The Pentagon issued a statement blasting the streamer’s programming and leadership Friday following an inquiry about the new series “Boots” from Entertainment Weekly. While the response from Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson did not directly address the gay coming-of-age military show, it did slam Netflix for following an “ideological agenda” that “feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos,” Wilson’s statement said. “Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay, or straight. We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”
Based on Greg Cope White’s 2016 memoir “The Pink Marine,” “Boots” follows Cam Cope (Miles Heizer), a gay teenager who enlists in the Marines at a time when being gay in the military was still a crime. Noting the show’s timely themes, Times television critic Robert Lloyd called it a “perfectly decent, good-hearted, unsurprisingly sentimental miniseries” in his review.
The show’s creatives also worked closely with several advisors with past military experience to authentically portray the Marines and military life in the 1990s.
The Pentagon’s criticism against Netflix follows the recent campaign led by billionaire Elon Musk calling for people to cancel their subscriptions to the streamer. The on-again/off-again Trump ally railed against Netflix on X earlier this month after clips of “Dead End: Paranormal Park,” an animated Netflix series featuring a trans character, was making the rounds on the social media platform. The show was canceled after its second season was released in 2022.
Despite being the target of right-wing ire, Netflix also has a history of being called out for its anti-trans programming. In 2021, transphobic remarks made by comedian Dave Chappelle in his special “The Closer” led to protests, walkouts and even a resignation of a trans employee. The streamer followed that in 2022 by releasing a comedy special from Ricky Gervais that also featured transphobic material.
The expression “stay woke” started out as an affirmation for African Americans.
In the last decade it has been used by some Republicans — and some Democrats — as a pejorative for people thought to be too “politically correct,” another term that took on negative connotations as it gained wider use.
“Woke” has come up in cultural and political firestorms. Eight months into his second term, President Trump pledged to review content at the Smithsonian Institution for being “WOKE” and where “everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was.” At the beginning of this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared in his State of the State address that government would keep “woke agendas” out of universities and K-12 schools, including “woke gender ideologies.”
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was ending the “woke” culture in the military, saying the service has been hamstrung by political correctness. He referenced diversity efforts, transgender troops, environmental policies and other disciplinary rules.
“America is no longer woke under President Trump’s leadership. The word ‘woke’ represents radical ideologies that are used [to] divide the American people and harm our country,” Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement.
Here’s where “woke” came from, and how its meaning has evolved:
The history of ‘woke’
“Wokeness” originated decades ago as African American cultural slang for having awareness and enlightenment around racism, injustice, privilege or threats of white supremacist violence.
Several historians trace the idea to a 1923 compilation of speeches and articles by Jamaican-born Black nationalist Marcus Garvey. In one essay, Garvey writes “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa!” Another reference appears in 1938 in the song “Scottsboro Boys,” by blues artist Lead Belly, whose real name was Huddie Ledbetter. The tune follows the true story of four Black youths unjustly convicted by an all-white jury of the rape of two white women (they were later freed). The lyrics warn Black listeners to be careful and “stay woke. Keep your eyes open.”
Gerald McWorter, a professor emeritus of African American studies and of information sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, says “woke” was about having a voice after hundreds of years of Black suffering going back to the African slave trade.
The phrase also popped up in a 1962 essay by novelist William Melvin Kelley for the New York Times. The headline — “If You’re Woke, You Dig It.” Kelley’s widow and daughter believe he heard the term while walking around their Harlem neighborhood, said Elijah Watson, a pop culture writer and editor who has written about Kelley, who died in 2017.
‘Woke’ reawakening
In the 21st century, singer-songwriter Erykah Badu is often credited with reviving the term “woke.” Her song “Master Teacher” on her 2008 album, “New Amerykah: Part One,” includes the refrain “I stay woke.” Badu picked up the phrase from co-writer and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow, who heard it from a saxophone player she collaborated with — Lakecia Benjamin.
The 2014 fatal shooting by a white police officer of 18-year-old Michael Brown — who was Black and unarmed — in Ferguson, Mo., made “woke” and “stay woke” galvanizing pledges in the growing Black Lives Matter movement.
The movement drew support from other racial groups. “Woke” also became popularized by white liberals who wanted to show they were allies.
The war on woke
The backlash against “woke” and “wokeness” bubbled up in the 2010s, amid discussions about including more Black history in American history lessons. Many people said that bringing “critical race theory” to schools was meant to program children to feel guilty for being white.
This argument became front and center in 2022 when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” into law. It banned teaching or business practices on race and gender. (The law is now on hold after a federal judge deemed it unconstitutional).
For George Pearson, a former chair of the Illinois Black Republican Coalition, “woke” is a hollow word.
Democratic politicians who purport to be “champions” of wokeness and DEI have done little for Black people, he said. So, “woke” has no sway as a rallying cry. He also thinks it’s unfair that those who do not support “woke-ism” are told “’you’re racist. You’re a homophobe. You’re a bigot.”
Even among liberal Black Americans, there is a debate whether the intention of “woke” does more harm than good.
