Latest news with #LukeBrady
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A New Children's Book For Conservative Parents Highlights Complex Issues With Hilarious, Vibrant Illustrations Their Kids Will Love
Palmetto Publishing Announces The Release of CONSERVATIVE KID Conservative Kid Charleston, SC, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In an effort to combat the 'wokeness' of today's culture in America, author Luke Brady delivers a comical children's book that simplifies complex ideas, stirs curiosity, and promotes social discourse in young minds. '[This is a book that any] conservative, God-fearing parents would want in their home, or to give as a gift to friends within this community who are having a baby,' said the author. Conservative Kid perfectly merges education and entertainment, hinging on its unique illustrations to keep children engaged while communicating deeper values like respect, integrity, and gratitude through the narrative. 'This book is a children's book that will hopefully stand out against a sea of children's books trying to infuse the woke agenda into children. Our book…has humor inserted into the illustrations. The book is actually for the parents more than for the children,' the author explained. Conservative parents, public libraries, co-ops, charter schools, and Christian book stores should clear a space on their shelf to stock Conservative Kid. The messages it includes will resonate with the audiences. Conservative Kid: The American Kid's antidote to woke propaganda is available for purchase online at and Barnes and About the Author: Luke Brady grew up a patriotic 80s baby, during a time when America didn't feel the need to apologize for its greatness. A firm believer in traditional values, Luke laments the loss of society's ability to laugh at itself. Raised on a diet of Wonder bread, cow's milk, and the movie Top Gun, he finds 'woke' culture's war on fun disconcerting and strongly believes in the importance of letting kids be kids, instead of pushing them into activism or victimhood. His book, Conservative Kid, is a testament to his dedication to push back and protect children from the woke culture's war on American values. Media Contact: Luke Brady - bradyluke724@ Available for interviews: Author, Luke Brady Attachment Conservative Kid CONTACT: Leah Joseph Palmetto Publishing publicity@
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A New Children's Book For Conservative Parents Highlights Complex Issues With Hilarious, Vibrant Illustrations Their Kids Will Love
Palmetto Publishing Announces The Release of CONSERVATIVE KID Conservative Kid Charleston, SC, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In an effort to combat the 'wokeness' of today's culture in America, author Luke Brady delivers a comical children's book that simplifies complex ideas, stirs curiosity, and promotes social discourse in young minds. '[This is a book that any] conservative, God-fearing parents would want in their home, or to give as a gift to friends within this community who are having a baby,' said the author. Conservative Kid perfectly merges education and entertainment, hinging on its unique illustrations to keep children engaged while communicating deeper values like respect, integrity, and gratitude through the narrative. 'This book is a children's book that will hopefully stand out against a sea of children's books trying to infuse the woke agenda into children. Our book…has humor inserted into the illustrations. The book is actually for the parents more than for the children,' the author explained. Conservative parents, public libraries, co-ops, charter schools, and Christian book stores should clear a space on their shelf to stock Conservative Kid. The messages it includes will resonate with the audiences. Conservative Kid: The American Kid's antidote to woke propaganda is available for purchase online at and Barnes and About the Author: Luke Brady grew up a patriotic 80s baby, during a time when America didn't feel the need to apologize for its greatness. A firm believer in traditional values, Luke laments the loss of society's ability to laugh at itself. Raised on a diet of Wonder bread, cow's milk, and the movie Top Gun, he finds 'woke' culture's war on fun disconcerting and strongly believes in the importance of letting kids be kids, instead of pushing them into activism or victimhood. His book, Conservative Kid, is a testament to his dedication to push back and protect children from the woke culture's war on American values. Media Contact: Luke Brady - bradyluke724@ Available for interviews: Author, Luke Brady Attachment Conservative Kid CONTACT: Leah Joseph Palmetto Publishing publicity@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How Did ‘Hercules' Get So Lame?
How could a show about such an outsize hero as Hercules be so lame? That's the question hovering over a Disney-backed musical that arrived at the Theater Royal, Drury Lane, in London on Tuesday, just nine months after the playhouse waved goodbye to 'Frozen,' another screen-to-stage cull from the Disney catalog. First seen in New York's Central Park in 2019, 'Hercules' has undergone significant changes in personnel on its way to the West End, including a German-language premiere in Hamburg. But all the tweaking hasn't made a satisfying whole out of material that ought to feel a lot mightier than it does. Indeed, the production is so short — the second act is barely 40 minutes — that it begins to feel like its creators just wanted to get to the finish line and move on. Based on a 1997 animated film (midlevel Disney in my view), 'Hercules' casts its strongman central character (Luke Brady) as a puppyish young man trying to find his way in the world: as god, or mortal, or a hybrid of the two. To quote one of the better-known songs from Alan Menken and David Zippel's score, Hercules needs to go from 'zero to hero in no time flat.' That itself may help explain the rushed feel of the director Casey Nicholaw's production. Standing in the way of young Herc, as he is known, is his evil uncle Hades, who lords it over the underworld and casts a resentful eye on his brother Zeus's perch on Mt. Olympus. The role of venomous Hades has been given to Stephen Carlile, whose previous stage credits include the sneering Scar in 'The Lion King,' a villain cut from comparable cloth. Hades' two minions, Pain and Panic in the movie, here go by the rather more neutral names Bob and Charles. An inevitable love interest arrives in the cougarish form of Meg (Mae Ann Jorolan, a holdover from the Hamburg production), who has been enslaved by Hades but is quickly drawn to Hercules's string vest (He is 10 percent toga and the rest muscle, we're told, and the show features a largely bare-chested male chorus; for a family musical, 'Hercules' doesn't stint on suggestive eroticism.) While Hades whines and moans — 'I've lost everything but weight,' is how Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah's jokey book puts it — Hercules takes advice from the wisecracking trainer Phil (Trevor Dion Nicholas), who advises the young man to 'go the distance.' That happens to be the title of the show's best-known song, which was nominated for an Oscar in 1998 and gets several reprises here without ever raising the roof. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Hercules review – Disney musical is fun, finely sung but not quite fit for the gods
