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Tony Award-winning actress leaves NBA fans divided after Game 7 anthem goes viral

Tony Award-winning actress leaves NBA fans divided after Game 7 anthem goes viral

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The reviews weren't all bad, however, with many applauding
'Not even 30 seconds in and she already made 3 people cry and 1 ref rethink his calls,' one user joked on X.
'Perfect in every way. Ranks in the top five best ever renditions of the beautiful Star Spangled Banner. Brought tears to my eyes,' another wrote.
'Oklahoma native Kristin Chenoweth nailed the national anthem before Game 7,' a third user posted.
Chenoweth, who won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and also has starred as Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, hails from Broken Arrow, Okla., roughly 185 km northeast of Oklahoma City.
Chenoweth has been a vocal supporter of the Thunder and was prepped to 'Thunder Up' with her performance, rocking a team T-shirt.
GAME 7 TONIGHT. THUNDER UP!!! ⚡️🏀
SO proud of these boys. Let's go!! #ThunderUp #NBAFinals @okcthunder @NBA pic.twitter.com/zLLb5tVxmN
— Kristin Chenoweth (@KChenoweth) June 22, 2025
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Richard Thomas dons wig and mustache to play icon Mark Twain in one-man play touring the US
Richard Thomas dons wig and mustache to play icon Mark Twain in one-man play touring the US

Winnipeg Free Press

time3 days ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Richard Thomas dons wig and mustache to play icon Mark Twain in one-man play touring the US

NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Thomas has not one but two big shoes to fill when he goes out on the road this summer in a celebrated one-man show. The Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee is portraying the great American writer Mark Twain in a play written and performed for decades by the late Hal Holbrook. Thomas immediately accepted the offer to star in the 90-minute 'Mark Twain Tonight!' that tours more than a dozen states this summer and fall before wondering what he'd gotten himself into. 'I walked down to the street and I said, 'Are you crazy? What are you out of your mind?'' he says, laughing. 'I had to grapple with who's the bigger fool — the man who says, 'Yes, I'll do it' or the man that says, 'No, I won't'?' Holbrook portrayed the popular novelist and humorist for more than a half century starting in 1954, making over 2,300 performances to a collective audience of more than 2 million. He and Thomas were fond of each other and would see each other's work. The show mixes Twain's speeches and passages from his books and letters to offer a multidimensional look at an American icon, who toured the U.S. with appearances. 'I'm going to feel very much like I'm not only following in Hal's footsteps, but in Twain's as well,' says Thomas, who began his career as John-Boy Walton on TV's 'The Waltons' and became a Broadway mainstay. Thomas jokes that Holbrook had 50 years to settle into the role and he has only a year or so. 'I have the advantage on him that he started when he was 30 and he was pretending to be an old man. I'm 74 so I'm right there. That's the one area where I'm up on him.' 'It's time for Twain' The new tour kicks off this week in Hartford, Connecticut — appropriately enough, one of the places Twain lived — and then goes to Maryland, Iowa, Arkansas, North Carolina, Kansas, Tennessee, New York, New Jersey, Utah, California, Arizona, Alabama, Utah and Florida by Christmastime. Then in 2026 — the 60th anniversary of the Broadway premiere — it goes to Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin and Ohio. 'It's time for Twain, you know? I mean, it's always time for Twain, always. He's always relevant because he's utterly and completely us, with warts and all,' says Thomas. The actor will travel with a stage manager and a trunk with his costumes, but all the other elements will be sourced locally by the venues — like desks and chairs, giving each show local touches. 'There's something about doing a show for people in their own community, in their theater that they support, that they raise money for. They're not coming to you as tourists. You're coming to them.' Thomas has done a one-man show before — 'A Distant Country Called Youth' using Tennessee Williams letters — but that allowed him to read from the script on stage. Here he has no such help. 'One of the keys is to balance the light and the shadow, how funny, how outrageous, the polemic and the darkness and the light. You want that balanced beautifully,' he says. Twain represents America Other actors — notably Val Kilmer and Jerry Hardin — have devised one-man shows about the creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, who still manages to fascinate. A new biography of Twain by Ron Chernow came out this year, which Thomas is churning through. Thomas sees Twain as representing America perfectly: 'He just lets it all hang out there. He's mean-spirited; he's generous. He's bigoted; he is progressive. He hates money; he wants to be the richest man in America. All of these fabulous contradictions are on display.' Thomas has lately become a road rat, touring in 'Twelve Angry Men' from 2006-08, 'The Humans' in 2018 and starring as Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from 2022-24. Orin Wolf, CEO of tour producer NETworks Presentations, got to watch Thomas on the road in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and says having him step into Twain will strengthen the theater community across the country Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'It's so rare nowadays to have a true star of the road,' Wolf says, calling Thomas 'a breed of actor and artist that they rarely make anymore.' 'I'm delighted to be supporting him and delighted that he's chosen to do this because I think this is something he could also take on for hopefully many years,' he adds. After Twain, Thomas will next be seen on Broadway this spring opposite Renée Elise Goldsberry and Marylouise Burke in David Lindsay-Abaire's new comedy, 'The Balusters.' But first there's the eloquence and wry humor in a show about Twain that reveals he was often a frustrated optimist when it came to America. 'I think it reflects right now a lot of our frustration with how things are going,' says Thomas. 'Will things ever be better and can things ever better? Or are we just doomed to just be this species that is going to constantly eat its own tail and are we ever going to move forward?'

