stage

A one-size-fits-all sartorial approach is out of the question for the showmen of “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” “Frankenstein” and “Marty Supreme.” But whether the arena is theater, music, science or sports, all wear garments that accentuate their emotional states and prodigious talents — and leave an enduring mark. Here, Oscar-nominated costume designers Ruth E. Carter (“Sinners”), Malgosia Turzanska (“Hamnet”), Kate Hawley (“Frankenstein”) and Miyako Bellizzi (“Marty Supreme”) discuss defining menswear statements with The Envelope.

In Carter’s third collaboration with Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan’s sharply dressed twins Smoke and Stack return to the Mississippi Delta in 1932 to open a juke joint, tapping their gifted blues musician cousin, Sammie (Miles Caton), to perform. “You see this style that [old blues players] embodied, whether it’s two-tone shoes, the hat, vest, shirts; all of that was laced into the storytelling,” says Carter. He might be a preacher’s son, but Sammie wears his passion on his blues-infused clothing in the record-breaking “Sinners.” “The vest is patched to show the wear from the guitar strap.”

Before the night goes to vampire hell, all eyes are on Sammie in earthy and gold tones as he sings “I Lied to You.” Artists spanning centuries and continents (including an electric-guitar-playing rocker and a Zaouli dancer) add to the mesmerizing sequence before returning to Sammie. “When we come back to him, we’re coming back to his own force and look,” Carter says.

A sketch of Sammie’s bluesman-inspired costume in “Sinners.”

(Ruth E. Carter)

A final scene set in 1992 shows Sammie (played by musician Buddy Guy) still beguiling audiences. Carter incorporates Guy’s real-life signature polka dots to highlight “this is a real story of the blues, and this is a real bluesman.” Stack’s authentic Coogi sweater (a nod to Biggie Smalls) contrasts with Sammie’s classic tailoring, which doubles as a memorial to his other cousin: “The color blue was an homage to Smoke and the flat cap.”

Clothing is also for remembrance in Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” in which a grieving William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) turns to a meaningful shade in paying tribute to his son during the inaugural run of “Hamlet” at the Globe Theatre in London. “Will, in my head, was imagining, remembering and holding on to the memory of Hamnet,” Turzanska says. “And in a super crude, simplified way, putting the paint and the colors that he remembered onto Hamlet’s character with those brushstrokes.”

Turzanska constructed the players’ costumes from raw linen, using slightly enlarged, period-accurate shapes combined with contemporary latex paint. Using this stage language, Hamlet’s (Noah Jupe) jerkin is “quilted and painted flat,” to conjure Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe): “It was a memory of the vertical stripes.”

There are echoes among the costumes for William Shakespeare, Hamlet and Hamnet in Malgosia Turzanska’s costumes for “Hamnet.”

(Malgosia Turzanska)

Offstage, growing slashes in Will’s leather doublets depict “emotional turmoil.” Still, his turn as Hamlet’s murdered father (the Ghost) is the most overt example. The off-white cloak caked in clay is deliberately drained of all color. Turzanska tested the symbolic shroud (“You put this little harness on”) to ensure Mescal could move freely. Catharsis comes after Will exits the play: “The clay is cracking and falling off. Finally, when he washes it off, we see him break down for the first time and actually cry.”

Not every stage has a paying audience. In Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) reanimates a corpse during a disciplinary hearing demonstration. Clad in red, white and black, the renegade scientist’s sartorial inspiration is not bound to a single era.

“That was the first note from Guillermo [about Victor]. He goes, ‘Dandy, rock star. Look at David Bowie. Look at Prince,” says Hawley. “When we started talking with Oscar, he came in with his Prince stuff. When you look at his performance, you see all those subtleties, the physicality, the swagger.” Piping on the waistcoat is “a kick” to stand out against judges in black.

Hawley embraces “wonderful peacock” 1850s menswear shapes: Victor’s puffed-out chest accentuates the “wasp waist” likening him to a matador. An exaggerated period heel adds flair. “Shoes are what root the actor to the ground and their character,” Hawley says. “It elevates every gesture from there.”

Victor Frankenstein’s costumes in “Frankenstein” were inspired by musicians like David Bowie.

(Kate Hawley)

“Marty Supreme’s” Bellizzi is equally mindful of footwear. Bellizzi “worked with Keds to find the shape” resembling a narrow 1950s sneaker for Timothée Chalamet to wear as ambitious table tennis player Marty Mauser. “When he was training, I would give him a few different sneakers to see what looked good but also what felt good,” says Bellizzi. “Because he had to wear them all day and play in them.”

Marty switches from a sedate black polo shirt and high-waisted wool pants while playing at Wembley in London to an eye-catching pink satin set on tour with the Harlem Globetrotters during a lighthearted interlude in Josh Safdie’s propulsive comedy-drama. “We overexaggerated the pants and the sleeves in the body so it is big and flowy,” says Bellizzi.

By the time Marty arrives in Japan, his everyday suit “has been through the wringer.” Luckily, a rigged ping-pong exhibition match allows Marty to embrace his theatrical talents. “It was an opportunity to show him as someone else. He’s undercover,” says Bellizzi. “He has the cap and the jumper.” Ever the showman, Marty relishes ditching the pretense and his wardrobe onstage, embracing his competitive streak. “He turns it into a bigger situation than it should have been, and maybe part of the surprise is that he’s derobing,” Bellizzi says. “It shows how much passion comes out.” Across venues and centuries, each man’s attire is ovation-worthy.

Jennifer Hudson raised more then a few eyebrows in 2022 when she was close to realizing her dream — becoming a daytime talk show host.

At the time, she had just become the youngest member of the small elite group of artists who are EGOT — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award — winners. She was also aware that the highly competitive daytime talk show arena had been a notorious minefield for several top stars, leading to quick failure.

But she was unfazed. Just days before the premiere of the “Jennifer Hudson Show,” she called it the perfect birthday present.

“This is going to be such a gift,” she said near the set of the show at Warner Bros., which produces the series. “If I were not working on my birthday, that is what I would be wishing for — performing on a stage or a platform … I love a challenge … It is a difficult arena. You will always see me try.”

The entertainer expressed even more excitement Thursday after her syndicated show was renewed for a fifth season, bringing some welcome sunlight to the afternoon landscape which has been shaken in the last several weeks by the upcoming departures of popular hosts Kelly Clarkson and Sherri Shepherd.

