Latest news with #AhmansonTheatre
Metro
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Deborra-Lee Furness makes statement about 'betrayal' after Hugh Jackman divorce
Hugh Jackman's estranged ex Deborra-Lee Furness has released a statement that hints at adultery as she and the Wolverine actor divorce after two years of separation. 'My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal,' Deborra-Lee began her statement just days after she officially filed for divorce from Hugh in New York, two years after they announced their separation. 'It's a profound wound that cuts deep, however, I believe in a higher power and that God/the universe, whatever you relate to as your guidance, is always working FOR us.' She then specifically spoke about her 27-year marriage to Hugh, saying: 'This belief has helped me navigate the breakdown of an almost three-decade marriage. 'I have gained much knowledge and wisdom through this experience. Even when we are presented with apparent adversity, it is leading us to our greatest good, our true purpose. 'It can hurt, but in the long run, returning to yourself and living within your own integrity, values and boundaries is liberation and freedom. She then added 'that none of this is personal,' and said: 'We are all on our individual journeys and I believe that the relationships in our lives are not random. 'We are drawn to people, we invite them in, in order to learn our lessons and to recognise and heal the broken parts of ourselves…I remain grateful,' she concluded her statement to The mentions of 'betrayal' seemed to hint at adultery within the relationship, something that the couple had not spoken about before, despite various rumours that Hugh had cheated with his new partner. Hugh and his ex-wife, Deborra-Lee, announced their separation in September 2023. Just 16 months later, Hugh seemed to confirm his romance with Broadway actress Sutton Foster. Hugh was seen watching Sutton on stage in Once Upon a Mattress in Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre in January 2025, and the pair were snapped later holding hands and having what appeared to be a dinner date. This also came just months after Sutton filed for divorce from her husband of 10 years, Screenwriter Ted Griffin, in October 2024. It is thought that Hugh and Sutton first met after starring in the Broadway show The Music Man together in 2022. Hugh and Deborra-lee married in 1996 after meeting on the set of an Australian TV show, Correlli. The couple shares two adopted children named Oscar, 25, and Ava, 19. Announcing their separation in September 2023, the couple was amicable. 'We have been blessed to share almost 3 decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage,' their joint statement to People at the time read. More Trending 'Our journey now is shifting, and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth.' 'Our family has been and always will be our highest priority. We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love, and kindness. 'We greatly appreciate your understanding in respecting our privacy as our family navigates this transition in all of our lives.' Metro has reached out to Hugh Jackman's representatives for comment. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Kevin Costner sued over 'violent unscripted rape scene' in western movie Horizon MORE: Bianca Censori strips off again following calls for 'public indecency arrest' MORE: Paris Hilton pleads for help while sharing creepy video of son 'pointing at ghost'
Los Angeles Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Life of Pi' at the Ahmanson: An enchanting journey on the high seas
The natural world is aswirl in 'Life of Pi,' a marvelously inventive stage adaptation of Yann Martel's 2002 Booker Prize-winning novel. This pageant of puppetry includes a flutter of butterflies, a goat with a plaintive bleat, a menagerie of wild animals and, at one point, a school of glowing fish. Rather than try to compete with the technological thrills of the 2012 film that earned director Ang Lee an Academy Award, this national tour of 'Life of Pi' succeeds through magical simplicity. My senses were dazzled when I first saw the show on Broadway in 2023, but my heart was completely won over at the Ahmanson Theatre, where this production opened on Wednesday. The story revolves around the survival at sea of a 17-year-old boy named Pi Patel (a mesmerizing Taha Mandviwala) after the Japanese cargo ship transporting his family sinks en route to Canada. The souls lost on board include Pi's zookeeper father's fantastical collection of animals. In a lifeboat with barely any supplies for 227 days, Pi somehow manages to escape the fate that leaves his parents, sister and most (but not all) of his bestial companions at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. How did he pull off the miracle? That is the question posed at the start of Lolita Chakrabarti's adaptation by two visitors to Pi's hospital room: Mr. Okamoto (Alan Ariano) from the Japanese Ministry of Transport and Lulu Chen (Mi Kang), from the Canadian Embassy, both of whom have traveled to Mexico, where the boy was washed