Latest news with #FollowYourHeart
New Paper
11-06-2025
- Sport
- New Paper
June 12 South Africa (Kenilworth) form analysis
Race 1 (1,000m) (2) MARKETA ran a lovely race behind Inside Voice at Kenilworth on May 25. This does not look to be the strongest maiden juvenile plate. Good winning chance. (4) SPIRIT was gelded on April 29. He ran some fair races behind nice horses. Include him in all bets. (3) DAY IN DAY OUT was gelded on April 22. He was very disappointing last time behind Green Planet. Can bounce back. (9) THE ROARING ROCK ran a decent race behind Churchillian on May 6. Watch him closely. Race 2 (1,200m) (4) MATCH THAT ran an absolute cracker in the Grade 3 Winter Nursery. On her best form, she will be very hard to beat. (2) PARALEGAL ran just under five lengths behind She's My World at Kenilworth on May 4. Brevan Plaatjies takes off 2.5kg. Good place chance. (3) SPORTS FAN won a good race in PE on May 9. If she can build on that last run, and she travels well from PE to Cape Town, she could certainly earn some money. (9) PANJANDRUM is capable of earning money. Race 3 (1,200m) (11) FUTURE FREE finished like a train on debut to run third behind Rhydian. With further improvement back at home, he will take some beating. (10) PALANCAR ran second in the same race as Future Free on May 13. On his last run, he will have a good each-way chance. (16) AFRICAN MEMOIR ran fourth behind the talented Three Tigers, beaten just over three lengths. Watch him closely. (13) KANAAL SKATER disappointed terribly in his last start behind Follow Your Heart. He is much better than that. Race 4 (1,200m) (2) CLAIR DE LUNE made up good ground late behind Rikkitikkitavi on May 4. Gavin Lerena has been booked to ride. Good chance. (15) RED TAFFETY made headway from her first start into her second start. Each-way chance. (3) HERITAGE RIDGE was badly inconvenienced from the 200m mark last start. With a clear passage, she can certainly finish in the money. (8) MISS WILLIAM was very disappointing in her last start over 1,400m. She is much better than that. Drop in trip to 1,200m suits. Race 5 (1,500m) (2) BEACH QUEEN was very disappointing in her last start. Muzi Yeni gets the ride back. From a good draw, she will go very close. (1) OCOTILLO ran a great race behind Supreme Fate on May 6. No excuses from a good draw. (4) LADY VERITAS ran a fair race on debut behind Take It As Red. There is no doubt she will improve from that run. (9) KISSES showed massive improvement in her last start, when tested over some ground. If she can build on that, she could sneak into the places. Race 6 (1,800m) (4) STRAWBERRY THIEF quickened up like a smart filly at Kenilworth on May 27. She looks extremely progressive, and will take a lot of beating again. (3) LICKETY SPLIT should be cherry-ripe for this Class 4 event. She gets a nice pull in the weights with last-start victor Strawberry Thief. Go close. (6) LAVENDER BAY always tries hard, her form is rock solid. Good each-way chance again. (5) TAP SHOES finished just under three lengths behind the winner last time. On her best form, she could sneak into the places. Race 7 (1,600m) (3) SUGAR MOUNTAIN won super impressively on May 6. Classy, he will take a lot of beating again. (5) MAGIC VERSE ran a terrific race in the Listed Pocket Power Stakes on May 25. If he can bring that form to the races again, he will be right there in the finish. (8) SEEKING THE STARS gets blinkers on and he steps up in trip to 1,600m. If he stays the trip, he can finish among the places. (4) MUCHO DINERO never raised a gallop in his last start. He can bounce back. Watch him closely. Race 8 (1,200m) (9) DANCE VARIETY needed his last run in the Grade 3 Champagne Stakes. If he has made the necessary improvement back at home, he will take a lot of beating. (5) KAIBOY never runs a bad race. He is packed with ability, and Andrew Fortune now gets the ride. He will be flying at them late. (4) ARCTIC WIZARD is a lovely horse with a magnificent action. Yeni knows him well. With no weight on the back, he must be respected. (10) DUMBLEDORE won a gutsy race last time. He can certainly run a place on his best form. Race 9 (1,200m) (6) SUN DAZED had absolutely no luck in running on April 16. If he gets some luck in running, he will be hard to beat. (3) LOVERS LANE needed the run slightly from a small break last time. If he can build on that performance, he could certainly trouble them all in the finish. (1) MONT LOISIR drops back in trip to 1,200m. He must be respected, Fourie knows him well. (9) GRAVITY made up a lot of ground to win a good race on May 4. Plaatjies takes off 2.5kg, which certainly helps. Race 10 (1,000m) (7) PINK PIGEON ran a cracking second behind Babelicious on May 21. Should be cherry ripe for this race. On her best form, she will take a lot of beating. (5) PEACE OF MIND did not get to the front last time, and had some traffic problems up the lane. If she can lead, she will be hard to fetch. (8) GOLDEN TATJANA's form of late is much better. She could finish in the money at a decent price. (2) THE CHARLESTON is much better than her recent form. Resuming. She can sneak in for a place.