Who says woke now?
In Watson’s experience, “woke” is no longer part of Black vernacular. If he hears it from anyone in his social circles, it’s almost always said “in jest.”
Some progressives are trying to take the word back. Academy Award-winning actor and activist Jane Fonda brought up being “woke” while receiving the Screen Actors Guild lifetime achievement award in front of an A-list audience.
“Make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke. By the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people,” Fonda said.
Seena Hodges started her own business as a DEI strategist for individuals and groups in 2018 and called it the Woke Coach. She and her team consult on everything from workplace interactions to best recruiting practices. She touches on inclusion for groups from people of color to breastfeeding mothers.
The “bastardization” of “woke” and DEI as words akin to slurs doesn’t bother her, she said. To her, at its core being “woke” is about awareness.
“What it really boils down to is helping people develop a more acute level of emotional intelligence,” she said.
Tang writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Christopher Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
“Eureka Day,” a comedy by Jonathan Spector that wades into the debate on vaccine mandates, has only become more explosively topical since its 2018 premiere at Aurora Theatre Company, in Berkeley, Calif.
The play, which is having its Los Angeles premiere at Pasadena Playhouse, seems like it could have been commissioned to skewer this destructive, benighted and completely mortifying anti-science moment. But Spector wrote the work before the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed our political demons and made stupid great again.
“Eureka Day” takes its name from the fictional private elementary school in Berkeley that is the setting for what is both a satire of anti-vaccine culture and a comedy of woke manners. Held in a determinedly cheerful Bay Area classroom (brightly summoned with all the necessary social justice touches by set designer Wilson Chin), the play unfolds as a series of meetings of the school’s executive committee.
Don (Rick Holmes), the head of school, is ostensibly in charge, though his duck-and-cover strategy for dealing with conflict has a way of protracting problems. Four parents, one a newcomer still acclimating to the school’s strenuously progressive rules, are part of the executive brain trust.
The first discussion of the new school year is relatively innocuous though no less testing for being so. Eli (Nate Corddry), a stay-at-home dad who made a fortune at Facebook, has proposed adding “Transracial Adoptee” to a drop-down menu on an admissions form already burgeoning with identity subcategories.
Suzanne (Mia Barron), a mother who has sent so many children through Eureka Day that she has a proprietary attitude about the place, doesn’t think this additional category is necessary. She’s sensitive — self-consciously so — to Eli’s good intentions, but she persuades the group that no changes are necessary at this time.
“Persuades” might be a euphemism. Suzanne has an iron will that she thinly veils with a solicitous smile.
One of the quirks of the executive committee is that it operates by consensus rather than a majority vote. This can lead to some “very long meetings,” Suzanne informs Carina (Cherise Boothe), the new Black lesbian mom who recently moved from Maryland.
Suzanne claims to want everyone to feel “empowered,” though her controlling temperament pokes through her welcoming facade. Meiko (Camille Chen), who knits during meetings with a subtle air of annoyance, has to loudly ask Suzanne to please stop speaking on her behalf.
Cherise Boothe in “Eureka Day” at Pasadena Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
These blind spots, a standard ingredient of comic characters, are particularly glaring in Suzanne’s case. When Carina tells her that she didn’t homeschool her son for kindergarten but sent him to public school, Suzanne is mildly horrified. She also makes the assumption that Carina is not a “full pay” family.
There’s even something passive-aggressive about Suzanne’s show of concern for all viewpoints, a trait that becomes all the more conspicuous after a crisis erupts at the school. A mumps outbreak forces Eureka Day to temporarily close its doors.
Don informs the executive committee that the health department has issued a letter stipulating what parents must do for their child to return to school. The subject isn’t open for debate, but Suzanne is uneasy about how this letter is being “framed.”
She’s an advocate of parental choice when it comes to vaccines, not trusting the experts who have determined that only children who are vaccinated can return to school when there’s a risk of infection. She believes vaccines stand in the way of natural herd immunity.
Mia Barron, left, Rick Holmes, Cherise Boothe, and Camille Chen in “Eureka Day” at Pasadena Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
Meiko is less vociferous in her anti-vaccine stance than Suzanne, but she has her own skepticism about modern medicine and doesn’t want to be told what to do. When her daughter develops mumps, it becomes an emergency for Eli, who’s been having an affair with Meiko. The two arrange their assignations around playdates, and their kids were recently in contact.
Eli, who’s married but in a complicated open relationship situation with his increasingly resentful wife, would rather not have to choose sides in the vaccine mandate debate. But when his son gets sick after spending time with Meiko’s unvaccinated daughter, he finds he can no longer stay on the fence.
The well-programmed comedy hilariously runs its course in the leadership vacuum created by the school’s over-accommodating culture. Don is so worried about seeming to favor one parental faction over another that he allows Suzanne to become the dominant voice in the room.
The production, directed by Teddy Bergman, has a field day with the woke-run-amok ethos of Eureka Day, where kids at the school cheer the other team’s goals at soccer games. But Bergman’s approach is more schematic than Anna D. Shapiro’s Tony-winning Broadway revival.