ashore. Pi, whose mathematical name is derived from Piscine, the French word for swimming pool, is recovering from his near-death journey. Mr. Okamoto, charged with preparing an official report, is determined to find out the exact circumstances of the shipwreck. But Pi is only able to relate the fanciful version of events that allowed him to survive for so long at sea without food or drinkable water. The staging transitions in dreamlike fashion from the hospital to Pondicherry, India, where Pi grew up in a happy, hectic ferment of adolescence. Chakrabarti turns Pi's teasing older brother, Ravi, in the novel into an older sister named Rani (Sharayu Mahale), a math whiz, in the play. The institutional medical setting becomes the background for a tale that doesn't finely distinguish between memory and imagination, one realm bleeding freely into the next. Fortunately, the scenic design of Tim Hatley, who also did the costumes, isn't bound by the traditional laws of physics. The perfectly adjudged video and animation design of Andrzej Goulding, the magnificent lighting of Tim Lutkin and Tim Deiling and the propulsive sound of Carolyn Downing puts time and space under the able command of director Max Webster. Pi's family is moving to escape an increasingly chaotic society. 'This government shows us bad behavior has no consequences,' Pi's father (Sorab Wadia) laments to his wife (Jessica Angleskhan), in a line that lands differently today than it did two years ago on Broadway. When the opportunity to relocate to Canada arrives, the choice is obvious but no less painful for being so. The animals, having no one else to care for them, will have to emigrate too, transforming the cargo vessel into a modern-day Noah's Ark. An orangutan named Orange Juice, a hyena beyond the reach of human feeling and, crucially, a royal Bengal tiger with an imperious mien named Richard Parker have prominent roles in Pi's recollection of his harrowing voyage after the shipwreck. These animals, the creation of inspired puppet designer Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, are fluidly deployed by a team of graceful puppeteers, who preserve the essential dignity of these creatures without effacing their ferocity. The sight of Richard Parker, a growling behemoth of musculature and whiskers, is the most fearsome. Pi, who feels at one with the natural world, has to be taught to be afraid of a creature that could end his life with a single swipe of his claw. (The harsh lesson, administered by his father, reaffirms Lord Tennyson's image of nature as 'red in tooth and claw.') Although raised Hindu, Pi partakes of religious services from many sects. His mother is bemused to hear that her son attended mosque, temple and church on the same day. There's a holy fool quality to the boy, who is the subject of teasing. But Pi is precociously enlightened, his innocence not a problem to be rectified but a quality to be reverenced. In New York, Chakrabarti's book struck me as clumsy in places, particularly in the first act. But I had no such misgiving at the Ahmanson, whether because of some slight editing or perhaps just a smoother handling of the setup moments. Some might resist the work's spiritual earnestness, but I'd say it's an ideal time to consider more deeply our belief system. If 'Life of Pi' has a moral to impart, it's that what we choose to believe has as profound an effect on our experience of reality as what we rationally know to be true. The play, following the novel's lead, is a parable of overcoming. Pi confronts tragedy but refuses to lose what gives his life meaning. He makes sacrifices that he never thought he'd have to make. A devout vegetarian, he is forced to capture and kill a swimming turtle, then share the meat and blood with Richard Parker, a carnivore without conscience. 'Life of Pi' doesn't dwell on the deaths of Pi's loved ones. A cloak of magical realism is thrown over aspects of the story that might prove too disturbing. But the inexorable facts of mortality are glimpsed in the way the animals are depicted onstage. As hunger overtakes Pi and Richard Parker, the tiger's skeleton starts to call attention to itself. The turtle is devoured before our eyes in a way that, while cheekily theatricalized, doesn't leave any doubt that the price of this meal is murder. But the darkness of the tale helps us see the shimmering beauty of the universe that keeps Pi from succumbing to a watery grave. The stage transforms into a planetarium of wonder. Are the meerkats that appear near the end of the story real or a hallucination? What difference does it make when Pi sees them as clearly as he holds a conversation with Richard Parker? When he finally offers Mr. Okamoto a starker account of what happened to him, a chronicle affirming his father's long-held view that man is the most dangerous animal of all, the lesson of 'Life of Pi' is thrown into stark relief: Truth is not necessarily the same thing as wisdom. Mandviwala's performance as Pi makes this adventure tale both exhilarating and emotionally profound. In circumnavigating distant seas, this majestic production recovers some lost treasure of childhood.
