On Monday, more than 40 fake trophies were stacked at the base of a 10-foot-tall “Iran War Participation Trophy” made for President Trump and placed on the National Mall by the anonymous satirical activist group Secret Handshake.
The new participation trophy is equipped with a plaque that reads:
“We hereby award President Donald J. Trump this participation trophy for his enthusiastic involvement in the Iran War. While some concern themselves with military strategy, diplomacy, or measurable outcomes, President Trump demonstrated the courage to participate regardless of the final score.
As recipient of this prestigious award, President Trump joins the ranks of children everywhere who receive recognition for simply showing up. We join you in celebrating this remarkable achievement.”
Secret Handshake noted in a letter to The Times that the installation serves as the nation’s first official “Donald Trump Trophy Donation Center, encouraging the public to drop off their own personal trophies, medals, and ribbons at the base of the monument for The President to claim as his own. Together, we hope that if enough trophies are donated he will be perceived as a winner and not feel the need to bomb other countries.”
A representative for Secret Handshake said the dozens of donated awards include certificates, trophies, medals, a wrestling belt and a Kennedy Center sash.
“I’m really thrilled to see people taking an active interest in joining in and bringing their own creativity and having their own voice heard by adding trophies to the base of this instillation,” the representative wrote in an email. “I think it’s exciting and I think when people can take a moment to tangibly express their opinion about this government’s war it helps to create a reminder that we aren’t alone. This isn’t normal. This shouldn’t just be accepted at face value.”
One of the best offerings is titled, “First Place in ‘I Know a Pool guy,’” and reads in part, “Participation trophy for Donald Trump in recognition of his renovation of the nation’s historic reflecting pool to more clearly reflect his efforts to criminalize the touching of a public monument in order to cover up the damage he caused …” The award also recognizes Trump’s “development of American Flag Blue pool liner, which he said was indestructible (unless cut by left wing radical terrorist vandals).”
Secret Handshake has extended an offer to “hand deliver both the participation trophy and all smaller trophies to the Trump Administration for The President’s glowing collection of fake accolades.”
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt taking First Place in time wasted mulching my garden in the heat. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
“Etai & Felipe Pantone: Parallel Practices: Tailored Structures & Kinetic Surfaces” at albertz benda.
Etai & Felipe Pantone “Parallel Practices: Tailored Structures & Kinetic Surfaces” combines Pantone’s wall-based artworks and a series of collaborative design pieces to challenge ideas of use, intimacy and lived experience, placing each work in the interconnected artistic system. Opening, 6:30–9:30 p.m. Friday; exhibit continues through Aug. 8. albertz benda, 8260 Marmont Ln. albertzbenda.com
New Swan Shakespeare Festival The Bard is back in the O.C. at the troupe’s open-air, Elizabethan-style portable theater with “The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,” a musical adaptation set in a 1950s SoCal beach town, in repertory with “Romeo & Juliet,” the classic tragedy reimagined amid the scarcity of the Dust Bowl. “Merry Wives,” 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Thursday and various dates through Aug. 30; “Romeo,” 8 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and various dates through Aug. 29. New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Inner Ring Road, UC Irvine. newswanshakespeare.com/
SATURDAY
“Cyrano” at the Old Globe, San Diego.
(Ben Wiseman)
Cyrano An irreverent take on “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Jason O’Connell and Brenda Withers, directed by Annie Tippe. Previews, 8 p.m. Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday; opening night, Thursday, 7 p.m.; continues through Aug. 9. The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park, San Diego. TheOldGlobe.org
F**king Strangers The world premiere of a dark comedy about love and loneliness by Erik Patterson, directed by Chris Fields. Previews, 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays; through Aug. 24. Echo Theater Company, Atwater Village Theater, 3269 Casitas Ave. echotheatercompany.com
Yoko Ono’s ‘Sky Piece to Jesus Christ’ + ‘Cut Piece’ A six-piece classical music ensemble from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will be gradually wrapped in gauze until the musicians can no longer play their instruments in “Sky Piece,” first presented to the public by Ono at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York in 1965. In “Cut Piece,” performed by artist MPA, the audience will be invited to cut away pieces of the artist’s clothing to take with them while the artist sits silently onstage. The performance was premiered by Ono at Yamaichi Hall in Kyoto in 1964. 6 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org
Marvelous Musicals Professional and student dancers perform numbers from classic shows to modern favorites. 6:30 p.m. Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr. thebarclay.org
Koak, “Portrait of Myself, the Shell,” 2024. Flashe and acrylic on linen; diptych. 74 x 118 inches
(Photo by Chris Grunder. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.)
Summerlove Sensation A group show featuring Isabelle Albuquerque, Alex Anderson, Mustafa Ali Clayton, Gregor Hildebrandt, Susumu Kamijo, Rae Klein, Koak, Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, Katherina Olschbaur, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Andrew J. Park, Gahee Park, Aya Takano, Honor Titus and Pilar Zeta. Opening, 6-9 p.m. Saturday; exhibition continues through Aug. 28. Perrotin Los Angeles, 5036 W. Pico Blvd. perrotin.com
A Weekend With Robert Rodriguez The multi-hyphenate filmmaker will be on hand for anniversary screenings of “From Dusk Til Dawn” (1996) and “Spy Kids”(2001) with the filmmaker in person and performing with his musical groups, Chingon Band and The Rodriguez Family Spy Band. “From Dusk,” 7 p.m. Saturday. “Spy Kids.” 2 p.m. Sunday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
SUNDAY
Tensions, Personified Readings of four short plays by John Binder are presented as part of the Odyssey’s Thresholds of Invention series. 4 p.m. Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, 2055 South Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com
TUESDAY
Ann Noble, left, and Robin McDonald in “Dead Man.”
(Carolina Rodriguez)
Dead Man Ann Noble writes, directs and performs in this clown noir murder mystery co-produced by Theatre Ghosts. Co-starring Christian Haines, Jeffrey Johnson and Robin McDonald. 8 p.m. Tuesdays, through Aug. 4. Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. echotheatercompany.ludus.com
UCBackrooms A one-night-only immersive, participatory comedy experience turns the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre into an escape room. Shows begin every 15 mins., 6-7:30 p.m. Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, 5919 Franklin Ave. ucbcomedy.com
THURSDAY
Falsettos The O.C. theater company The Wayward Artist presents William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning, sung-through musical set in 1979 and 1981 about a Jewish man who leaves his wife and son for his male lover, and the ensuing upheaval to their lives. 8 p.m. Thursday, July 24-26 and July 30-Aug. 2. Irvine United Congregational Church, 4915 Alton Pkwy. thewaywardartist.org
Arts anywhere
Jason Huber, from left, Scott G. Jackson and Dana Dewes in “The Price” at Pacific Resident Theatre.
(Ian Cardamone)
The Price The critically acclaimed production of the Arthur Miller drama at Pacific Resident Theater closes this weekend. “‘The Price,’ directed by Elina de Santos, thrives in the intimacy of Pacific Resident Theatre’s main stage,” wrote Times theater critic Charles McNulty when he reviewed it in April. “There’s not a moment in the play that isn’t deeply inhabited by a cast that understands the value of listening.” But don’t worry if you are unable to make it to the Westside. The final two shows will be available from the League of Live Stream Theater for $35, which includes a 24-hour on-demand replay. 2 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m Sunday. Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice; streaming at lolst.org/theprice
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Miller Friedman, Ashley Maimes, Jonathan Blandino and Torianna Turnbow in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum.
(Ian Flanders)
Summer is the ideal time to see theater out of doors (well, maybe not this broiling week, but at other times), and Times theater critic Charles McNulty has compiled this breezy list of “11 enchanting places to see outdoor theater in Southern California.” Spoiler alert: Shakespeare is well-represented, but remember, the Bard’s work was originally staged in an open-air theater.
McNulty also headed to Pasadena Playhouse for the opening of the two-person hip-hop musical “Mexodus,” which tells the little-known story of an Underground Railroad route to Mexico. McNulty was taken with the show, which arrived at the Playhouse after its award-winning off-Broadway run, calling it “hands down the most charming, innovative and warmly embracing new musical I’ve seen in the last year.”
Artist Betye Saar is photographed at her home in Laurel Canyon on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Betye Saar turns 100 on July 30, but the famed artist is still more interested in creating new work than discussing her groundbreaking legacy. Times contributor Tara Anne Dalbow wrote this lovely profile of Saar after a visit to her vibrant home studio in Laurel Canyon. “There are certain people who redefined what was a very narrow definition of American art, and Betye is absolutely one of them,” curator Zoé Whitley told Dalbow.
Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts — better known as the Soraya — on the campus of California State University Northridge.
(The Soraya)
If you’re interested in buying single tickets to shows that are part of the Soraya’s upcoming season, now is the time. The venue just opened up its access from membership presale to the general public. Sutton Foster, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Audra McDonald are all making their Soraya debuts, as is the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The Chinese leader called for more international cooperation in developing the technology at a conference in Shanghai.
Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026
Artificial intelligence should not be dominated by one country, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, urging international cooperation on development at a major conference in Shanghai.
Xi also emphasised the importance of a “people-centred” approach to AI technology in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference on Friday.
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The conference showcases the cutting-edge technology Xi hopes will soon rival that of the United States.
Chinese AI models are gaining ground on the most powerful offerings from the US, attracting global users with lower costs.
But how to govern the booming sector has become a topic of debate amid concerns over the deployment of AI in military combat and its use by hackers or criminals.
In his address, Xi spoke of China’s role in ensuring equitable access to AI capacity-building for developing countries to prevent the creation of “new historical injustices”.
To that end, he announced China’s plans to cooperate with international bodies, including from Africa, Latin America, Asia and BRICS countries, to provide AI-related opportunities.
“AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation,” Xi said. “We should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI or placing one country’s security over that of others.”
‘Ensure AI is always under human control’
The US and European Union have imposed restrictions on Chinese tech imports, citing national security concerns, while recent tussles between Washington and American AI labs have raised questions about who controls access to top technology.
In May, the US Commerce Department issued a notice affirming its restrictions on shipments of semiconductors to subsidiaries of Chinese companies located outside China amid concerns about loopholes in Washington’s export control regime.
The guidance said its licensing requirements for the export of advanced AI chips applied to all businesses with headquarters or a parent company in China.
At Friday’s conference, Xi also stressed the need for a “people-centred” approach to AI with humans at the wheel.
“We should put in place laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning, and emergency response systems, in order to … ensure AI is always under human control,” he said.
AI has become a strategic pillar of China’s industrial policy, driven by state investment aimed at building a domestic ecosystem, from chip production to consumer use.
Daily consumption in China of “tokens” – the industry unit of AI usage – has increased a thousandfold over the past two years, according to state media citing officials.
As Al Jazeera reported earlier, China, while lagging behind the US in access to the most cutting-edge semiconductors, holds the edge in powering the huge data centres that run on AI chips.
A typical data centre can consume as much electricity as 100,000 households, while next-generation “hyperscale” facilities can gobble up as much power as two million homes, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
China’s access to an abundant supply of cheap electricity places it in the ideal position to meet such colossal energy demands.
It already generates more than twice as much electricity as the US, a lead that is expected to widen amid an aggressive state-led investment in the country’s energy grid.
England scored through Anthony Gordon in the 55th minute and held the lead for half an hour.
Fernandez struck a brilliant equaliser in the 85th minute, after Messi picked him out near the edge of the penalty area.
