Arts Calendar: Happenings for the Week of April 6
• 'Warfare' (April 11): Director Alex Garland ('Civil War') returns to the battlefield in this story about a platoon of Navy SEALs on a mission behind enemy lines in the Iraq War. D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai plays field communicator Ray Mendoza, who co-directs the based-on-a-true-story drama; Kit Connor, Michael Gandolfini, Will Poulter and Noah Centineo also star.
• 'Drop' (April 11): A widowed mom on a date receives threatening messages and mysterious instructions on her phone from an unknown sender vowing to kill her son and her sister if she doesn't cooperate. Meghann Fahy ('The White Lotus') stars in this thriller from Blumhouse Productions.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
30 minutes ago
- Associated Press
`This House' makes world premiere, exploring Black history through a family's legacy in Harlem
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Near the end of 'This House,' a heart-wrenching opera given its world premiere last weekend, the matriarch Ida poignantly intones messages to her family on stage and to the audience. 'History's the only thing to survive,' soprano Adrienne Danrich sings before adding: 'You may have left us, but we will never leave you.' A rumination on love, aspiration, coping and the unyielding weight of the past, the roughly two-hour work that opened Saturday night at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis mixes the living and ghosts ambiguously in a Harlem brownstone. Ricky Ian Gordon's lush score brings to vivid life a libretto by Lynn Nottage and her daughter Ruby Aiyo Gerber, weaving impacts of the Civil War, Great Migration, Black Power movement, AIDS crisis and gentrification. There are five more performances through June 29. 'I just wanted to be able to tell all of these really important moments in Black history,' Gerber said, 'but as they relate to one family up into the current moment, so that there is not this erasure as if the past was the past, which I think increasingly now, especially as we see more and more censorship of Black history, is kind of this pervasive narrative.' Writing began when Gerber was a college senior Now 27, Gerber started 'This House' as a play in 2020 during her senior year at Brown while the coronavirus pandemic unfolded. Her mother, the only woman to win a pair of Pulitzer Prizes for drama, for 'Ruined' and 'Sweat, ' suggested Gerber adapt it with her into an opera composed by Gordon, Nottage's partner on 'Intimate Apparel' at Lincoln Center Theater. Opera Theater of St. Louis commissioned 'This House' for its 50th anniversary festival season as its 45th world premiere. 'Equal parts a family drama, a ghost story and a meditation on inheritance and memory,' company general director Andrew Jorgensen said. Ideas were exchanged when Gordon, Nottage and Gerber met at a Providence, Rhode Island, hotel. Among the changes, an escapist duet the librettists centered around Barcelona was changed to Valencia so as not to be similar to Stephen Sondheim's 'Company.' 'Being a mother-daughter you can be so honest,' Gerber said, recalling her mom telling her of one flowery passage: 'That's corny and I don't think it works.' Nottage still lives in the Brooklyn parlor house where Gerber grew up. 'We have different muscles. I'm someone that comes from the playwriting world,' Nottage said. 'Ruby's comfort zone is really poetry and language. and so I thought that between the two of us, we could divide and conquer in some ways.' Opera is set in Harlem brownstone In the resulting story, a house at 336 Convent Ave. was bought in 1919 by Minus Walker, a sharecropper's son. Zoe, a present-day investment banker (soprano Briana Hunter), and husband Glenn (tenor Brad Bickhardt) mull whether to move back to the house and subdivide the property. Zoe's brother, poetic painter Lindon (baritone Justin Austin), doesn't want to leave the house. and his lover Thomas (bass-baritone Christian Pursell) suggests they travel to Spain. Hunter tapped into anxiety, fear, pain and grief to portray Zoe. 'She's an ambitious woman, and she has been through a lot of really horrible, traumatic events through her family,' Hunter said. 'I understand the desire to kind of escape that. She's kind of a classic case of you can't avoid things forever.' Eight of the 10 characters are Black. There's a love triangle, pregnancies and surprise deaths. The house itself sings in 12-tone chords. Ida's Uncle Percy (tenor Victor Ryan Robertson) is a numbers runner who jolts the first act with an aria 'Drink Up!' 'Sportin' Life on steroids,' Gordon said, referring to the dope dealer in 'The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess.' 'We all are haunted by our past, and we all are haunted by our ghosts,' Gordon said. 'The question of living one's life is how does one reconcile the past and go on? How do you move into a future unbridled and free enough to be liberated and not imprisoned by the past?' Conductor has a penchant for contemporary works Daniela Candillari led her third world premiere in less than two years after Jeanine Tesori's 'Grounded' at the Washington National Opera and Rene Orth's '10 Days in a Madhouse' at Opera Philadelphia. Gordon originally envisioned the orchestra as chamber sized to hold down expenses, but Candillari pushed to add instruments. Conducting this is different from leading Verdi or Puccini. 'You can have two conductors read the score in a very different way,' she said. 'Having that direct source. a living composer who can tell you: This is what I heard and this is how I meant it and this is what this needs to be, that's incredibly invaluable.' Forty-eight players from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra were in the deep pit at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, a venue with a thrust stage and difficult acoustics. James Robinson, the company's former artistic director, returned to direct the performances and is likely to bring the staging to Seattle Opera, where he became general and artistic director in September 2024. 'It is kind of a ghost story, and I think that's the most important thing, knowing that we're able to bounce back and forth between time periods efficiently,' he said. For Danrich, portraying Ida has a special resonance. She is a St. Louis native and is staying at a hotel three blocks from where she grew up. 'My cousins, my grandmother, my grandfather, me, my sisters, we all lived in that big old house and we called it the big house,' she said. 'I was like, yep, this is my house. I'm actually basing her movements and her mannerisms off of my mother.'
