Latest news with #Mangione
Newsweek
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Luigi Mangione Musical Could Be Heading to New York
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. Luigi: The Musical, the fringe production about the alleged killer Luigi Mangione, is fresh off a series of sold-out shows in San Francisco. Now, the show's creators are reportedly eyeing up shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August as well as possible future productions in Los Angeles and New York, where the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took place in December. Newsweek has reached out to Luigi: The Musical via email for comment. Why It Matters Mangione, 27, is accused of shooting Thompson outside of a hotel in Manhattan in December 2024. He is charged with 11 counts, including first-degree murder "in furtherance of an act of terrorism," two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of stalking and a firearms offense. Federal prosecutors have announced their intent to seek the death penalty in Mangione's case. He has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges as well as terrorism charges. Mangione has become the subject of intense public fascination online, with social media users treating the 27-year-old as everything from a sex symbol to a folk hero. The case reignited a discourse about American health care, and Mangione has received a significant amount of support. Protesters holding photos of Luigi Mangione chant and blow whistles as New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a press conference at City Hall on June 26, 2025. Protesters holding photos of Luigi Mangione chant and blow whistles as New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a press conference at City Hall on June 26, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images What To Know Luigi: The Musical is a surreal prison satire that follows in the footsteps of musicals like Chicago and Sweeney Todd. The musical was created by songwriter Arielle Johnson and director Nova Bradford and features original music from Johnson and Bradford, performed by pianist Dani Macri, who also serves as associate musical director. The synopsis for the musical reads, "Our characters reflect three institutions of modern disillusionment: healthcare, tech, and Hollywood. Each represents a pillar of American life where public trust has eroded and where people increasingly feel betrayed, exploited, or abandoned." Mangione's two real-life inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), Sean Diddy Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried, both appear as characters in the musical. Fried is the embattled co-founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence. Combs was found guilty in his sex trafficking child of transportation to engage in prostitution in his sex trafficking trial, but not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking. He remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn. The show stars Jonny Stein as Luigi, André Margatini as SBF, Janée Lucas as Diddy, and Calab Zeingue as Guard (Sgt. Delarosa). Bradford told The Hollywood Reporter, "There is this interesting thing that these three men represent three pillars of society that people have lost a lot of trust in recent years, including health care, Hollywood and the whole tech/VC/finance ecosystem." The Hollywood Reporter reported that the creators are looking at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, New York and Los Angeles for future possible productions. It's not clear where the Mangione musical would be staged if it were to go to New York for a future production, but if it were to be held in the Theatre District, that would mean it would be mere blocks away from where Thompson was killed. The musical was met with criticism and controversy when it was announced. It is described as a "comedy," in a synopsis on its website, which also notes that the show "doesn't glorify violence." The show was first set for a handful of shows at a 49-seat San Francisco theatre, but after selling out that run, production moved to The Independent, a 350-person theatre. What People Are Saying A statement on the Luigi: The Musical website: "Luigi: the Musical doesn't glorify violence, it interrogates it. Beneath the absurdity and punchlines lies a serious critique of how violence is packaged, sold, and consumed in American media. The show takes aim at a culture where brutality is both entertainment and spectacle, inviting audiences to laugh while also asking why we're so quick to tune in when someone gets hurt. "But it goes further, examining how violence is not just the act of individuals, but of elite institutions—like healthcare, Hollywood, and tech—through their neglect, indifference, and lack of accountability. Through sharp satire and irreverent humor, Luigi: the Musical uses comedy as a tool to expose just how normalized, and profitable, violence has become, challenging viewers to reckon with their own responses along the way." What Happens Next Further dates of the play and where it may be staged remain to be seen.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Health
- Business Insider
Federal prosecutors are fighting Luigi Mangione's demand for death penalty details
In a court filing Friday night, Luigi Mangione posed what his lawyers say is an urgent question: Why is the federal government seeking the death penalty? Responding on Monday, federal prosecutors not only opposed tipping their hand, but successfully asked the judge for a month to explain why. "The government intends to oppose the defendant's motion and respectfully requests a period of thirty days to file its response," prosecutors wrote in a tersely-worded letter to the judge, who set an August 27 reply deadline. Mangione is accused of murder in the December assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed New York prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Mangione's demand now is for prosecutors to immediately provide details of the so-called aggravating factors they intend to prove in seeking the death penalty at trial. The government has alleged five aggravating factors, meaning five reasons Thompson's murder deserves the ultimate punishment. They include "substantial planning and premeditation," the "grave risk of death to additional persons," "victim impact," "the selection of site for an act of violence," and "future dangerousness," according to prosecutors' bare-bones April 24 "Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty." "The allegations in the Notice of Intent filed in this case are generalized and unbounded, leaving the defense blind as to what acts, events, harms — in short, what facts — the government intends to prove," the defense said in Friday's filing. The filing is signed by . It asks the judge to give prosecutors 90 days — until October 24 — "to provide an informational outline of the essential facts underlying its alleged aggravating factors." It will take the defense considerable time to respond, particularly to the prosecution's claim of "grave risk of death to additional persons," Moskowitz wrote. "The Notice does not identify what other people were put in grave risk of death," he wrote. "Indeed, given that the shooting of Mr. Thompson was done at close range and early in the morning, when the street was nearly empty, it is hard to imagine, without further specificity, how the government intends to prove this aggravating factor." The need for speed is "acute," Moskowitz added, "since the court has expressed its intention to try this case in 2026." US District Judge Margaret M. Garnett quickly granted prosecutors' request for a 30-day reply deadline. At a pretrial conference in April, she said she intends to set a firm, 2026 trial date at Mangione's next scheduled conference, on December 5.