New York Times
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Urinetown' Review: More Than Toilet Humor
About halfway through the first act of 'Urinetown,' the characters Hope Cladwell and Bobby Strong reveal their emotions and desires in 'Follow Your Heart.' Their names could have been lifted from a Depression-era musical, and the song itself evokes such romantic classics of that time as 'I Only Have Eyes for You.' 'We all want a world / Filled with peace and with joy,' Hope (the comic revelation Stephanie Styles) and Bobby (an effortlessly charismatic Jordan Fisher, fresh from a stint as Orpheus in 'Hadestown') sing in the Encores! revival that opened Wednesday night at New York City Center. 'With plenty of water for each girl and boy,' they continue. You see, our lovebirds, whom Fisher and Styles portray with a precisely calibrated mix of earnestness and goofiness, live in a dystopian world where water is scarce. Exacting payment for the privilege of peeing has become a profitable business for Hope's tycoon father, Caldwell B. Cladwell (Rainn Wilson, not quite villainous enough), the head of the Urine Good Company corporation. Bobby, on the other hand, is very much from the downtrodden side of the tracks. More specifically he's the assistant custodian at the public toilet known as Amenity No. 9, run by the imperious Penelope Pennywise (Keala Settle, amped up to 11 as if rehearsing for Norma Desmond). The jarring reference to a commodity perhaps more essential than peace and joy in such a lovely number confirms that the 'Urinetown' team of Mark Hollmann (music and lyrics) and Greg Kotis (book and lyrics) was not just a new version of Harry Warren and Al Dubin, the bards of 1930s Warner Bros. musicals. A bespoke pastiche of a specific vintage style, 'Follow Your Heart' also contains a streak of modern sarcasm and political commentary that helps explain why 'Urinetown' has aged so remarkably well since its premiere a little more than a quarter of a century ago. The show, which started life at the International New York Fringe Festival in 1999, had an Off Broadway run in the spring of 2001 and reopened on Broadway on Sept. 20 that same year. It won the Tony Awards for best book, original score and direction of a musical, and ran for two and a half years. The inclusion of 'Urinetown' — an unlikely hit but nevertheless a hit — in Encores! underlines the mission drift of a series that used to be dedicated to flops and obscurities but nowadays simply 'revisits the archives of American musical theater.' In this particular case, the revisiting rehabilitates a musical that did meet an audience at the time, but still felt undervalued as a bit of a lightweight, silly lark. (That Hollmann and Kotis never had another Broadway show probably helped undermine the reputation of their one success.) I confess to not liking 'Urinetown' when I saw it way back when. Most particularly, I felt that the stream of fourth-wall-breaking jokes about musical-theater conventions — mostly courtesy of the narrator, Officer Lockstock (Greg Hildreth), and the urchin Little Sally (Pearl Scarlett Gold, an actual kid as opposed to the original Sally, Spencer Kayden, who was 33 when the show opened on Broadway) — betrayed a disdain for that form. Last night, however, that conceit did not bother me at all. Perhaps Teddy Bergman's exuberant production somehow softened the approach, or perhaps I felt less defensive about it. Most important, I was struck by the craftsmanship that holds 'Urinetown' together. When the score does not nod toward the Hollywood of the 1930s, it winks at the Berlin of the 1920s musicalized by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, or glances at the Paris of the 1830s as immortalized by 'Les Misérables.' And of course the title brings to mind Steeltown, the setting of Marc Blitzstein's agitprop play with music 'The Cradle Will Rock,' from 1937. Like that city, 'Urinetown isn't so much a place as it is a metaphysical place,' as Little Sally puts it. Yet musically this never feels like a patchwork showing its seams. Rather, 'Urinetown' now comes across as a sui generis oddity that is more than the sum of its parts. Contributing to this re-evaluation is the Encores! orchestra, under Mary-Mitchell Campbell's direction, as it is slightly bigger than the Broadway one (nine players as opposed to five) and beautifully fills up Bruce Coughlin's expanded orchestrations. But what really has changed, of course, is the context in which we watch 'Urinetown.' 'Gosh, I never realized large, monopolizing corporations could be such a force for good in the world,' Hope says early on, before she falls for Bobby and they both become radicalized by the injustice that surrounds them. The show anticipated a society in which our movements, including the most intimate ones, are nickeled and dimed for profit. The humiliation — or worse — awaiting those who lack the cash to use a shared bathroom hits harder. Too bad for those who are not winners in a cutthroat world. 'Don't be the bunny,' Cladwell sings, explaining his worldview. 'Don't be the dope. Don't be the loser.' Admittedly, Act 2 does not have the nerve to follow through on the story's darkest turns, even if the show does kill off a major character. Still, the return of 'Urinetown' proves that the show was more than a flush in the pan.
