Latest news with #70s
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Amplified review – loving but uneven musical tribute to the Divinyls' Chrissy Amphlett
The Divinyls' Chrissy Amphlett was the kind of rock star we just don't make anymore: brashly subversive, mercurial, brightly burning and gone all too soon. She grew out of the dick-swinging pub rock scene of the late 70s but retained a punk feminist edge throughout her career, a sense of danger and defiance. Actor Sheridan Harbridge attempts to revive Amphlett's spirit in this part-biographical tour, part-tribute concert, which is a loving – if fragmentary and uneven – panegyric to a lost rock goddess. When approaching this kind of material, a performer can aim for a precise and mannered recreation of every vocal tick and facial expression or settle for something more suggestive and impressionistic. Amplified opens with a solid, energising version of I'll Make You Happy, and it's immediately clear that Harbridge has opted for the latter approach. She borrows some of Amphlett's inflections and vocal mannerisms but we're aware we're watching Harbridge channel an attitude rather than fully submerging herself into character. This is both Amplified's charm and limitation. Amphlett grew up in Geelong – according to her, merely the first in a series of prisons she'd have to escape – when it was still a rough and dangerous place to live, dominated by the Ford factory and a heavily industrialised waterfront. Harbridge evokes those early years of abusive men and nasty cops, of sexual violence and drug addiction, culminating in a rendition of Boys in Town that is potent in its desperation. When she sings 'Get me out of here', we can feel the stakes. This is also true of scenes set much later in Manhattan, where a post-Divinyls Amphlett prepares a solo show she'll never get to perform (she was tragically cut down by cancer in her early 50s). Her decline is subtly suggested and poignantly underpinned by a rendition of Good Die Young – although it seems an odd decision dramatically to treat the bulk of her time with the Divinyls as an ellipsis, given how central that period was to her fame. We will hear the big hits eventually – songs like Pleasure and Pain and I Touch Myself – but they aren't as well supported by the biographical material and so we don't feel them as intimately or acutely. For a large part of the (relatively short) run time, Harbridge indulges in a kind of wish fulfilment, envisaging the show we're watching as an actualisation of that unrealised solo show in New York. This 'final act before the curtain' narrative device seems ubiquitous in music biographies – from Renée Zellweger's Judy Garland biopic to the play about Billie Holiday's final performance, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill – and while it gives Amplified some structure, it feels hesitant and half-hearted. By the conclusion, the device seems to have been abandoned altogether. Director and co-creator Sarah Goodes tries to wrangle Amplified into something vigorous and coherent but, while there are moments of joy and jubilation, no truly illuminating portrait of the singer emerges. If Amphlett were more famous, the details of her life and arc of her career better known, this kaleidoscopic approach might have worked well; the uninitiated may find it all a bit confusing. Amplified works best when it threads Harbridge's own feminism through Amphlett's biography, when she connects directly to the songs and the life like plugging into a power grid. Early in the piece, Harbridge explains the effect Amphlett had on her sexual awakening, with an anecdote about a bus and the seam of her pants that perfectly elucidates a song like I Touch Myself. But she doesn't perform the song here, inexplicably leaving it to the end like a tease. When it does arrive, it feels perversely like an afterthought. There is a strange ambivalence haunting the edges of Amplified in its current state. Harbridge seems preoccupied with the differences between herself and Amphlett: she eschews any attempt to look like her – there's no red wig or school uniform, for example – and only flirts with an imitation of her sound. Harbridge comes from the world of musical theatre, with its tendency to neatness and closure, but Amphlett was a bone fide rock star, messy, obstinate and brazen. Until she finds her inner rock goddess, Harbridge's tribute will remain stubbornly underdone. Amplified: The Exquisite Rock and Rage of Chrissy Amphlett is on in Melbourne until 13 June as part of Rising festival, then Brisbane festival 19-21 September
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Juliet & Romeo review – Rebel Wilson and Jason Isaacs cameo in syrupy Shakespeare musical
Director and former stage actor Timothy Scott Bogart is best known for having made Spinning Gold, a biopic of his father Neil Bogart, the New York music producer and founder of the 70s disco-era label Casablanca Records. Now he has confected a syrupy new musical take on Romeo and Juliet, with music by his brother Evan Kidd Bogart (who won a Grammy for his work on Beyoncé's single Halo). Bogart retells the basic story but with Shakespeare's language all removed and replaced with olden-days-effect prose: a kind of bardless Baz Luhrmann. Ultimately – with what I do have to admit is some amiable cheek – Bogart contrives to do for this play what Nahum Tate did for King Lear. It's really pretty bland, and with each turn in the plot you have to ask what the point of it actually is. Clara Rugaard has an honest stab at Juliet and in an actual production of the play (that is one which hadn't hobbled itself by amputating its whole linguistic identity), she might have made a real impression. Jamie Ward smoulders and fizzles damply through the role of Romeo. Elsewhere, there's a whole