Latest news with #MarkStrong
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
From Hadestown to Hercules: ancient myths are the gods' gift to musicals
Ancient Greek dramas have long thrived on the West End stage. In recent times: Sophie Okonedo's electrifying Medea, Brie Larson's high-wire Elektra and Mark Strong's smoothly political Oedipus. But the likes of Hades and Eurydice are less often found belting out big numbers alongside a dancing ensemble. Until now, it would seem. Mythological musicals are on the rise: Disney's Hercules opens this month and Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown is in its second year at the Lyric while The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is going on tour this summer. 'Greek theatre has influenced every facet of our lives, from athletics to religion,' says Cedric Neal, who plays Hermes in Hadestown. 'What better than for it to be translated to the stage with music, choreography and dance?' Neal has a good point: Greek tragedies, in their original incarnations, were traditionally performed with dance and music, so it is fitting for them to take the guise of full-blown modern musical theatre. Hadestown revolves around two ancient tales: Persephone's abduction by Hades and the doomed romance between Eurydice, who ventures into Hades's underworld, and Orpheus, who tries to get her out. Hermes is the show's narrator, delivering some of the plot through songs incorporating gospel, jazz, folk, bluegrass and soul. Music is the purest form of telling a story, Neal says, as it touches heart and soul: 'That's what's so effective, and affecting, about it.' He believes that these myths, set to music, reflect our lives back at us with an added emotional catch. Neal plays Hermes as pansexual: 'Hadestown deals with how complex love can be and what we are willing to do [for it], no matter what the government or church or your parents are saying. The story we are telling reminds us that love will conquer all.' The rock musical The Lightning Thief is another hit, currently at the Other Palace in London. Based on the bestselling Percy Jackson book series by Rick Riordan, the story is certainly ancient – of Poseidon's half-god son and Zeus's stolen lightning bolt. But it is also about teenagers living in today's world, feeling like gawky outsiders. Like Hadestown, it ran both off and on Broadway. This new production is directed by Lizzi Gee, who thinks that musical versions of these ancient stories 'can take you even more into fantasy lands' and that they allow you to connect through the heightened emotions of the song and dance. As its choreographer as well, she had no difficulty in creating movement around these mythic characters. 'I always want to be telling the story through dance and these songs are so narratively driven.' She had gone to producer Paul Taylor-Mills about another idea before he suggested this to her. 'He said go away, listen to the soundtrack, and think if it's something you'd like to do. The second I played the opening number I thought 'I'm in'. Every song is narrative so I could immediately picture it all, because of the imagery through the songs. It was really clear to me how I would stage it.' The show features Percy's adolescent posse of 'half-bloods' (part human, part Greek god) at summer camp. 'For me, it's trying to portray the kids at Camp Half Blood as people who could represent the youth of today, so that they see themselves on that stage and see their stories being told – Percy with his ADHD and dyslexia … I feel like I wanted to say: 'These are real people and this is our connection with their stories.'' Its stage design, by Ryan Dawson Laight, does not conjure a traditionally ancient realm but one filled with electricity, water and sewage in the above, beyond and below worlds. Characters wear jeans and hoodies 'but with something a little otherly to them …', she says. What has been rewarding to experience is the impact it has had on audiences. 'Teenagers who are maybe struggling with isolation or thinking about who they are and feeling different from other people … are so grateful for something they can connect with and connect to … What is remarkable is how many young boys come to watch the musical. It's very much connecting to young masculinity.' These mythic stories also offer a counterpoint to the 'presentation' of ourselves that we so often get on social media, she feels. They offer an exploration of authentic identity and finding our true selves – that, in a way, is the purpose of the classic quests in ancient stories – and contemporary ones, too. Hercules the Musical has been adapted from the 1997 Disney animation film, whose music was composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by David Zippel (both are involved in this Disney stage show). Mythological musicals in animated form are not an especially new-fangled idea: DreamWorks has transposed several ancient, biblical stories to screen, their dramas fuelled by music and song, such as Joseph: King of Dreams and The Prince of Egypt (both these stories have since been adapted for the stage). Aspects of the story in Hercules have been reworked, although many of the loved songs are still there, say co-writers of the book, Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah. 'We hope the audience goes 'I know the music that was in the movie and now I'm going to accept this iteration …',' says Kwei-Armah. For Horn, the key question was how to adapt mythology 'without losing the DNA of what it is' while making it relevant to contemporary society – just as in the case of The Lightning Thief for Gee. 