Toronto Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Chuck Mangione, dead at 84, was no hack with a horn
Published Jul 26, 2025 • 4 minute read Chuck Mangione performs at the "A Time To Care Gala" on May 13, 2004 at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, California. The gala is to benefit the ALS research. (Photo by) Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A healthy segment of Americans knew Chuck Mangione as an object of kitsch. The shoulder-length hair and beard, the colorfully banded fedora, the warm, glossy sound of his flügelhorn (all of which he happily sent up in his self-portrayals on the animated sitcom 'King of the Hill'): Mangione represented not just a weird limbo between hipness and squareness, but an outdated one. Yet if Mangione, who died Tuesday at 84, was game to make fun of himself in that way, it was because he'd already achieved what any artist strives for: He'd made his work an indispensable part of our world. Specifically, his hit 'Feels So Good,' an instrumental pop-jazz crossover that reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts during the summer of 1978, has unexpectedly had as much staying power as 'Stayin' Alive,' 'I Will Survive' or any other anthemic tune from that era. So much so, in fact, that we didn't always notice it. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The melodic, ever-so-gently funky record is played in restaurants and grocery stores, in hotel lobbies and elevators. It has powered more TV and radio commercials than anyone could count. Those of us who aren't pop-music nerds, or just not old enough to remember when it reigned supreme on Top 40 radio, know 'Feels So Good's' barrage of hooks by heart without even realizing the song has a name. Those are the qualities that make it easy to mock, of course. It's catchy but toothless, inoffensively pleasant, so of course it's ubiquitous. That was part of the 'King of the Hill' bit. Mangione was a celebrity pitchman (for Mega Lo Mart, the big-box store of the show's universe) who, no matter what he played on his horn, always segued into 'Feels So Good.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Through no fault of its own, the record became a cornerstone of smooth jazz, that intersection of jazz, rock, soul and easy listening that conquered the realm of background music in the 1980s and 1990s. The genre is much despised. 'Feels So Good,' by association more than any actual element of the song, has thus taken its lumps. It wasn't because he couldn't play anything edgier. The Rochester, New York, native was a graduate, and later a faculty member, of that city's Eastman School of Music. He also did time in the mid-1960s as the trumpeter in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the most prestigious finishing school in postwar jazz. Before earning those two distinctions, he and his brother Gap, a pianist, had some early-1960s success leading the hard-swinging Mangione Brothers sextet, recording an album before he was 20 years old (with two more to follow). Dizzy Gillespie was both a fan of and mentor to the trumpeter. They remained close until Gillespie's death in 1993. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Chuck Mangione was no hack with a horn. But he came to jazz when it had split into two poles: a populist one, which was trending ever lighter to suit mainstream tastes, and an arty one, which was increasingly inaccessible. Mangione wanted to reach the people. He saw nothing wrong with that. But he wasn't interested in success for its own sake: 'I didn't want to record something I didn't like, because if it became a hit I wouldn't be happy playing it,' he told JazzTimes magazine. It's a sentiment that was also expressed by the likes of Paul McCartney – who, as a solo artist, had been on the receiving end of the same kind of kitsch accusations as Mangione. But it's also resulted in the horn player getting the same kind of world-class work: In 1980, for example, Mangione was invited to compose a theme song for that year's Winter Olympics. He played the resulting tune, 'Give It All You Got,' live at the Closing Ceremonies in Lake Placid, New York, for a worldwide television audience. (It was another Billboard Top 20 hit, too.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Talk about reaching the people. The comparison with McCartney is apt in another sense. Say what you will about 'Feels So Good' and its particular kind of ubiquity; it means that Mangione achieved, without exaggeration, Beatle-level cultural saturation. More people know his music than know him. He reached this point without, in his own words, having to resort to music he didn't want to play. In the wake of Mangione's passing, there will be plenty of people who are ready to pile on and crack jokes about the kitschy side of his legacy. The joke will be on them. Mangione was perfectly content with that aspect of himself. Meanwhile, he infiltrated our environment and our lives in a way that many of his critics can only dream of. Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances. 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News18