host of big names phoning in small contributions. Jason Isaacs is Montague (Romeo's dad), Rupert Everett is Capulet (Juliet's dad) and Rebel Wilson is weirdly and unwontedly deadpan as Lady Capulet. Derek Jacobi gives it loads as the gentle, avuncular, silver-bearded Friar Lawrence who is on the side of the star-crossed lovers and Dan Fogler is the apothecary whom this production reinvents as Jewish, helping people escaping antisemitism. Romeo gets an actual physical confrontation with Paris (Dennis Andres), the young man that Juliet's parents have earmarked as her fiance. There is no radical reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet here, and the staging, costumes and performances look as if they come from something as trad as Zeffirelli's 60s version … only it's modern-language. Not worth the two hours' traffic of their stage. Juliet & Romeo is in UK cinemas on 11 June.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
My elderly parents have become cantankerous and refuse to listen to reason
Dear A&E, My parents, who are in their 70s, are driving my three siblings and me mad. They are vague with information, complain endlessly about everything but don't seem to want any actual solutions. They have various health issues but they just moan about the doctors without seeing anything through. They are panicking about money but don't want any support: one minute they are selling their house and the next they are not. How can we make them handle things more practically, or let us do it for them? – Infuriated Dear Infuriated, We have a feeling that a lot of people reading your dilemma will be saying, 'Hmm'. Why? Well, it just might be that you are at Everest base camp, complaining about the altitude and the cold, rather than looking up and thinking, 'Holy hell – this is the easy bit. We are going to have to equip ourselves to get up that mountain – as a team.' Brace yourself, Infuriated: your parents are only going to get more frustrating and, probably, crosser. Information is only going to become more opaque. They will likely continue to ignore your advice, and you have no real idea how it's all going to play out. You have little agency here. And, quite frankly (here's the shocking bit), they may be old, but it's still their life and their business. We are telling you right at the top of this column: choose love. Let go of any illusion that you are going to somehow wrestle control, or that you are going to say one thing and all the cards are going to magically fall into place. Instead, be a sympathetic ear, listen without judgment and don't wear yourself out before you even start the real climb. Do you remember what it was like being a teenager? You might have teenagers now and are watching them do all sorts of stupid things (as you once did). Did you listen to advice then? Are your teenagers taking notes and nodding enthusiastically as you dispense your wisdom, telling them they should put their studies first or eat more greens or go for a walk? What you wanted from your parents then was just love and minimal intervention, and this is what they want from you now: an understanding ally for when getting a doctor's appointment is impossible, the hospital parking is impossible and the price of whatever is impossible. They don't want your projections or your spreadsheets, just as you didn't want theirs. Sometimes all you need to do is learn how to listen to people complain or wobble, without immediately leaping to offer advice or to fix it. It's also important to remember that your parents, frustrating and teetering as they may be, might not be ready to sign over their lives; to hand over their decisions; to sell the home they have spent 50 years maintaining. Even though you may feel strongly that you're right, it's a decision that you would make within the context of your life right now – when you are busy and organised and energised. You may not make the same decision 35 years down the line. So, deep breaths. Listen. If you are still desperate to 'help', you could try a subtle approach. When they're not in the middle of downloading their discontent while also rejecting any advice, you might be able to say something like, 'By the way, if you would like to create a bible of all your passwords, bank accounts and insurance details, so it's all there for you in one place, I'd be really happy to do it.' Make these kinds of suggestions far away from any exasperation or conflict, not when they're moaning about something you've heard them drone on about before, while you are already fizzing and furious. Instead, try 'I was just thinking, would it be helpful if I did this?' You might get a no every time. But one yes might slip through. We know this is not easy, dear Irritated. While you are busy trying and failing to take care of them in the way you wish to, you are also going to have to honour your own sense of being a child. Respect the fact that, while you're responding as a frustrated midlifer who understands things such as power of attorney, you're also responding as a teenager who finds everything your parents do intolerable, and as a five-year-old who loves them more than you love anyone – and thinks that they can solve every problem in the world. All those things are happening at the same time. And that is what makes this painful. Love your parents and communicate with your siblings, because this is only going to get more arduous and, ultimately, sad. You and your siblings should try to be a cohesive, united front who can share and support each other, whatever is coming your way. Your parents are going to do what they are going to do. It might get hairy, but really, after all is said and done, you want to be left with good relationships. Choose love, not lectures; and look for the glimmers. You will need them to see you through this.