Lautaro Martinez then won the game in stoppage time with a header from Messi’s cross.
Between Gordon’s goal and Argentina’s equaliser, England had only 12% of the ball which meant they spent most of the second half defending in deep positions.
It became a tussle of Argentina’s attack versus England’s defence, which lived a charmed life for a while.
Argentina persisted though, with Messi exploiting weaknesses in England’s structure and flaws in individual players’ habits to inspire his side’s comeback.
After getting some joy against Messi in the early stages of the game, Anderson’s front-footed approach became less effective with Messi adapting on the fly to his direct opponent’s playing style.
In fact, Messi began to use Anderson’s aggression against him. He held the ball for as long as possible, drawing the 23-year-old out, before flicking the ball around the corner for team-mates in the knowledge there was now space to attack in the zone Anderson had vacated.
LAS VEGAS — The door opened for Arthur Kaluma to show his worth for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League on Saturday night.
He did so in a big way.
Kaluma had 34 points and five rebounds during the Lakers’ 91-70 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.
He was 11 for 16 from the field and six for 10 from three-point range.
With Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr unable to play because of a right thumb contusion, Kaluma took over the scoring role. Carr, the 24th pick in the NBA draft, is averaging 17 points per game.
“Cam doesn’t play tonight, so he gets a little bit more minutes, gets a couple more touches,” said Lakers Summer League coach Ty Abbott about Kaluma. “But he’s done a really good job of making the most of it when he doesn’t have actions run for him. So the way that he’s been able to stay ready, find windows for himself has kept him in a rhythm. So, on a night like tonight, when we can run some actions for him, he knocks them down and just plays out of his mind. It was great.”
Kaluma said he was “a little nervous” but his three-point shooting said otherwise.
“When [teammate] Jon Elmore came down and he pitched it back to me for a three … I just knew when it came off my hand it was cash,” Kaluma said. “So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot.’ It went on from there.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Kaluma lined up a three-pointer, setting his feet and scoring from 29 feet out. He flashed three fingers and smiled. His teammates on the bench stood and cheered, as did the fans.
“We have such a great group of guys this year at Summer League and going through this it’s hard to get that camaraderie with a group,” Kaluma said. “But I feel like everybody wants to see everybody succeed and I felt that tonight. I’m not going to lie to you. They tell me to shoot the ball. I passed up a couple of shots and they were mad at me the other day.”
Kaluma played for the South Bay Lakers in the G League last season. He averaged 14.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and shot 55% from the field, 37% from three-point range.
“The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma said. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”
Kaluma wasn’t alone in helping the Lakers improve to 2-0 in Summer League play.
Adou Thiero ran the court, took a lob pass from Chris Mañon and threw down a two-handed dunk. He had another solid outing with 15 points and four rebounds. He shot just four for 12 from the field, but was a plus-15.
But the night belonged to Kaluma.
“I pride myself on the defensive end,” he said. “I know I got hot offensively, but the shot was just falling today, you know what I’m saying? My game is three-and-D. I lock-up on defense and I know I can hit open shots. I just got hot today and I’m not going to try to let it get to my head.”
I was in New York City with my family on the day Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce tied the knot at Madison Square Garden. Although our hotel was a few short blocks from the venue, which was surrounded by swooning fans, we managed to steer clear. Instead, we headed for the Nederlander Theatre on 41st Street to catch “Schmigadoon.”
The show, which took the Tony Award for best musical last month, was at the top of my must-see list, along with two other recent Tony winners — “Death of a Salesman” and “Giant,” — which I wasn’t sure would be as appealing to my 10-year-old.
There is a certain magic to Broadway despite the crush of commercial horrors a person must wade through in Times Square to get to a show, and “Schmigadoon” did not disappoint. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard during a live show. The jokes about a modern couple trapped in a magical town stuck more than 200 years in the past hit the mark with just the right amount of bawdy fun.
SNL alumn Ana Gasteyer is pitch perfect as the town’s vengeful moral crusader Mildred Layton, but the real hero of the show is McKenzie Kurtz, who plays Betsy, a love-hungry young farm girl desperate to catch a man and get married. Kurtz’s comic delivery is so over-the-top that laughter is the only option — and once you start laughing with her you can’t stop.
Like most Broadway musicals , “Schmigadoon” features an ensemble cast that represents the very best of the best when it comes to dancing and singing. It’s clear these actors like one another and know that they have a good thing. There is joy on the stage that transfers effortlessly to the audience. It’s one of those only-in-New-York experiences to be treasured. The show is scheduled to run through Jan. 3.
When we stepped out into the night after the show, we found it had rained. The temperature that day had reached 99 degrees and the city had wilted, but the downpour caused the mercury to plummet a good 10 degrees. The lights of Broadway sparkled in puddles as we made our way down the slick sidewalk, singing the show’s most catchy tune, “It’s not a metaphor, oh no it’s something more, it’s a literal bridge.”
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt wishing you a summer vacation that is also a journey. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
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Arts anywhere
FRIDAY
John Travolta listens for evidence which he hopes will trap a killer in Brian De Palma’s 1981 suspense drama, “Blow Out.”
(Filmways Pictures)
Blow Out The Academy Museum’s Summer Thrills series features a 35mm screening of Brian De Palma’s 1981 thriller about a movie sound tech who unwittingly uncovers a political assassination. John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow and Dennis Franz star. 7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
SATURDAY
Defiantly Joni The artist collective Muse/ique, in partnership with Center Theatre Group, presents a celebration of singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, featuring Chris Pierce, Effie Passero, the DC6 Singers Collective and the Muse/ique Orchestra led by artistic and music director Rachael Worby. 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16 and July 17; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. July 18; and 2:30 p.m. July 19. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. muse-ique.com
Installation view of Alex Hubbard Abstract or Regular? at Regen Projects, Los Angeles July 11–August 15, 2026
(Evan Bedford, courtesy the artist and Regen Projects)
Alex Hubbard The exhibition “Abstract or Regular?” features video animations projected on wood cutouts by the Los Angeles-based artist, as well as a painting that demonstrates experimentation with the boundary between representational form and abstraction. Opening, 5-7 p.m. Saturday; exhibition continues through Aug. 15. Regen Projects, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. regenprojects.com
The Shoebox Museum: A Private Immersive Experience A “narrative video game” is brought to life by theatrical and sensory vignettes that enhance the interactive audience’s examination of artifacts and memories of a past relationship. Shows begin every 30-45 minutes, 1-10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through July 26. Afterhours Theater, 5628 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood. eventbrite.com
Earnestine Phillips, from left, Cynthia Kania, Susan Angelo and Ellen Geer rehearse “Waiting in the Wings.”
(Ian Flanders)
Waiting in the Wings Noël Coward’s 1960 play about a feud between two female residents in a retirement home for actors joins “Romeo & Juliet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Treasure Island” in the Theatricum Botanicum’s repertory season. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, through Oct. 3 (check schedule for specific days and times). Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. theatricum.com
SUNDAY
Journey Through Cahuenga: Indigenous Storytelling and Dance Generations of Native narratives are expressed through music, poetry and dance. Scheduled participants include Dennis Garcia (Fernandeño-Tataviam, Chumash, and Tongva), Chad Hamill/ čnaq’ymi (Spokane), Eric Hernandez (Lumbee), and Carolyn M. Dunn, Ph.D. (Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, Seminole, Cajun, French Creole, and Tunica-Biloxi). Hosted by Tonantzín Carmelo (Tongva). An LA Soundscapes Family Concert featuring a pre-show activity and participatory artmaking. Doors open at 10 a.m. 11:30 a.m. The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., L.A. theford.com
Mahjong Social With Mahjong Mistress A full afternoon begins with a screening of the late Taiwanese American filmmaker Edward Yang’s 1996 film “Mahjong” followed by an open mahjong session for all experience levels led by Mahjong Mistress, a collective of four friends united by their love of the game and its use in fostering cultural connection and conversation. 1:30 p.m. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu
MONDAY
Hudson Hawk A 35th-anniversary 35mm screening of the 1991 Bruce Willis heist satire with director Michael Lehmann and co-screenwriter Daniel Waters; introduced by Larry Karaszewski. 7:30 p.m. Brain Dead Studios, 611 N. Fairfax Ave. studios.wearebraindead.com
TUESDAY
“Apparition, ” circa 1880–1890 by Odilon Redon. Charcoal, powdered charcoal, black chalk, and black and yellow pastel with stumping on brown paper. 20 11/16 × 14 11/16 in.
(Getty Museum)
Odilon Redon: Otherworldly Visions The exhibition includes charcoal drawings, lithographs and pastels by the French artist from the Getty’s collection, revealing the inspirations and imagination that helped create them. Through Oct. 18. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. getty.edu
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction On what would have been the actor’s 100th birthday, Vidiots welcomes the 2013 documentary’s director Sophie Huber for a screening hosted by Cherry Jones and a conversation with Logan Sparks, writer-producer of Stanton’s final film, “Lucky.” 7:30 p.m. Eagle Theatre, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd. vidiotsfoundation.org
National Museum of the Aftermath screening series The final screening in the series pairs Reginald Alan Hudlin’s 1994 sci-fi short “Space Traders: Cosmic Slop” with William Greaves’ 1968 meta-documentary hybrid “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One.” 8 p.m. Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd. oxyarts.oxy.edu
Tchaikovsky & Beethoven Cristian Măcelaru conducts the L.A. Phil for Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35” (with soloist Leonidas Kavakos on violin) and Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92.” 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
THURSDAY
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in Concert The Pacific Symphony, soprano Kaitlyn Lusk, voices/LA and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus unite under conductor Ludwig Wicki for the 25th anniversary of Howard Shore’s Academy Award-winning score, performing live as director Peter Jackson’s epic film is projected on a 60-foot screen. 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday. Peacock Theater, 777 Chick Hearn Court, downtown L.A. peacocktheater.com
Mozart & Brahms Spanish conductor Roberto González-Monjas leads the L.A. Phil on Korngold’s “Straussiana,” Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459” (with pianist Mao Fujita), and Brahms’ “Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98.” 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
— Kevin Crust
Dispatch: Remembering a master actor
Trisha Miller, from left, Josey Montana McCoy, Peter Van Norden and Dan Lin in “Misalliance” at A Noise Within.
(Craig Schwartz)
Peter Van Norden, one of Los Angeles’ most accomplished stage actors, died Wednesday at age 75. A graduate of Colgate University, he worked steadily in film and television, wracking up notable credits (“The Accused,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Murder, She Wrote”) over four decades.
But it was in the classical theater where he distinguished himself with his command of language and depth of human understanding.
He didn’t need to be cast as the star to elevate a production. His textual fluency and incisive, unfussy intelligence set a standard for his fellow company members, who might not be able to match him but couldn’t help gaining inspiration from his veteran example.
What might his Prospero be like, I wondered longingly? Later that year, he got the chance to show me in a rackety Antaeus Theatre Company revival that unfortunately failed to make the most of his poetic gifts.
He was better served by the graceful 2024 production of “Misalliance” at A Noise Within, where he played the wealthy underwear industrialist John Tarleton in a voluble comedy of ideas that proved Van Norden was as adept in crisp, rational, talky idiom of George Bernard Shaw as he was in the more supple iambic pentameter of Shakespeare.
He was slated to appear as Capt. Shotover in Antaeus’ upcoming production of “Heartbreak House,” Shaw’s masterpiece. It was a role he had long wanted to play, and I can’t imagine the part being better cast.