Hudson and Drew Barrymore, who has hosted her own eponymous show since 2020, are now the sole survivors in the celebrity-oriented afternoon talk genre. (The talk show hosted by Tamron Hall is more focused on topical issues and trends.)

Insiders say the continuing economic difficulties in Hollywood and the explosion of video podcasts hosted by stars such as Amy Poehler, Conan O’Brien, Dax Shepard and the “Smartless” trio consisting of actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes has substantially crippled the traditional daytime talk format.

Shock waves have resonated through the daytime TV industry since early February when Clarkson said she would be ending her Emmy-winning talk show at the conclusion of its current seventh season for personal reasons. Just hours later, producers of “Sherri” announced they were pulling the plug on that series, attributing the cancellation to “the evolving daytime television landscape.” Shepherd in recent days has said she was fighting to save the show.

Rumors about the future of Hudson’s show have been circulating since those announcements. Although some insiders considered Hudson an unlikely entrant in daytime, she has established herself as an engaging and warm host, connecting with her enthusiastic studio audience and highlighting the show with musical performances and duets with her guests.

The show has also aggressively employed social media to promote its “Spirit Tunnel,” where staff members lining a corridor greet celebrities with chants on their way to the stage. Producers say the ritual has surpassed 6 billion views.

“The Jennifer Hudson Show” replaced Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, which ended in 2022, had run for nearly 20 years and was produced by Warner Bros.

Experts say the current landscape is indicative of the cyclical nature of daytime talk, recalling the era of “trash talk” during the 1990s when afternoon talk shows such as “Sally,” “Jerry Springer” and others emphasized fierce confrontations and provocative, often sexually oriented topics.

“Daytime has always gone through these cycles, so this is nothing new,” said Rachel Schwartz, head of the Daytime Emmys and Children & Family Emmy. And video podcasts appear to be part of this latest cycle.

“Now audiences are proving that they are really hungry for podcasts, which is impacting the landscape of daytime TV,” she said. “The podcast can be narrowly focused on one celebrity. It’s like the listener is sitting down with a friend. And the guest can be more comfortable.”

Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, which explores the psychology of human interaction with media and technology, said that while daytime talk shows offer familiarity with the same host, tone and daily presence, podcasts give celebrities more control, intimacy and influence without the constraints and pressures of broadcast TV.

“Podcast hosts tend to be partners in conversation, not ‘hosts’ or moderators,” she said. “Talk shows are in the middle of the voyeurism spectrum — too curated by time, pacing and commercial interruptions to feel really intimate and too restrained to be thrilling.”

Rutledge added that maintaining TV studios, crews and accommodating large audiences is becoming increasingly costly for producers, who are looking more to other types of digital and social platforms that are more attractive to advertisers.

IT was the long, hot summer of 1995, John Major was in No10 and Blackburn Rovers were Premier League champions.

The music charts had been dominated by acting duo Robson and Jerome, until one crazy week in August when Britpop’s heavyweights began slugging it out.

Oasis and Blur released their new singles Roll With It and Country House on the same day in a race for the No1 spot — and the nation was absolutely mad for it.

It was an era-defining, pop culture moment, billed as North v South, working-class v posh boys and sing-along anthems v lyrical sophistication.

Yet even their most ardent fans would have struggled to imagine that 30 years down the line the rivalry in all its boozy, sweary glory would be transformed into a theatrical production.

The Battle — which opened at the Birmingham Rep theatre this week — is a comedic caper that tries to recreate the 90s vibe.

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So Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher — played by George Usher — is seen snorting lines of coke, swigging champagne and threatening to knock Blur singer Damon Albarn’s block off.

And the production includes more uses of the C word than have been uttered in much of the rest of British stage history put together.

The play’s writer, best-selling novelist John Niven, tells me he had to explain the context of the expletive-laden script to the actors.

He said: “The young cast found some of the language challenging at first.

“I had to say that that was just the way people spoke back then. It was more full-on and a much more unfiltered time.

“There’s five or six c***s in it but I guess that’s a lot for the theatre.

“But there’s no way you could accurately reflect those musicians over a five-month period without a few C-bombs dropping. It wouldn’t be authentic.”

John, 60, said he took inspiration for the narrative from a comment by Oasis manager Alan McGee about the rise of his band from a tough Manchester suburb.

He recalled: “Alan said, ‘The thing is, Blur think this is all good media fun but you’ve got five lunatics off a council estate in Burnage who actually want to f*****g kill them’.

“Blur moved the release date of their record to coincide with the Oasis single, so Liam thought, ‘Right, they’ve offered us out’.”

With actor George, 21, successfully aping Liam’s loping gait, he also gets to deliver the most one-liners.

John, who spoke to Blur’s bassist Alex James while writing the play, added: “Someone like Liam is so seductive to write for.

“Noel and Liam are both very funny in completely different ways.

“Noel is really dry and has got great timing, like a stand-up comedian, while Liam is much more surreal, random and unfiltered. He’s a delight to write dialogue for.

“Sometimes you think, ‘F***, have I gone too far there?’

“And then you could go online and find an interview with Liam where he said something ten times crazier.”

John — who began writing the play in 2023, long before the triumphant Oasis reunion last year — also had to explain to the young cast how the Britpop battle came to dominate the national conversation.

He said: “It was such a big cultural phenomenon. The whole country, from six-year-olds to 60-year-olds, knew about it.

“It went from the music papers to the broadsheets to the tabloids to News At Ten. Back then, things spread via radio, TV and the Press, whereas now the culture is so atomised.

“I’ve got teenage kids and you can have acts with a billion TikTok followers who play Wembley Stadium and I’ve never heard of them.”

After a blast of Blur’s Girls & Boys, the play begins at the February 1995 Brits, where Blur won four awards to Oasis’s one.

Collecting the prize for best British group, Damon insisted: “I think this should have been shared with Oasis.”

Interviewed later, Noel Gallagher said: “As far I’m concerned, it’s us and Blur against the world now.”

But the love-in didn’t last. Later that year Noel said of Blur: “The bassist and the singer, I hope the pair of them catch Aids and die because I f***ing hate them two.”

(The guitarist would later appologise, insisting he was “f***ed” on drugs when he made the remark).

When John began writing the play, he recalled the resentment that had built up between the bands in a few short months.

The former music company executive who was at the Brits that year, added: “I thought. Now there’s a dramatic arc.

“Back in February they had all been mates with Noel giving an interview saying, ‘It’s us and Blur against the world now’.