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Chuck Mangione, Grammy-Winning Musician, Passes Away At 84
Grammy-winning musician Chuck Mangione, known for 'Feels So Good' and his role on King of the Hill, passed away at 84 in Rochester, NY. Chuck Mangione, the celebrated jazz musician and composer whose smooth sound became a signature of 1970s and '80s instrumental music, has passed away at the age of 84. Mangione died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Rochester on Tuesday, confirmed his attorney Peter S. Matorin of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. The two-time Grammy winner had retired from music in 2015. A gifted flugelhorn and trumpet player, Mangione rose to worldwide fame with his 1977 single Feels So Good, a breezy, jazz-infused melody that became a crossover sensation. The track climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the adult contemporary chart. It remains a staple of smooth jazz radio stations to this day. 'It identified for a lot of people a song with an artist, even though I had a pretty strong base audience that kept us out there touring as often as we wanted to, that song just topped out there and took it to a whole other level," Mangione said in a 2008 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Mangione's influence extended beyond the charts. His composition Give It All You Got was commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, where he also performed the piece during the closing ceremony. He recorded over 30 albums, earning widespread acclaim for his original writing and performance style. His 1977 album Bellavia, named after his mother, earned him his first Grammy Award. He received another Grammy and a Golden Globe nomination for the score of The Children of Sanchez, while Friends and Love also earned Grammy recognition. Mangione later introduced himself to a younger audience through voice work on the animated series King of the Hill, where he played a fictional version of himself, appearing as the spokesperson for Mega Lo Mart, often joking, 'shopping feels so good." He began his career in bebop jazz, heavily influenced by Dizzy Gillespie, and performed with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers after graduating from Eastman School of Music. He later returned to Eastman to lead its jazz ensemble. In 2009, Mangione donated his trademark brown felt hat and memorabilia, including the score for Feels So Good, to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. May his soul rest in peace! (With inputs from AP) First Published: July 26, 2025, 07:49 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Chuck Mangione dies in his sleep at 84
American two-time Grammy-winning jazz flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, best known for his 1970s cross-over hit Feels So Good, died this week at age 84 at his home in Rochester, New York, reported Reuters. The prolific musician and composer — whose career spanned five decades and 30 albums — died in his sleep on Tuesday, a local funeral home said. "Chuck's love affair with music has been characterised by his boundless energy, unabashed enthusiasm, and pure joy that radiated from the stage," his family said in a statement to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle newspaper. Mangione showed his appreciation for his audiences by sitting at the edge of the stage after his concerts, signing autographs for fans who stayed to meet him and the band, it said. Born Charles Frank Mangione in 1940 in Rochester, he was a virtuoso flugelhorn and trumpet player. He grew up in a household where his father exposed him to the jazz greats of the 1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie, a family friend who dined with them frequently. He began taking music lessons at age 8, and by the time he was a teenager, Gillespie was so impressed by his musical prowess that he gave Mangione one of his trademark "upswept" trumpets. His composition Chase The Clouds Away was featured at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, while his Give It All You Got was the theme music for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Mangione's biggest hit was his 1977 single Feels So Good, which reached No 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys. Mangione won two Grammys out of 14 nominations — the first in 1977 for best instrumental composition for Bellavia, named in honour of his mother. In 1979 he won in the best pop instrumental performance category for The Children of Sanchez. The latter, a soundtrack for the film of the same name, also won a Golden Globe.