For his heroic service to Los Angeles theater, Van Norden received the 2024 Michael McCarty Recognition Award, honoring Los Angeles–based Actors’ Equity members who have built their lives in the theater. I remember cheering from my desk the moment the announcement landed in my email inbox. Sometimes the award gods get things right.
Van Norden, who is survived by his wife, Wendy, and his son, Robert, a film producer, inspired that kind of hearty, spontaneous, grateful applause. Whenever I saw his name in a theater program, I breathed more easily, knowing that whatever else might happen that evening I would at the very least have the pleasure and the privilege of another Van Norden master class.
— Charles McNulty
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Nael Nacer, from left, Andrea Martin and Susan Pourfar in “Meet the Cartozians” by Talene Monahon at Second Stage Theater.
(Photo: Julieta Cervantes)
Times theater critic Charles McNulty knows a good show when he sees one — but also when he reads one. And this past week he helpfully compiled a list of eight works that he’s read for award consideration — or seen outside of L.A. — that he believes deserve local productions. I’m not going to spoil it for you by listing them here, so you’ll just have to read the story.
Are you a budding artist, or even a seasoned one looking to step up your game? Times contributor Sarah Fensom put together a handy list of seven L.A. figure drawing events and classes that feature unique concepts including high fashion and nude muscle men. Find your perfect match, here.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is set to open on Sept. 22, but it announced some exciting news this week: It is giving free annual passes to its South L.A. neighbors in the 90037 ZIP code. The LM37 passes entitle holders to reserve tickets for themselves along with a guest. Tickets for non-pass holders go on sale July 21 and cost $25 for adults and $21 for seniors. Kids 17 and under are free.
On the heels of its 60th season, East West Players, the largest and longest-running Asian American theater in the country, announced its 2026-27 slate. “This season is the first chapter of East West Players’ next sixty years, a bold invitation to imagine what Asian American theater can become,” said artistic director Lily Tung Crystal in a statement. “By centering new voices, we’re not just honoring our legacy, but shaping the canon for generations to come.” The mainstage season will include the Southern California premiere of Jaclyn Backhaus’ comedy “Wives,” the Los Angeles premiere of the eponymously titled work “Kristina Wong, #Foodbankinfluencer” by the Pulitzer Prize finalist and East West Players’ New Works Festival. The group is also enticing theatergoers with new ticketing options: Pay-What-You-Will for every show and the Emerging Artist Membership, a free program for theatergoers ages 18 to 35, which guarantees $20 orchestra seats for them and a guest.
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The Smithsonian Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington.
(Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)
A new White House report calls leadership of the Smithsonian Institution radical activists who “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.” The report specifically singles out the National Museum of American History, and culture watchers fear it’s paving the way for Trump to install his own team of leaders as he did at the Kennedy Center.
Speaking of the Kennedy Center, Trump appealed a court decision to remove his name from the building’s facade, but this week an appeals court denied his request.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
We can all stop taking our kids to live-action remakes of Disney classics. Seriously. Times film critic Amy Nicholson breaks down why in this crushing review of the new live-action “Moana.”
Storied norteño group Los Tigres del Norte announced Tuesday that they are teaming up with departing L.A. Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel for a special performance Aug. 21 at the Hollywood Bowl.
The show is part of a series titled “Celebrating Gustavo at the Bowl,” which looks to send off Dudamel in style as he transitions into his new role as the music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic. The “Jaula de Oro” artist’s appearance is part of “Gustavo’s Fiesta,” which will also feature performances by other prominent Latino artists.
The norteño act has sold 37 million albums and recorded 500 songs over a career that’s spanned five decades. They have seven Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammys and have had 66 songs land on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, the most of any Latin music act ever.
Recently, the “La Puerta Negra” hitmakers were immortalized in U.S. pop culture history when its members appeared in animated form in a December 2025 episode of “The Simpsons” and performed an original corrido about the escapades of Homer Simpson and Pedro Chespirito (also known as the Bumblebee Man).
The show will serve as Dudamel’s third-to-last performance as the music and artistic director of L.A. Philharmonic. On Aug. 22, he will be in concert with Foo Fighters. His farewell weekend will conclude Aug. 23 and will serve as a benefit for his homeland of Venezuela, which suffered catastrophic losses from twin earthquakes in late June.
Donations will benefit Dudamel’s Earthquake Recovery to Support Venezuelan Communities fund, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean fund.
TALLIA Storm has shared an emotional tribute to her late father Sascha following his funeral on Wednesday and praised mum Tessa Hartmann for her strength during the difficult time.
Tallia revealed she sung at her late father Sascha’s funeralCredit: InstagramThe singer shared an emotional tribute after saying goodbye to her dad on WednesdayCredit: Instagram
Today pop star Tallia took to social media to share moments from the day as the family celebrated Sascha’s life.
She wrote: “Wednesday wasn’t just a funeral.
It was a celebration of life. Our favourite gospel choir flew in from London, Zac on the saxophone followed by Zac on keys and me singing ‘Sunny’.
“Johnnie, Kae & my amazing Mum with an incredible speech… Tessie’s strength & nothing but love across the entire church.
She told fans the emotional day was a celebration of her dad’s lifeCredit: InstagramIt comes after Tallia’s mum Tessa penned her own heartbreaking tribute to her husbandCredit: Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images
“A celebration of the greatest man we’ve ever known.The entire day felt like we were in a film, sadly, the film was a real life story.”
Tallia included a clip of her singing at the funeral, showing her performing an emotional rendition of Sunny by Bobby Hebb.
She added: “Thank you to my unbelievably amazing Mum for being so strong at a time where our worlds have shattered.”
Tessa shared her own heartbreak last month when she revealed Sascha’s passing.
She wrote: “This August we were meant to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Instead, I am organising his funeral.”
“The past 24 hours have passed in a blur. We are utterly shattered. Broken beyond anything I could ever have imagined.
“I ask, if you are able, to keep our family in your prayers as we try to find the strength to face the days ahead.
“Sascha, we loved every single part of you. Your kindness. Your laughter. Your humour. Your remarkable mind. Your music. Your beautiful piano playing. We will keep playing your songs, telling your stories, and carrying your love with us for the rest of our lives.
“Until we meet again, my love. My person. My soulmate. My best friend. The father of our four beautiful children. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift of all – our family. I will cherish that, and you, forever.”
The country will celebrate its 250th birthday Saturday, and it seems nobody quite knows how to feel about it. Being a thoughtful American in 2026 has become an art form unto itself — a balancing act two-and-a-half centuries in the making. Marking the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence requires the acceptance of a paradox so profound that it feels almost insurmountable: The great American experiment has failed; and it is also a triumph.
I’m writing this at near midnight on a muggy night in Pennsylvania — about 300 miles from Philadelphia, where in 1776 the Continental Congress adopted a document bearing one of the most famous and idealistic lines ever written: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Hundreds of years later, the course of human events has once again made it necessary for us to dissolve certain bonds, only the resulting revolution has been metaphorical and waged largely online. We have become a people pitted against one another in thought and in action. In the words we write on social media, the news we choose to consume on our siloed feeds, and the way we treat those who believe differently than we do.
How do we come together to celebrate the monumental achievement of this improbable democracy, which should be made stronger through our respectful disagreements and ability to compromise in search of a higher truth? It may be foolish to say we must lead with kindness when so much raw anger abounds, but that is all we can do. It is what we must do.
Art can help — the music, paintings, dances and plays that remind us in myriad ways that we are not alone. You’ll have access to plenty of such sustenance on this highly anticipated anniversary weekend. So if you are, like me, facing the fireworks with trepidation, find a way to lock into a favorite song, or read a poem that moves you, and the worry will pass. It always does.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt, watching the fireflies. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
SATURDAY
Richard Dreyfuss, left, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw in the 1975 movie “Jaws.”
(Universal Pictures)
Jaws Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the theater, a series of shark attacks are expected across the city Saturday afternoon as Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster screens at the Academy Museum’s David Geffen Theater (in 4K), the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre (in 35 mm) and Vidiots’ Eagle Theatre. 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org; 3 p.m. Saturday. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com; 1 and 4:30 p.m. Vidiots Eagle Theater, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Eagle Rock. vidiotsfoundation.org
TUESDAY
National Museum of the Aftermath screening series Kevin Jerome Everson and Claudrena N. Harolds’ short film “Foosball: U. of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 1976” (2013), inspired by a photograph of two students playing a game, examines Black life at UVA; and Andrea Fraser’s feature documentary “This meeting is being recorded” (2022) gathers a group of a self-identifying white women to discuss unconscious racism and their own roles in white supremacy. 6 p.m. Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd. oxyarts.oxy.edu
WEDNESDAY
Brian Quijada, left, and Nygel D. Robinson in “Mexodus.”
(Thomas Mundell)
Mexodus Direct from an award-winning off-Broadway run, this new musical created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson illuminates a lesser-known fork of the Underground Railroad, one that branched south across the Rio Grande. Previews, 8 p.m. Wednesday, 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. July 10, 2 and 8 p.m. July 11; continues through Aug. 2. Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave. pasadenaplayhouse.org
New Swan Shakespeare Festival.
(New Swan Shakespeare Festival)
New Swan Shakespeare Festival The annual summer-long event, featuring professional theater artists, UC Irvine alums, current graduate and undergraduate drama students and faculty, returns for another repertory season of classics under the stars at its intimate, 130-seat, portable, mini-Elizabethan space. “Romeo & Juliet,” directed by Rachael VanWormer, resets the tragic romance to the American Dust Bowl; “The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,” adapted by Anna Fitzgerald & Eli Simon, with music by Zachary Dietz and directed by founding Artistic Director Eli Simon, brings the rollicking comedy to a 1950s SoCal surf town, powered by a live skiffle band. “Romeo & Juliet,” 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and various dates through Aug. 29. “Merry Wives,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, and various dates through Aug. 30. UC Irvine campus, 4000 Campus Drive. newswanshakespeare.com
Wilkins Conducts Bernstein & Ellington Thomas Wilkins guides the L.A. Philharmonic in a program of classical Americana featuring selections from Valerie Coleman, William Grant Still, a newly arranged song cycle from Shaina Taub’s Broadway hit “Suffs,” Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington. 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
Zoot Suit Join writer-director Luis Valdez and star Edward James Olmos for a 45th anniversary screening of the film, an adaptation of Valdez’s groundbreaking play, the truly L.A. story of the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon case and Zoot Suit Riots. Audiences are encouraged to come in costume and arrive early for the “Pachuco Boogie!” Produced in partnership with the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Self Help Graphics and Pachuco Car Club. 8 p.m. The Ford Ampitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East. theford.com
THURSDAY
Randal Goosby.