Newsweek
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
'Modern Family' Child Actress Shares Reality of Life After Growing Up on TV
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A Modern Family child star has opened up about what it was like growing up on one of America's most-beloved sitcoms. Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, now 17, who played Lily Tucker-Pritchett, has spoken candidly in a recent TikTok, which garnered more than 153,600 likes and over 1.2 million views. She revealed the realities of growing up from the ages of 4 to 12 on the little screen and her hopes for the future. The teen explained, while creating a vision board, that she is often asked how she knew what she wanted to do at 4, and she said she did not, but also did not know any different. "I was not forced into anything. Like my mom wasn't like, 'You're gonna do this.' Like, it was not like that, and I was not abused on set or anything like that. Like, I swear to God. "But, it's true. You don't know what you're getting yourself into as a 4-year-old when, like, you sign a contract to be on a show," the star shared. Newsweek reached out to Aubrey Anderson-Emmons for comment via social media. File photo: Aubrey Anderson-Emmons attends the opening night of "Life Of Pi" at Ahmanson Theatre on May 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. File photo: Aubrey Anderson-Emmons attends the opening night of "Life Of Pi" at Ahmanson Theatre on May 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Paul Archuleta / Contributor/Getty Images Entertainment Modern Family, created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, aired from 2009 to 2020. The mockumentary-style series follows the lives of the diverse Tucker-Pritchett-Dunphy clan in suburban Los Angeles, offering a humorous take on familial dynamics. Anderson-Emmons joined the cast of Modern Family in season three when she was just 4 years old, portraying the adopted daughter of Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker. Still, being in the public eye from such a young age wasn't always easy. Anderson-Emmons recalled the challenges of receiving criticism for her acting while she was still a child. "People really took a dig on my acting choices or thought I was a bad actor," she said. The scrutiny took a toll, especially as she began auditioning again after Modern Family. Having not auditioned regularly as a child, she found herself unprepared for rejection. As a result, Anderson-Emmons took a break from acting for a few years. It wasn't until she joined her high school's theater program that she rediscovered her love for performing and has resumed auditioning seriously. Now 17, the actress is opening a new chapter in her life, one that includes a return to acting—and a surprising new venture into music. Anderson-Emmons has been writing original songs for the past three years and is now preparing to release her debut single, "Telephones and Traffic," on May 23. "I am grateful for all the Modern Family has given me and all of you wonderful people, and it's time to move on to another chapter of my life," she added. The reaction online has been overwhelmingly supportive. TikTok users flooded the comments with admiration and nostalgia. "Bad actor? GIRL YOU ARE THE REASON I STARTED TO WATCH MODERN FAMILY," shared one user. "A bad actor?? you were fantastic and so funny. I'm literally watching you give Mitch and Cam sass right now," said another. "I quote ARE WE POOR on the daily. You were AMAZING," posted Brittany. "My family LOVES Modern Family. We watched it from the start and now it's a comfort show that we all watch regularly. Doesn't matter how many times I watch it I still laugh. You were SO good! I hope you get to do whatever makes you happy," read one comment.