Forbes
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
‘Duster' Is A Fun, Zippy ‘70s Style Ride-Along , Says Series Creator
LaToya Morgan admits that they needed four cars to play the title vehicle in the new series Duster. 'It's a really cool car. They only made it for about six years,' she explains, adding, 'We wanted something really iconic for this show. We thought about the Aston Martin that [James] Bond has, or the Mustang that Steve McQueen has. So that's what it is.' The series, set in the 70s, features Josh Holloway (Lost, Yellowstone) as a getaway driver who encounters a tenacious FBI agent played by Rachel Hilson (Love, Victor and The Good Wife) who wants to take his crime family down. Holloway says that as soon as he landed the part he signed up for driving lessons. However, he quickly learned that the four cars each had their own peculiarities. 'They're all set up differently. and so in one, the brakes are spongy, the other one is very jumpy, and another one won't go into first gear, but it'll go into third. So you have to know each one of the cars. But luckily, I know how to figure the quirks of every car that I'm in.' Morgan, who serves as showrunner and writer on Duster, also co-created the series with J.J. Abrams. She says that, 'The idea came about because J.J. had an image in his head — it was a phone booth, a phone ringing in the middle of the desert and a muscle car racing up to it. And he said, 'I think maybe Josh Holloway jumps out of that car. And I was like, 'I dig this idea.' So we really started pitching out ideas of what it could be and really building the show together.' The series falls on the spectrum somewhere between exploitation and crime thriller, with Morgan explaining that, 'It's a mix of a lot of things. People who enjoy that Tarantino vibe, that Scorsese vibe, that's there, and we always wanted to infuse everything with humor as well. So, there's a lot of heart and fun in the show.' She points to touchstones that include, The Godfather, Parallax View, Sugarland Express, and, as she says, 'all those great movies from the '70s that we all know and love. Those were inspirations.' She adds. 'One of my favorite [movies] is Five Easy Pieces, which a lot of people don't know about, but I love that movie so much, and I feel like people think the '70s are very big collars and bright clothes but in that movie, you get to see people just wearing their jeans and looking really normal and looking really lived in and authentic. That's what I really wanted the show to feel like.' Since Duster is set nearly a half-century ago, the car is about as flashy as the technology gets in the series, which only adds another level to the narrative, says Morgan. 'There's some fun to there not being technology. I think that was one of the reasons that I fell in love with the idea of doing [a show set in] the '70s. There were pay phones. There were CB radios. There were 8-track [tape players]. And, I mean you really had to track somebody down to have a conversation. So, that really made things more intimate in a sense.' And, she say that for the main character, Jim, 'It just makes his life harder in the best possible way [because] he's constantly racing to try to get somewhere. So, it really added a layer to his character that he couldn't just type a text on a cell phone.' Holloway says that this aspect applies to the title vehicle as well. 'The cars nowadays won't allow you to do the things that you can do in a car in the '70s. You have to turn all the computer stuff off. So, in a 1972 Duster, you can still slam that emergency brake, sling it around, and it won't correct it for you, so you can really enjoy that side of [the show] He adds, 'And I feel like we miss so many interstitial moments where people are just on their iPhone, whereas, in the '70s, you had to sit with that moment. You had to actually process things, and that also allows the audience to watch someone process something, [which] is not boring.' Some early viewers of the series have compared Duster to an actual 70s show — Starsky & Hutch, which featured a duo zipping around in a cool car. The association is fine with Morgan because she says both series are 'fun.' 'That's the great thing about this show is half the time, you never know what type of person [our characters] are going to run into when they open a door. That's the real fun of it — you get to have your action, you get to have your thriller, you get to have your family and your heart. So, it's a real combination of those things.' 'Duster' premieres on Thursday, May 15th on HBO Max. New episodes will be available each Thursday through July 3rd, 2025.
