Latest news with #Spartacus
Irish Independent
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Today's top TV and streaming choices: The British Soap Awards, Spartacus and Power Moves with Shaquille O'Neal
The British Soap Awards 2025 Virgin Media One, 8pm Jane McDonald hosts a lavish evening of celebration at London's Hackney Empire. Among the highlights are a farewell to Coronation Street veteran Helen Worth and EastEnders' 40th anniversary. Capaillíní TG4, 8pm Máirtín Ó Neachtain meets the Corrandulla Show's organiser, Lucille Smyth, who explains why she believes events such as hers remain so important to the public. Plus, two people can be seen preparing their horses for competition. The final two episodes of the series begin with a surprise – the Pope has agreed to be a special guest on the show. However, as you may have already guessed, nothing goes exactly as expected. Spartacus BBC Four, 8.15pm Stanley Kubrick's wonderful Roman epic stars Kirk Douglas as the titular slave who leads a rebellion against their oppressors. The incredible cast also includes Tony Curtis, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Woody Strode, Charles Laughton and an Oscar-winning Peter Ustinov. Dept. Q Netflix, streaming now DCI Carl Morck may be an excellent investigator, but there's no hiding from the fact that he's a terrible co-worker. There's the small matter of his scathing sarcasm, which has left him without a single friend in the Edinburgh police force. Then there's the rather more serious issue of him having fatally shot a young officer and permanently injured his partner. Unsurprisingly enough, following this tragic turn of events, Morck is relegated to Department Q: a cold-case unit which was created as a publicity stunt. Although the force is thrilled to see Carl go, he soon sets about assembling a group of outcasts who are all keen to prove themselves. Yes, it does sound a bit like Slow Horses, which is quite the gauntlet for Netflix to throw. Only time will tell if it's worthy of comparison. With yer man from Leap Year (Matthew Goode) essentially playing a hybrid of Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb and Jack Lowden's River Cartwright, I wouldn't hold my breath. A Widow's Game Netflix, streaming now Picture it: August 2017. In a Valencia parking lot, a man is found stabbed seven times. The city's Homicide Group, led by a veteran inspector, races to solve the case, which appears to be a crime of passion. Their investigation soon takes a shocking turn, pointing to an unlikely suspect: Maje, the victim's seemingly sweet and stoic widow, married to him for less than a year. Mission: Impossible Fest Disney+, streaming now We can never get enough of the Mission: Impossible movies, it seems. You can now watch all the prequels to the recently released The Final Reckoning if you're so inclined. Bono: Stories of Surrender Apple TV+, streaming now Behold Bono's one-man stage show, exploring the personal experiences that have shaped him as a son, father, husband and activist. Oh, and as one of the planet's biggest rock stars. If Owen Wilson's signature shtick is more to your liking, The Stick lands Wednesday. Good Boy Prime Video, streaming now In order to combat crime in a perilous underworld, a group of former medal-winning athletes exchange the podium for police badges. In an exciting, action-packed ride, Yun Dong-ju (Park Bo-gum) and his group battle a formidable criminal syndicate. Also on Prime Video, we have season 2 of The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, courtesy of producers Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne. The Better Sister Prime Video, streaming now D'you know what society needs? More portrayals of women being pitted against each other. Based on Alafair Burke's novel, however, this eight-part thriller attempts to turn things. When media executive Chloe (Jessica Biel) and her estranged sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks) are reunited after a murder, they must unravel long-buried family secrets to uncover the truth. Criminal Code Netflix, streaming now Season 2 of the Brazilian action series inspired by real crimes sees an elite Federal Police unit take on a ruthless gang in a high-stakes battle. For a telenovela twist, The Heart Knows follows a man who unknowingly falls for his heart donor's widow. Yep. Power Moves with Shaquille O'Neal Netflix, streaming now NBA legends Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson were among the biggest names sporting Reebok in the '90s. Now, O'Neal is trying to revive the brand's legacy and find a rising star to rep it (his son being among the potential candidates).