Los Angeles Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Life of Pi' opens at the Ahmanson: L.A. arts and culture this weekend
It's all about the magic of puppets in the play 'Life of Pi,' which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre — part of the inaugural North American tour after opening on Broadway in 2023 and later winning three Tony Awards. Lolita Chakrabarti's stage adaptation of Yann Martel's bestselling 2001 novel follows a shipwrecked Indian boy who survives at sea in the company of animals including a Bengal tiger. It's that tiger, a 450-pound beast named Richard Parker, that captivates the audience alongside an orangutan named Orange Juice plus a hyena and a zebra. The creatures were designed by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, with movement direction by Caldwell, whose work is among the best in the business. It takes three puppeteers to fully animate the astonishing Richard Parker. This isn't a children's play, mind you, and it's recommended for ages 10 and older. The story has crushingly tragic elements and contemplates the big mysteries of life and death through a spiritual lens. I thought my 9-year-old daughter could handle the intense moments, and she did sit slack-jawed throughout. The puppets imbued the play with a poetry of motion and an otherworldly sense of wonder. The puppeteers were fully visible as they rendered the taut, muscular menace of the tiger and the kinetic leaping of the orangutan, making the creatures appear to be the stuff of fantasy. Lead actor Taha Mandviwala, who plays Pi, is equally lithe and surefooted as he leaped across the stage in communion with his animal castmates in choreography that felt very much like dance. I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt looking forward to a weekend of being shipwrecked on my couch. Here's your regular dose of arts news. From one tiger we jump to another: Twelve years before Ang Lee directed the movie adaptation of 'Life of Pi,' the filmmaker dazzled audiences with 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.' With a cast that included Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat, the 2000 movie went on to win four Oscars — and arguably could have won best picture had the academy voting body been as globally diverse then as it is now. The film will screen in 35mm, and filmmaker Ang Lee and actor Zhang Ziyi in conversation with Academy of Motion Pictures President Janet Yang. Advance tickets are already sold out, but standby seats will be available on first-come basis.7:30 p.m. Friday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. L.A. Choreographer and performer Djordjevich says her upcoming Warehouse at the Geffen Contemporary show 'eroticizes the labor of the dancing body.' Bob is an alter-ego and, according to the Museum of Contemporary Art's description of the program, that alter-ego is 'on a rampage with and against self-consciousness in order to bask in reverie, delusion, desire and rage. Show no mercy!' Um, OK! 7:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, 4-5 p.m. Saturday. Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo. Touted as an exhibition of 180 masterpieces of Buddhist art, this show at LACMA follows Buddhism's origins in India as it spread across Asia — Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea and Japan. Paintings, sculptures and ritual artifacts have been culled from the museum's permanent collection or borrowed from private owners. Sunday-July 12. Resnick Pavilion, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Evergreen Review Author Pat Thomas signs his new book, 'Evergreen Review Magazine: Dispatches from the Literary Underground: Covers & Essays 1957-1973,' and discusses the counterculture magazine with writer Jessica Hundley and illustrator Jess Rotter.7 p.m. Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. The Homecoming Frédérique Michel directs this production of Harold Pinter's classic enigmatic domestic drama.8 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday, through June 15. City Garage 2525 Michigan Ave. Building T1, Santa Monica Max Richter The innovative composer performs work from his albums 'The Blue Notebooks' (2004) and 'In A Landscape' (2024) with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.8 p.m. Friday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. Venice Family Clinic Art Walk + Auction The annual fundraiser showcases the work of established, mid-career and emerging artists, with a spotlight on this year's joint Signature Artists, Lita and Isabelle Albuquerque.11 a.m.-6 p.m. through May 18. Venice Art Walk Gallery, 910 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Just Like Heaven The millennial indie compendium gets a long-awaited Rilo Kiley reunion and sets from Vampire Weekend, Bloc Party and TV on the Brookside at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. Wicked Elphaba and Galinda's adventures in Oz get the outdoor treatment with food trucks, live music and more, plus a Q&A with choreographer Christopher Scott before the screening. 8 p.m. Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who has performed for years after a brain cancer diagnosis, made his last public appearance at a San Francisco Symphony gala and a tribute to him. Times classical music critic Mark Swed attended the festive affair, noting, 'For six decades, beginning with his undergraduate years at USC — where he attracted the attention of Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky and the odd rock 'n' roll musician about town — Tilson Thomas has been a joy-making key figure in American music.' Times art critic Christopher Knight dives into the photographic history of child labor as seen through the lens of sociologist Lewis W. Hine, who photographed kids at work during the first decades of the 20th century. These striking and unsettling images played a key role in galvanizing Americans to push for comprehensive child labor laws. 'Legislatures in 16 states, Florida prominent among them, have been deliberating rolling back child labor laws. In some cases, major steps have already been taken to loosen restrictions on work by kids as young as 14. The erasures, almost exclusively promoted by Republicans, target legal prohibitions against child exploitation that have been in place for nearly a century,' writes Knight. Center Theatre Group has revealed its 2025-26 season lineup, which includes the Imelda Marcos bio-musical 'Here Lies Love,' featuring music by David Byrne of the art-rock band Talking Heads; the Jocelyn Bioh play 'Jaja's African Hair Braiding'; Eboni Booth's new Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'Primary Trust'; a stage riff on the 'Paranormal Activity' movies; the musical '& Juliet'; and a 25th anniversary revival of 'Mamma Mia!' Read all about the upcoming offerings, here. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Adam Lambert will play Judas opposite Cythia Erivo's Jesus in the Hollywood Bowl's August production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced this week. Lambert is no stranger to musical theater, having appeared in a Tony Award-winning production of 'Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,' as well as in the first national tour and L.A. company of 'Wicked.' Single tickets for Bowl shows also went on sale this week. Topanga's Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum has announced the two Shakespeare comedies that will kick off its '2025 Season of Resilience' (so-named after the Palisades fire came perilously close to the venue) in its lovely outdoor amphitheater: 'Much Ado About Nothing' on June 7 and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' on June 8. The Academy Museum has announced that writer-director Judd Apatow will be its first guest curator for a new comedy film exhibition set to open in April 2027. The news was revealed during a 20th anniversary screening of Apatow's 2005 directorial debut, 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin,' starring Steve Carell. — Jessica Gelt Read Times columnist Mary McNamara's timely take on why television is currently stocked with women 'with no more f—s to give.'