Perhaps the urgency of the moment calls for a clearer moral stand, but the comedy has lost some nuance. On Broadway, Jessica Hecht made Suzanne seem totally oblivious to her own rage. She really believed that she was seeking consensus, tolerant of all perspectives as long as they didn’t impinge on her beliefs, the origins of which are poignantly related later in the play.
The fury of Barron’s Suzanne is much more on the surface. The humor is more direct — Barron can be very funny — but the debate is less trenchant. Bergman’s production, marred by blasts of jarring folk music between scene transitions, is a little too on the nose.
Boothe’s Carina, by far the strongest performance in the cast, is our rational surrogate in the play — a parent trying to fit in without betraying her intelligence or child’s welfare. I appreciated the way Holmes lets us come to our own conclusions about Don’s go-along-to-get-along style of running the ship.
Meiko is woefully underwritten, and Chen’s performance, while amusing when Meiko erupts, sometimes seems disconnected. Corddry refuses to play a tech industry cliché, but Eli, a bland creep, comes off as unnecessarily vague.
Bergman has trouble locating that sweet spot between jokey exaggeration and multidimensional authenticity. Comedy trades in types, but the cast could have benefited from more fine-tuning.
Perhaps that’s why the funniest scene in the play involves the live chat portion of a virtual meeting that’s organized for Eureka Day parents alarmed about the quarantine situation. Avatars square off against one another in a vaccine debate free-for-all that puts the lie to the school’s “community of respect” motto with uncensored savagery punctuated by missile-like emoticons.
“Eureka Day” will make you laugh, but how much this production will make you think is an open question.
‘Eureka Day’
Where: Pasadena Playhouse, S. 39 South El Molino Ave., Pasadena
When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, 7 p.m. Thursdays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. (Check for exceptions)
Leading charity, The British Horse Society, has sparked a row after banning words like ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ in a new inclusive language guideCredit: Getty
The guide asks members to call maternity leave “parental leave” to try to stamp out outdated gender references.
Chairman should be “chairperson”, while it suggests that ethnic minorities should be called the “global majority”.
Foreigners are “people from overseas”.
The guide also suggests “humankind” instead of mankind while able-bodied people become known as “non-disabled”.
It states: “The BHS wants to create a culture of inclusion, which means maintaining positive and respectful communication with peers who may not have the same characteristics as us.
“We are antiracist and antidiscriminatory.
“We will work to break down barriers and enhance voices who have not yet been heard.”
The BHS was set up in 1947 “to protect and promote the interests of all horses and those who care about them”.
Members fork out up to a staggering £204 a year to join the UK’s “largest and most influential equestrian charity”.
Its advice follows universities and councils issuing guides with alternatives for widely accepted terms.
Starmer wades into flag row after SECOND woke council vows to remove St George’s cross
Stability is a thing of the past at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which this past week fired its director of dance programming, Jane Raleigh, as well as two other full-time dance programmers, Mallory Miller and Malik Burnett.
A few days later, the center announced its new dance director — a young Washington Ballet dancer named Stephen Nakagawa, who, according to the New York Times, sent a letter to the center’s president, Richard Grenell, lamenting “radical leftist ideologies in ballet.”
Nakagawa also wrote that he was “concerned about the direction the ballet world is taking in America,” that he was upset by the “rise of ‘woke’ culture,” at various dance companies and that he “would love to be part of a movement to end the dominance of leftist ideologies in the arts and return to classical ballet’s purity and timeless beauty.”
If “woke” is a MAGA dog whistle for diversity, equity and inclusion, then restoring “purity” to classical ballet could lead to a regressive whitewashing of the art form.
“With God, all things are possible,” Nakagawa wrote in a social media post announcing his appointment. “I am excited and honored to begin working with the incredible Kennedy Center and this amazing administration.”
The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment about how its dance programming might change now that Nakagawa has taken over, but a person close to the situation, who declined to be identified said, “The [terminated] individuals were given multiple opportunities to come up with new ideas and failed to offer any.”
In interviews following their dismissal, Miller and Burnett said they had attended a meeting with Grenell in which he told them that they needed to prioritize “broadly appealing” programming in order to attract corporate sponsorship. Grenell reportedly used the reality TV competition “So You Think You Can Dance” as an example of what he had in mind.
What Grenell seems to be missing is that, under Raleigh, dance programming at the Kennedy Center was among the best in the nation — with broad appeal. The current season, which had been programmed before Raleigh and the others were fired, included some of the country’s most vaunted and popular companies including Martha Graham Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet.
The Kennedy Center also commissioned great work, including Mark Morris’ “Moon,” which staged its world premiere at the center in April. Times classical music critic Mark Swedcaught the show at an “unusually quiet” venue shortly after President Trump staged his February takeover of the center.
“‘Moon,’” Swed told me, “served as a marvelous example of how [the] dance series already provides what both its audiences and new administration want. It celebrates American greatness, representing the historic Moonshot and Voyager space missions through wondrous dance, sanguine 1930s swing music and cavorting spacemen. There is even bit of cheerful conspiracy theory with the help of a cuddly alien or two.”