(L.A. Phil)
The Classical World Cup Tito Muñoz conducts the L.A. Phil in a salute to “the beautiful game” (soccer to Americans) with works spanning the Americas by Alberto Ginastera, Samuel Barber (with Randal Goosby on violin), Silvestre Revueltas and Aaron Copland; plus the world premiere of “The Art of the Goal,” an original mixed-media concept film by director Josh Kahn and composer Adam Schoenberg. Commissioned by the L.A. Phil, the piece blends footage of elite training and match play featuring the Los Angeles Football Club with orchestral music. 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
The SoCal scene
(Matt Chase / For The Times)
Celebrations for the country’s 250th birthday have been muted thus far (at least compared to the bicentennial 50 years ago), but our Entertainment and Arts team noted the moment by examining the ways the artists we cover have interpreted the nation’s complex history. Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that a “cohort of playwrights, breathtakingly diverse demographically as well as aesthetically, has been rejuvenating American theater.” Contributor Shana Nys Dambrot looked to local museums and identified nine works of art “exploring and expounding upon, in celebration and critique, what it means and what it feels like to be an American.” Times classical music critic Mark Swed compared the artistic and institutional responses of 2026 to the past, lamenting that “None of this comes close to comparing with the attempted civic zest of 1976.” Check out the rest of the collection of stories and essays, including Mary McNamara’s column reminding us that even in troubled times 250 years is worth celebrating because “the Constitution was written ‘in order to form a more perfect union.’ Not ‘perfect,’ but ‘more perfect.’ As in better,” and a list of 10 essential movies that capture crucible moments in U.S. history; find out what Times pop music critic Mikael Wood calls the “quintessential American song,” and which books are being read in L.A. high schools and which classics remain relevant.
Carene Rose Mekertichyan , left, and Brent Charles in “Coriolanus” at the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival.
(Grettel Cortes)
It’s summer and that means that outdoor theater is upon us and McNulty reviewed the Independent Shakespeare Co.’s Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival production of “Coriolanus.” “It’s hard to love ‘Coriolanus,’ but it’s equally hard not to be impressed by its ambition, originality and dramatic rigor,” wrote McNulty. This “production isn’t going to win awards for subtlety, but the storytelling is crisp and vivid. And even those unfamiliar with the tale — the vast majority of attendees, in all likelihood — should find it engrossing.”
It’s hard to believe that the ABBA jukebox musical “Mamma Mia!” premiered 25 years ago. Times staff writer Eloise Rollins-Fife went backstage at the Ahmanson Theatre to visit with the behind-the-scenes crew who put so much joy into the sequin-bedazzled extravaganza on display in the show’s anniversary tour — many of whom worked on the original production and tours.
Hollywood set painters whose work in the Tinseltown dream machine often went overlooked and uncredited are getting their due in “Staging California in Early Hollywood” at the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa. Times staff writer Julius Miller spoke with museum director Kathryn Kanjo and assistant curator Michaëla Mohrmann about the institution’s first exhibition since UC Irvine acquired OCMA last September and Kanjo’s appointment in December.
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Rosalie Tucker, executive director of Pieter Performance Space (standing left); Andrew Pearson of Bodies in Play (second from left); Lena Martin (second from right) and Mandolin Burns (right) of Crawlspace; Dani Burd of Indigo Dance Company (bottom left); and Adie San Diego (bottom right).
The Centre Theatre Group announced that a world tour of the acclaimed stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning animated film “Spirited Away” will open the Ahmanson Theare’s 2027-28 season. “We are honored to bring the wonder of ‘Spirited Away’ to the Ahmanson Theatre for an exclusive US engagement, offering our community the gift of experiencing one of the most cherished stories of our time, reimagined for the stage in a once-in-a-generation theatrical experience,” said Douglas C. Baker, Center Theatre Group producing director, in a statement. The production, from Toho Co., will open at the National Theater in Taipei on Dec. 16, before continuing on a national tour of Japan from March-August 2027, followed by stops at the Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto (May-August 2027), and the Ahmanson (September–October 2027). The tour will conclude with a return to the London Coliseum (March-July 2028), where it had its European premiere in 2024 following a sold-out tour of Japan in 2022. Casting will be announced at a later date.
The British theater lost two stalwarts this week. Penelope Keith, best known for the sitcoms “The Good Life,” which aired on PBS in the U.S. as “Good Neighbors,” and “To the Manor Born,” has died at age 86. Keith joined the Royal Shakespeare Co. in 1963, won a BAFTA Award in 1977 for “The Good Life” and continued her stage career into her 80s. The New York Times reported that Michael Byrne, a noted actor of stage and screen, also died this week at 86. Byrne created the role of the suspected torturer Dr. Miranda in the premiere production of Ariel Dorfman’s 1991 play “Death and the Maiden” in London. Other notable theater roles were with Siân Phillips in “Juliet and Her Romeo,” Polonius in “Hamlet,” Cassius in “Julius Caesar” and Prince Hal in “Henry IV.” The actor also appeared in films such as “Force 10 from Navarone,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Braveheart,” “Gangs of New York” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.”
— Kevin Crust
And last but not least
If pyrotechnics (or drone shows!) are your thing and you’d like to celebrate the Fourth of July with a bang, Times staff writer Christopher Buchanan compiled 52 places and favorite spots to watch the festivities in Southern California.
Roki Sasaki’s abysmal appearance faded away in the Dodgers’ 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres after Los Angeles rose from a catatonic first inning. The Dodgers roared back from a 6-0 deficit as Andy Pages skirted a tying double down the left-field line, and Mookie Betts and Max Muncy each drove in runs to give them the lead in a four-run fourth inning. All of which sent the sellout crowd into jubilant celebrations, some jumping, others breaking out World Cup chants.
“I don’t know,” manager Dave Roberts said of the team’s ability to turn the game around. “Thankfully, it played out the way I didn’t expect, or the way it started.”
By the time the game ended, Sasaki’s three-inning start seemed like a murky nightmare the Dodgers awoke from in a sweat. Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.
The problem with Sasaki isn’t his stuff. On his best nights, when the velocity and command combine, Sasaki blows past batters with a triple-digit fastball and cutting off-speed pitches. The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.
Sasaki’s June swoon, impervious to the calendar change, continued into Thursday’s series opener against the Padres, in which the right-hander gave up three home runs and seven hits before Roberts called it quits going into the fourth inning.
“They were on everything,” Roberts said. “You could see it.”
One possible concern? Tipping pitches. While Roberts and catcher Dalton Rushing said the team would need to do some more research into Sasaki’s start, both left the door open to this answer.
“That would be a big explanation as to how they felt like they were on every pitch,” Rushing said.
As San Diego chugged through its lineup, Sasaki struggled to keep up. With his first pitch, he gave up a double to Fernando Tatis Jr., who scored on Manny Machado’s home run that left center fielder Pages staring at the ball’s path as it plopped down on the other side of the blue outfield fence.
The inning was only a preview of the Padres’ power. Each of the nine San Diego batters got his chance against Sasaki in the second, and the team quickly dug the Dodgers into a six-run hole. He surrendered two home runs in the second inning. First, Jackson Merrill blasted a ball to left-center field, and, two outs later, Jake Cronenworth drove in two runs with a shot to right-center.
Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo that he felt like he needed work on his command to improve, but he felt like his fastball was good.
Roki Sasaki has his head down after giving up a solo homer to Jackson Merrill in the second inning.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t think my stuff was bad today,” Sasaki said. “Overall, it wasn’t great but a lot of things evolved.”
Part of Sasaki’s issue lies with his approach. Roberts said he wants the second-year pitcher to be aggressive, to play the cat-and-mouse game required to beat batters in the box. But when given the opportunity, Sasaki has shrunken in recent outings, struggling with his command and his ability to pitch deep into games.
“We had a great May, so let’s just get back to competing and making pitches,” Roberts said.
When reliever Will Klein walked out to the mound in the fourth to the aggressive, rambunctious clamor of the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” and collected two scoreless, one-hit innings, the relief was immediate: The Dodgers took the lead.
The lineup already was revving, as Dalton Rushing homered in the second inning while Sasaki was still in the game, and both Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy drove in runs in the third, cutting the deficit to two. The Dodgers broke through against the Padres’ bullpen to score six runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
“The bullpen was fantastic tonight, and then the offense came up big,” Roberts said.
A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall. A combined effort by Paul Gervase and Tanner Scott shut down San Diego’s ninth-inning momentum after it pushed across a run.
“Turned back around, was able to find the ball and make a really good catch right there,” Tucker said. “That was a huge out.”
The Dodgers (57-31) beat their division rivals for the fifth time in seven games to open a 13-game lead over both San Diego and Arizona. The Padres, meanwhile, have given up 65 runs over the last six days, the most in such a span in franchise history.
But San Diego’s flaws don’t negate the Dodgers’ as they burned through six relievers in their win. So, while the Dodgers crawled out of the hole with a season-high 17 hits, the steep cost heightens the pressure on the rest of the rotation the rest of the series.
Former LakersMalik Beasley and Ed Davis were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and bribery in sporting contests by federal prosecutors in a sweeping indictment that included four other co-conspirators.
Both played one season with the Lakers during long careers, Beasley in 2022-23 and Davis in 2014-15.
According to the indictment, Beasley illegally manipulated his performance to ensure gamblers won prop bets two years before he played for the Lakers and one year after.
Davis — described in the indictment as Beasley’s “gatekeeper” — allegedly collaborated to manipulate Beasley’s performance when they were Minnesota Timberwolves teammates during the 2020-21 season and did so again four times during the 2023-24 season while Beasley was with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The illegal activity allegedly began during a Jan. 26, 2024 game between the Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. Beasley averaged 11.3 points that season and 11.7 during his career, but scored three points in that game.
In total, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly placed fraudulent wagers totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars on Beasley’s fixed performances.
Also indicted were NBA player agent Paolo Zamorano, William Brown, Robert Gorodetsky and Ernesto Plascencia. They are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, bribery in sporting contests and money laundering conspiracy for allegedly bribing Beasley to manipulate his performance. Zamorano was Davis’ agent.
Several of the defendants were arrested Monday.
“As alleged, the defendants turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation, bribing then-NBA player Malik Beasley to fix his performance in multiple games in order to place fraudulent wagers, enrich themselves and cheat legitimate sportsbooks,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “Bribery and insider betting schemes like this one involving former NBA players and a current NBA player agent who exploited inside NBA information for profit erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public.”
Beasley, 29, has been under investigation for more than a year and sat out the 2025-26 season. The Detroit Pistons offered him a three-year, $42-million contract last offseason but rescinded it when informed by authorities that the nine-year veteran was suspected of participating in the illegal gambling scheme.
At first glance, neither player seemed to be vulnerable to bribes from gamblers. Beasley has made $59.2 million during his career, including a career-high $15.6 million with the Lakers. He averaged 11.1 points in 26 games that season.
Davis, 37, played for eight teams in 12 seasons before retiring in 2022 having made $47.2 million.
However, prosecutors allege that Beasley borrowed substantial sums from Davis to pay off gambling debts and attempted to repay him through the illegal activity. A year ago Beasley was successfully sued by his former agency for $2.5 million over a contract dispute. He also was sued for $6 million by South River Capital, a company that specializes in making loans to athletes.
“These defendants allegedly operated an illegal betting ring in an attempt to unlawfully earn hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said James C. Barnacle Jr., FBI Assistant Director in Charge. “As alleged, Malik Beasley allowed himself to be bought and altered his game-time performance to line pockets of Ed Davis and his other co-conspirators.”
Prosecutors also allege Beasley rigged his performance during three games with the Bucks in 2024 — a Feb. 27 game against the Charlotte Hornets, a March 10 game against the Clippers and a March 21 game against the Brooklyn Nets.
Five current or former NBA players have been indicted as part of the FBI investigation into illegal sports gambling and insider information trading. Veteran guard Terry Rozier is facing four charges, while former Lakers assistant coach Damon Jones and former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter have pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The expansive gambling indictment also ensnared Hall of Fame player Chauncey Billups and several organized crime figures.