“Now he was saying he hoped they died.”

Then, in August Oasis’s record company Creation announced their new single Roll With It would be released a week before Blur’s Country House.

John added: “Blur’s manager Andy Ross was worried that Oasis would have a massive No1.

“Back then a single could top the charts for a month so Andy was worried the Blur would be stuck at No2.”

Andy, played by Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne, decides to move Country House’s release date forward to coincide with Oasis and all hell was unleashed.

The then influential music magazine NME produced a front cover with the headline, British Heavyweight Championship, Blur v Oasis.

A then 29-year-old Clive Myrie reported breathlessly for the BBC News At Ten on the brewing rivalry.

Like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the 1960s, the two bands divided friends and families into rival camps.

An exclusive in the The Sun revealed that Oasis-mad Mandy Vivian-Thomas had kicked out her husband Richard for being a massive Blur fan.

Richard said: “Mandy’s been a nightmare. She’s spent a fortune on trash about Oasis and the last starw was using my card to buy their record.

“I’m out on my ear but I’m hoping things will calm down.”

Headlined, You Blurty Rat, the Sun article takes centre stage in The Battle.

It’s cited by Blur guitarist Graham Coxon as a symptom of how the chart battle has seen his band drift away from their indie ideals and into the mainstream.

John explained: “It became apparent how different the two bands were because I think Noel and Liam loved being in the tabloids and wanted to be that big.

“They had no problems with having loads of reporters outside their door. They thought, ‘We want to be the biggest band in the world and this is part of it’.

“But I reckon Blur found it all much more uncomfortable, especially Graham. That when you get that big you’ve got the tabloids banging on your door.

“I think he thought, ‘This is getting crazy now.’”

In the end, it was Blur who would win the Battle of Britpop with Country House topping the charts but Oasis would go on to have a more stellar career.

John added: “Damon and Noel are pals now.

“When men are in their 20s and 30s and they’re really ambitious, they’re all claws and teeth, sharp edges and hustling.

“You hurt people trying to get where you want to be but I think as men get older in their 40s and 50s they get a lot nicer and they calm the f*** down a bit.”

John hopes the play will transfer to the West End after runs in Birmingham and Manchester.

“I don’t think we’ll see a time when two bands dominate the national consciousness in a way like that again,” he said.

“It’s almost impossible to imagine.”

TOUCH OF TARANTINO

EFFING and jeffing as he struts around the stage like a rampant chimp, George Usher has Liam Gallagher down to a tee.

I’m supping a lager in the stalls at the Birmingham Rep, where if you suck your gut in and comb your hair forwards, it could be 1995 all over again.

With blasts of their hits, and aided by newsreel and radio clips, the great Battle of Britpop is fought once again.

The dialogue is pacy, comedic and very sweary. Yet with two bands, assorted managers and girlfriends to cover, there is little time for character development.

However, just as the play seems to be running out of narrative, it plunges into a Quentin Tarantino-esque sequence.

It’s a fittingly surreal end to this parable of a drug-addled decade.

★★★☆☆

Bed rest can go pound sand: Ray J gave his all on stage on Friday night, it seems, with fan videos showing his eyes appearing to bleed as he worked the crowd.

The singer also doffed the top of his orange jumpsuit to reveal some sort of medical port or device inserted on the upper left side of his chest.

The “Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood” star, who is singer-actor Brandy’s brother, was performing in Shreveport, La.

In the first clip, red liquid — which many assumed was blood — ran down one of the R&B singer’s cheeks like tears as he handed out long-stemmed red roses to people in the audience. Another clip showed him singing into a mic while climbing down from the stage after shedding the top part of his jumpsuit.

“Hey, y’all, we perfectly fine. Ain’t nobody sick. Look at me, I’m fine,” he says in a later clip, which takes place off stage. The 45-year-old appears to be annoyed, saying that people have been laughing at him because he’s sick.

“He loves the camera. He loves the attention,” Tommy Nard II of Nard Multimedia Group, who was behind the scenes that night, told Shreveport news station KTAL separately. “It’s all theatrical … I seen him literally put on the fake blood and go out there.”

A concertgoer told KTAL that it was “very concerning to see blood, what appeared to be blood, coming from his eyes.”

Ray J told TMZ in late January that he was under doctor’s orders to stay on bed rest and avoid drugs and alcohol. He said he was on eight medications related to his heart, which he said had been damaged because of his excessive drug and alcohol use.

“I thought I could handle all the alcohol, I could handle all the Adderall,” he said in a video livestream in late January.

Doctors told Ray J — real name William Ray Norwood Jr. — that he should prepare for the chance that he might need a pacemaker or defibrillator soon, the singer told the celebrity site. He expected to get an update when he went back in two weeks for a checkup.

Two weeks was up over the weekend.

Ray J told followers in a video posted Jan. 25 that he wanted to “thank everyone for praying for me.”

“I was in the hospital,” he said. “My heart is only beating like 25%, but as long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, then everything will be all right.” In a video, he said the right side of his heart was “like, black. It’s like done.”

Ray J said elsewhere that his heart was beating at 60%. The number likely refers to his heart’s ejection fraction, which measures the volume of blood coming out of the heart’s left ventricle or being drawn into the right ventricle when the heart beats. Right-sided heart failure is far less common, according to WebMD.

A representative for Ray J did not respond immediately Tuesday to The Times’ request for comment.

However, in an Instagram story posted Monday, Ray J put up this quote: “‘If you want to know who your real friends & family are, lose your job, get sick, or go through hard times. You’ll see clearly.”

After some 150 students walked out of Redlands schools early this month in support of immigrants they were dealt an unexpected consequence: a temporary suspension of school privileges as administrators enforced rules that forbid them from leaving a classroom without permission.

The punishment — the loss of access to sports, dances, performances and other school events — in a school system with a conservative-majority governing board stands in sharp contrast to the positive reception that student activism has received in some other California school systems, including Los Angeles Unified School District.

The disparate actions show how school officials throughout various states and school systems — in blue and red regions — have been dealing with a wave of student walkouts that began in late January as part of national protests over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

Redlands school officials said the suspension of privileges will remain in place until a student satisfies certain conditions, such as attending a session of Saturday school or performing four hours of community service.