It doesn’t take a MAGA apparatchik to know that’s a winning formula.
I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, dancing my way to a better tomorrow. Here’s your arts news for the week.
Best bets: On our radar this week
Newsletter
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Prince on his 1987 Sign O’ The Times tour at the Palais Omnisports in Paris.
(FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images)
Prince – Sign O’ The Times The purple one’s 1987 film featuring live performances of songs from his ninth studio album gets the Imax treatment this weekend. Neither a commercial nor critical success upon its original release, interest in the project has only increased as the artist’s stature continued to rise, even after his death from an accidental overdose in 2016. Ranking Prince’s singles in 2021, Times pop music critic Mikael Wood wrote, “Inspired in part by the bad news he saw splashed across the front page of the Los Angeles Times one summer day in 1986, the title track of Prince’s magnum opus addresses AIDS and the crack epidemic in language as haunted and unsparing as the song’s rigorously pared-down groove.” The movie opens Thursday in limited theatrical release; check theaters for showtimes. www.imax.com/prince
“Villagers on Their Way to Church from Book of Hours,” c 1550, by Simon Bening (Flemish, about 1483 – 1561) Tempera colors and gold paint Getty Museum Ms. 50 (93.MS.19), recto
(J. Paul Getty Museum)
Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages As we wrap up our own summer excursions, what better time to vicariously explore how it was done in medieval times through this exhibition of Getty Museum manuscripts illustrating the subject, augmented by an interactive component inspired by early 8-bit arcade video games. Times art critic Christopher Knight has described Northern European manuscripts as “one unmistakable strength of the Getty’s collection.” The show opens Tuesday. 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Tuesday–Friday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday; closed Monday, through Nov. 30. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive. getty.edu
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers performs Arturo Márquez’s concerto “Fandango” with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl in 2021.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Márquez’s Fandango & Shostakovich’s Fifth Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers performs Arturo Márquez’s Latin Grammy-winning composition with the L.A. Phil, conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl. The orchestra will also perform the Mexican composer’s “Danzon No. 2” and Shostakovich’s popular “Symphony No. 5.” When “Fandango,” commissioned by the L.A. Phil and written for Meyers, had its world premiere in 2021, Times classical music critic Mark Swedcalled it “substantial. It is based on the Mexican fandango Márquez grew up with in Sonora. His instrument is the violin, and his father was a mariachi violinist. But Márquez’s goal in the concerto was to use his folk and dance roots in a formal classical way, taking as his example such European composers as Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz. In Márquez’s concerto, he allows Meyers to revel in her virtuosity. He writes melodies that sound old and worth keeping. Dance rhythms do what they’re supposed to, making feet tap and nerves tingle.” The gates open at 6 p.m. with the music scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY 🎭 Masala Dabba Food, cooking and the titular spice box are central to playwright Wendy Graf’s world-premiere drama about an Indian/African American family directed by Marya Mazor. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 14. International City Theatre, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. InternationalCityTheatre.org.
🎭 NOIR! A Hollywood thriller is the milieu for a new immersive theatrical experience from the creators of “It’s Alive” and “The Assassination of Edgar Allan Poe.” 7:50 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Sept. 6, 13 and 20. Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St. downtownrep.com
SATURDAY 🎥 Barry Lyndon The American Cinematheque marks the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s visually sublime adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel about an 18th century English rogue, starring Ryan O’Neal and Marisa Berenson, with the L.A. premiere of a new 4K restoration. 7 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com
🎥 Drop Dead Gorgeous Actor Denise Richards will be in person for a 35 mm screening of the 1999 small-town beauty pageant mockumentary, a darkly comedic cult favorite written by Lona Williams, directed by the State’s Michael Patrick Jann and co-starring Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin and Kirsten Dunst. 7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. academymuseum.org
🎭 Just Another Day “Wonder Years” dad Dan Lauria wrote this romantic comedy on the enduring nature of love and stars with Academy Award nominee Patty McCormack (“The Bad Seed”) as a septuagenarian couple who meet every day on a park bench to verbally spar and reminisce. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 28, with 8 p.m. Wednesday shows on Sept. 17 and 24. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com
🎨 Rising Sun, Falling Rain: Japanese Woodblock Prints An exhibition exploring the growth of Edo-period ukiyo-e printmaking and the later shin-hanga movement through more than 80 works from the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts features work by Katsukawa Shunshō, Utagawa Toyokuni, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Kawase Hasui. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday–Sunday and Tuesday–Thursday, closed Monday, through Nov. 30. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu
🎨 Martin Wittfooth: Deus ex Terra The Canadian artist examines the repeating patterns of nature and the ways it serves as both muse and a mirror of the human soul in this solo exhibition. Opening reception, 7 p.m. Saturday; noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Corey Helford Gallery, 571 S. Anderson St., Los Angeles. coreyhelfordgallery.com/
SUNDAY
The cast of “One Man, Two Guvnors” at a Noise Within: Trisha Miller, from left, Kasey Mahaffy, Ty Aldridge and Cassandra Marie Murphy.