The Age
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
If I could interview Donald Trump, this is what I'd ask him
This story is part of the June 1 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories. Writer Molly Jong-Fast is best known for being a commentator on US politics. She is also the daughter of Erica Jong, the author of the 1970s feminist tome Fear of Flying. Here, the 46-year-old discusses the important men in her life, including her grandfather, Howard Fast, who wrote Spartacus. My paternal grandfather, Howard Fast, wrote Spartacus as well as 80 other published books. One of my favourite things about him was that he was smart and disciplined. He would wake up at 5am and you'd hear the typewriter going. He was very much a product of the Charles Dickens' paid-by-the-word kind of writing. He went to prison for three months in 1950 for his communist beliefs. In his memoir, he said everything that was bad about him – like cheating on my grandmother, Bette, a sculptor, with whom I was very close – was not in his FBI file. My father Jonathan, a writer and later a social-work professor, and my mother Erica Jong [author of Fear of Flying ], were introduced by my grandfather. They moved from California to Connecticut, where I was born. When I was three, they had a bad divorce. My mother moved out and left me with the nanny. After that, I'd see Dad every other weekend. Then, a year later, I went to live with Mom in New York. I am like my father as we both have red hair. We both get motion sickness and both have big feet. I was a bad teenager and very entitled. Drugs, drinking and blacking out were my focus at high school in the Bronx. I got along with boys OK. I wasn't uncomfortable, but I wasn't super comfortable either. My first celebrity crush was Jay McInerney. I was in that generation that thought he and the literary brat-pack that also included Bret Easton Ellis were the coolest. Mom married four times and had numerous fiancés. She looked for someone to save her, and to get her out of her own head. I kept meeting these men and thinking they were going to be my father and then they were not. I liked some of them better than the ones she ended up with. I am the daughter and granddaughter of alcoholics. But I am so different to my mom because I got sober when I was 19, and so I didn't ever have to be, or didn't want to be, her.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
If I could interview Donald Trump, this is what I'd ask him
This story is part of the June 1 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories. Writer Molly Jong-Fast is best known for being a commentator on US politics. She is also the daughter of Erica Jong, the author of the 1970s feminist tome Fear of Flying. Here, the 46-year-old discusses the important men in her life, including her grandfather, Howard Fast, who wrote Spartacus. My paternal grandfather, Howard Fast, wrote Spartacus as well as 80 other published books. One of my favourite things about him was that he was smart and disciplined. He would wake up at 5am and you'd hear the typewriter going. He was very much a product of the Charles Dickens' paid-by-the-word kind of writing. He went to prison for three months in 1950 for his communist beliefs. In his memoir, he said everything that was bad about him – like cheating on my grandmother, Bette, a sculptor, with whom I was very close – was not in his FBI file. My father Jonathan, a writer and later a social-work professor, and my mother Erica Jong [author of Fear of Flying ], were introduced by my grandfather. They moved from California to Connecticut, where I was born. When I was three, they had a bad divorce. My mother moved out and left me with the nanny. After that, I'd see Dad every other weekend. Then, a year later, I went to live with Mom in New York. I am like my father as we both have red hair. We both get motion sickness and both have big feet. I was a bad teenager and very entitled. Drugs, drinking and blacking out were my focus at high school in the Bronx. I got along with boys OK. I wasn't uncomfortable, but I wasn't super comfortable either. My first celebrity crush was Jay McInerney. I was in that generation that thought he and the literary brat-pack that also included Bret Easton Ellis were the coolest. Mom married four times and had numerous fiancés. She looked for someone to save her, and to get her out of her own head. I kept meeting these men and thinking they were going to be my father and then they were not. I liked some of them better than the ones she ended up with. I am the daughter and granddaughter of alcoholics. But I am so different to my mom because I got sober when I was 19, and so I didn't ever have to be, or didn't want to be, her.
Observer
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
Russians pay last respects to ballet maestro Grigorovich
Russians paid their last respects to dance legend Yuri Grigorovich on Friday at the Bolshoi Theatre where he reigned for decades as artistic director of one of the world's most famous ballet companies. Grigorovich, considered one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century, died on Monday at the age of 98. Leading figures from the Russian arts world gathered inside the gilded auditorium of the Bolshoi to pay tribute to him. Grigorovich's coffin was placed in front of the stage, where a giant photograph of the puckish, white-haired ballet master was displayed. Hundreds of Muscovites, many carrying flowers, were waiting outside the theatre in central Moscow. They applauded as his casket was carried down the steps, accompanied by a portrait of Grigorovich and three huge floral wreaths. Participants of a memorial ceremony carry a portrait of Russian ballet choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, who died at the age of 98, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia, May 23, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina "I really loved him. He was a genius... so I could not miss this farewell," said pensioner Alexandra Tretyakova. Grigorovich was famed for productions of Spartacus, Ivan the Terrible, Romeo and Juliet and many other ballets that were staged in Russia and around the world. He was especially noted for male roles requiring extraordinary strength and technique. Ballerina Lyubov Filippova told Reuters that the late choreographer was a "colossus" and an idol. "This person will always remain with us, in our hearts, in our lives. And we should continue to learn from his ballets," she said. —Reuters
