Latest news with #BumpandGrind
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Two strangers carry a budding romance, and a cake, across New York
The musical, by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, makes the most of Tutty's irresistible charm as the naïve fish-out-of-water, in contrast to Pitts's jaded Robin. Tutty and Pitts have terrific chemistry, and Tutty absolutely delivers on Robin's description of Dougal as 'a Golden Retriever with less boundaries.' His opening number, 'New York,' perfectly captures Dougal's childlike excitement about his 48-hour adventure in a city he expects to be defined by the cherished movies he's seen (including 'Taxi Driver,' 'Midnight Cowboy,' and 'Big'). Advertisement Despite her eye rolls, it's clear Robin finds his comically dorky impersonations more endearing than she'd like to admit. Tutty has impressive vocal chops and dance moves, both of which feel wild and free — when he lets them explode — even though we know they were precisely rehearsed and choreographed. Advertisement Pitts's character is explored in 'What'll It Be,' a heartfelt ballad set in the Bump and Grind, the coffee shop where Robin works, as she wonders what will be next for her. Pitts, too, is a stunning singer and actor, giving the audience a haunting tour of her childhood neighborhood in 'This Is the Place' with all the love and regret that can entail. Tutty and Pitts in "Two Strangers." Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall Director and choreographer Tim Jackson moves his two performers effortlessly up, down, and around Soutra Gilmour's inventive baggage claim area set. Gilmour's piles of suitcases turn to provide different scenes, even as an outer turntable allows the actors to cover a lot of ground — a visit to the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, a sumptuous Plaza hotel room, an Uber ride and a coffee shop, and even a Chinese restaurant. Gilmour's collection of seemingly nondescript luggage also provides a delightfully surprising array of closets and cabinets as needed. Every inch of the space is employed in a climactic booze-fueled spree through New York, courtesy of Dougal's estranged father's credit card. Despite the limitations of creating dance routines that can be safely executed on a narrow, moving turntable, the couple's fearless energy, whipped up lighting, and spot-on timing (watch for the appearance of his tux jacket) are perfectly combined. Barne and Buchan's musical numbers are pleasantly, sometimes humorously derivative, with a special nod to Stephen Sondheim's patter songs in 'The Hangover Duet.' Jeffrey Campos leads the crisp five-piece band (keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and percussion). Advertisement The magical moments emerge from the clever and funny banter between Dougal and Robin, which reveals more about their characters than the exposition-heavy phone calls and letters that slow the action down. This is perfectly summed up by a subplot in which Dougal helps Robin find a match on a dating app. His sweet understanding of what she's looking for could have been more deeply explored. 'Two Strangers' finishes with a big, heartwarming number, 'If I Believed' — spoiler alert, there is snow — leaning more into cliché than necessary. Like a Hallmark movie, 'Two Strangers' boasts enough humor and whimsy to be sweet and superficially appealing, but at the end, all we're left with is the superficial. TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK) Musical by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan. Directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson. Music direction by Jeffrey Campos. A Kiln Theatre production, produced by the American Repertory Theater. Loeb Drama Center, Brattle Street, Cambridge, through July 13. Tickets from $35. 617-547-8300,
Daily Mirror
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Pop icon from the '90s 'hasn't aged a day' 30 years on from smash hit
A pop sensation from the '90s showcased her current look and left fans gobsmacked at how little their appearance had changed over 30 years since their smash hit that is still regularly played The pop sensation behind a huge 1994 hit has stunned fans with their appearance. Fans were left gobsmacked by how little Whigfield - the person behind the smash record Saturday Night - has appeared to defy time itself. Posts showed the singer looking as youthful as ever over 30 years after becoming the first Danish artist to bag a UK number one in the charts. Nowadays, Sannie Charlotte Carlson, Whigfield's real name, continues to dazzle, recently wowing her thousands of Instagram fans with her gorgeous makeup-free selfies. The star has continued to showcase her signature blonde tresses. The 54-year-old singer radiated with a fresh-faced glow in the snapshot, which she simply captioned: "Hola Madrid." Sannie has also been candid about her personal life, sharing the heartache of losing her beloved dog Olivia, confessing to her followers: "I haven't really felt like posting anything these past few weeks. Still a bit down after losing my beloved doggie." Despite grappling with grief, the pop star is gearing up to return to the limelight, assuring her audience: "Gonna be good to getting back to work this weekend. Anyhow, wishing you a happy weekend whatever you've up to," and ending her message with a black heart emoji, reports OK!. Her loyal fanbase was quick to shower her with compliments on her enduring allure, with adoring comments such as: "Looking better than ever!" And she offered fans a "throwback" look recently on the social media platform. Sharing an "embarrassing interview", the star seemed to cringe at her old self. The print article opened up about her holidays and explained her top beauty tip was "sleep". She also gave an insight to her holiday playlist at the time. "I listened to Bump and Grind by R Kelly on my last hols," she told the magazine. "It's saucy music and I like that. I'm quite saucy myself, actually." Fans were loving the reminiscing post in the comments section with many sharing love heart emojis. Another wrote: "The best time," alongside two emoji faces with love heart eyes. On The Songs Are Spells Podcast, Whigfield previously recounted an interesting story to host Karlyn King about her unexpected rise to stardom: "What happened was, a lot of these holidaymakers came back to Britain and started calling into radio stations..." She went on to explain the intrigue that surrounded her hit: "Everybody was calling about this Saturday Night and nobody knew what it was about. They had to go get it." This curiosity helped her single Saturday Night shoot to number one: "That was the reason why it went straight to number 1, no one had heard it." Still active in the music scene, Whigfield, who also performs under the name Naan and her given name Sannie, continues to thrill fans with comeback tours. She's not just remembered for Saturday Night; hits like Sexy Eyes and Think Of You also define her career.