(Daniel Reichert)
🎭 One Man, Two Guvnors Richard Bean’s swinging ’60s British farce won James Corden a Tony Award and largely introduced him to American audiences. The show, based on “The Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni, is directed by A Noise Within producing Artistic Directors Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott, with songs by Grant Olding. Previews: 2 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Sept. 5; opening night: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 6; 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, through Sept. 28. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. anoisewithin.org
TUESDAY 🎥 Who Killed Teddy Bear? The Los Angeles premiere of a newly struck 35 mm print presents Joseph Cates’ uncensored director’s cut of his 1965 neo-noir thriller starring Sal Mineo, Juliet Prowse, Jan Murray and Elaine Stritch with footage seen for the first time in six decades. 7 p.m. Los Feliz Theatre, 1822 N. Vermont Ave. americancinematheque.com
WEDNESDAY 🎭 Am I Roxie? Written-actor Roxana Ortega’s one-woman comedy is a wild ride through her mother’s mental decline. Directed by Bernardo Cubría. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday, through Oct. 5. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org
THURSDAY 🎭 Oedipus the King, Mama! Troubadour Theater, a.k.a. the Troubies, applies its brand of commedia dell’arte-inflected slapstick to Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy, infused with the music of Elvis Presley. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through Sept. 27. The Getty Villa, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades. getty.edu
🎼 Mozart’s Requiem Conductor James Gaffigan leads the L.A. Phil in the composer’s final, uncompleted Mass, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, preceded by Ellen Reid’s “Body Cosmic” and Brahms’ “Song of Destiny.” 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Danielle Wade as Maizy, left, and Miki Abraham as Lulu in the North American Tour of “Shucked” at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.
(Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
If you’re a sucker for puns, you’ll love “Shucked,” the musical comedy running through Sept. 7 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. The show, writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty, “never met a pun it didn’t like.” But there’s more to the folksy tale of mixed-up love in a place called Cob County — “Shucked” is a “folksy farcical riot, wholesome enough for widespread appeal but with just enough flamboyant oddity to tickle the funny bone of urban sophisticates.” The actors are also top-notch, including Danielle Wade, who plays the female lead Maizy. Wade, writes McNulty, “sounds like an ingenue Dolly Parton, exquisite to listen to, especially when her heart is in play.”
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s annual Art+Film Gala returns for its 14th year. This year’s honorees are filmmaker Ryan Coogler and Light and Space artist Mary Corse. The elaborate dinner — which always attracts a high-powered Hollywood crowd — is co-chaired by LACMA trustee Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s scheduled to take place on Nov. 1 and will be the last such event to occur before the museum opens its new Peter Zumthor-designed building next spring.
Tyrone Huntley, an usher at the Hollywood Bowl.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Remember the fabulous actor who played Simon in the Hollywood Bowl’s unforgettable “Jesus Christ Superstar”? The one who also served as an understudy for Cynthia Erivo’s Jesus? His name is Tyrone Huntley, and his story is similar to those of countless working actors in L.A. Namely that he also has a day job. Only in Huntley’s case, his day job is working as an usher at the Hollywood Bowl. One day he was onstage in one of the season’s hottest shows, and the next he was showing people to their seats at the very same venue. Read all about it here.
Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times
A scene from the 2022 documentary “¡Viva Maestro!”: Gustavo Dudamel smiles as he wraps up Encuentros performance in Palacio de Bellas Artes.
(Gerardo Nava / The Gustavo Dudamel Foundation)
Gustavo Dudamel is still the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but he’s already got one foot in New York City, where he is scheduled to become the music director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2026. This week the N.Y. Phil issued a news release highlighting Dudamel’s presence in its 2025-26 season. As the orchestra’s music and artistic director designate, Dudamel will lead six weeks of subscription programs, as well as the season-opening concerts. Next month he will conduct the world premiere of Leilehua Lanzilotti’s “of light and stone.”
Almost two years ago, Holocaust Museum LA broke ground on a $65-million expansion. It is now a less than a year out from opening at its new Jona Goldrich campus, which includes a 200-seat multipurpose theater, a 3,000-square-foot gallery, two classrooms, an interactive theater featuring a virtual Holocaust survivor, a pavilion with an authentic boxcar, a gift shop and a coffee shop, as well as a variety of outdoor community spaces. Designed by architect Hagy Belzberg, it will double the museum’s footprint in Pan Pacific Park.
The Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists issued a news release voicing concern “over the recent and evolving casting decisions in the Broadway production of ‘Maybe Happy Ending’,” created and written by Hue Park, with music by Will Aronson. The Michael Arden-directed Broadway adaptation won six Tony Awards this year, including for best musical, direction of a musical and lead actor in a musical (Darren Criss). However, after the award wins, Criss, who is of Filipino descent, took a leave of absence from the show and was replaced by a white actor, Andrew Barth Feldman. “This is not just about one casting decision, even if only momentary. It reflects a longstanding pattern of exclusion, whitewashing, and inequity that AAPINH and global majority artists have confronted for decades in U.S. theater,” the news release said.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
Ojai’s Hotel El Roblar, which first welcomed guests in 1919, has officially reopened. The newest hotel in Ojai is now also its oldest, writes Times Travel writer Christopher Reynolds. See you there!