Four years ago, Disney brought its adaptation of Frozen to this venue with wondrous results. Elsa and Anna drew an audience of zealous young cosplayers. Can Hercules bring in his own sword-and-sandal stans? His zero-to-hero journey was certainly winning in the 1997 animated film, with Gerald Scarfe's sharp-lined designs and James Woods' deliciously wicked Hades. But lightning does not strike twice with this stage version, although it is a sturdy enough Disney vehicle, with strong songs and plenty of splash. There is a briskness to its drama, under the direction of Casey Nicholaw, and a pounding out of the material – Songs! Lights! Action! – that makes it seem like a conveyor-belt musical. The characters are not so much divine as 2D, although the sound and optics are always eye-popping, the swivelling set designs intent on moving heaven and earth. Gregg Barnes and Sky Switser's costumes are heavenly, too, and camp as hell: gold dresses, white Spanx and Hercules in a mesh vest and miniskirt-style toga by the end. Luke Brady is an incredible singer, as Hercules navigates his journey between godliness and humanness with sidekick Phil (Trevor Dion Nicholas). But the title character is rather generic, a Hunkules who is earnest for too long despite shades of Joey from Friends (why not lean in to that?). The cast around Brady is just as strong vocally, but breezy in their dialogue. The animated film's Hades was a fabulous creation, his head permanently licked by flames from his underworld. Here, Stephen Carlile looks and sounds like a pantomime baddie, complete with corny jokes. You want to boo him every time he delivers his lines. The big booming songs – including seven new numbers written by Alan Menken (music) and David Zippel (lyrics) – come to sound samey and a little soupy, such as the new addition, Today's Gonna Be My Day. They are delivered as briskly as the action by an American-accented cast. Go the Distance is a lovely solo by Hercules but you do not feel quite enough emotion from it. The upbeat numbers work better, especially the reprises of Gospel Truth by the five muses, all powerhouse singers. So there is a stolidity to the story, as if an ancient tablet of stone has taken the place of a flesh and blood heart. The first half culminates in an NFL style parade, full of military motifs and twirling batons, all taking us outside the story's ancient world and into unimaginative, bland entertainment, with stock choreography (by Nicholaw and Tanisha Scott). But in the second half Kwame Kwei-Armah and Robert Horn's book gets funnier, Hercules turns goofier and his love story with Meg (Mae Ann Jorolan, cool cat to Brady's golden retriever) grows in chemistry. Not everything rights itself, however. The monsters that Hercules meets are certainly big but seem oddly cuddly as if the production is afraid of frightening its younger audience. Perhaps this musical shows the film's age: this feels like old-school Disney, its hero not quite self-mocking enough (compare him with the brilliantly self-parodying Maui from Moana) and the earnestness heaped heavy. In the programme, Zippel acknowledges the animated Hercules's mix of heart and wit. 'Everything comes with a wink,' he says. You wish for a few more winks here. At Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, until 28 March
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Hercules theatre review: Musical lacks a punch in new take of Disney classic, writes PATRICK MARMION
Hercules - Theatre Royal, London Hercules is the Greek superhero known for his 12 labours. On a mythological mission to take his place among the Gods, he slays lions, decapitates many-headed serpents and bags Cerberus, the ferocious guard-dog of the underworld. But now he's been reduced from legendary hero to close to zero by a laboured new musical version of his derring-do, based on the 1997 animated Disney film. Opening in the West End amid much fanfare last night, the man of the hour (sadly without his flying-horse Pegasus from the film), is reborn in the hunky shape of Luke Brady. He comes with orthodontic gleam, oiled skin and a voice of molten sugar. Instead of colossal strength, he's admired for his style – his toga is a 'Hermes original' – and amusingly, he gives autographs on tablets using a hammer and chisel. But he's such a placid soul, it's hard to be excited by his quest. Poor guy really needs a booster rocket. But while in the film he had Danny DeVito voicing his half-man, half-goat personal trainer Phil, stage Phil is a grumpy restaurateur running a mid-range taverna called Medusa's. Trevor Dion Nicholas makes a decent fist of the role, but it's all a bit low key, low energy and low stakes. As love interest Meg, Mae Ann Jorolan is a predictably hard-assed surly girly burdened with the limp catchphrase 'stay safe, wonderboy'. Stephen Carlile adds spice as a Vincent Price-like Hades, and makes something of his panto-villain gags – including the groanworthy verdict on baby Hercules: 'So strong he could be a single mother.' Pillars and statuary, shifting about in front of mosaic skyscapes designed by Dane Laffrey, add visual glitter. But the superhero action sequences are lugubriously undercharged, leaving Brady sleepwalking through adventures. Opening in the West End amid much fanfare last night, the man of the hour (sadly without his flying-horse Pegasus from the film), is reborn in the hunky shape of Luke Brady Music and lyrics by Alan Menken and David Zippel are audaciously bland. And with the five gospel-singing muses adding diva-ish decibels, I couldn't make out what they were singing. Brady is almost alone in making his lyrics understood – particularly in a rendition of his misty-eyed anthem, Go The Distance. A tap-dancing number in Hades before the interval attempts to scorch the infernal dance floor, but fizzles, thanks to director Casey Nicholaw's zestless choreography. After that we get a so-so R&B company number, followed by a Motown-style love song, redeploying the muses' decibels in a romantic garden. But all these moments lack the power and pageantry of Disney's other theatrical hit, The Lion King. Simba's underpowered sibling needs to go back to the gym and bulk up.