'It is a coming-of-age story, for me, but also a story about understanding where you fit in in the world and what your strength is.' Kwei-Armah's entry point to the myth was through the original story of Heracles, the divine Greek hero who later became known as Hercules in the Roman canon. 'What I find interesting,' he says, 'is how the story looks at the qualities that make you a god, the trials you have to go through in order to find out who we are, to find your tribe, to be accepted by the tribe you identify with and not just the tribe that is the dominant tribe. Part of the reason I responded to it so strongly when I was asked to join Robert and the team is that I felt it would be fun to investigate authenticity and the idea of being seen through ancient myth.' While they stayed true to the original story on the whole, they have added some new characters. 'We were given free rein, says Horn. 'That said, there is a musical element to the movie, and certain songs that are iconic. You don't want to lose those. Our job is to make those songs work organically even if we have to change the story. People are going to come to hear them.' Kwei-Armah concurs: 'Go the Distance makes me cry every time that I hear it so there's no way we would even think about trying to lose anything like that.' What is so powerful about setting these old stories to music? 'The fundamental thing behind a musical is the idea 'oh no, I can't say it so I must sing it',' says Kwei-Armah. Horn adds: 'These [mythic] stories are all just a little bit larger than life, so lend themselves organically to being musicalised.' Myths also offer eternally relevant stories, their underlying meanings delivered in metaphorical form, says Kwei-Armah. 'We love a metaphor and there's nothing better than a singing metaphor … I think we like being able to look back and see our everlasting selves [in these myths]. That lends itself to a melody.' Hercules is at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, from 11 June-28 March 2026. The Lightning Thief is at the Other Palace, London, until 15 June and then on tour from 15 August-1 November. Hadestown is at the Lyric theatre, London, until 15 February 2026
Globe and Mail
05-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
CBC shows off circus tricks and rescue pups, but no new dramas or comedies at 2025-26 upfront
Rescue dogs! Circus tricks! CBC put on a show about its upcoming 2025-26 season at its downtown Toronto headquarters on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the overall impression left by the live performance was not of a national public broadcaster reinvigorated after a brush with death by defunding, but an institution spinning its wheels, especially in terms of scripted entertainment. It's 'upfront' week in Toronto - with Corus and Rogers and Bell Media all showcasing shiny new wares to advertisers and the media. But unlike those private companies, the CBC didn't have any new English-language comedies or dramas for linear or streaming to announce. Instead, the public broadcaster enlisted radio personalities Tom Power and Elamin Abdelmahmoud to promote the mostly already revealed renewals of a strong TV comedy slate, diverse in style and substance, and a less inspiring drama lineup overloaded with procedural cop shows. Given that the CBC didn't have major news or interviews with talent for invited media - and there weren't many media buyers in attendance either - it was unclear what the two-hour dog-and-carnie show really was for. Mark Strong, who hosts a CBC podcast called Olympics FOMO, accurately described the atmosphere as 'very cubicle energy' when he came on stage and tried to hype up the staff-heavy audience about Milan-Cortina 2026. If it felt pro forma, that's because it was. 'The way the upfront game works in Canada, everybody does it in the same week, right?' said Barbara Williams, CBC's executive vice-president English services. 'That's just been historically how it's been done in Canada.' Any impression left, however, that the Crown corporation might have put the commissioning of new scripted work on pause as it awaited to find out its funding fate in the recent election would not be accurate, according to Williams and Sally Catto, general manager, entertainment, factual and sports, at CBC. 'We have green-lit more than a handful of dramas and comedies and would have loved to announce them today,' said Catto. 'Every show that we support now in the scripted realm needs a partner in order to complete its financing. So some of that is still in progress.' So, what was new, fully financed and ready to reveal? CBC has three short new docuseries coming up - all centring on Montreal-area stories. Running Smoke, a three-part docuseries about the Mohawk NASCAR driver Derek White and the biggest tobacco-smuggling bust in North American history, looks true-crime-adjacent and thrilling. But if a series about Quebec's Tupperware queen Maria Meriano (Diamonds & Plastic) or a behind-the-scenes look at a Cirque du Soleil touring show that's been around since 2016 (Cirque Life; hence the circus performer) are going to have any depth to them, it wasn't apparent in the trailers. Canadian comedian Jack Innanen pivots from social media to mainstream TV in new FX/Disney+ series Adults On the front of factual entertainment - that's exec-speak for reality TV - Must Love Dogs, in which CFL All-Star Brady Oliveira and influencer and ex-Bachelor contestant Alex Blumberg, find forever homes for Manitoba mutts (a couple were present and, admittedly, cute) seems like something the private sector could have covered. The Assembly, on the other hand, in which interviewers on the autistic spectrum have conversations with celebrities (based on an international format), was charming and moving in its sneak peak. CBC's returning comedy lineup was rightly front and centre - with the always entertaining Mark Critch perking up the crowd as he talked about the perennially popular Son of a Critch, Anna Lambe charming as she spoke about finding international fame starring in North of North, and an amped-up Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill selling Small Achievable Goals, their menopause-themed workplace comedy that will be given a second season to find its legs. If CBC is as proud of its dramas, it was less apparent as no stars were on hand from Heartland or its four case-of-the-week cop shows - Saint-Pierre, Wild Cards, Murdoch Mysteries and Allegiance. (SkyMed is not returning - or, at least, not on CBC.) CBC-watching Canadians looking for anything a little more prestige and less procedural in the drama department currently only have the six episodes of season three of the time-travel anthology drama Plan B to look forward to - a solid remake of a Radio-Canada show that nevertheless would, with the addition of English subtitles to the original, be redundant. Review: Jesse Armstrong's Mountainhead: Succession's successor sharply satirizes a new class of billionaire While Williams hailed Saint-Pierre for its bilingual elements, she also defended the supposedly cash-strapped CBC/Radio-Canada essentially making the same show twice at a time when subtitled drama like Shogun and Squid Game thrives (and when Bell Media's Crave is bilingual by design). The two solitudes are still mostly siloed off even as streaming has allowed for shows to easily cross linguistic barriers. 'Partly it's about whether we think our audiences are really going to be as likely to engage with the show if it's got subtitles,' said Williams. That the CBC struggles with allowing itself to find new ways of doing things was certainly another impression left by an upfront that ultimately could've been an email. 'We had to go this week with what we had,' Williams said. 'We would have been really happy to announce dramas and a couple of comedies today, trust me.'
NZ Herald
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Charlotte Grimshaw: Spy talk at a writers' festival
A week before the Auckland Writers Festival, I watched an old Ridley Scott thriller, Body of Lies, in which British actor Mark Strong does a star turn as the head of Jordanian intelligence. Set in the Middle East, the movie involves high drama, terrorists and guns. At one of
Perth Now
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Henry Golding was inspired by TV series Nine Perfect Strangers to explore wellness retreats
Henry Golding is "going to look into [doing]" wellness retreats because of TV show 'Nine Perfect Strangers'. The 38-year-old actor would avoid the structured programs that aim to improve a person's mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing if they contained the "shenanigans" the characters got up to in the Hulu thriller that sees nine guests meet up at a wellness retreat, set up by Masha (Nicole Kidman) in the Austrian Alps - with her hiding secrets. But the idea of getting respite in his "adult life" appealed to Henry because he was told to not "bother anybody with your troubles" growing up. The 'Another Simple Favor' star - whose alter ego on the show Peter looks to gain approval and decide what he wants in his life - explained to radio presenter Kent 'Smallzy' Small, 41, on the 'Smallzy's Surgery' podcast: "I mean, if a wellness retreat, sort of, included some of the shenanigans that these characters, sort of, get up to, I think I would stay away too. "But, you know, we've been, sort of, talking about the discussion of therapy and how advanced it's become and how part of the zeitgeist it is. "And it's normal now to, sort of, open up. And back, way back, growing up, I was, kind of, taught to be like, you know, don't bother anybody with your troubles. "It's very down, kept it all paddled up. And so this idea of going to a retreat later in my, sort of, adult life seems a little bit more, kind of - I'm curious about it now. "So after the show, I think I'll be looking into - he's [Mark Strong] been to a couple of things. "So, I'm going to look into it." Henry's on-screen dad is Mark Strong, 61, who plays a ruthless billionaire intelligence expert David, and Mark loved his experience of going to a wellness retreat that focused on "relaxation" and a "little bit of medical intervention" to determine how healthy the guests were. 'The King's Man' star said: "I went to one, which was relaxation, coupled with a little bit of medical intervention in order to see how healthy you were. And you ate well, slept well, and had these, sort of, timetable every day of things that you did, like hydrotherapy and shiatsu, and all of this. "There was no mental health examination involved in that. It was really medical and physical."
CNET
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
What to Stream on TV This Weekend: 'Nine Perfect Strangers,' 'Sirens' and More
Nicole Kidman continues to be the hardest working woman in Hollywood (she's starred in four films and four movies just in the past year) with the arrival of a new season of the Hulu hit Nine Perfect Strangers. In the series, Kidman plays Masha, a guru-like leader at a wellness center. The new season will feature a whole new cast of characters attending Masha's latest retreat in Austria including Henry Golding, Mark Strong, Lena Olin, Annie Murphy and Christine Baranski. (Whether or not any of the other season one cast will return has been a closely guarded secret). The show premiered on Hulu on May 21.