Bruno Fernandes’ horrific missed penalty in the first half seemed to have been redeemed when Leny Yoro‘s header deflected off Rodrigo Muniz’s back and into the net.
But Emile Smith Rowe poked home an equaliser soon after with one of his first touches of the match, just minutes after being introduced off the bench.
Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim insists that there may yet be a future of any of his infamous ‘bomb squad’ that don’t make it out of Old Trafford
President Trump on Tuesday said he intends to expand his crusade against what he calls “woke” ideology from the Smithsonian Institution to museums across the country.
“The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that the Smithsonian is “out of control,” and that everything featured in its exhibits discuss, “how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”
To prevent more of the same in other institutions, Trump said he has instructed his attorneys, “to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made.”
Contacted for comment, a White House rep said, “President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable. He will start with the Smithsonian and then go from there.”
They did not respond to a request for clarification on how the administration intends to vet the content of exhibits at other museums, or whether or not the president intends to issue an executive order with details on a plan.
Trump’s concern about the Smithsonian first became public in late March when he issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which directed Vice President JD Vance to remove “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Two months later, Trump exerted even greater control when he said he’d fired Kim Sajet, the longtime director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.” It soon became apparent that it wasn’t in Trump’s power to do so and Sajet continued to work.
In early June the Smithsonian rejected Trump’s attempt to fire Sajet after a lengthy Board of Regents meeting. The Regents issued a statement stating that the organization’s secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, “has the support of the Board of Regents in his authority and management of the Smithsonian.” It was implied that Bunch would be the one making personnel decisions, not Trump.
Still, the statement opened the door to the idea that the Smithsonian might make changes that would appease Trump’s criticism.
“To reinforce our nonpartisan stature, the Board of Regents has directed the Secretary to articulate specific expectations to museum directors and staff regarding content in Smithsonian museums, give directors reasonable time to make any needed changes to ensure unbiased content, and to report back to the Board on progress and any needed personnel changes based on success or lack thereof in making the needed changes,” the statement read.
Sajet resigned a few days later, writing in a note to staff, “From the very beginning, my guiding principle has been to put the museum first. Today, I believe that stepping aside is the best way to serve the institution I hold so deeply in my heart.”
Other museums are ringing alarm bells about what it could mean for art and history at large.
The Japanese American National Museum in L.A.’s Little Tokyo recently issued a statement condemning what it called the, “Reshaping of Smithsonian Museums” to fit “the administration’s historical interpretation.”
“These latest attempts to sanitize and reshape history to fit a narrow ideological narrative amount to nothing less than the erasure of history,” said JANM’s President and Chief Executive Ann Burroughs. “We cannot reverse America’s journey toward a more just and equitable future. Museums must be places of truth, not propaganda — spaces where the next generation can confront the complexity of our nation’s injustices, mistakes, and darkest chapters; where empathy, social responsibility, and the courage to defend democracy are nurtured.”
The American Alliance of Museums also recently issued a statement warning of “growing threats of censorship against U.S. museums.”
“In recent months, museums have faced increasing external pressures to modify, remove, or limit exhibitions and programs,” the statement read. “People trust museums because they rely on independent scholarship and research, uphold high professional standards, and embrace open inquiry. When any directive dictates what should or should not be displayed, it risks narrowing the public’s window into evidence, ideas, and a full range of perspectives.
“This is not just a concern for select institutions,” the statement continued. “These pressures can create a chilling effect across the entire museum sector.”
Dean Cain, the former star of “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” laments the newest take on the Man of Steel — one that likens his story to the immigrant experience in America.
In a recent conversation with TMZ, Cain — who starred as Clark Kent/Superman in the hit 1990s TV series — wondered: “How woke is Hollywood going to make this character?”
The 58-year-old actor railed against filmmaker James Gunn and his iteration of the Kryptonian icon after the director declared in an interview with the London Times that “Superman is the story of America.” In the interview, Gunn described his hero as “an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country,” adding that his film, starring David Corenswet in the title role, is “mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”
Gunn, who has been an outspoken critic of President Trump, made his comments as the Trump administration carries out its aggressive crackdown on immigrant communities across California. Since raids in Los Angeles began June 6, federal immigration agents have arrested nearly 2,700 undocumented individuals, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Cain was clearly not a fan of Gunn’s remarks. Cain, who has not seen the film yet, criticized the idea of “changing beloved characters” and suggested creating new original characters instead. When he starred in “Lois & Clark,” Cain was the fourth actor to portray Superman onscreen, filling in the red boots of Kirk Alyn, George Reeves and Christopher Reeve. He claimed that the superhero “has always stood for truth, justice and the American way.
