Latest news with #TheComet
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Nero's ancient Rome and Jazz Age New York meet in `The Comet/Poppea' at Lincoln Center
NEW YORK (AP) — Nero's ancient Rome and Jazz Age New York were similar. That is the message of 'The Comet/Poppea,' an intriguing combination of Monteverdi's 1643 opera 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' and George E. Lewis' 'The Comet,' a Pulitzer Prize finalist this year. The mashup conceived by director Yuval Sharon began a five-performance run at Lincoln Center's Summer for the City on Wednesday night. First seen in Los Angeles last year, the American Modern Opera Company production unfolds on a turntable that completes a spin each 2 minutes, 8 seconds. An audience of 380 is split into sections on opposite sides of the set on stage at the David Koch Theater while the venue's 2,586 auditorium seats remain empty. 'It's an unstable ride over the course of 90 minutes, and the power of the interpretation is up to each and every spectator,' Sharon said. 'Whether you're on one side of the seating bank or the other, you're going to have a totally different experience and you may miss a really important piece of action that your imagination is going to have to fill.' In Monteverdi's final opera, created to Giovanni Francesco Busenello's libretto, Nerone exiles his wife Ottavia, leaving him free to crown Poppea empress. Lewis composed 'The Comet' to librettist Douglas Kearney's adaption of W.E.B. Du Bois' dystopian eight-page 1920 short story in which a working-class Black man, Jim (Davóne Tines), and a society white woman, Julia (Kiera Duffy), believe they are the only survivors of a comet and can join to form a prejudice-free society. Their aspirations collapse when they learn people outside New York remained alive and segregation was unconquerable. 'People can make the leap between the music they're hearing and the kinds of tensions that are inherent to modern life and the tensions that the opera presents and the text presents, particularly around the dystopian aspect of white supremacy,' Lewis said. 'White supremacy is a kind of dystopia and it's a dystopia that we continue to live with today." Mimi Lien's two-sided set, illuminated strikingly by John Torres, is tiered with a bath at the top level on the Roman portion and a red Art Deco restaurant evoking the Rainbow Room on the other, where Jim and Julia find three dead bodies slumped. 'Jim is confronted with what it means to be the only man left alive, what it newly means to be a Black man allowed into spaces he wasn't before, but then have that dream crushed by the reality of Julia also inhabiting that space," said Tines, a commanding presence as Jim and the smaller role of Mercury. 'The Comet/Poppea' debuted at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA last June and also was performed with a student cast in Philadelphia in November. It is part of a Run AMOC* festival of 12 productions at Lincoln Center that include 10 New York premieres. Friday's performance can been viewed on a live stream on Lincoln Center's Facebook and YouTube channels. Planning, writing and funding took years Sharon first discussed the project in 2018 with countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who sings Nerone and Julia's father, a stuffed shirt dressed like Mr. Monopoly. 'It fell apart so many times,' Constanzo said. 'First, the pandemic came, and so all of our plans we'd put together were dashed. Then we had one co-producer who was giving a lot of money and they pulled out. Then we got another co-producer to put that much money in again and they pulled out." Sharon had met Lewis at a 2018 Columbia University conference and approached him with the idea of concentrating on Poppea's upward mobility and creating 'a secondary story to complicate and to make a mess of this idea of authoritarianism.' Sharon trimmed 'Poppea' to its essence. Lewis' music, filled with dissonance and a snippet of jazz, mixes with the Monterverdi's baroque, which Jim first hears from the restaurant jukebox. 'The conception was one in which you knew from the beginning that there are moments of overlap, there are moments of exchange, of sequentiality,' Lewis said. 'It could stand alone by itself, `The Comet,' certainly." Lincoln Center is presenting a more ambitious offering of classical events after drawing criticisms in the first three seasons of Summer for the City that emerged from the pandemic. There are 266 scheduled events from June 11 through Aug. 9. Programs are set to include jazz, Latin music, R&B, Broadway, pop, Caribbean, dance and more.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Nero's ancient Rome and Jazz Age New York meet in `The Comet/Poppea' at Lincoln Center
NEW YORK (AP) — Nero's ancient Rome and Jazz Age New York were similar. That is the message of 'The Comet/Poppea,' an intriguing combination of Monteverdi's 1643 opera 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' and George E. Lewis' 'The Comet,' a Pulitzer Prize finalist this year. The mashup conceived by director Yuval Sharon began a five-performance run at Lincoln Center's Summer for the City on Wednesday night. First seen in Los Angeles last year, the American Modern Opera Company production unfolds on a turntable that completes a spin each 2 minutes, 8 seconds. An audience of 380 is split into sections on opposite sides of the set on stage at the David Koch Theater while the venue's 2,586 auditorium seats remain empty. 'It's an unstable ride over the course of 90 minutes, and the power of the interpretation is up to each and every spectator,' Sharon said. 