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pregnant Rihanna & A$AP Rocky Take Their Date Night to Cannes
Parading her baby bump, pregnant took her date night with A$AP Rocky to Cannes for a second night. On Tuesday, they had a fashionable and powerful couple moment in voguish outfits, posing for the paparazzi after a romantic dinner date. Backgrid shared exclusive snippets from their outing in the French Riviera's La Croisette, looking stylish and head-over-heels in love. In addition, the couple, who shared two sons, RZA Athelston Mayers and Riot Rose Mayers, seemed just about ready to welcome their third child. Rihanna would never miss a good opportunity to flaunt her baby bump, and her dinner date with A$AP Rocky in the French Riviera seemed like a decent enough excuse. The couple brought their top PDA and fashion games to Cannes as they enjoyed a romantic outing in full-throttle stylish looks. Interestingly, the mom-to-be's dress with dramatic cutouts and a sky-high thing slit was a lot more risqué than Rocky's classy suit. Backgrid's photos from the night showed them posing under a bridge on the La Croisette and not holding back from delivering. The snaps from Tuesday night offered glimpses of the singer's one-shoulder bodice and a massive midriff cutout. This also sufficed for her to bare her growing belly. Moreover, the skirt of Rihanna's outfit appeared to be hanging by a hook, piecing it all together and forming a sultry slit on the side. She completed the ensemble with transparent strap heels. On the other hand, the rapper wore a classic pant suit as he lovingly held the mother of his children while they packed on PDA. The video offered a glimpse of the moment. The night before, pregnant Rihanna and A$AP Rocky attended the Cannes Film Festival 2025, serving one of their best fashion statements. It marked their second public appearance since the Met Gala when she debuted her baby bump and revealed their third pregnancy. The Grammy-winning musician had shown up in a blue draped dress while her baby daddy stuck to his black suit, white shirt, and striped tie. That evening, she also had her 'Umbrella' moment as photos showed the duo enjoying a rainy outing. The post Pregnant Rihanna & A$AP Rocky Take Their Date Night to Cannes appeared first on Reality Tea.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pregnant Rihanna Is ‘in Pain' Over Dad's Loss, ‘Source' Claims
Rihanna is currently at a crucial stage in her life when she is about to welcome her third child with her partner, A$AP Rocky. However, the singer was struck by a shocking tragedy — the death of her father, Ronald Fenty — on May 31. Now, a new source has told Daily Mail that Rihanna, who has been deeply affected by the loss of her dad, is trying to cope with his sudden demise. Rihanna's dad, Ronald Fenty, passed away on Saturday at the age of 70. As per Starcom Network, he took his last breath in Los Angeles after a 'brief illness.' However, the real reason behind the demise is not been revealed yet. Following Fenty's death, Rihanna (born Robyn Rihanna Fenty) has been in deep pain amid her third pregnancy. According to the Daily Mail, she has had 'a very difficult relationship' with her father over the years. However, Fenty's passing has 'hit her like a ton of bricks.' Previously, Rihanna announced her third pregnancy with A$AP Rocky at the Met Gala following his assault trial. As a result, the last few months have led to a series of emotional journeys. Amid this, her father ended up falling sick, and 'it started to become too much.' The source continued, 'As much as you realize that something like this is occurring, it is still completely heartbreaking and that is where she is right now.' The source shared that the musician 'has forgiven her father and, in death, they got back to a loving father and daughter relationship.' However, she is still 'in pain,' especially now that she is going to be a mother to three. During Rocky's trial, the probable loss of her kids' father to jail made Rihanna realize the importance of family. 'This is going to take a long time, and maybe even forever to get over. Sad time in her world right now,' the source concluded. The post Pregnant Rihanna Is 'in Pain' Over Dad's Loss, 'Source' Claims appeared first on Reality Tea.