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Yuri Grigorivich, giant of Soviet ballet, is dead at 98
The ballet told the story of the enslaved gladiator Spartacus, who led a failed revolt in ancient Rome, a tale that might bring to mind another revolution, one that did not fail: the Russian Revolution of 1917. Compared with earlier Soviet productions set to Aram Khachaturian's 1954 score, Mr. Grigorovich's was streamlined and simplified, with obvious good guys (Spartacus and his wife) and bad guys (the rich Crassus and his courtesan mistress). Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up What made the work most distinctive, though, was the style of dancing: It was big and bold, epic in scale and emotion. Advertisement Masses of men filled the stage, in armor or bare-chested, marching, kicking, jumping. Spartacus and Crassus, in soliloquy-like solos, spun like tornadoes and leaped impossibly high, with slashing, stage-spanning, split-kick jumps. Their climactic battle was a dance-off to end all dance-offs. In its emphasis on dancing -- and dancing as athletic spectacle -- Mr. Grigorovich's choreography departed from the previously dominant style of Soviet ballet: dramatic ballet, or 'drambalet.' To conform to political strictures around art -- under Socialist Realism, abstraction was to be avoided -- drambalet de-emphasized dance steps in favor of gestural storytelling, and favored acting influenced by the school of Konstantin Stanislavsky. (His approach, which stressed the actor's use of lived experience, would become the basis of Method acting.) The height of drambalet was a 1940 production of 'Romeo and Juliet' by Leonid Lavrovsky, the man Mr. Grigorovich replaced as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in 1964. Advertisement The attention to male dancers in 'Spartacus' was also new. 'At last the Bolshoi men are allowed to dance,' Barnes wrote, 'and indeed the ballet is as much for them as, say, 'Swan Lake' is for women.' 'Spartacus' was a huge hit, at home and abroad, as was a 1975 ballet film featuring the heroically explosive Vladimir Vasiliev in the title role. The production became the Bolshoi Ballet's signature piece, as well as the model for later Grigorovich works, including his 1975 version of 'Ivan the Terrible.' Mr. Grigorovich's ballets were popular nearly everywhere, and he was considered a genius by most Russian critics. Some Western critics came close to agreeing. Barnes hailed him as 'the most talented Russian choreographer since Mikhail Fokine,' of the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg and the Ballets Russes in Paris. Many Western critics, though, found his choreography lacking in subtlety and taste -- especially those in America, where the Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine set the aesthetic standards. 'What it's designed for is force,' Arlene Croce wrote of 'Spartacus' in a 1975 review in The New Yorker. She called the work relentless and repetitive, describing it as a 'bludgeoning,' yet she praised the passionate dancers. 'Even in trash like 'Spartacus,'' she wrote, 'Bolshoi dancers can impress you with their love of theater, their rage to perform.' Advertisement In his 1982 version of 'The Golden Age,' a tale of Communist youth facing corrupt gangsters, set in the 1920s to a 1930 score by Shostakovich, Mr. Grigorovich provided starring roles for his new protégé, Irek Mukhamedov, and Natalia Bessmertnova, whom he married in 1968 after divorcing his first wife, the esteemed ballerina Alla Shelest. But 'The Golden Age' would be his last new work. In the late 1980s and the 1990s, amid various internal power struggles at the Bolshoi, Mr. Grigorovich faced accusations that he had dried up creatively and was an arrogant, inflexible autocrat who would not allow other choreographers into the company. Prominent dancers, including the aging star Maya Plisetskaya and Mr. Grigorovich's former protégé, Vasiliev, openly criticized him. For years, Mr. Grigorovich had clashed with the Bolshoi management. In 1995, objecting to changes in the hiring of dancers, and to the hiring of Vasiliev as the artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater, Mr. Grigorovich resigned. The day after the announcement, Bolshoi dancers refused to perform. It was the closest thing to a strike in the company's history. To many, he remained a hero. Yuri Nikolayevich Grigorovich was born on Jan. 2, 1927, in the city then called Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). His father, Nikolai, was an accountant, and his mother, Klaudia (Rozai) Grigorovich, was a dancer from a family of dancers and circus entertainers. Her brother, Gyorgi Rozai, was an acclaimed character-style dancer in the Ballets Russes. Yuri trained at the Leningrad Ballet School (later the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet). Upon graduating in 1946, he joined the Kirov Ballet (now the Mariinsky). Short in stature, he performed demi-character roles like the Golden Idol in 'La Bayadère' and a Chinese dancer in 'The Nutcracker.' Advertisement Mentored by choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov -- who advocated a Russian classical approach and had also mentored Balanchine in the 1920s, but whose work had been classified as 'formalist,' a taboo in the Soviet Union -- Mr. Grigorovich began presenting his choreography in 1956. The following year, the Kirov debuted 'The Stone Flower,' his remake of a drambalet with the addition of abstract dancing. It received the official sanction of being remounted at the Bolshoi. His 1961 work, 'Legend of Love,' was also a success. Soon after, during the upheaval over the Kirov star Rudolf Nureyev's defection to the West, Mr. Grigorovich became the chief ballet master at the Kirov. Then, at 37, he moved to Moscow to lead the Bolshoi. After resigning from the Bolshoi in 1995, Mr. Grigorovich moved to the southern Russian city of Krasnodar to start a new ballet company under his own name. He headed juries at several international ballet competitions, including the Benois de la Danse in Moscow. In 2005, Alexei Ratmansky, then the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, brought Grigorovich's 'The Golden Age' back into the repertory, and Mr. Grigorovich visited the company as an honored guest. Mr. Grigorovich has no immediate survivors. His wife, Bessmertnova, died in 2008, and he had no children. After Ratmansky's resignation from the Bolshoi in 2008, Mr. Grigorovich returned to the company as a choreographer and ballet master, a position he retained until his death. This article originally appeared in Advertisement
