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Extra.ie
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Home of the Year' judge Hugh Wallace still four-years behind on his own dream home renovation
Celebrity architect Hugh Wallace, who loves nothing more than poking around complete strangers home, is somewhat lacking when it comes to putting his home affairs in order as the property show presenter is a full four years behind renovating schedule on his new abode. Home of the Year head judge Hugh, bought a doer-upper in the heartland of Dublin City Centre some years back, and despite having a wealth of experience and a top notch construction team on speed dial, Hugh is surprisingly tardy when it comes to completing his own grand design. 'We are a teeny tiny bit over time, Hugh told 'Well four years over time to be precise. It's terrible, there's really no excuse for that,' said Hugh. 'It's being plastered at the moment, so we are planning on moving in at the end of August.' And once Hugh steps foot inside his dream home he has no grand designs on stepping foot outside his new front door. 'So once we're in I'm going to lock the door and never come out,' he joked. But Hugh may some excuse for being so behind on renovating his inner city pad, as he has just signed off on a mammoth project that will radically regenerate Waterford City. 'Waterford has all the essence of a fabulous town. You have the bridges, the Opera House and all of the magnificent infrastructure. But there is only one bridge into the town so the project was to interlink the city and make everything far more accessible. 'It's all very well having envisioned the finished project but there are so many drawings and redrawing to get to that point. On the Waterford project it was as well, well in excess of 100 designs.' Pic: Seán Dwyer 'We have to examine the minutiae of documents and then we work closely with other consultants and with Harcourt Developments,' Hugh told 'But I am enormously proud of the plans and can't wait to bring it to life.' The multi-million Waterford project is set to get underway next year. 'Work will begin in the first quarter next year. That's when the bridge is going in and there will be a new pedestrian bridge across the river. Then there will be the new bus station; that will be an integrated bus station, then there's the train station and cycleway. 'There's only that one bridge now, and soon all of a sudden, you'll have the pedestrian bridge coming right into the centre of town. And that's just fabulous,' said Hugh. As one of Ireland's most feted architects, Hugh has notched up a plethora of gongs for his etchings and sketches's But he told if he had his way, he would like to fashion himself as the Miranda Priestly of the Devil Wears Prada fame- of the architectural sphere. New Home of the Year judge Siobhan Lam (left) with Hugh Wallace and Amanda Bone. Pic: RTÉ 'My day job in Wallace Architects is very different to being on the telly. I like to take all the credit in the office,' said a modest Wallace. 'I wave my arms around, and I thoroughly enjoy it, and I like to give inspiration to clients,' he said. 'I love the waving your arms around and being creative. You know, putting out ideas and clients thinking about and saying, 'No, that doesn't work for me' , Or, 'yes that's fabulous',' he laughed. 'The creative genius who kind of likes delegates.' Home of the Year judge Hugh Wallace. Pic: RTÉ And the flamboyant Great House Revival presenter will be back on screens in the new year with another instalment of Home of the Year and another outing of The Great House Revival.
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
After last year's drone show disaster, is a scaled-back Vivid working?
That brings us to 2025, and the festival feels scaled back. The drone show was scrapped, citing safety risks and increasing costs. The usual suspects – Customs House and the Opera House – are all lit up, but there are fewer installations at Circular Quay and the Rocks than in previous years. While there are more individual light installations across the city than there were last year, there is no Royal Botanic Garden activation and no Wynyard Tunnel event. Light displays now have free entry in 75 per cent of cases, but the light walk – which previously stretched from Circular Quay to Central – is split across smaller precincts around the city, including Martin Place and the Goods Line. 'When people think of Vivid, they think of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge – when they get there, they aren't expecting most of the stuff to be somewhere else,' said John Gilly, who has covered the festival on his blog, Sydney Spectaculars, since 2014. 'The precincts have spread everything out … which is why people may think it's not as entertaining as in the past, but the main stuff is still there.' This isn't the first time the festival has been split up. Over the years there have been activations in Kings Cross and Chatswood, as well as the Wild Nights display at Taronga Zoo. While the strategy means visitors to Circular Quay are seeing fewer installations, many view this as the best way forward for Vivid. 'It's more spread out – and that's a good thing,' said Business Sydney's Paul Nicolau. 'We should be highlighting not just the harbour but all the other places, like Martin Place and the Goods Line. I think we should expand it, we should look out to other areas like Parramatta Road and Victoria Road.' Getting tourists out to Sydney's decrepit arterial roads might be a stretch, but Parramatta Mayor Martin Zaiter is at a loss as to why Sydney's famous winter festival doesn't extend to its growing second CBD. 'Parramatta Square and our beautiful town hall, that's where old meets the new,' Zaiter said. 'Parramatta Park, Old Government House, definitely there are those options for Vivid to expand to. 'It's a no-brainer.' While the light pillar of the festival may be missing a headline event this year, Tourism Minister Stephen Kamper said the food, including the fire kitchen at the Goods Line, has been a major motivator for visitors. 'Saturday night alone saw a record-breaking 51,169 diners at restaurants across the Vivid Sydney zones – the highest ever for a single night in the event's history,' he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
After last year's drone show disaster, is a scaled-back Vivid working?
