ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MARCH 19-20, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13

People & Places

Film

‘Raw and vulnerable’ For Bravo, ‘Cherry’ a star-making role

Lindsey Bahr

iara Bravo didn’t have high hopes for her pros- Cpects when she saw the names attached to “Cher- ry.” She’d been working in the business for over a decade, but it was mostly in television and bit film roles. No way, she thought, was she going to be cast to star opposite “Spider-Man” himself, Tom Holland, in a major film based on a bestselling memoir about PTSD and opioid addition from Marvel maestros Joe and Anthony Russo. “It was SO out of my league,” Bravo said in a re- cent interview. She sent in a tape anyway and for four weeks she didn’t hear a word. When her agent texted saying he had news, her fi rst thought was that he was going to drop her. Not because of him, she said, “He’s wonderful.” It was just her anxiety. Then he dropped the bomb- shell: She got the role. No sec- ond audition. No meeting. No chemistry test. The tape was that good. “When Ciara’s audition Bravo came to us at AGBO, we said, ‘Stop the presses,’” said Mike Larocca, a producer and the co-founder of the company. The Russos even claim they knew after 20 seconds. It’s not unlike the revelation many have had or will Aaron Tveit, (right), appears with Karen Olivo during a performance of ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical,’ in New York. Tveit was the only actor nominated for a Tony in have once they see her in the fi lm, which is currently the category of best leading actor in a musical for his role. (AP) in theaters and hits Apple TV+ on Friday. Earlier this year, Robert Downey Jr. declared himself “her new biggest fan” and waxed poetic about her raw and vulnerable performance as a woman who gets drawn Stage into addiction along with her partner, Cherry. Yes, it’s Holland’s big foray into more adult fi lms. But it’s Bravo who steals the show. Now, at just 23, she’s on the brink of stardom. Scholarship created to honor choreographer Reinking Bravo hails from Alexandria, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati. When she was around 8, she was spotted by an agent at a county fair who asked her mother if she was interested in acting or modeling. Tveit rides a roller-coaster of a year “It sounds fake, I know,” Bravo laughs. “And also, like, the scariest start to any story.” By Mark Kennedy Tveit found work elsewhere. Over the said. summer, he shot a Hallmark Channel Tveit sees something of a silver lin- Auditions ven in a crazy year with so many Christmas movie with Laura Osnes ing in the Broadway shutdown: Long But soon after she and her mother started taking Eups and downs, consider the last and fl ew to Vancouver to work on the unaddressed social issues are being trips to Los Angeles for auditions. About four years 12 months of Aaron Tveit. Apple TV+ series “Schmigadoon!” examined, top among them racial rep- in, she got her fi rst big break in the Nickelodeon se- The Broadway star was wowing “Gratitude doesn’t even describe resentation on both sides of the curtain. ries “Big Time Rush” and then in the channel’s movie fans in “Moulin Rouge! The Musi- how I feel,” he said of the employ- While urging donations to the na- “Jinxed.” cal” when it was suddenly shuttered ment. “I think about it every day be- tional services group The Actor’s “I feel very lucky that my mom never put too much by the coronavirus. Then he contracted cause I know so many people who Fund, he also champions Black Lives weight or pressure on it. She was very clear that the COVID-19 himself. He recovered to have not been able to work at all. The Matter groups, anti-racism organiza- second I stopped enjoying acting, we didn’t have to lend his voice to relief efforts, got a question of paying rent, of being able tions, bail relief and transgender re- keep doing it,” Bravo said. “I think that allowed me few high-profi le acting gigs and then to support families and pay bills - it’s sources. Actress Ciara Bravo poses for a por- it’s truly devastating.” “I’ve done a lot of listening,” he to just thoroughly enjoy the experience and just play trait, Feb 18, 2021, in Los Angeles. landed his fi rst Tony nomination. and fi gure out what this world was and if I wanted to The twenty-three-year-old Kentucky “It’s hard to have perspective,” he Nominations said. “I’ve tried to just shut my mouth live in it or not.” said. “I just think that’s going to need and listen to everything around me and native stars in the Apple TV+ movie Tveit’s fi rst big gig was in a “Rent” As she booked other things and started to learn ‘Cherry.’ (AP) a little bit of time and a little bit of a what people need and what people feel more about the craft of acting and building a char- 25,000-foot view to see what actually tour and he made his Broadway debut and then look at how personally I may acter, she realized she loved it and there was no happened in the last year.” as a replacement in “Hairspray” and or may not be helping.” Two back-to-back blows came then “Wicked.” He then had three star- When Broadway restarts, he hopes turning back. At 18 she made the decision to forgo ring roles in “Next to Normal,” “Catch college for the moment and move to Los Angeles. within weeks last March when his the hard work can continue of ensuring show was shuttered and then Tveit be- Me If You Can” and now “Moulin all people have equal access to theater More TV roles followed, notably on Fox’s “Red Rouge!” His fi lm work includes the Band Society” and some films, too, including the came one of the fi rst Broadway actors work, not just friends or those recom- adaptation of “Les Misérables” and mended. indie “The Long Dumb Road” and the Netflix ano- to speak publicly about contracting on TV he was in “Graceland,” “Brain- rexia drama “To The Bone.” But “Cherry” was the COVID-19. Dead” and “Grease Live!” game-changer. “I wanted to kind of say, ‘Look, I’m Also: A bright spot in a dark year was NEW YORK: Long before she became In the book, her role, Emily, is only seen through somebody that really takes care of my when “Moulin Rouge!” earned more Cherry’s eyes, which the fi lmmakers knew was a health and I’d like to think I’m in good a Tony Award-winning choreogra- than a dozen Tony nominations, which pher, Ann Reinking waited tables to problem for the movie. Bravo credits the screenwrit- shape.’ I was basically trying to say, the company celebrated with a Zoom ers Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg for ‘This can affect anyone. Please take toast. “I’d like to think that our show save up enough money to move to New helping turn this idealized projection into a fl awed, Levine Robinson this seriously,’” he said. would have done as well in any year. York City. She arrived with $500, no three-dimensional person. Then she took it to the next Tveit, 37, says he now suspects he So I’m very proud of the work that job lined up and no connections. level. was sicker than he thought at the time. we’ve done,” he said. When she died at 71 last year, Reink- “When Ciara came aboard, we felt there was a full Variety For several weeks, he slept 13 hours a Tveit was the only actor nominated ing left behind many fans, friends and character behind her performance, one we hadn’t day but thankfully, his lungs weren’t in the category of best leading actor in students as well as a legacy of a cool, guessed at,” Anthony Russo said. “She brought vul- affected. “It was like a terrible, terrible a musical for his role as Christian and muscular dance hybrid of jazz and bur- nerability and a fi erceness to her that was unpredict- sinus infection.” it marks his fi rst nomination. Unop- lesque. able.” NEW YORK: Besides working on her A few weeks later, he had a fl are-up. In her honor, friends and admirers newsmaking interview with Meghan posed, he’s poised to win, as long as Bravo dove headfi rst into the preparation, reading “In terms of lasting effects, I think I’ve 60% of Tony voters vote for him in the have established The Ann Reinking everything she could and dissecting the script while and Prince Harry, Oprah Winfrey has been OK,” he said. “I know a lot of Scholarship, a $5,000 annual award been busy with the novels of Marilynne category. on the Calgary set of the FX series “A Teacher.” She people that really, really suffered. So “It’s the most wild thing that it just and mentorship for a young dancer even went to Cleveland a few weeks early to visit a Robinson. moving to New York City to help sup- Winfrey announced Tuesday that she I consider myself very lucky that I got worked out that way. But I’m just so rehab facility to try to understand more the life of an has selected Robinson’s acclaimed quar- by with as mild a case as I did.” grateful and I take it as nothing but as a port them in their artistic endeavors. addict. tet of “Gilead” narratives for her next Tveit summoned the strength to recognition of the hard work that I put “She was one of the most profound- “I know without them being very frank and hon- book club selection. Robinson won the lend his support for out-of-work ac- into the show,” he said. ly generous people that I’ve known,” est about what it looked and felt like to battle a beast Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for “Gilead,” the tors - joining stars like Sutton Foster Producer Carmen Pavlovic calls says Bebe Neuwirth, a two-time Tony like heroin addiction, I wouldn’t have been able to fi rst of her books set in the fi ctional Iowa and Jeremy Jordan for a benefi t concert Tveit a unique musical theater actor winner who co-starred with Reinking do a quarter of the work that I did on this project,” town of Gilead, and she has followed hosted by Rosie O’Donnell and later whose vocal talent “just blows you in “Chicago” on Broadway. “This hon- Bravo said. with “Home,” “Lila” and “Jack.” singing “Marry Me a Little” for a Ste- away,” spanning ballads and all-out ors that in a way that also references “As I was recently reading author Relationship phen Sondheim birthday celebration. rock numbers. her story of coming to New York.” Marilynne Robinson’s latest novel, “It felt so meaningful to me to be in- “I’m thrilled he’s received his fi rst The scholarship is being awarded by It was a hard shoot that required intimacy coordina- ‘Jack,’ I thought it would be wonderful cluded but also the message behind it: Tony nomination for his performance, Off the Lane, a mentorship program tors, drug consultants and a lot of trust between her to explore her entire Gilead universe We can still be a community, we can which refl ects not only his work on for young performers moving to New and her collaborators. The Russo brothers, she said, through these four novels. I am looking still learn how to come together even ‘Moulin Rouge!’ but also Aaron’s vast York. It will be open to anyone, from always checked in with her to make sure she was feel- forward to going on this journey with our under these circumstances,” he said. anywhere, with a cut-off age of 21. Book Club community over the coming body of work that brings his career ing safe. And, of course, she had Holland. With “Moulin Rouge!” grounded, journey to this special moment,” she (AP) Forging the relationship with her co-star was, “The months,” Winfrey said in a statement. Robinson, whose other admirers easiest part of the whole process,” she said. “He’s include Winfrey’s friend former US got such a great heart and he’s an absolute joy to be president Barack Obama, said in a state- around. He’s just this warm, bubbly guy.” singers as music or artistic director from Levine became music director emeri- “Requiem” in what turned out to be ment that “Oprah Winfrey is a singular 1976 until forced out by general manager tus and remained head of its young artists In the few weeks before the shoot, they went to voice in this country and in the world. It his fi nal performance, after accounts in dinners with the cast and the crew and spent many Peter Gelb in 2016 due to Parkinson’s program but was suspended on Dec 3, the New York Post and The New York is wonderful and amazing that my books disease. 2017, the day after conducting a Verdi days just sitting on his patio or his couch, watching will have the kind of attention only she Times of sexual misconduct dating to the movies and TV over cups of tea and talking about could bring 1960s. life. Among their selections: A lot of “New Girl” and Tuesday’s announcement continues He was fi red the following March 12 Disney’s “Aladdin.” Winfrey’s partnership with Apple, which and never conducted again. He had been Now, Bravo is thinking carefully about her next she began in 2019 by choosing Ta-Ne- scheduled to make comeback perfor- hisi Coates’ novel “The Water Dancer.” mances of Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Req- move. She’s been grateful for the time and space over uiem” this Jan 17 and 21 in Florence, the past year to refl ect on where she wants to go from After announcing new picks every two to three months through the fi rst half of Italy, but the concerts were canceled due here. And the opportunities are already starting to to the novel coronavirus pandemic. light up now that “Cherry” is out. She’d like to direct 2020, she has slowed her pace; the Rob- inson books are her fi rst selections since “No artist in the 137 year history of at some point, maybe even a documentary. But for Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste” in August. the Met had as profound an impact as now it’s all acting. Apple customers wishing to learn James Levine,” Gelb said in a statement. “That’s where my true passion lies,” Bravo said. more about why Winfrey chose Robin- “He raised the Met’s musical standards “And I want to keep riding this train for as long as son’s books can now do so by asking Siri to new and greater heights.” possible and see where it takes me.” “What’s Oprah reading?” and hearing a Known for bushy hair an an ever-pre- “Cherry” is a 2021 American crime drama fi lm di- recording of Winfrey. (AP) sent towel draped over a shoulder during rected by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay ❑ ❑ ❑ rehearsals, Levine greatly expanded by Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg, based the Met’s repertory and was especially on the autofi ctional novel of the same name by Nico NEW YORK: Conductor James Levine, praised for his performances of Wagner, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera Verdi and Berg. He was closely associ- Walker. The fi lm stars Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, ated with Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli and Jeff Wahlberg, and for more than four decades before being eased aside when his health declined and Domingo and Birgit Nilsson, who spoke follows an Army veteran suffering from PTSD, who then was fi red for sexual improprieties, on stage at close to 2 am near the end of resorts to robbing banks to support his opioid addic- has died. He was 77. Levine’s 25th anniversary concert, which tion. Levine died March 9 in Palm Springs, stretched on for about eight hours at the “Cherry” was released in theaters on February 26, California, of natural causes, his physi- Met in 1996. 2021, and was released digitally on Apple TV+ on cian of 17 years, Dr Len Horovitz, said Domingo recalled working with Lev- March 12, 2021. The fi lm received mixed reviews Wednesday. ine more than 400 times, his most opera from critics, who praised Holland and Bravo’s per- Levine made his Met debut in 1971 This April 3, 2019 file photo shows actress Felicity Huffman departing federal performances with any conductor. formances but criticized the screenplay and direction. and became one of the signature artists court in Boston after facing charges in a nationwide college admissions brib- “You were a musical genius, an (Agencies) in the company’s century-plus history, ery scandal. A new documentary about the college admissions scandal, ‘Op- outstanding conductor, and a supportive conducting 2,552 performances and eration Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal,’ premiered Wednes colleague, with an amazing sense of ruling over its repertoire, orchestra and day on Netflix. (AP) — Details on Page 12 humor. (AP)