“The American way is immigrant-friendly, tremendously immigrant-friendly, but there are rules,” he added, before his aside about people coming to the U.S. to seek opportunity. Speaking more broadly about immigration, Cain said he believes in enforcing limits on immigration, otherwise “our society will fail.”
Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain starred in the TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” from 1993 to 1997.
(ABC Television Network)
In another clip from his conversation with TMZ, Cain asks why immigration agents and federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, “are being villainized for enforcing the laws that our lawmakers, our elected representatives created.” Videos shared on social media have documented numerous incidents of masked immigration agents forcefully detaining civilians and confronting other people attempting to interfere in the arrests.
Cain said he thinks it “was a mistake by James Gunn to say, you know, it’s an immigrant thing,” adding that he thinks the movie will suffer at the box office as a result. Cain said he is looking forward to Gunn’s take on the comic-book hero and is rooting for its success, but ultimately contends, “I don’t like that last political comment,” referring to the Marvel alum’s description of Superman.
Gunn’s “Superman” is now in theaters and also stars Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced. In her review, Times film critic Amy Nicholson writes, “This isn’t quite the heart-soaring ‘Superman’ I wanted. But these adventures wise him up enough that I’m curious to explore where the saga takes him next.”
Amid the latest “Superman” discourse, the White House on Thursday shared a photo on social media of Trump’s face superimposed onto Superman’s body on the film’s poster. In response to the odd digital alteration, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office fired back with a familiar point.
“Superman was an undocumented immigrant,” the tweet read.
ROMEO and Juliet has been hit with a trigger warning — with audiences informed it featured violent scenes and death.
Shakespeare’s classic 16th-century love story has been “retold” as a modern ballet.
1
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been hit with a bizarfre trigger warningCredit: Alamy
But London’s Royal Opera House deemed it necessary to warn potential visitors the production includes themes of “violence and death”.
Sir Ian McKellen, who has appeared in Romeo and Juliet productions throughout his career, previously hit out at “ludicrous” warnings.
He said: “I quite like to be surprised by loud noises and outrageous behaviour on stage.”
It comes four years after The Globe in London warned of “upsetting” themes in the play, and provided a number for The Samaritans.
They were even provided a number for the Samaritans for after the show.
Actor Christopher Biggins said: “Do we have to have signs for everything under the sun?
“It’s a joke. What they are trying to do is insulting to the mentality of theatre-goers.”
The Globe has also warned about themes of “violence, sexual references, misogyny and racism” in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as “anti-semitism” in The Merchant of Venice.
In February, the University of the West of England slapped over 200 trigger warnings on Shakespeare’s work – including “bad weather” in The Tempest.
The Royal Opera House was asked to comment.
Celeb Millionaire contestant forced to use lifeline on tricky Shakespeare question – but could you get it right-
British pensioners tell how they feel ‘lucky to be alive’ after escaping horrific blaze at their hotel during a holiday in Turkey. They didn’t think they would make it back to the UK in one piece
Daniel Steel, 69, had been enjoying a break at a five-star resort in Turkey when a fire broke out in April.(Image: Newsquest)
Daniel and Christine Steel, who are both nearly 70, had been enjoying a break at a five-star resort in Turkey when a terrifying fire broke out.
The pensioners were among six people taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and Daniel said at one point during the nightmare, he phoned his daughter because he didn’t think they’d be coming home alive.
Daniel from Bradford told his local paper the Telegraph & Argus: “We feel lucky to be alive. We were woken up after hearing screams of ‘fire, fire’ and ‘help, help!’ Our room became dense with smoke – we couldn’t breathe.
“We were on the top floor and had to make a decision about what to do. Put it this way, if it wasn’t for the balcony, we wouldn’t be here now telling you this story. Below us was a 250ft drop and it was pitch black – all the electricity went off because of the fire.”
The couple climbed over the balcony rails onto a roof and held onto the rails for ‘dear life’. But pensioner Daniel pulled a nerve in his leg and is still in a lot of pain.
“Most of the hotel was evacuated but we came across some other guests who found themselves in the same position as us,” he continued. “At that point, there were 11 of us screaming for help. We were eventually rescued by firefighters after what felt like a lifetime.”
After leaving hospital, they were moved to alternative accommodation before later returning to the hotel to collect their belongings.
But Daniel said all their holiday things were ruined. And although the couple are glad to be back home, Christine is still struggling to forget about their hellish experience.
She added: “We keep reliving what happened – and thinking what might have happened if we hadn’t had a balcony. It was certainly a holiday from hell – but we’re grateful to be alive.”
MORE than half of Brits who used to watch Doctor Who say they turned off because it had become “woke, boring rubbish”.
That is the result of an independent survey conducted as star Ncuti Gatwa exited the Tardis with a paltry 2.3 million viewers on Saturday.
4
More than half of Brits who used to watch Doctor Who say they turned off because it had become ‘woke, boring rubbish’Credit: BBC
4
Ncuti Gatwa exited the Tardis with a paltry 2.3 million viewers on SaturdayCredit: PA
4
Billie Piper has made her triumphant comeback to the show as the new DoctorCredit: Unpixs
In a shock twist, he appeared to regenerate into the Doctor’s former companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper — but many are not convinced she is the Time Lord’s 16th incarnation.