That brings us to 2025, and the festival feels scaled back. The drone show was scrapped, citing safety risks and increasing costs. The usual suspects – Customs House and the Opera House – are all lit up, but there are fewer installations at Circular Quay and the Rocks than in previous years. While there are more individual light installations across the city than there were last year, there is no Royal Botanic Garden activation and no Wynyard Tunnel event. Light displays now have free entry in 75 per cent of cases, but the light walk – which previously stretched from Circular Quay to Central – is split across smaller precincts around the city, including Martin Place and the Goods Line. 'When people think of Vivid, they think of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge – when they get there, they aren't expecting most of the stuff to be somewhere else,' said John Gilly, who has covered the festival on his blog, Sydney Spectaculars, since 2014. 'The precincts have spread everything out … which is why people may think it's not as entertaining as in the past, but the main stuff is still there.' This isn't the first time the festival has been split up. Over the years there have been activations in Kings Cross and Chatswood, as well as the Wild Nights display at Taronga Zoo. While the strategy means visitors to Circular Quay are seeing fewer installations, many view this as the best way forward for Vivid. 'It's more spread out – and that's a good thing,' said Business Sydney's Paul Nicolau. 'We should be highlighting not just the harbour but all the other places, like Martin Place and the Goods Line. I think we should expand it, we should look out to other areas like Parramatta Road and Victoria Road.' Getting tourists out to Sydney's decrepit arterial roads might be a stretch, but Parramatta Mayor Martin Zaiter is at a loss as to why Sydney's famous winter festival doesn't extend to its growing second CBD. 'Parramatta Square and our beautiful town hall, that's where old meets the new,' Zaiter said. 'Parramatta Park, Old Government House, definitely there are those options for Vivid to expand to. 'It's a no-brainer.' While the light pillar of the festival may be missing a headline event this year, Tourism Minister Stephen Kamper said the food, including the fire kitchen at the Goods Line, has been a major motivator for visitors. 'Saturday night alone saw a record-breaking 51,169 diners at restaurants across the Vivid Sydney zones – the highest ever for a single night in the event's history,' he said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New musical Come Fall in Love 'is a show for everyone' say stars
Manchester once again finds itself in the spotlight with the UK premiere of a new musical. Inspired by the the longest-running movie in Indian cinema Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, - DDLJ to its legions of fans - Come Fall in Love certainly has a lot to live up to. The multi-award winning DDLJ has been playing continuously in Mumbai since its release in 1995. The company of Come Fall In Love in rehearsal (Image: Craig Sugden) But one look at the team behind Come Fall in Love indicates that it's a show which is more than up to the task. The book and lyrics are by Nell Benjamin who was responsible for Mean Girls and who won an Olivier Award winner for Legally Blonde. The music - 18 original English language songs - is by Vishal and Shekhar, the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber of Bollywood and directing the whole thing is Aditya Chopra, who was responsible for the original movie which has inspired the show. For the musical's stars, Jena Pandya and Ashley Day, bringing the production to the stage could have proved a daunting experience. But their excitement at being part of something special is palpable. 'What was nice is that we had a workshop about six months before we started rehearsals which allowed me to get into the right head space to be working with such legends,' said Jena. 'They have been so nice and put to much trust in us. I feel so lucky to be part of this team." Ashley added: 'I've worked in musical theatre for 20 years (he's starred in An American in Paris and The Book of Mormon) but to experience this has been amazing.' Come Fall in Love was performed in San Diego in 2022 but the show has been considerably reworked for its UK debut at the Opera House. Jena plays Simran, a young British Asian woman who is travelling around Europe before her arranged marriage. On her travels she meets Rog, played by Ashley, a self-styled party boy and an unlikely romance develops. 'I think the conscious decision that was made to change to plot to introduce Rog as a British white boy is so important,' said Ashley. 'It's now about two cultures and right now that's so modern and so relevant. It's good medicine.' The quality of the writing and the music has deeply affected both of the stars. 