Ex-Toronto Raptors star surprises entire restaurant by picking up the tab
Ex-Toronto Raptors star surprises entire restaurant by picking up the tab

National Post

time4 days ago

  • National Post

Ex-Toronto Raptors star surprises entire restaurant by picking up the tab

Former Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam likes to give back, but he did it in a different way on a recent vacation. Article content While hanging out in Grenada, Siakam felt like some Kentucky Fried Chicken — and it was lucky for all of the customers there, since he took care of all of their meals. Article content Article content 'We don't want attention,' Siakam said on a clip posted to social media when doing a drive through was suggested, but he asked to go inside, though. Article content Article content 'They're saying the Caribbean KFC is different, so I'm trying to see what it's about,' he says in the clip. Article content He was surprised how many people were inside and had to laugh when someone asked if he wanted his chicken 'spicy' (since Spicy P is his nickname). Article content Claiming he hadn't had 'KFC in a long time, probably since college (at New Mexico State),' Siakam's generosity stunned customers inside when a worker told them he was paying for everything. Some were incredulous until told he was an NBA player. Article content Article content 'This is the first time in history that anyone has ever purchased meals for everyone in the building,' a KFC worker said in the clip. Article content P in 🇬🇩 — this is not an ad @kfc — pascal siakam (@pskills43) August 8, 2025 Article content Article content The 2019 champion, who was the team's second-leading scorer, is coming off another big season for the Indiana Pacers, helping lead them to the NBA Finals and a heartbreaking Game 7 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Article content Article content Previously, he has done plenty of charity work through his PS43 program, which holds an annual basketball camp in his native Cameroon, and his Data Dunkers program, which is still held in Toronto and helps students in grades 5 through 12 learn data science skills like coding. Article content Siakam hosted a Data Dunkers event in Toronto in December 2024 at Humber College. Article content 'You do some of these things from your heart and obviously you hope that it has an impact, but just to see the reactions,' Siakam told City TV's Lindsay Dunn. 'One thing I wanted to do when I left was to continue to have that imprint in the community because I grew up here. So it's part of me, part of who I am, it's part of my family. Article content 'To be able to still touch the community while I'm away, and then whenever I get a chance to be here, just making sure I come in and not only show face but just show my support.' Article content 'When I left I wanted to continue to have that imprint on the community. I grew up here, it's part of me it is part of who I am.' @pskills43 on his foundations continued work in Toronto and across Canada. #pacers #Raptors — Lindsay Dunn (@LindsayDunnTV) December 3, 2024

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