Sir Rod Stewart’s Glastonbury 2025 performance was rebroadcast on the BBC on Saturday night
The BBC has aired a repeat of Rod’s Glastonbury performance(Image: Getty)
Singer Sir Rod Stewart left BBC viewers distracted just minutes into his performance.
Sir Rod’s Glastonbury performance, originally broadcast in 2025, was reshown on Saturday evening. In a repeat episode of Rod Stewart at Glastonbury, audiences watched the rock legend once more commanding the Pyramid Stage on the festival’s closing day at Worthy Farm in 2025.
One delighted viewer commented on X at the time: “80 years old. Just feel good throughout. What a star,” while another declared, “Rod Stewart still looks great at the age of 80. He’s still got it.”
Another admirer gushed: “All those eyes on Rod. He looks fabulous for his age.”
One supporter commented, “He deserves that crowd after all these years,” as another enthused, “Sir Rod Stewart… phenomenal! 80 years old and had us all in rapture. Best there is,” the Express reports.
Someone else continued, ” Wait – Rod Stewart 80, Ronnie Wood – 76, Lulu 76, thanks and massive respect for you all. Shows age is a number, but talent…. ageless.”
Back in 2025, Rod shared his enthusiasm ahead of Glastonbury and told Radio Times, “I’m really looking forward to it. And it is a different gig, it’s like when you’re playing a cup final, you’re trying to treat it like another game. But, of course, it’s not. It’s special. It’ll be glamorous, it’ll be sexy.
“And we’ve got a little orchestra coming on to play with us. And we may have some bagpipes.”
More recently, Rod has been forced to withdraw from several performances due to health issues. This week, Rod was also spotted with an oxygen tank, prompting worry amongst fans.
His wife, Penny Lancaster, said during an appearance on Loose Women that it “looked a lot scarier than it really was”. She told her co-stars, “He had to cancel a couple of shows prior to that because of a respiratory infection.
“He was recovering and well enough to perform. But he wasn’t aware that Salt Lake City, where he was performing, was way above sea level. So the altitude levels, just for your regular person, is a challenge. If you’re not acclimatised, like sportsmen would arrive before an event, a week before to acclimatise.”
She added, “Rod just flew in on the day of the show, wasn’t aware of this particular altitude. So he was already down on his juice because of recovering from his respiratory infection. And then he was also down another 17% of oxygen because of the altitude. So when he’s on stage, and of course, his two-hour show involves him running around, he doesn’t sit still for a minute, it suddenly hit him.
“But there are oxygen tanks at these particular shows for that reason, because even the young ones, if they’ve had a late night out before a show, they can suffer, and they do.”
Rod Stewart at Glastonbury 2025 is available to watch on BBCiPlayer.
Appearing as the amoral daughter of Joan Crawford at only age 17, Blyth’s short film career saw her work with many top stars of Hollywood’s classic era.
As summer heats up alongside the exhausting news cycle, it’s crucial to find ways to unplug and wind down. Golden Hour in the newly renovated sculpture garden at the Norton Simon Museum is just the thing. Taking place tonight (Friday), and on two more Fridays this season (July 31 and Aug. 28), the event lasts from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and features a different musical group each time.
Tonight is the Verbena Quartet; a North Indian ensemble and a jazz trio are upcoming.
The fun is free with museum admission, and guests are encouraged to bring blankets to relax in the grass. I took my family of four to a recent event and it proved to be the rare occurrence when both the 10-year-old and the 17-year-old were happy. The museum provides all kinds of great art supplies on a big table by the entrance, including sketch paper, clipboards, colored pencils and charcoal drawing utensils.
There are also sheets of paper encouraging creative ways to approach drawing various sculptures in the garden, alongside a family-friendly Golden Hour bingo card with squares including “Spot something framed by tree branches” and “Look at the space between two objects.”
I did some drawing with my toes in the grass while my kiddos curved their necks over their own mini masterpieces. My husband read a book. The sun slanted low as the afternoon melted into early evening, casting lovely shadows on the families, couples, friend groups and solitary artists scattered around the garden sipping wine and snacking on cheese and crackers from the nearby cafe.
When we had our fill of relaxing, we ambled into the museum. My daughter wanted to gaze at the Picassos and the Van Goghs. As did I. I never don’t cry when I look at “The Mulberry Tree.”
“Can you imagine what he was thinking?” I asked my 10-year-old as we regarded the painting. “The pain and the beauty of it?”
She nodded sagely, gently smoothing her thumb against her own recent drawing, her deep inner world a mystery to me. The beauty and the pain of it. I was glad we had cuddled together in the late afternoon sunshine.
I’m arts editor Jessica Gelt, wishing you and your loved ones peace. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Antigone The Bebelos Players present a back-to-basics production of Sophocles’ classic drama about a young woman who defies a king to honor her dead brother. 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Theosophy Hall, 245 W. 33rd St. eventbrite.com
“Horse,” by Rick Bartow, 2014, wood, tar, wax, false teeth, nails. 56 x 42 x 12 in.
(Yubo Dong, ofstudio)
Rick Bartow Last chance to catch “All of these things have happened,” an exhibition of works on paper by the late Native American artist that touch on tragedies from throughout his life, as well as “Horse,” a 2014 sculpture covered in tar, wax, false teeth and nails that is “a study of sustained resilience.” Noon-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday (last day). Timothy Hawkinson Gallery, 7424 Beverly Blvd. timothyhawkinsongallery.com
Spencer Finch “Balboa of House and Garden,” composed entirely of new work, is the artist’s first exhibition in Los Angeles. The show includes more than 50 unique works on paper, a site-specific skylight installation and a monumental outdoor sculpture. Finch’s “Memory Landscape (Nairobi, Chicago, Honolulu, Jakarta),” 2025, a commissioned tile wall mural inspired by places from President Barack Obama’s formative years, was recently installed at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Opening, 6-8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Aug. 22. Lisson, 1037 N. Sycamore Ave. lissongallery.com
Bodo Mato The pseudonymous multidisciplinary artist uses a subconscious dreamworld to access a legendary lost city to find real-world parallels in the exhibition “Atlantis: Echoes of Hubris.” Opening reception, 6-10 p.m. Friday. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Tuesday. 7811 Gallery (West), 7813 Melrose Ave. 7811gallery.com
Raymond Saunders, “Layers of Being,” 1985. Mixed media on canvas, 81 x 59 15/16 x 1 in.
Raymond Saunders “Flowers From a Black Garden” is a career-spanning look at the painter (1934-2025) as he moved from Dada, expressionism and assemblage to Fluxus, Pop and postmodernism, beginning in the 1960s. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, through Jan. 3. UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. langson.uci.edu
SATURDAY
Chrysalis prototypes deployed in Joshua Tree, 1970, reproduction.
(Chrysalis Corporation)
Alternative Palm Springs: Other Desert Architectures In some parallel reality there may exist a Coachella Valley unlike anything you’ve ever imagined. In lieu of that, this exhibition shares the unbuilt visions of prominent architects, off-grid designs of the counterculture, and private and public worlds created by the LGBTQ+ during the 20th century, yielding an expanded view of the area’s architectural ambitions. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday; noon-8 p.m. Thursday; through Jan. 4; closed June 26 and July 4. Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion, 300 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. psmuseum.org
Declarations of Independence Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and guest artist Justin Tranter celebrate national and individual freedom and pride for America’s 250th anniversary. 7 p.m. Saturday; 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. gmcla.org/declarations
A Great Night in Hip-Hop The Roots return for their third year at the Bowl, joined by Nas, with appearances from T.I., Bun B, De La Soul and more. 7:30 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
Rota Fortunae A one-night-only experimental opera featuring Jordan Slaffey reimagines the four women of the 1996 crime thriller “Set It Off” using movement, live music and fashion. Directed by Chris Emile, music by composer and DJ Cody Perkins and designs by James Flemons. 7:30 p.m. Indoor Swap Meet, 128 S. La Brea Ave., Inglewood. eventbrite.com
Peter Stampfel An innovator of anti-folk, freak-folk and psych-folk, the 87-year-old co-founder of the Holy Modal Rounders makes a rare West Coast appearance. 8 p.m. McCabe’s Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. mccabes.com
THURSDAY
Ojai Film Society Summer Screening Series Annual presentation of independent, foreign, documentary, critically acclaimed and classic films kicks off Thursday with Taika Waititi’s 2016 adventure comedy “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” starring Sam Neill. Other screenings: “Selena Y Los Dinos” (July 10); “Cookie Queens” (July 17); “Best in Show” (July 24); “Arrival” (Aug. 20); and “Jurassic Park” (Aug. 27). 7:30 p.m. Thursday; various dates through Aug. 27. Libbey Bowl, 210 S. Signal St., Ojai. ojaifilmsociety.org
Tank and the Bangas The Grammy-winning New Orleans music group shares its signature blend of funk, soul, hip-hop, rock and spoken word. Featuring an opening set by Butter Funk Family and DJ sets by Tosstones. 7 p.m. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. skirball.org
Arts anywhere
Meryl Streep, from left, and Amanda Seyfried, Rachel McDowall and Ashley Lilley in the 2008 movie version of “Mamma Mia!”
(Peter Mountain / Universal Pictures)
Broadway unbound
Two of the biggest hit musicals ever are in town simultaneously starting this week — “Mamma Mia!” is at the Ahmanson through July 19 and “Phantom of the Opera” plays the Hollywood Pantages through Aug. 9. If you want to bone up beforehand or relive the hits after you’ve been to the theater, the cinematic adaptations of both are widely available. The 2008 movie version of “Mamma Mia!” starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried streams on Prime through the end of June and the 2004 “Phantom” with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum is streaming on Prime and Apple TV. Both films are available to rent or buy on various platforms and, if you’re into physical media, relatively inexpensive Blu-ray and DVD versions can be had online. Public libraries are also great resources for arts-related content.
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Passengers wait to board the first train to arrive at the Metro D Line at the Wilshire/Fairfax Station in Los Angeles on May 8, 2026.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
With the new Metro D Line subway extension up-and-running with new stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega, we asked architecture writer Sam Lubell to take an aesthetic look at these new displays of public art. “Suddenly the city feels different. Not transformed, exactly. But more connected,” wrote Lubell. “The fracturing grip of the city’s incomprehensible expanses, clogged arteries and stagnant governance — all intimidating barriers to healthy civic life — feels a little looser. … The stations, too, feel more connected, with art, architecture and infrastructure blending seamlessly into a cohesive experience … But above ground, it’s a tale of two (transit) cities. Outdoor plazas lack the kind of textured civic presence that’s been created below.”
The Hollywood Bowl opened its summer season with a lavish production, “The Best of Broadway,” starring Lea Salonga, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Darren Criss, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Halle Bailey, and hosted by Billy Crystal. The program including a selection of Broadway tunes old and new, was delivered with flair to an appreciative audience. “I had a lovely time,” reports Times theater critic Charles McNulty, “but I can’t say the concert lived up to its title. Not that impressive virtuosity wasn’t on display, but Broadway is truly at its best when musical numbers are embedded in a story, allowing the performers to feed off each other and reach heights that they might not be able to reach on their own. Too much of the bill required the actors to stand and deliver, ‘American Idol’-style. It was a little unfair to place such a heavy burden on them.”