“The superintendent’s message is consistent: We care deeply about our students, and we recognize that many young people are dealing and engaging with issues they see in the news and in their community,” said district Public Information Officer Christine Stephens. “Students have the right to express themselves peacefully. At the same time, the district must uphold its responsibility to maintain a safe, supervised learning environment during the school day.”

Districts that expressed support for students’ free-speech rights included those in San Francisco and Sacramento. In Palo Alto, district officials worked with schools to make sure students could carry out their announced walkout safely.

L.A. Unified officials have not set districtwide penalties for walkouts — and its leaders align with the students’ anti-ICE critique. Supt. Alberto Carvalho, an immigrant himself, has pledged to do all in the district’s power to maintain schools as sanctuaries for children of immigrant families — and activists patrol outside schools to help ensure safe passage to campus for parents and students.

At the same time, LAUSD educators have encouraged students to stay on campus for safety reasons. In L.A. there were reports of physical confrontations between officers and protesters after students walked out on Feb. 5 and on Feb. 13, when three federal agents were injured after some in the crowd threw objects at them.

State and education leaders in Texas and Florida outlined significant consequences for students and educators related to student walkouts. In Texas, state leaders have talked about possible suspension and expulsion for students, dismissal for educators and state takeovers for school districts.

The ACLU of Georgia sent a letter Jan. 29 expressing concerns to the Cobb County School District after it threatened out-of-school suspension, loss of parking and extracurricular privileges and warned of college admissions consequences for participation in walkouts.

The ACLU warned that the school system would be acting illegally if walkout participants were singled out for especially harsh treatment based on their viewpoints.

The young activists

Student high school activists — in Redlands and elsewhere — said they are willing to face consequences, if necessary, to stand up for what they believe by protesting the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“As organizers, it’s expected for us to take the first wave of retaliation,” said Redlands High School senior Jax Hardy. “So while we would be very disappointed in the district for doing such a thing, for us, it’s important to exercise our free speech rights to oppose a government that is encroaching on our human rights.”

Student leaders see their protests as a civics lesson in action.

“It’s necessary to act, because, if we don’t, who knows how things will escalate further,” said Redlands High junior Aya F, who goes by her last initial rather than her full legal name. “So that’s why we feel it’s important for us to stage this walkout.”

Redlands is about 60 miles east of downtown L.A. and enrolls about 20,000 students. In November 2024 a conservative majority was elected to the five-person Redlands Board of Education, aligning the board with key policies of the Trump administration. Redlands joined a handful of ideologically similar California boards in approving policies that would allow parents to challenge library books with sexual content and prohibit display of the rainbow pride flag, which is associated with the LGBTQ+ community.

But the district stated that its actions on the walkouts have no ideology attached.

“The district’s response is not based on the viewpoint, theme or content of a student’s expression,” Stephens said.

Students walk out despite punishment

Some Redlands students organized another walkout Friday and organizers said they expected representation from students at seven middle and high schools. Many showed up from Redlands High School. They carried “Stop ICE” signs and Mexican flags and blew whistles as they made a 15-minute trek to a downtown intersection that some refer to as “Peace Corner.”

“I haven’t seen this many people in Redlands do anything ever,” said sophomore James Bojado, who also said that, for days, administrators had attempted to dissuade students with threats of discipline.

Several Redlands police vehicles patrolled the rally area, slowly rolling by.

A man in a sun hat shouted: “Why don’t you fly the American flag? Are you ashamed of America?”

“Leave us alone!” a chorus responded.

“My mom and my dad are immigrants,” said sophomore Carmen Robles. “Why deport families that care about America back to where they came from?”

At the rally, student demands included an ironclad district commitment that ICE will never be allowed on campus. Students also called for the abolition of ICE and spoke of wanting the school board to rescind what they regard as anti-LGBTQ+ policies. These include the flag ban and the book restriction policy.

During the Friday Redlands rally, there were a few tense minutes when a student in a MAGA hat was pelted by water bottles. The student spoke to police but also said he wasn’t hurt.

A person wearing a MAGA hat gets water and pizza thrown at him during a student walkout and protest in Redlands.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Adult volunteers were on hand with the goal of keeping things safe and positive. Parent Toni Belcher said that students have a right to be heard.

“I’m happy to see all these kids trying to get their voice to matter,” Belcher said. “If it doesn’t now, it will. … They’re starting early.”

What the law says

The right of students to express themselves begins with the U.S. Constitution.

“You do not lose your right to free speech just by walking into school,” according to guidance from the American Civil Liberties Union. “You have the right to speak out, hand out flyers and petitions and wear expressive clothing in school — as long as you don’t disrupt the functioning of the school or violate the school’s content-neutral policies.”

A walkout, however, could be treated as a disruption. But greater punishment cannot be applied based on the nature of the views expressed.

Redlands Unified believes it is complying with that legal standard.

California law offers some additional protection for student protests, but it’s not unlimited.

A California law, which took effect in 2023, allows a middle or high school student to miss one day of school per year as an excused absence for a “civic or political event.” This includes, but is not limited to, “voting, poll-working, strikes, public-commenting, candidate speeches, political or civic forums and town halls.”

The bill’s author, then-state Sen. Connie Leyva, said at the time that the law “emphasizes the importance of getting students more involved in government and their community by prioritizing student opportunities for civic learning and engagement both within and outside their education.”

One caveat is that the law requires that “the pupil notifies the school ahead of the absence.”

Students exercising this right must be allowed to make up missed schoolwork without penalty. There are potential gray areas — such as whether a large-scale school walkout — which organizers intend to be dramatic — would fall outside this protection because students don’t formally check out, for example.

One Redlands parent said he notified the school that his son had permission to take part in an earlier walkout after the walkout. But his son was still penalized because, the parent said, he was not allowed to grant permission for his son retroactively.

State law does require advance notice, but it does not say parental permission is required for that one protected civic activity day per year. The law also stipulates that schools, at their discretion, can allow additional excused absences for civic participation.

The parent, who did not want to be named out of concern for retaliation, said his son was placed on a “No-Go List” for extracurricular activities and events.

Pasadena Playhouse’s take on Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” may be the Tony Award-winning regional theater’s most lavish production to date.

The show, which opens Sunday, features a scrim that has been hand-painted with the notes of Mozart’s “Phantasie für eine Orgelwalze.” The entire process, done by a team of three, took eight days from start to finish. When the scrim is illuminated, the golden notes appear to be suspended like stars in the sky.