'Legally Blonde has to be the best movie to stage adaptation of them all,' said Ashley. 'So to have Nell involved with this production is amazing. She's able to get really under the skin of the characters and her storytelling is so witty and clever. 'Then there's Vishal and Shekar, they're absolute legends. The fact that this is their first stage musical absolutely blows my mind.' 'Each song has its own style,' added Jena. 'Even in rehearsals where the surroundings are not particularly atmospheric, it makes me emotional. It's just the way they have done it blending authentic Indian melodies with songs which are pure pop, are punky or just rock. Everyone can watch it and love it.' Ashley Day and Jena Pandya in Come Fall in Love (Image: ATG) Both Ashley and Jena are keen to stress that you don't even have to be aware of DDLJ to love Come Fall in Love. 'What is great is that you don't need to know the film,' said Jena. 'It works as a stand-alone story; it's so energetic, it sucks you in and makes you feel so much – happy, sad all of those things. I think that's what people will love it. 'Of course I hope fans of the original film will come and they will feel that nostalgia for a film which has been part of their lives for so long. 'But if you're totally new to the show, you're going to love it too,' said Ashley. 'It's such a big show, it really is something special.' So how do the two stars compare to the characters they play? Simran is highly organised, someone who initially keeps her emotions under tight control. 'In some ways I suppose I am quite similar to Simran,' said Jena. 'I can certainly understand why she like the way she is. She has such strong values she has to stick to, and has always got this conflict going on inside her head to keep her friends happy and her family happy which does make her be a bit tightly strung at times. 'It's fun to play as she goes on this journey where she loosens up and falls in love. 'I do see myself in her especially in the way I react to my own dad, he's a classic Indian dad so it's fun to play that dynamic, that's not really acting - sorry dad, but he'd probably say the same thing!' As for loud, brash party boy Rog? 'Maybe there was a time a long time ago I was as confident as he is,' said Ashley. 'But when we first meet him he does some things which made me feel a bit 'icky'. He's not a great guy at the beginning. But he changes so much through the show - it's a great story arc.' Bringing any brand new show to the stage is a challenge and the stars of Come Fall in Love had a simple message for audiences. 'I'd say to people this probably will open your eyes in a way you didn't think they would in a musical,' said Ashley. 'You're going to feel a lot of soul and humanity and it's not fluff.' 'Don't think that this is a show for any one audience,' said Jena. 'If you think maybe you won't enjoy it or it's not for you, that's not the case.' Come Fall in Love is at Manchester Opera House until Saturday, June 21. Details from
New York Times
3 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Don't Forget Your Library Card. And Soon Your Passport.
Once upon a time, a wealthy widow who was a citizen of two neighboring countries hired craftsmen to raise a stately, turreted building of gray granite and stained glass windows. Only the finest wood adorned the reading rooms in its library. Cherubs soared over the proscenium arch in its opera house. But the widow's most important, and perhaps unusual, request was that the building sit exactly on the nations' common border. Inside, black tape representing the boundary ran along the hardwood floors, a symbol not of division but of the enduring friendship between the two lands. Then one day, the leader of the country to the south threatened to annex his neighbor to the north. One of his trusted emissaries visited the building. '51st state,' she said, stepping north over the black tape. 'U.S.,' she said, stepping back. President Trump's tariffs against Canada and his threats to turn it into a U.S. state have fueled a deep crisis among Canadians, forced abruptly to rethink their relations with their neighbor, the rest of the world and even among one another. But they have also upended small-town life across the borderland, where many Canadian and American communities had led intertwined and intimate lives. Perhaps nowhere along the 5,525-mile stretch — still the world's longest undefended border — did that idealism find more powerful expression than in a sleepy corner of southernmost Quebec and northernmost Vermont. There, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House has straddled the border since 1904, the brainchild of Martha Stewart Haskell, the wealthy widow who chose the location, not only for its symbolism, but also for its equal access to both Canadians and Americans. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