The Sun exclusively revealed last month that Ncuti, 32, would be leaving the role after two series — the shortest tenure of any actor in the role since Christopher Eccleston, who left the rebooted BBC show after one series in 2005.
The survey quizzed 2,135 adults and found 42 per cent of current and former viewers said it had got worse since its relaunch two decades ago, with stories increasingly preachy and worthy.
Even one in three current viewers think it has got worse.
Plotlines over the past three years have featured trans heroines, non-binary baddies and drag-queen villains — and the Doctor coming out as gay, and crying in most episodes.
James Johnson of pollsters JL Partners said: “This is the first ever major poll done on attitudes to Doctor Who and the results are bleak.
“The public believe a once-great show has lost its way — and their biggest complaint is it puts pursuit of wokeness above entertainment value.
“The main words associated with it are rubbish, boring, and woke.
“If the BBC want to grow the show’s audience once more, they will need a total revamp.
“And to get back to telling entertaining stories rather than preaching lessons that simply do not have an audience among the British public.”
The poll found 46 per cent of current viewers think it puts social justice and woke issues above quality, compared with 37 per cent who believe the show puts quality first.
Those who have stopped watching say it puts social justice and woke issues first by a ratio of three to one.
The average age of current viewers is 42, compared with 51 for ex-fans.
They are also heavily Labour voters compared to a more politically diverse former audience.
The wokery ratcheted up after Doctor Who was taken over for a second time by showrunner Russell T Davies in 2023.
He was the man who rebooted the show in 2005 with Eccleston, followed by David Tennant.
4
The show in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston, followed by David TennantCredit: BBC
Who has starred in Doctor Who?
Which actors have portrayed the famous Time Lord over the years?
First Doctor: William Hartnell (1963 – 1966)
Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton (1966 – 1969)
Third Doctor: Jon Pertwee (1970 – 1974)
Fourth Doctor: Tom Baker (1974 – 1981)
Fifth Doctor: Peter Davidson (1982 – 1984)
Sixth Doctor: Colin Baker (1984 – 1986)
Seventh Doctor: Sylvester McCoy (1987 – 1989)
Eighth Doctor: Paul McGann (1996)
Ninth Doctor: Christopher Eccleston (2005)
Tenth Doctor: David Tennant (2005 – 2010)
11th Doctor: Matt Smith (2010 – 2013)
12th Doctor: Peter Capaldi (2014 – 2017)
13th Doctor: Jodie Whittaker (2018 – 2022)
14th Doctor: David Tennant (2023)
15th Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa (2023 – present)
A respectable 5.1 million tuned in to see his “comeback episode” with David returning to play the Doctor for a second time in 2023.
The actor then handed over to Ncuti who had his first full series as the Fifteenth Doctor last year.
One Whovian writing on X/Twitter, said: “Thanks to RTD (Russell T Davies) Ncuti is tainted and ‘15’ will be remembered as the worst Doctor with the worst era in the history of Doctor Who.”
The Sun revealed BBC bosses were considering a hiatus for the show, though execs maintained they would not make a decision until the second series had aired.
Russell T Davies teased a return on Saturday, saying: “After 62 years, the Doctor’s adventures are only just beginning!”
But that seems optimistic given their current multimillion-pound deal partnership with Disney+ is facing an uncertain future — and the viewing figures for one episode of the last series fell as low as 1.6 million.
A spokeswoman for Doctor Who said: “Doctor Who remains one of the biggest dramas on the BBC and is the most watched drama for under-35s, as well as being one of the most popular brands on BBC iPlayer.
“As we have previously stated, a decision on any future deal between the BBC and Disney+ regarding Doctor Who is yet to be made and any other claims are pure speculation.”
NOT CREDITED AS THE DOCTOR: Every new Time Lord has been introduced as the Doctor in the end credits. In Saturday’s episode, hers simply read: “introducing Billie Piper”.
RUSSELL T. DAVIES WON’T EVEN SAY: After the twist, Doctor Who’s own showrunner said of Billie’s return: “Quite how and why and who is a story yet to be told.”
BILLIE HINTED SHE’S STILL ROSE: Just after her return, Billie posted on Instagram a picture of herself holding a rose with the caption: “A rose is a rose is a rose.”
TENNANT’S RETURN WAS CLEARER: When Jodie Whittaker regenerated into David Tennant in a similar twist, execs immediately confirmed he was the Doctor.
ROSE IS LINKED TO THE TARDIS: Ncuti tapped into the Tardis before regenerating. Fans reckon it caused Rose to return, since she held the power of the Tardis in 2005.
SHE STILL SEEMS TO BE REGENERATING: Billie is still glowing when the episode ends, suggesting the transformation is incomplete and the true Doctor is yet to emerge.
THE BBC DON’T CALL HER THE DOCTOR: The corporation avoids calling her the Doctor in a news item released soon after the episode.