Mozart’s sister, Maria Anna “Nannerl,” handwrote many of the genius composer’s compositions, and Playhouse head painter Johnny LeBlanc said the group worked to create an exact replica of her strokes. That attention to detail at every level is emblematic of this elaborate show.

Director Darko Tresnjak (center) during “Amadeus” rehearsal at Pasadena Playhouse. Tresnjak is known for exploring the intellectual and emotional foibles of each character in a play.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

The play is as rich in talent as it is in design. It stars Broadway veteran and Tony winner Jefferson Mays as Salieri, Sam Clemmett as Mozart and Lauren Worsham as Constanze, and is directed by Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony in 2014 for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.”

The red-and-gold, Baroque and Rococo aesthetics of the show, including the forced perspective of scenic designer Alexander Dodge’s set, which makes a royal room seem to disappear into the distance, were meticulously constructed to reflect the twisted interiority of Salieri as he grapples with his seething hatred for the scatological young upstart as it crashes against his cascading awe of Mozart’s divine music.

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“The entire play really takes place in a mental space,” Tresnjak said during a recent rehearsal. “That location is Salieri’s increasingly addled brain and what happens within that brain strikes me as eminently contemporary.”

Mays called “Amadeus” a “memory play,” noting that “every aspect of this production is exploring that — it’s all filtered through the warped, distorted memories and imaginings of its unreliable narrator.”

The Pasadena Playhouse has one of the few remaining on-site scene shops in the industry, and its staff of designers, carpenters and painters created elaborate wall sconces and candle holders that become smaller and smaller as they move to the back of the stage, toward two tiny doors in the center. At one point in the show, actor Matthew Patrick Davis, who plays Emperor Joseph II, steps through the doors.

“Amadeus” director Tresnjak says the key to his lavish productions is a strong community of artists, rather than a big budget. “It’s all smoke and mirrors,” he said.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times )

Mays describes the moment as “delicious” because Davis is quite tall and thin — even more so in his 2-inch, 18th century heels — and when he unfurls his body into the room and proceeds down the stage, the audience realizes what a gigantic figure he is in Salieri’s mind.

“It’s all shot through with these ‘Alice in Wonderland’ moments of surrealism,” Mays said. “It feels like a fever dream.”

Music is key to Salieri’s world, and the sound design by Jane Shaw strives to access the otherworldly power of Mozart’s music through layered backing tracks. An electric keyboard programmed to sound like a fortepiano is also embedded in a handcrafted instrument, which actors with musical training can play.

A fortepiano is being built for “Amadeus” at Pasadena Playhouse. A small electronic keyboard will be embedded within so actors with musical training can actually play it.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Tresnjak has a long history directing with L.A. Opera and its departing music director, James Conlon, worked with Clemmett on conducting. He also gave the actor a history lesson about what the art form would have been like in Mozart’s time. Jeffrey Bernstein, the founding artistic and executive director of the Pasadena Chorale, drilled the cast on their chorale passages.

The key to creating such a richly textured theatrical environment is not a bloated budget, said Tresnjak, it’s engaging a whole community of artists — onstage and backstage — and giving them free reign to set their creativity loose. Pasadena Playhouse, which is known for being a resourceful company, made that easy, he added.

The show is buoyed by its classic stagecraft, with flats, escape stairs and rolling platforms. There is no computer automation and anything that moves is moved manually, said associate artistic director Jenny Slattery, pointing out the theater’s antiquated hand winches that control a mobile throne.

“There is something magical that comes from a resonance between the subject matter and the aesthetic and the behind-the-scenes techniques,” said Slattery.

A sketch and fabric swatch for Venticelli’s costume in “Amadeus” at Pasadena Playhouse. The costume is the same red as the set walls, so the character will seem to fade in and out of Salieri’s consciousness.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Linda Cho designed the costumes and L.A. Opera fabricated the extravagant 18th century garments, which Slattery said have become a “staff tourist attraction.” The fabric was sourced in New York and shipped to L.A.; the ribbons were made by hand. Mays said he got giddy and breathless when he first stepped into his costume.

L.A. Opera fabricated the costumes for “Amadeus” with fabric sourced from New York.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

“It makes all the difference when you know that your sleeves are cut in a bias and your arms have to do certain things,” he explained. “I find a costume, particularly the costumes of this late 18th century period, to be so informative about physicality and how you move.”

In rehearsal, Mays fully inhabits his role — and his costume — moving with a lithe formality as he strives to eavesdrop on Mozart and Constanze. His revulsion and deep attraction are on full display. The actor said it is not his intention to play Salieri as a mustache-twirling villain, but rather as human, recognizable and understandable.

Details on the sleeve of a jacket made by L.A. Opera.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

“We are all Salieri to varying degrees,” Mays said. “What interests me are everyman aspects of him. The banality of his evil and the way that evil actions seem to always rise out of fear and insecurity.”

The lighting design by Pablo Santiago helps manifest Salieri’s uncomfortable emotions onstage.

“Darko is someone who likes to work in more of the intellectual, emotional space rather than realism. So a lot of it is about using the set in a more abstract way,” said Santiago. “It’s about shapes and color and creating full stage pictures that are interesting.”

The story of Salieri and Amadeus, said Mays, is one of twisted love. Salieri gets up every morning and tries to destroy that which he loves most. Playing the troubled antihero is “not altogether pleasant,” Mays said, “because you’re marinating in this cesspool of thwarted ambitions and inadequacy, but then you’re surrounded by this beauty that is a constant reminder of your own failings.”

When the curtain finally rises, the cast and crew hope the stage will be its own thing of beauty — its ambition fully realized.

Little is known about Kim’s daughter, Ju Ae, who made her first public appearance in 2022 but appears set to be her father’s successor.

South Korea’s spy agency believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing to designate his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, as his successor, increasing the agency’s earlier assessment of the teenager being the “most likely successor”.

The National Intelligence Service in Seoul informed legislators of the news during a closed-door briefing on Thursday, according to South Korea’s official Yonhap News Agency. Their intelligence agency’s findings were later shared with the media by South Korean politicians Park Seon-won and Lee Seong-gwon.

“Kim Ju Ae’s presence continues to be highlighted at events such as the recent Armed Forces Day ceremony and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and there are even signs that she is expressing opinions on some policies,” Lee told reporters, according to Yonhap.

“We believe that she has now entered the succession selection stage,” Lee said.

Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is considered one of the most important places in North Korea as the final resting place of the country’s Great Leader Kim Il Sung and his son Dear Leader Kim Jong Il – the current Kim’s grandfather and father, and Ju Ae’s great-grandfather and grandfather.

Yonhap reports that if Ju Ae attends or receives a title at the ruling Workers’ Party congress later this month, a key political event that analysts believe will see major policy goals unveiled, speculation about her path to succession will “gain traction”.

Very little is known about Kim’s daughter, including her official age, though she is believed to still be in her teens.

Her first public appearance was in 2022 at the test launch of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, and she has been photographed alongside her father at numerous events across the country since then.

In January, she was photographed by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency attending the test launch of a large-calibre multiple-rocket launch system alongside her father.

She also travelled by armour-plated train with her father to Beijing in September to attend a military parade marking 80 years since Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II, where she would have mixed with both Chinese and Russian leaders.

Seoul’s spy agency also said that Kim is currently directing the development of a large submarine ‌that is likely capable of carrying up to 10 submarine-launched ballistic missiles and which may be designed to be powered by a ‌nuclear ‌reactor, according to the politicians Park and Lee.

SHAKIRA suffered a nasty fall during a live stage performance over the weekend, with the singer twisting her ankle in the middle of her concert.

The Columbian star, 49, was performing in San Salvador on Saturday when she left fans worried during a mid-song tumble.

Singing her hit song Si Te Vas during the night, Shakira was walking across the stage when her right ankle suddenly twisted.

She then completely toppled to her side, falling onto her elbow as she brought her microphone stand down with her.

During the moment, Shakira stopped singing as gasps could be heard amongst the audience.

But ever the professional, she quickly got herself back up and managed to continue the song – with the star’s band continuing as her guitarist cheered her on.

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Seeing the funny side of the accident, Shakira later took to her Instagram Stories to share the clip as she wrote in Spanish: “Don’t worry, I’m made of rubber hahah”.

The performance was part of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour – translated as Women No Longer Cry  – with the show marking her first performance in San Salvador.

She will wrap up in the city this Sunday, before heading to Mexico and finally finishing the tour in Abu Dhabi on 4 April.

The tour kicked off last year and was confirmed as the biggest female tour of 2025, by both box office takings and ticket sales.

It came a year after her album of the same name was released, with a “diss track” to her ex Gerard Pique on its setlist.

Shakira split with the former Barcelona star, whom she shares two children with, in 2022 after 11 years together.

It followed allegations he had cheated.

But appearing to mark positivity for Shakira fans, she said the split inspired her to get stuck back into work again – hence the mighty world tour.

She said on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2024: “I’ve been putting out music here and there but it was really hard for me to put together a body of work.

“I didn’t have time because of the husband factor.

“Now I’m husbandless. Yeah, the husband was dragging me down. Now I’m free. Now I can actually work.”

Referencing the name of her album, she giggled: “It’s men’s turn now.

“For too long we have been sent to cry with a script in our hands and without an end just because we are women.

Caracas, February 4, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Chavista supporters filled the streets of Caracas on Tuesday to demand the release of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady and Deputy Cilia Flores.

The rally marked one month from their kidnapping on January 3 as part of a US military attack against Venezuela.

“We, as an organized people, are making a call to the international community. We work every day to build a country with sovereignty and we will maintain our demand. We will continue protesting,” activist Jonas Reyes told reporters. He also paid tribute to the Venezuelan and Cuban civilians and military personnel killed during the bombing.

Venezuelan government leaders also announced plans to mobilize on February 14, Valentine’s Day, to celebrate what they described as “the profound love of Maduro and Cilia,” as well as on February 27 and 28 to commemorate the 1989 popular uprising known as El Caracazo.

On Tuesday evening, Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said that over the past 30 days Venezuela has “transformed and matured” the impact of US aggression into “tranquility,” while promoting national dialogue.

“It is a great victory for the people that there is stability,” Rodríguez told media, adding that “there is a national outcry” for the freedom of Maduro and Flores. She spoke from the Miraflores Palace alongside National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.

The pair’s kidnapping took place amid a US attack involving 150 aircraft, including electronic warfare jets, bombers, assault helicopters, and drones invading Venezuelan airspace.

On January 5, Maduro and Flores were arraigned in New York on charges including drug trafficking conspiracy. Both pleaded not guilty, and Maduro stated before judge Alvin Hellerstein that he is “a prisoner of war.”

The next court hearing, originally scheduled for March 17, was postponed until March 26 following a request from the US Justice Department.

US prosecutors argued that the extension would allow “the ends of justice to outweigh the interests of the public and the defendants in a speedy trial.”

February 3 also saw US-bases solidarity gather outside the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn where Maduro and Flores are being held.

In slogans and posters, activists described the Venezuelan president and first lady as “victims of kidnapping” and demanded that the US government cease its “political persecution.”

“They are innocent of all charges. The guilty parties are the same ones who have been violating the sovereignty of Venezuela and so many countries of Our America,” activist and academic Danny Shaw told reporters. “This has nothing to do with a war on drugs. We have suffered from fentanyl and heroin, and that has nothing to do with Venezuela, much less with its president.”

Shaw vowed that solidarity movements would continue to rally and expressed confidence in the legal efforts of Maduro and Flores’ defense teams.

A separate demonstration in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and denouncing US aggression also took place in New York’s Times Square and some 60 cities around the world.

For her part, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said she has held direct phone conversations with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which she said were guided by “interpersonal respect.”

Rodríguez has defended a fast diplomatic rapprochement with the Trump administration, arguing that the two nations can solve “differences” through diplomacy.

Washington’s new chargé d’affaires, Laura Dogu, is already in Venezuela and visited the presidential palace on Monday, February 2.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

SANTA CLARA — Drake Maye did not wait long to earn a spot on the NFL’s grandest stage.

In only his second season, the New England Patriots’ quarterback led his team to the Super Bowl.

Now Maye, 23, will try to join four other second-year quarterbacks who won Super Bowl titles.

“I’m not too great at my history,” Maye said when asked if he knew the other second-year winners. “I know there’s been some young ones.”

Kurt Warner of the Rams, Tom Brady of the Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks won titles in their second seasons.

Maye correctly identified the player he called “Big Ben.” Apprised that Brady, who won six of his seven Super Bowl titles with the Patriots, also was part of the group, Maye quipped, “Brady, he wasn’t a bad one either.”

On Sunday, Maye will lead the Patriots against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

It’s a “full-circle” moment, said Maye, who attended Super Bowl Bowl L at Levi’s Stadium with his father in 2016.