McNulty also reviewed the Geffen Playhouse’s Los Angeles premiere of Pearl Cleage’s “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous,” about an American expat actor angling for her big comeback. The play, wrote McNulty, “is hamstrung with exposition. More time is devoted to setting up the dramatic situation than to activating it. … The intentions are noble and the themes are handled with admirable complexity, but the writing is sluggish. The plot is like an old car whose engine just refuses to start on a cold winter morning.”
After 20 years as LA Opera Music Director James Conlon will step down.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The final show of L.A. Opera’s production “Marriage of Figaro” last Sunday also marked the end of James Conlon’s tenure at the podium as the organization’s music director. Stepping down after 20 years, Conlon spoke to Times classical music critic Mark Swed. “I love L.A. and I’m not going to leave,” said Conlon. “I am absolutely happy at this point in my life. You know my age is 76. It is not a secret. I wear it proudly. But I’ve been a music director for 47 years, and I don’t want to be a music director any longer. I will still conduct.” Will he return regularly to L.A. Opera? “That’s the theory,” he said
Another maestro who can’t quit L.A. is Esa-Pekka Salonen. Last weekend, the beloved composer and conductor, who is back with the L.A. Phil as creative director, returned to the Ojai Music Festival after a quarter-century absence. “Salonen found renewal not from the desperation of rethinking but from freshening, illuminating the perception of exceptional young musicians first encountering greatness,” wrote Swed in his review of the four days. “In these uncertain times, that may be the most remarkable act of artistic optimism.”
Spanish artist Nieves Gonzalez stands next to one of her paintings that is part of her solo show at the Richard Heller Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica on June 18, 2026.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Not yet 30, Spanish painter Nieves González is a burgeoning international art star with an exhibition at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica. “Fashion inspires me,” she told writer Jane Horowitz in a recent interview. “Just as 17th century artists drew inspiration from the fashion of their day — often creating paintings that served as catalogs of current styles — I do the same. The goal is to not merely convey a specific message or ideology but to create a testament to a generation and the era in which we live.”
“California Gothic: A Bus Tour,” an avant-garde sightseeing event organized by the New Theater Hollywood, turns Tinseltown “into a stage, drawing locals for a mash-up of state history, gothic storytelling and public-intellectual riffing on the broken California dream,” wrote Times staff writer Eloise Rollins-Fife. The tour ended its latest run in mid-June, but will reopen during the last week of October for a special “ghost tour” edition.
Times columnist Patt Morrison reported from the City of Lights on Paris-born street artist JR’s “La Caverne du Pont Neuf,” which she describes as “an enormous art installation, a trompe l’oeil inflatable snow-clad mountain range … an homage to the innovative work of groundbreaking environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.” The work uses about 200,000 square feet of printed fabric on the city’s oldest bridge to create the illusion and the artist told Morrison, “Your eye wants to believe it, and for a moment you let yourself. That gap between knowing and believing is where the play happens, and people love being inside that gap.”
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Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Assn., displays a newly-acquired suite of four interrelated paintings by Norman Rockwell titled, “So You Want to See the President!” at the association’s offices Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Washington.
(John McDonnell / Associated Press)
In the 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent time in the visitor’s lobby of the White House sketching U.S. senators, members of the military, the press and a Miss America as they awaited entry into the Oval Office to see President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Eight decades later, four of the sketches have been acquired by the White House Historical Assn. for $7 million, according to the Associated Press. Titled “So You Want to See the President!” the sketches will be on public display through June 2027 at the historical association’s “The People’s House” education center near the White House.
It was a busy week for announcing some of this fall and winter’s Broadway openings. Lincoln Center Theater’s Vivian Beaumont will host a revival of Aaron Sorkin’s “A Few Good Men,” starring Bradley Whitford and Tom Blyth, directed by six-time Tony winner Michael Arlen, starting Oct. 8. In March 2027, LCT Artistic Director Lear deBessonet will helm a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” for its first Broadway run in nearly 30 years. A revival of Richard Greenberg’s “Three Days of Rain” lands in February 2027 at a Shubert Organization-owned theater to be announced with Anna D. Shapiro directing. The cast will include “Heated Rivalry’s” François Arnaud and David Corenswet of “Superman” in their Broadway debuts, joined by Yvonne Strahovski of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The play was previously on Broadway in 2006 with Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Walter Hill’s 1979 gang saga “The Warriors” will make the leap from screen to stage as a musical, with a book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis. Previews begin at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in March 2027 with an opening slated for April. Jenny Koons will direct.
Bailey Zimmerman is apologizing after a warrant for the country singer’s arrest was issued following an incident at a New Mexico hotel.
Last week, an arrest warrant was issued in Bernalillo County for Zimmerman, who’s facing a felony charge of criminal damage to property and a misdemeanor charge of falsely obtaining services after the “Holy Smokes” singer allegedly caused more than $16,000 worth of damage to a room at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque.
The 26-year-old country singer was scheduled to perform at the resort May 27 and 30 but abruptly canceled the show the day of the performance.
“I have not been feeling well and have tried to power through, but I’m not able to give you all the show you deserve,” Zimmerman wrote on Instagram at the time.
According to an affidavit reviewed by People, hours before the singer was slated to perform, he appeared inebriated and volatile during a sound check.
The document alleged Zimmerman stumbled onto the stage around 4:30 p.m., smashed a guitar on the ground, threw cymbals, kicked a drum set, pushed a guitarist and threw a microphone before he stormed offstage. At one point, he tripped and fell backward.
The affidavit further alleged that the country singer “spit toward a Sandia security officer standing nearby.”
A representative for Zimmerman emailed The Times a statement on Tuesday.
“First things first, I want to apologize to the Pueblo of Sandia and to everyone at Sandia Resort & Casino. I never meant for any of this to come across as disrespectful. I am deeply sorry for my actions that transpired. I respect your community and the hospitality and appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to perform on Native Land. I take full accountability for everything that happened and I am sorry to anyone who feels hurt or disrespected,” the statement read.
“To my fans who bought tickets and showed up expecting a performance, I am so sorry, you deserved better from me,” the statement continued. “I understand that being a musician comes with big responsibilities, both on and off stage, and I know that I fell short that day. I am reflecting on the disappointment and concern that I caused.”
Zimmerman wrote that he was taking the legal matter seriously and was committed to doing the “work necessary to learn and grow.”
“Thank you to my fans for holding me accountable and for understanding that I am human. I do not take your support for granted,” the statement added.
In “Rheology,” Shayok Misha Chowdhury, an experimental theater artist, and his mother, Bulbul Chakraborty, a theoretical physicist, bridge the language of their different disciplines to explore a subject dear to both of them: loss.
Chowdhury, author of the play “Public Obscenities,” a 2024 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and the director of the sensational off-Broadway production of Jordan Tannahill’s “Prince Faggot,” is as tenderly devoted to his mother as the young Marcel was to his own in Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.” The idea of his mother dying is insupportable to Chowdhury, but given that she’s in her 70s and he’s in his 40s, certain terrifying realities must be faced.
“Rheology,” which is receiving its West Coast premiere at REDCAT (in a brief run ending Saturday), is the piece they’ve created to prepare Chowdhury for that fateful day. This strikingly staged Bushwick Starr, HERE Arts Center and Ma-Yi Theater Company production is an interdisciplinary experiment that is as playful in its methodology as it is serious in its research aims.
Chakraborty, a professor at Brandeis University, starts off with a physics lesson. Her subject is sand, and she poses a simple question: Is the sand pouring through the hourglass sitting on the counter before her a liquid or a solid?
A charismatic teacher, she knows how to Socratically engage a room. Her welcoming manner draws out from the audience the different ways sand behaves both like a solid and like a liquid.
Shayok Misha Chowdhury, in rear, and Bulbul Chakraborty in “Rheology” at REDCAT.
(Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater [REDCAT])
Rheology, or the science of how a substance responds to external stress, is her chief interest. Her research, focused on soft condensed matter, has been seeking a comprehensive theory to explain the curious elasticity of such material. A photo of a sand dune, in which she’s seated alongside Chowdhury as a toddler, helps illustrate her point that sand can flow like a liquid yet retain its shape like a solid.
An onstage sandbox is more than just another visual accompaniment to her talk. It’s a source of both elemental mystery and childlike wonder. But elucidation is her motive. She enters the box with her bare feet, noting the way the sand flows around her toes yet supports her weight in observation of the rule that “every grain has to be in force balance.”
She writes equations on the board to explain these findings, equations that begin to glow as the production moves from the realm of pure science to the more slippery domain of art. The transition, like all aspects of this piece, is frolicsomely conducted.
While pouring sand from one container to another, Chakraborty appears to be overcome with dust. For a moment, it’s not clear if this is part of the show or a medical incident until Chowdhury, discreetly occupying a seat in the audience, asserts himself as the director. He asks his mother to run through the death scene with a different sequence of movements and introduces the accompaniment of George Crotty on cello to liberate her performance.
They are rehearsing not so much Chakraborty’s end but Chowdhury’s reaction. He assumes he will fall apart and vows to die himself out of heartbreak. Chakraborty wants him to carry on his work, just as she carried on her research as a mother with a young son who would wail uncontrollably when she would drop him off at daycare.
She recounts that his emotional outbursts were so extreme that it was painful leaving him behind. But she was assured that he was handling the separation. For proof, she was taken into a private teacher’s room, where through a one-way mirror she saw him compose himself shortly after her departure and start to play with the other children.
Mother and son enact a similar situation where, after a more permanent leave-taking, she can catch a glimpse of her son recovering himself sufficiently to survive her loss. Chowdhury, a queer artist who enjoys sampling performance modes, adopts the figure of the grieving Bollywood widow. The effect isn’t to lampoon but to confront his raw emotion and to test his capacity for resilience.
The experiment might sound sentimental, but Chakraborty, the production’s secret weapon, maintains a scientific restraint, albeit one suffused with maternal anguish. The way she listens to her son, takes in his feelings, gently suggests other possibilities of response and treats his experimental theater piece with the same dignity as her own research is incredibly moving to witness. Her performance won an Obie Award, and though she insists that she’s not an actor she demonstrates a sincerity and collaborative grace that many veteran performers would envy.
As it unfolds, “Rheology” can seem piecemeal, even haphazard. There’s an informality built into the production, but it’s somewhat deceptive because the mercurial staging is extremely precise. Chowdhury’s direction has visual panache. Kameron Neal’s video design transforms Krit Robinson’s part lab, part lecture hall set into something kaleidoscopic.
When mother and son sing songs from the famous cycle by Bengali writer-composer and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore or hold a deathbed conversation in Bangla, the piece spins further across time and space. Empiricism gives way to surrealism. But the world, as any scientist probing into the atomic level can attest, contains more secrets than meets the eye.
Fragile matter is Chakraborty’s specialty, and her expertise is put to novel use in shoring up her son’s tender heart.
Tomorrow marks the start of Emmy nominations voting, and we’re marking the occasion with with not one but two issues this week.which means twices as many series, and stories, to catch up with. So let’s get to it!
Cover stories
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
It’s rare for an awards roundtable to spark a real debate, but the thoughtful group of actors to appear on our 2026 Emmy Drama Roundtable — Katherine LaNasa (The Pitt”), Billy Magnussen (“The Audacity”), Zahn McClarnon (“Dark Winds”), Tom Pelphrey (“Task”), Michelle Pfeiffer (“The Madison”) and Karolina Wydra (“Pluribus”) — captured my attention with their layered conversation about runaway production.