New York Post
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
‘Lost' actor Sam Anderson confesses fans are afraid to fly with him: ‘Get me off this plane'
Everything happens for a reason. Sam Anderson has confessed that passengers are not at all excited about flying on the same plane as him and his fellow 'Lost' alum L. Scott Caldwell. He shared the surprising revelation on Sunday during a sitdown with Variety about his time on the popular sci-fi drama. Advertisement 6 Sam Anderson at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles on April 27, 2022. Getty Images 6 Sam Anderson as Bernard Nadler in 'Lost.' Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images 'Sometimes, Scott and I would be traveling on the same flight,' Anderson told the outlet. 'And as we walked on, we'd see people's faces like, 'Get me off this plane; it's gonna crash.'' Advertisement Anderson, 79, joined season two of 'Lost' in 2005 as Bernard Nadler and remained on the show until the finale in season six. Caldwell, 75, played his wife, Rose Nadler. The show followed a group of characters after they survived a disastrous plane crash and worked to survive on a mysterious island located in the South Pacific Ocean. It also starred Matthew Fox (Jack Shepherd), Josh Holloway (James 'Sawyer' Ford) and Evangeline Lilly (Kate Austen). 6 'Lost' followed a group of characters after they survived a disastrous plane crash and worked to survive on a mysterious island located in the South Pacific Ocean. Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images But even though people might be afraid to fly with Anderson due to his close connections to the show, he still speaks highly of 'Lost' and the opportunities it offered him as an almost 60-year-old actor when he joined in 2005. Advertisement 'That changed everything,' he said. Anderson also 'loved' that the creators of 'Lost' never 'did an episode about race' even though he and his onscreen wife, played by Caldwell, were an interracial couple. 6 Sam Anderson at the Ahmanson Theatre on April 5, 2017, in Los Angeles. FilmMagic 'One of the things I loved about it most was that I think many people thought that someplace along the line, we were going to do an episode about race,' he explained. 'And they never did – they normalized it. We were just two people incredibly in love.' Advertisement Still, Anderson and Caldwell's onscreen relationship led to one of the most iconic moments on the show when Jorge Garcia's character, Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes, says: 'So, Rose's husband's white. Didn't see that one coming.' Now, 15 years after 'Lost' aired its finale in May 2010, Anderson stars in the reboot of the legal drama 'Matlock' alongside Hollywood legend Kathy Bates, 76. 6 Sam Anderson as Bernard Nadler in 'Lost.' Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Anderson plays Bates' onscreen husband, Edwin, in the show developed by Jennie Snyder Urman. 'It has been such a gift,' Anderson gushed about working with Bates. 'I say that as somebody who is as interested in the craft and how it works as she is, I just landed in co-star heaven.' He also praised Urman's 'joyful' scripts. 6 Sam Anderson currently stars in the reboot of the legal drama 'Matlock' alongside Kathy Bates. Getty Images 'I get these scripts and it's like reading a best-selling novel,' he said. 'More often than not, I'm gasping because I can't believe what Jennie has pulled off. It's a joy to read and a joy to play.' Advertisement Sadly, Bates suggested back in September that she might retire after 'Matlock' comes to an end. 'This is my last dance,' she said at the time.