'Whether you're on one side of the seating bank or the other, you're going to have a totally different experience and you may miss a really important piece of action that your imagination is going to have to fill.' In Monteverdi's final opera, created to Giovanni Francesco Busenello's libretto, Nerone exiles his wife Ottavia, leaving him free to crown Poppea empress. Lewis composed 'The Comet' to librettist Douglas Kearney's adaption of W.E.B. Du Bois' dystopian eight-page 1920 short story in which a working-class Black man, Jim (Davóne Tines), and a society white woman, Julia (Kiera Duffy), believe they are the only survivors of a comet and can join to form a prejudice-free society. Their aspirations collapse when they learn people outside New York remained alive and segregation was unconquerable. 'People can make the leap between the music they're hearing and the kinds of tensions that are inherent to modern life and the tensions that the opera presents and the text presents, particularly around the dystopian aspect of white supremacy,' Lewis said. 'White supremacy is a kind of dystopia and it's a dystopia that we continue to live with today.' Different styles for different eras Mimi Lien's two-sided set, illuminated strikingly by John Torres, is tiered with a bath at the top level on the Roman portion and a red Art Deco restaurant evoking the Rainbow Room on the other, where Jim and Julia find three dead bodies slumped. 'Jim is confronted with what it means to be the only man left alive, what it newly means to be a Black man allowed into spaces he wasn't before, but then have that dream crushed by the reality of Julia also inhabiting that space,' said Tines, a commanding presence as Jim and the smaller role of Mercury. 'The Comet/Poppea' debuted at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA last June and also was performed with a student cast in Philadelphia in November. It is part of a Run AMOC(asterisk) festival of 12 productions at Lincoln Center that include 10 New York premieres. Friday's performance can been viewed on a live stream on Lincoln Center's Facebook and YouTube channels. Planning, writing and funding took years Sharon first discussed the project in 2018 with countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who sings Nerone and Julia's father, a stuffed shirt dressed like Mr. Monopoly. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'It fell apart so many times,' Constanzo said. 'First, the pandemic came, and so all of our plans we'd put together were dashed. Then we had one co-producer who was giving a lot of money and they pulled out. Then we got another co-producer to put that much money in again and they pulled out.' Sharon had met Lewis at a 2018 Columbia University conference and approached him with the idea of concentrating on Poppea's upward mobility and creating 'a secondary story to complicate and to make a mess of this idea of authoritarianism.' Sharon trimmed 'Poppea' to its essence. Lewis' music, filled with dissonance and a snippet of jazz, mixes with the Monterverdi's baroque, which Jim first hears from the restaurant jukebox. 'The conception was one in which you knew from the beginning that there are moments of overlap, there are moments of exchange, of sequentiality,' Lewis said. 'It could stand alone by itself, `The Comet,' certainly.' Lincoln Center is presenting a more ambitious offering of classical events after drawing criticisms in the first three seasons of Summer for the City that emerged from the pandemic. There are 266 scheduled events from June 11 through Aug. 9. Programs are set to include jazz, Latin music, R&B, Broadway, pop, Caribbean, dance and more.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Plan for leisure centre to replace swimming pool
A swimming centre could be demolished and replaced with a new sports and leisure facility. A planning application has been submitted to Stevenage Borough Council, which owns the swimming centre site on the edge of the town centre. The plans include a 25m, 10-lane competition swimming pool with seating for 150 spectators, a teaching pool, a splash pad, and sauna and steam rooms. It would have a six-court sports hall, a fitness suite, multi-purpose studios, a spin studio, soft play and a café. The proposed building is between three and four storeys high with the main entrance facing the Town Centre Gardens. There would be 53 parking spaces – a loss of 38 compared with the current provision – including accessible electric vehicle charging spaces. It is expected to be open from 06:30 to 10:00 on weekdays and from 08:00 to 20:00 at weekends. If approved, the new facility would be built on the existing car park to the south of the swimming centre. The current facility would remain operational until the new one opened, as first reported by The Comet. A statement submitted with the planning application says: "The [1960s] building has been subject to incremental refurbishment over the years, but is no longer fit for purpose and is in need of replacement." Part of the funding would be from the government's Towns Fund, after Stevenage Development Board secured £37.5m towards the town's regeneration in 2021. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Gladiator ready to hang tough at £25m gym opening Work on £31.5m leisure centre starting in autumn Two swimming pools to close due to funding issues Stevenage Borough Council
Daily Mirror
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Jeremy Kyle guest who killed girlfriend's hamster has lifetime animal ban axed