The Patriots are seeking their first title since the 2018 season, when they defeated the Rams in Super Bowl LII in Atlanta.

“The thing that makes it so special for me, at such a young age, is to cherish such a moment,” Maye said.

Maye has been nursing a right shoulder injury but he said he would be “just fine” for Sunday when the Patriots go against the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense.

Maye is in the Super Bowl after making a huge leap from his rookie season.

The Patriots selected the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Maye out of North Carolina with the third pick in the 2024 draft. Under first-year coach Jerod Mayo, Maye passed for 15 touchdowns, with 10 interceptions, and rushed for 421 yards and two touchdowns for a team that finished 4-13.

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye speaks during a news conference on Monday.

(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

Patriots owner Robert Kraft fired Mayo after the season and replaced him with Mike Vrabel, a former Patriots linebacker who won three Super Bowls with the team as a player and coached the Tennessee Titans to three playoff appearances in six seasons from 2018 to 2023.

Vrabel brought back Josh McDaniels, the offensive coordinator for three Patriots Super Bowl championship teams, and Maye flourished.

“Give a lot of credit to the people around me,” Maye said. “Coaches, players, new teammates, another year with people I did play with, and just finding confidence in myself.”

Maye completed a league-high and franchise-record 72% of his passes, 31 for touchdowns, with eight interceptions. He also rushed for 450 yards and four touchdowns while leading the Patriots to a 14-3 record and the AFC East title.

Maye is a finalist for NFL most valuable player and for offensive player of the year.

“It all starts with talent,” Vrabel said of Maye, adding, “He plays the position athletically, and that allows him to be accurate with the football, whether that’s in the pocket or extending plays. He … continues to build and develop as a leader, so his success and his performance is a large part of why we’re here.”

Receiver Kayshon Boutte concurred.

“It’s pretty much as simple as that,” he said.

The 2020 season that Cam Newton played for the Patriots provided “useful” material for designing an offense that took advantage of Maye’s mobility, McDaniels said. Maye’s ability to learn quickly and not repeat mistakes has helped him thrive.

“We’ve added a lot this year,” McDaniels said, “and I still think we’re just scratching the surface of where this is going.”

Receiver Stefon Diggs is Maye’s favorite target. The 11th-year pro caught 85 passes for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns.

“To be that young and be that mature and be able to play at a high level is something I always wanted as a young player,” Diggs said. “He’s cool with all his teammates. … If you play football, you know. He has that quarterback mindset, that quarterback energy.

“Yeah, he’s cool.”

Tight end Hunter Henry said Maye embodies consistency as a person and a player.

“He’s got a routine, he works really hard, he wants to be great,” said Henry, a 10th-year pro. “He’s never really satisfied. He just wants to continue to improve.”

Maye helped lead the Patriots to playoff victories over the Chargers and the Houston Texans before defeating the Denver Broncos, 10-7, in the AFC championship game.

Containing Maye in the pocket will be a challenge, Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV said.

“Man, he can flat out run,” Jones said. “Can’t sleep on his speed. … When he gets out of the pocket, he’s running, running, running, and he just throws one.”

Patriots defensive lineman Milton Williams played last season for the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles. Maye and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, he said, are similarly selfless.

“They never take any credit for anything they did even though they’re both special players,” Williams said. “It’s all about the team with those guys, and guys respect that and guys go out there and play hard for ‘em knowing they’re capable of taking games over and winning games in big moments.”

Maye appears ready for the moment. He is not thinking about age or experience going into the biggest game of his life.

“It’s winning the game,” he said, “and enjoying the time with my teammates.”

Jamal’s nine-year-old body is paralysed. He experiences constant, uncontrollable, violent spasms. He cannot sleep through them. Nor can his mother. To keep the spasms under control, a drug called baclofen is required. It relaxes the muscles and stops the shaking. Suddenly halting the use of baclofen can have serious health consequences.

Jamal’s mother, my cousin Shaima, wrote to me from the family’s tent in al-Mawasi displacement camp in Gaza a week ago. It was her son’s seventh day without the medicine. The violent, neurological spasms that seize Jamal’s limbs leave him screaming out in pain.

Baclofen is unavailable anywhere in Gaza: not in hospitals, not in clinics, not in Ministry of Health warehouses, and not even through the Red Cross. Shaima has searched all of them. It is one of the many medicines blocked by Israel, along with painkillers and antibiotics.

Jamal now endures dozens of spasms each day. There is no alternative medication or substitute. There is no relief, only pain.

Jamal’s story is not to be told, if the likes of former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are to have their way.

Speaking at the United States-based, Israel-focused MirYam Institute last month, he said, “We need to make sure that the story is told properly so that when the history books write this, they don’t write about the victims of Gaza”. At this line, the audience applauded.

Pompeo went on to say that every war has civilian casualties, but the true victims in this case are the Israeli people. His concern is that October 7th and the war in Gaza would be remembered “incorrectly”.

It seems Pompeo wants to argue that the people of Gaza are just “collateral damage” in Israel’s war.  They are to remain nameless, faceless, forgotten. He wants their stories erased from the pages of human history.

His remarks reflect the next phase in Israel’s genocide. Dissatisfied with its progress in eliminating Gaza’s people, their mosques, their schools and universities, their cultural institutions, economy and land, Israel and its Christian-Zionist allies like Pompeo have now embarked on the erasure of memory and martyrdom.

The campaign is evident both inside and beyond Gaza. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) – an institution that has long preserved the status of the Palestinian refugee population and safeguarded their right of return under international law – is being systematically undermined and dismantled. TikTok – one of the few social media platforms where Palestinian voices have had a bit more freedom to speak – is now shadow banning and restricting pro-Palestinian accounts, after being taken over by an Israel-friendly conglomerate.

In the US, United Kingdom, and elsewhere, local laws are weaponised to come after pro-Palestinian youth, with scores being detained for using what should be their protected right to free speech. Laws are even passed at the state level in the US to shape what can be taught at schools about Israel and Palestine.

But what Pompeo – and those like him who misread biblical verses to justify their support for Israel and its genocide – do not understand is that Palestinians have faced erasure before and have overcome it. We will do so again.