Considering the economic boon Hollywood has brought to popular shooting locales like Atlanta and New Mexico, the dire consequences for the L.A. film industry and the increasing threat from production zones overseas, the group didn’t agree on one diagnosis, much less solution, to the problem. But in their conversation, these top names in the industry all showed deep concern about what such changes mean for showbiz’s shrinking middle class. “Our crew doesn’t get to go — the people that we know that we need, that we work with, that we make these things with,” as Pelphrey acknowledged. “We get to go wherever the f— we want, actors, directors, but the crew doesn’t.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
For the guests on our 2026 Emmy Limited Series/TV Movie Roundtable — which included Jamie Bell (“Half Man”), Linda Cardellini (“DTF St. Louis”), Camila Morrone (“Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen”), Michael Peña (“All Her Fault”), Andrew Rannells (“Miss You, Love You”) and Constance Zimmer (“Love Story”) — there’s no predicting which performances will resonate with viewers — or when.
The 2002 live-action adaptation of “Scooby-Doo,” in which Cardellini starred as Velma, has taken on cult status since its premiere, and enjoyed a revival of interest as a new Netflix version announced the cast. Rannells (“Girls”) and Zimmer (“Entourage”) have each seen their roles in epochal HBO comedies revisited by younger generations, who are often viewing the series through a very different lens. Peña, whose comedic flatulence on an “Eastbound & Down” blooper reel is now a viral meme, even wonders if he’ll be remembered for that over more serious fare like “Crash” and “World Trade Center.”
“Is that going to be your In Memoriam thing?” Rannells jokes.
At least Peña, laughing, takes it in stride: “Can you imagine?”
Digital cover: ‘The Boys’
(Bexx Francois / For The Times)
There’s plenty to chew on in contributor Max Gao’s digital cover story on Prime Video’s twisted superhero satire after the conclusion of five gloriously gory seasons, but my personal favorite feature may be the sidebar of memorable from key cast members. Chace Crawford’s on-set snacks of choice? Check. Jack Quaid’s surprising craftiness? Also check. Karen Fukuhara’s struggles with nausea? Ditto. If you are already missing “The Boys” and want to re-live it vicariously through some of its central figures, be sure to read the full piece, which already includes creator Eric Kripke and actors Laz Alonso and Erin Moriarty.
The mayor is in
(Ebru Yildiz/For The Times)
Speaking of double duty, Welsh actor Matthew Rhys showcases his range this season in two very different performances, last fall as a real estate scion suspected of killing his wife in Netflix’s “The Beast in Me” and right now as the put-upon mayor of a possibly cursed island town in Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay.” One man is menacing, the other faintly absurd, but Rhys embraces the challenges of each role with aplomb — in particular, his physical comedy in the latter has gotten several big laughs out of me.
As contributor Emma Fraser reveals in her interview with Rhys, though, there is one stage direction capable of sending a chill up his spine: dance. “That still makes me shudder,” he says of a line-dancing scene in “The Americans” from 8 years ago. Let’s hope Widow’s Bay doesn’t have an underground swing dancing club.
The 79th Tony Awards went off without a hitch at Radio City Music Hall, Sunday. The show, hosted by Pink, ran just over three hours and was relatively unsurprising when it came to the wins it delivered. Although each year it seems more marquee film and television stars appear in the audience as celebrities of a certain caliber continue to flock to the stage in search of a more authentic—and immediate—connection to their audience.
This year viewers could see Adrien Brody, John Lithgow, Laurie Metcalf, Rose Byrne, Daniel Radcliffe, Nathan Lane, Alden Ehrenreich and more. Despite, or perhaps because of the star power, the show stuck to its expected script with “Schmigadoon!” winning best musical, “Ragtime” best musical revival, “Liberation” best play and “Death of a Salesman” best revival.
Still, the night had enough laughs, groans and tender moments to keep things interesting. Here are seven of our favorites.
Vampires as metaphor for what ails America
Ali Louis Bourzgui used vampires as a metaphor for American folly in his acceptance speech for performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical at the 2026 Tony Awards.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Who knew vampires made such a good metaphor for America’s worst excesses? When 26-year-old Ali Louis Bourzgui took to the stage at Radio City Music Hall after an upset win for performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical, he used the undead to poignantly describe the country’s biggest sociopolitical challenges.
“Vampires represent those who have shunned their own humanity in order to achieve a nonexistent sense of superiority. The billionaires will never find happiness from their money. The colonizers will never find fulfillment from the land and lives they steal. The fascists will never find meaning from their conformity, not in this lifetime or eternity,” said Bourzgui, who originated the role of David in the musical adaptation of the cult vampire horror film “The Lost Boys.”
—Jessica Gelt
A Tony trifecta for John Lithgow and Laurie Metcalf
John Lithgow won the third Tony Award of his career at the 2026 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
It’s always a good feeling when actors we have known and love get rewarded by a well-deserved win, and so it was on Sunday night when John Lithgow and Laurie Metcalf took back-to-back wins early in the show. The former for performance by an actor in a leading role in a play for his portrayal of the controversial, beloved British author Roald Dahl in Mark Rosenblatt’s drama “Giant.” The latter for featured actress for her portrayal of Willy Loman’s protective wife, Linda, in “Death of a Salesman.” The plays were quite different, but the winners shared a very specific honor: the night marked the third Tony win for each actor.
Lithgow won his previous trophies in 1972 and 2002, and Metcalf in 2017 and 2018.
—Jessica Gelt
Nathan Lane is an ‘American theatrical treasure’
Nathan Lane accepts the best revival of a play award for “Death of a Salesman” at the 2026 Tony Awards.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Unless Nathan Lane gets a crack at playing King Lear, his Willy Loman in Joe Mantello’s production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” will go down as one of the peak challenges of his acting career. Not winning the Tony for his indefatigable performance must sting, but John Lithgow was favored to win for his brave turn as the baleful Roald Dahl of Mark Rosenblatt’s “Giant.” Lane had to have been prepared but a subtle wince of disappointment could be detected when the camera pryingly caught his immediate reaction.
So it was gratifying to see Lane receive his due from Mantello, who upon accepting his award for directing credited Lane with being the inspiration for the production. And when “Salesman” won for best revival, it was only fitting that Lane accepted the award on behalf of the company about a play that, ultimately, he pointed out, is about a family.
It was a point that Laurie Metcalf, who won for her featured performance as Linda Loman, also raised when she thanked Lane, Christopher Abbott (who played Biff) and Ben Ahlers (who played Happy) —her ferocious Loman family— for making her better.
A three-time Tony-winner already, Lane doesn’t need another trophy to assure him that he’s an American theatrical treasure. But this wasn’t just another Broadway outing for him. This was Miller’s masterwork in a production that will be remembered long after the tally of this year’s Tony Awards are long forgotten.
—Charles McNulty
Joshua Henry is a good person, a great actor and everybody loves him
Joshua Henry won a Tony Award for performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical at the 79th Annual Tony Awards, earning perhaps the most rousing standing ovation of the night.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
The biggest standing ovation of the night came when Joshua Henry won the award for performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the revival of “Ragtime.” Wearing a show-stopping black suit with golden flowers, Henry rushed to the stage as the star-studded crowd leapt to its feet to deliver a rousing standing ovation.
Henry first came to the full attention of fans playing Aaron Burr in the 2017 national tour of “Hamilton,” and has since gone on to distinguish himself as one of Broadway’s most charming and relatable stars. His optimism and kindness shine through, as does his fierce love of his art form, which was apparent as he gave his acceptance speech, thanking — in particular — his first vocal coach for believing in him. He also gave a poignant shout-out to the show’s original cast members Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald, and sent all the love to his three young sons.
—Jessica Gelt
Pink had fun, but didn’t seem to know why she was there
Neil Patrick Harris and Pink perform during The 79th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.
(Jenny Anderson / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Pop star Pink kicked off the show with a wink and a nod to her hit “Lady Marmalade,” and went on to wow the audience with an action-packed opener filled with more than 150 performers and riffs from every Broadway show imaginable, plus a spirited appearance by Megan Thee Stallion. But the line that resonated most came early on when she spun hopelessly on a rope above the stage dressed as Peter Pan and a worried Neil Patrick Harris appeared to ask why she was performing in such an old-fashioned show.
“I just want to show how much I love theater even though I’ve never been on Broadway,” Pink said, still dangling, but nailing a few tricks. “I’m just concerned people might be like, ‘Why’s Pink hosting the Tonys?’”
That wasn’t the first time she seemed to be apologizing to the audience for being there.
—Jessica Gelt
Darren Criss gives happy endings
Darren Criss and Nicole Scherzinger joked it up during the 79th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Darren Criss is a Broadway superstar who consistently delivers “Happy endings,” according to co-presenter Nicole Scherzinger.
In what might have been the show’s most racy and deliciously groan-worthy joke, Scherzinger, stood side-by-side with the “Maybe Happy Endings” star to deliver the penultimate awards of the night, and noted, “You gave the world happy endings.”
“I did?” asked Criss, feigning innocence.
“You’re a giver,” said Scherzinger.
The pair took a beat through bubbling titters from the audience before knowingly yelling, “Happy Pride everyone!”
—Jessica Gelt
Leslie Odom Jr. delivers a moving in memoriam
Leslie Odom Jr. performs the In Memorium tribute during The 79th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Tony Award winner Leslie Odom Jr. sang a soulful rendition of “Without You” from “Rent” during the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment, which honored artists who died in 2025 and 2026, including Diane Keaton and Robert Redford. These annual segments are mournful — and tricky — and the “Hamilton” star managed to create an understated atmosphere that set the perfect tone for the somber projection of recently lost greats such as Robert Duvall, Tom Stoppard and Carmen de Lavallade.
The show that has had everyone clamoring for tickets this spring, Joe Mantello’s cobweb-clearing production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” won, as expected, for best revival.
Mantello, who received a Tony for his direction (his third such award), swept away the cliches that have accumulated around this American classic to reveal a “Salesman” like none we’ve experienced before. The Loman family home isn’t depicted in a literal fashion but instead fluidly suggested in a warehouse space that allows the actors to move unfetteredly between past and present. (The physical production was honored with awards for Mikaal Sulaiman’s sound design, Jack Knowles’ lighting and Chloe Lamford’s scenic design.)
Laurie Metcalf, confirming her standing as the First Lady of the American Theater, won for her portrayal of Linda Loman, a more formidable than usual interpretation of Willy’s stalwart wife. Metcalf, who endowed her characterization with a sharp-edged autonomy and transfixing gravitas, added another Tony to her two previous acting wins (“Three Tall Women,” “A Doll’s House, Part II”).
Joe Mantello wins the Tony for his direction of “Death of a Salesman.”
(Evelyn Freja / For The Times)
Nathan Lane was in a tight race with John Lithgow, who won for his ruthlessly uncompromising portrayal of a wrathful and dyspeptic Roald Dahl in Mark Rosenblatt’s “Giant.” Lane’s Willy leaves a lasting memory in “Salesman,” but it would be hard to imagine “Giant” having the same impact without Lithgow, who provides a terrifying human foundation to this explosive play about a writer’s political commitments tipping over into toxic antisemitism. (The performance slips into a sinkhole of animus in the uncanny way of one of Dahl’s recognizably terrifying, psychologically plausible stories.) In his almost but not quite valedictory acceptance speech, the 80-year-old Lithgow acknowledged that this Tony win, his third, comes 53 years after his first — and feels every bit as satisfying.