ITV's Jeremy Kyle Show has been hit with controversy over the years, including one guest who killed his girlfriend's hamster after finding out he was not the father of her baby A former star of The Jeremy Kyle Show has had his lifetime ban on owning animals lifted. Controversial host Jeremy, 59, confessed that he still feels "immensely proud" of the ITV show, despite it being a factor in the death in one of its guests. The programme showcased a diverse range of individuals to the public, including an elderly escort who happily had sex with over 1,000 men. However, one previous guest has since appeared in court to have his lifetime ban on keeping animals lifted. Ryan O'Brien, from Stevenage, was granted this right by a judge who agreed that he had succeeded in "turning his life around" and proving he can care for a pet. In 2012, O'Brien pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal after he hurled a hamster against a wall and stamped on it to kill it. At the time of the animal's death, O'Brien was in a tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend that had just ended shortly before the incident, as reported by The Comet. His relationship abruptly ended after appearing on the controversial ITV programme to determine whether he was the father of a 13-month-old girl he had been co-parenting with his partner. It was during his stint on the show that a DNA test revealed he was not the father of the toddler, reports the Daily Star. After admitting to the offence, O'Brien was initially slapped with a suspended jail term and an indefinite ban on keeping or owning animals. But in a dramatic turnaround, he's managed to get the ban overturned after convincing the court of his reformation. When he stood before Stevenage Magistrates' Court on May 22, no fewer than four witnesses vouched for his transformation, convincing the magistrates that he was now fit to care for a pet. His solicitor highlighted to the press that the magistrates had witnessed a profound shift in O'Brien's demeanour. Now 35, O'Brien has welcomed a new addition to his life, a miniature British bulldog pup named Dotty. Chatting with The Comet, he shared his journey of turning over a new leaf, leaving behind substance abuse to concentrate on bettering himself. "I have now completed a three-year apprenticeship with the construction company Wates and am a qualified tiler, decorator and electrician," he proudly told the paper. He's also giving back to the community, lending a hand at food banks and warm spaces. "A lot has changed; I've changed," O'Brien reflected. "I haven't got a bad bone in my body now." He expressed deep remorse over his past actions, saying: "Killing the hamster is the biggest regret of my life. I just wasn't thinking at the time." Despite his efforts to move forward, O'Brien acknowledged that he still faces the consequences of his past, with public shaming being a constant reminder. However, he expressed gratitude towards The Jeremy Kyle Show for shedding light on truths about his former partner. He shared that he's been clean since Christmas, steering clear of drugs for the past two years. He admitted reaching a juncture where he was "sick" of his previous lifestyle. Now, with "a good support network of friends", he's turned a new page: "I have stopped hanging out with people who were bad for me."
The Independent
10-03-2025
- General
- The Independent
Ex-Cyclone Alfred uncovers two shipwrecks over 100 years old in Australia
Storm surges from ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred have uncovered historic shipwrecks along Australia's east coast, revealing long-buried maritime relics in both New South Wales and Queensland. At Ballina, in northern New South Wales, shifting sands have uncovered what is believed to be the remains of The Comet, a paddle steamer that was wrecked in 1890, according to ABC News. Curator of the Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum, Ron Creber, told the outlet the area is a known shipwreck graveyard, with as many as 64 shipwrecks recorded off the coast and in the Richmond River. 'This is only a guess, but I think it's The Comet, a single-screw wooden steamship which was wrecked on the Richmond River spit in March 1890,' Mr Creber said. He added that while parts of the wreck had surfaced briefly in October last year before being covered by sand again, it is now more exposed than ever. 'The ship is really exposed in a dangerous part of the beach because that's the main swimming section,' he said, warning that some visitors had already begun vandalising the site. A spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water urged the public to 'admire it from a distance'. In New South Wales, shipwrecks are protected by law, with fines of up to $1m for damaging or disturbing them. Further north, rough seas have also exposed parts of the SS Dicky at Dicky Beach on the Sunshine Coast, a shipwreck that had been buried for safety reasons in 2015. The SS Dicky, a steamer travelling from Rockhampton to Brisbane in 1893, was forced ashore by strong gales and remained a landmark on the beach for over a century. John Groves, a historian and co-author of a book on the wreck, said the site was an important part of local heritage. 'It's the only surf beach in Australia named after a shipwreck,' he told Sunshine Coast News. Photographer Tracey Keeley, who has captured images of the wreck over the years, told the outlet she was pleased to see it resurface. 'Oh, I definitely miss it. It was such an iconic photography subject, especially at sunrise,' she said. Ex-Cyclone Alfred has caused widespread coastal erosion along Australia's eastern seaboard, with maritime experts saying more shipwrecks could emerge as sand shifts. Mr Creber said Byron Bay, which suffered significant erosion, may also see previously buried wrecks resurface. 'In just one night, they had five shipwrecks there in the past,' he said. Remnants of Alfred continues to pound Queensland and New South Wales with heavy rainfall with several flood alerts still in place and more than 300,000 people under a blackout.