In thinking about memory and bearing witness, the word “martyr” comes to mind. “Martyr” comes from the Greek word “martus”, meaning “witness”, and features prominently in the Bible. Similarly, the word “shaheed” in Arabic is derived from the root of the word for “witness” or “witnessing”. As the word evolved, it also took on connotations of violent suffering due to one’s beliefs, and even a sense of heroic steadfastness due to the scale of one’s sacrifice.

I can think of no better word than “shaheed” to describe Jamal and the people around him: they are living martyrs. Jamal’s little body has witnessed immense suffering; it has been pounded with the violence of the war, and he – like his mother – pushes on because of his overwhelming desire to live.

All around Jamal and Shaima’s tent are thousands of other tents. Day and night, each of them is pierced by the sound of Jamal’s screams. Inside the tents, cold and often wet from the recent floods, are thousands of other people who require urgent and important medical evacuation to hospitals.

The pain and suffering are immense, yet the likes of Pompeo continue to justify the ongoing and historically rooted process of the elimination of the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian people are also poets at heart. And what Pompeo – who devalues language, memory and history – will never understand is that the poet is a witness.

As Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote in one of his verses:

Those who pass between fleeting words

Take your names with you and go

Rid our time of your hours, and go

Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea and the sands of memory

Take what pictures you will so as to understand

That which you never will:

How a stone from our land becomes the ceiling of our sky.

The Palestinian people will keep memory alive, just as we have kept alive the pain of Beit Daras, Deir Yassin, Jenin, Muhammad al-Durrah, Anas al-Sharif and the roots of every olive tree ripped from its soil. The Palestinian people, and millions in solidarity around the world, witnessed Israel’s destruction of Gaza. In defiance of Pompeo and honouring the living martyr Jamal, each of us will take the stones of Gaza and build a new sky.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

If anyone told Mariah Carey ahead of time that Friday night’s MusiCares Person of the Year tribute would feature a live auction — an auction in which a meet-and-greet with the singer in Abu Dhabi was offered to the highest bidder — you sure couldn’t tell by observing her reaction.

Seated near the stage at the Los Angeles Convention Center, a camera feeding close-up images of her face to several screens, Carey appeared genuinely surprised by an auctioneer’s description of the backstage hangout in which she’d be expected to participate next month.

But such is the life of a queen.

Watching Carey respond in real time was actually the best thing about this annual Grammy-weekend gala meant to honor an artist’s work and philanthropy. Though the 56-year-old herself sang for only a minute or so at the end of the show, Carey was a delight to behold as a series of admirers took turns performing some of her many hits (and a handful of deep cuts).

Jennifer Hudson performs.

(Emma McIntyre / Getty Images)

The look of game recognizing game as Jennifer Hudson crushed “Vision of Love.” The tenderness with which she regarded her old friend Busta Rhymes doing their “I Know What You Want.” The slowly dawning realization that this heavily tattooed white man named Teddy Swims was really going to pull off “Without You.”

“That was terrifying,” Swims said when he finished the song — an all-timer of a power ballad with a lengthy chain of custody going back through Carey, Harry Nilsson and the doomed Welsh band Badfinger.

Best of all was the sight of Carey proudly singing along to Foo Fighters and Taylor Momsen as they blazed through a pair of tunes from the cult-fave grunge album she secretly recorded in the mid-1990s under the name Chick.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, left, and Taylor Momsen perform.

(Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images)

Other acts on the bill included Adam Lambert, who went slow and moody for “Can’t Let Go”; the British girl group Flo, which gave an airy performance of “Dreamlover”; and Laufey, who kept a watchful eye on a giant prompter scrolling lyrics at the back of the room as she did “It’s Like That.”

Then there was Billy Porter, who took “Always Be My Baby” way over the top with wild vocal runs that made up for what they lacked in precision with — well, mostly with volume.

Carey took the stage late in the evening to give her thanks to “so many friendly and familiar faces — people I’ve worked with, people I’ve long admired, even people I thought I’d never see again.” After her speech, Jon Batiste popped out to lead a random assortment of stars through an all-hands finale of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which recently set a new record for the most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Charlie Puth? Gayle King? Rita Wilson? Carey looked pleased(-ish) to see each one.

The battle to pin down places in the top eight could be enthralling, given how tightly packed the standings are.

Let’s start with the easy bit. For Real Madrid and Liverpool, both on 15 points, and Tottenham, on 14, a victory on matchday eight would secure direct entry into the last 16.

Spurs face eliminated Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, where the north London outfit won last year on the way to a Europa League triumph that secured them Champions League football this season.

Arne Slot’s Liverpool side are at home to Qarabag, who have a slim chance of still making the top eight.

“It’s all down to us again. Let’s make sure we’re in the top eight,” said Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk after last week’s win in Marseille.

“It’s very important as you miss the play-offs, and it helps with the intense programme that we’re having. We’ve put ourselves in a good position.”

Real Madrid are away to their former manager Jose Mourinho’s Benfica.

Mourinho reached three Champions League semi-finals in a row with Real before leaving in 2013, but Benfica – with only two wins in their first seven games – will need to beat Real to have a chance of sneaking into the play-offs.

Behind Spurs come the group of eight teams, starting with holders Paris St-Germain in sixth down to Atalanta in 13th, on 13 points.

Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester City are all in that group and looking for a priceless win – and even then knowing their fate could come down to goal difference.

Chelsea are also up against a familiar face in their former head coach Antonio Conte, who won Serie A with Napoli last season.

Conte welcomes the Blues to Naples with his side sitting outside the play-off spots on goal difference and needing a positive result.

A MUSIC legend shocked fans on Saturday by appearing out of nowhere on stage at a gig.

The appearance was totally unannounced, and the venue’s owner didn’t even know they were going to walk out.

Musician Afel Bocoum was performing his set at The Cornish Bank when Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn sent the crowd into a frenzy.

He then performed a surprise set with Afel’s band.

Speaking to CornwallLive about the impromptu visitor Rufus Maurice, owner of The Cornish Bank, said: “Thought you might be interested in our surprise guest last night.

“No one knew he was in the room till he jumped on stage and did a melodica set with the band.”

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Fans of the singer were heard blurting out, “That’s Damon Albarn, it f*****g is!!,” in the crowd.

Damon is said to have described Cornwall as a “lovely place”.

He lives along the coast of South Devon, but is rumoured to be recording projects near Falmouth.

This isn’t the first time Damon has surprised crowds by suddenly hopping out on a stage.

In 2006 he did the same thing with his Blur bandmates at the Marlboro Club in Ilfracombe.