the same, sharing her support for the trans community in 2020. She also tweeted directly to her trans fans and followers, saying, "I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are." And Rupert Grint has also followed suit, declaring that he "firmly stands with the trans community and echoes the sentiments expressed by many of my peers." All three of these actors' 2020 comments were in response to J.K. Rowling's lengthy essay about trans issues that she published during Pride Month that same year. Since then, Rowling has taken aim at all three Harry Potter stars for speaking out against her. She also "jokingly" implied that Dan, Emma, and Rupert are three actors who instantly ruin any movie for her when they appear in it. And this is why Tom Felton's refusal to acknowledge J.K. Rowling's comments is so gross and disappointing. To me, it says that he won't speak out against bigotry or injustice simply because it benefits him. After all, in addition to starring in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway, Tom also implied that he'll have a part in HBO's new Harry Potter TV show. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said, "I'll definitely be sneaking into a background shot as an extra." There's also speculation that he'll have a larger behind-the-scenes role on the production side of the series as well. Many veteran actors who've been cast in this new HBO show have also been asked about Rowling's anti-trans views. For example, Nick Frost, who was recently cast as Hagrid, said, "She's allowed her opinion and I'm allowed mine, they just don't align in any way, shape or form."And John Lithgow, who was literally nominated for an Oscar for portraying a trans woman in the 1982 movie The World According to Garp, said he never expected any criticism after accepting the role of Albus Dumbledore. Then, when asked if that backlash made him question his choice, he exclaimed, 'Oh, heavens no.'In case you're curious, Lox Pratt has been cast as Draco Malfoy, the role Tom Felton originated, and Johnny Flynn has been cast as Lucius Malfoy, Draco's dad (aka the role some people thought Tom might play, as he's now 37 years old). Now, my personal relationship with Harry Potter has changed over the years, especially as a queer person. I'm a fan of the series, and though I sometimes struggle with the notion of separating art from the artist, I've distanced myself more and more from the franchise due to Rowling's comments (which is unfortunate because so many people have found a home in it!). I do believe the world of Harry Potter is bigger than Rowling herself, which is why I can understand when some of the stars publicly share praise for what she's built, especially since it helped launch their careers. However, it's possible (and necessary) to stand up for what's right and draw the line between criticism and blind loyalty. That's exactly what Daniel Radcliffe did in 2024, saying: "Jo [Rowling], obviously Harry Potter would not have happened without her, so nothing in my life would have probably happened the way it is without that person. But that doesn't mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life." Tom Felton, however, is actively choosing to ignore the elephant in the room. It's disingenuous to pretend that Rowling's statements don't affect him, especially since her very comments endanger the lives of people in the trans and queer community, many of whom are his fans. To me, this implies that Tom cares more about collecting a paycheck than standing up for trans rights, which are human rights, and I desperately need him to do better. Looking for more LGBTQ+ or Pride content? Check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2025.

Combs' ex accuses him of abuse but says she loves him
Combs' ex accuses him of abuse but says she loves him

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Combs' ex accuses him of abuse but says she loves him

An ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs who accuses him of kicking, punching and dragging her has testified at his sex trafficking trial that she still loves the hip-hop mogul. "He was my baby," said the woman, who is testifying under the pseudonym Jane to protect her privacy. Asked under cross-examination by defence lawyer Teny Geragos if she still loves Combs, Jane said, "I do". The woman said she enjoyed taking care of Combs, bathing him and falling asleep with him while watching television after "hotel nights", their phrase for drug-fuelled encounters in which she would have sex with male entertainers while Combs watched. The questioning was part of Combs' strategy to portray Jane as a willing participant in the sexual encounters with him, not a victim of sex trafficking as prosecutors allege. She said she agreed to these "hotel nights" while "under a lot of emotional pressure" - and already hooked on love and a desire to stay in a relationship with Combs. Jane testified that she partook in the encounters, sometimes grudgingly, because they pleased Combs and she enjoyed spending time alone with him afterward. Combs, 55, and the founder of Bad Boy Records, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Combs used force and threats of cutting off financial support to coerce women into taking part in the encounters, sometimes known as "Freak Offs". Over three days under questioning by prosecutors in Manhattan federal court, Jane said that she agreed to have sex with a male escort in front of Combs early in their relationship but that he later dismissed her requests to stop and threatened to stop paying her rent. On Monday, Jane said Combs kicked, punched and dragged her during an altercation at her Los Angeles home last June. Later that night, he told her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer even though she said she did not want to, Jane said. Under questioning on Tuesday, Jane said she researched the terms "cuck" and "cuckold" during her relationship with Combs to try to understand his desires. The words refer to men who enjoy watching female partners with other men, Jane said. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights and what was driving him," Jane said. Combs' defence lawyers are expected to cross-examine Jane until Thursday. Testimony is in its fifth week. Combs could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs turned artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, elevating hip-hop in American culture and becoming a billionaire in the process. with AP

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store