Aya Cash and John Lithgow in “Giant.”
(Joan Marcus)
Rather than a slight to Lane, Lithgow’s win is a sign of the dramatic depth that characterized this otherwise squirrely season. Indeed, Lithgow’s performance was as thrilling to experience as that of British powerhouse Lesley Manville, who won for her portrayal of Jocasta in Robert Icke’s modern reworking of “Oedipus.” The play was categorized by the Tony committee as a revival, but it’s really an original drama — one that gave rise to one of the most enthralling productions of the year.
In a season lifted up by Bess Wohl’s magnificent “Liberation” and capacious enough to include a first-rate “Salesman,” a searing “Oedipus” and a smartly contentious “Giant,” it should be no surprise that there were more great performances than statuettes to dole out.
LUKE Evans caused the Tony Awards audience to blush and sent social media spiraling after performing in a scandalously skimpy Frank-N-Furter costume live on CBS.
The Beauty and the Beast actor left little to the imagination, wearing just a tiny black jockstrap, a leather corset and sky-high heels for Sunday night’s Rocky Horror Show performance.
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Luke Evans performs a number from The Rocky Horror Show during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026Credit: APThe actor performed as the iconic cult-classic character, Dr. Frank-N-FurterCredit: Getty
During the 79th Tony Awards held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the ceremony paid tribute to the hit Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show.
Luke, 47, emerged through a cloud of smoke to perform his starring role as the iconic Dr. Frank-N-Furter with glam-rock chaos in full force.
He completed the sexy look with fishnet stockings, elbow-length gloves, dramatic stage makeup and the crystal-covered corset before launching into a raunchy rendition of the track Sweet Transvestite alongside the cast.
At one point during the performance, the Welsh actor spun around to flash the crowd in the barely-there costume while grinding across the stage and dramatically whipping off a velvet cape to reveal the jockstrap underneath.
The raunchy performance instantly sent social media into a meltdown as viewers praised Luke for fully committing to the campy cult-classic character.
“Luke Evans shaking his d**k and a** on stage at the Tony Awards while wearing his slutty Rocky Horror Frank-N-Furter costume…this is what Pride Month is all about!” one fan wrote on X.
Another viewer joked: “I did NOT expect Luke Evans in six-inch heels and a corset at the Tonys but now I never want him to take it off.”
A third person posted: “Broadway Luke Evans might be his most powerful form yet.”
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Luke Evans wore a jockstrap, tights, and a corset for an electrifying performanceCredit: APLuke dazzled the crowd as Dr. Frank-N-Furter for the Rocky Horror Picture Show performanceCredit: Getty
Luke has been starring as Frank-N-Furter in the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show since previews began earlier this spring, with the production officially having its opening back in April at the Hudson Theatre.
The actor previously admitted he spent months preparing physically for the demanding role, which includes elaborate choreography, live vocals and multiple quick-change costume moments throughout the show.
Frank-N-Furter, the provocative alien scientist at the center of Rocky Horror, was originally made famous by Tim Curry in the 1975 cult-classic film adaptation.
Now, Luke has made it his own, putting a darker and more seductive spin on the iconic role.
Luke Evans, pictured here before undergoing his Rocky Horror transformation, poses on the Tonys red carpetCredit: GettyLuke Evans, left, and Amber Gray perform Time Wrap from Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show’ at the TonysCredit: AP
While Luke may be stirring up conversation on Broadway these days, the actor has spent years building an impressive resume across film, television and theater.
Many fans recognize the star as the villainous Gaston in Disney’s 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast opposite Emma Watson, where his booming musical vocals and cocky swagger made him a standout.
He also starred as Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit trilogy and played the sinister Owen Shaw in Fast & Furious 6 before later reprising the role in the franchise’s spinoff projects.
On television, Luke has taken on darker dramatic roles in projects including The Alienist, Nine Perfect Strangers and Hulu’s true-crime miniseries Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue.
Broadway audiences, meanwhile, have long known Luke for his powerhouse stage vocals.
Before his Hollywood breakthrough, he starred in major London West End productions including Rent, Miss Saigon, Avenue Q and Piaf.
His turn as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show marks Luke’s splashiest return to the stage in years – and judging by the positive Tony Awards reaction, audiences are fully embracing his comeback.
Attorneys for musician Chuck Redd say a D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed a breach of contract lawsuit filed against the artist after he canceled a Christmas Eve performance at the Kennedy Center in protest of President Trump’s influence over the venue.
The dismissal was granted Friday under Washington’s Anti-SLAPP laws, which are designed to prevent meritless lawsuits intended to silence opposing points of view on matters of public interest.
Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown and others, had presided over holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006. He called off last year’s performance shortly after Trump’s handpicked board for the Kennedy Center voted to add the president’s name to the venue, which Congress named for President Kennedy after his assassination.
“The Center sued Mr. Redd because he publicly and rightly objected to adding Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, a living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy,” Lisa J. Banks, one of Redd’s lawyers, said in a statement. “The lawsuit against Mr. Redd was political retribution, pure and simple, by the Trump Kennedy Center, and the Court correctly saw it as such in dismissing the case with prejudice.”
Redd told the Associated Press in an email Saturday that he is “very pleased with the judge’s ruling.”
The motion to dismiss, filed in March, argued that Redd wasn’t contractually obligated to perform. It included the contract provided by the Kennedy Center, which the artist never signed.
Representatives for the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit’s dismissal.
DUA Lipa partied with friends until 6am at the finale of her three-day Sicilian wedding after Elton John sang and played piano for her ceremony.
The Be The One singer, 30, downed Negronis, drank champagne, smoked cigarettes and snogged new husband Callum Turner, 36, through the night, insiders said.
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DUA Lipa partied with friends until 6am at the finale of her three-day Sicilian wedding after Elton John sang and played piano for her ceremonyCredit: Nick Edwards for dailymail.co.ukThe Be The One singer, 30, downed Negronis, drank champagne, smoked cigarettes and snogged new husband Callum Turner, 36, through the night, insiders saidCredit: BackGrid
But The Sun can reveal security downed two drones by jamming their signals after they flew over the party, causing a huge security scare for the A-Lister guests.
We can also reveal she wore two dresses over the course of the night, both believed to have been designed by Donatella Versace.
Both dresses were white and floor length, and described by onlookers as “glittering”.
A spectacular 10-minute fireworks display wowed guests at the ceremony, with music playing into the nightCredit: The SunGuests wept earlier in a hugely emotional moment as Sir Elton John serenaded Dua by playing piano and singing Your SongCredit: ReutersDua Lipa was seen with designer Donatella Versace during the wedding festivities following her marriage to actor Callum TurnerCredit: ReutersSinger Dua Lipa danced with her husband, actor Callum Turner, during wedding festivities following their marriageCredit: Reuters
Guests wept earlier in a hugely emotional moment as Sir Elton John serenaded Dua by playing piano and singing Your Song.
But a source told The Sun there were concerns for the Rocket Man legend, who was visibly struggling with his eyesight and appeared frail as he had to be supported by two men holding him.
A source told The Sun: “He had a person on each arm to guide him because he couldn’t see but he played the piano so well.”
They were then treated to a wedding feast which included a catalan lobster salad, tuna, and pasta with lobster.
Not everyone was happy about the closures in the old town for Dua Lipa’s partyCredit: Andrew Styczynski – Commissioned by The SunSir Elton John was accompanied by husband David Furnish as they left Palermo in a private jet just after 12.30pm local time todayCredit: Andrew StyczynskiThe happy couple said their vows in an outdoor ceremony at Villa Valguarnera, in BagheriaCredit: instagramGuests were treated to a wedding feast which included a catalan lobster salad, tuna, and pasta with lobsterCredit: Reuters
Guests also had cannoli – Sicilian sweet pastry treats.
Sir Elton John left after the dinner, around the same time as Versace left too.
An Albanian community group based in Palermo also danced at the reception for Dua as bands played live music to guests whose cheers could be heard from the neighbouring streets.
Kosovo-Albanian singer Besnik Qaka and his band performed inside the venue in the evening.
A spectacular ten-minute firework display wowed guests at 11.30pm, before they moved inside the Villa Valguarnera for the afterparty. DJs played music including discotech.
A huge security presence threw a ring of steel around the event, and staff all signed NDAs and had to hand their phones in at 11am and did not get it back again until they left in the early hours.
Dua and Callum Said I Do in the Garden before the reception began.
Guests sat on wicker chairs adorned with white ribbon and gifted hand-embroidered white handkerchiefs with ‘Stay Mad with Me Forever’ on them in red.
They also got a white cotton bag with a red ‘D and C’ on the chair, which was filled with biodegradable confetti.
Elton, 79, who flew in by private jet for the ceremony, and Dua are close friends after they collaborated on the track Cold Heart in 2021.
Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace, 71, was also at the wedding, held in the grounds of the 18th-century Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria, and is believed to have designed Dua’s dress.
Yesterday’s service followed an official one at Old Marylebone Town Hall in central London last week.
A-list guests in Sicily included Brit actor Joe Alwyn, American actress Grace Gummer and her husband DJ Mark Ronson, and pop star Charli XCX and her husband George Daniel, the drummer with The 1975.
Some guests were understood to have signed non-disclosure agreements to protect the privacy of the star-studded three-day celebrations, which kicked off on Friday.
A ring of steel surrounded the venue with metal barriers erected along the roads leading to it.
The villa, which featured in the opening credits of HBO drama The White Lotus 2, is widely considered one of the most historically and culturally significant villas in Sicily.
One Kiss singer Dua, who has an estimated net worth of £150million, and Callum hired the venue for a reported £86,000.
It was once a Mafia hideout but has since been taken on by 76-year-old Italian author and translator Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca, the Princess of Valguarnera, who still lives in the estate.
A huge floral installation of white peonies, hyacinth and lily of the valley from a local florist served as the backdrop for the couple’s vows in the striking courtyard.
Meanwhile the grand entrance to the villa was adorned with purple bougainvillea flowers — a defining feature of Sicily.
Dua is understood to have walked down the aisle with her dad and manager Dukagjin through the courtyard. Pale wooden chairs draped with a cream ribbon were arranged for 200 guests in a semicircle for the ceremony.
Wedding favours included white hankerchiefs embroidered in red with “Stay mad with me forever” and there was also a photo booth.
Guests arrived in chauffer-driven cars and were served wine and popcorn while waiting for the ceremony to commence.
The ceremony was followed by a traditional Sicilian menu from chef Tony Lo Coco’s Michelin-starred Bagheria restaurant I Pupi.
Guests then partied into the night with an outdoor DJ set.
Dua and Callum — who is among the favourites to be the nextJames Bond — are staying in a £6,000-anight suite at the five-star 19th Century Palazzo Villa Igiea in nearby Palermo.
They are reported to have reserved two floors of the hotel and are staying in the Donna Franca Suite with the private terrace offering panoramic views of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
They also shut down two city centre squares in Palermo for the first of three days of parties.
But she was criticised by locals who stuck up posters accusing the singer of making their public space a “living room for the rich”. Others said: “Palermo is not for rent.”
Sir Elton John left Palermo in a private jet just after 12.30pm local time today.
The music legend, 79, was accompanied by husband David Furnish, 63, who took a photo of the singer with ground staff.
The £24,000 private jet headed towards Farnborough, near his home in Windsor. Elton was a blue tracksuit while David wore a yellow suit.
