‘How I Learned To Drive’ review: Moving Mary-Louise Parker is back on Broadway

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt took a village to create Kendrick Lamar’s mind-melting new video for his song “The Heart Part 5,” which on the surface is just him performing in front of a red backdrop until you realize that his face deepfakes into those of OJ Simpson, Jussie Smollett, Nipsey Hussle, Kobe Bryant and Kanye West (who, ironically, himself dropped a video the same day using deepfake technology).While the video was directed and executive produced by Lamar and longtime collaborator Dave Free and features a host of creative collaborators (listed below), the deep fake is credited to Deep Voodoo, a studio launched by “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to specialize in the technology — and the “The Heart Part 5” video appears to be the first fruit of a partnership between Lamar’s PGLang company and the “South Park” founders’ Park County banner to produce a new feature film for Paramount Pictures. (While Lamar, Parker, Stone and reps for PG Lang and Deep Voodoo all declined Variety’s requests for an interview about.) The Deep Voodoo studio — the name of which almost certainly was chosen in part for its phonic similarity to the term “deep doodoo” — made its first major splash late in 2020 with “Sassy Justice,” a spoof of a television investigative report on deep fakes done in collaboration with actor Peter Serafinowicz.

Max George has shared a touching tribute to his late bandmate and friend Tom Parker after his death.The Wanted star passed away at the age of 33 on 30 March after battling an inoperable brain tumour he was diagnosed with in 2020, leaving behind Kelsey and their two young children. Now, several weeks after his death and funeral, Max, 33, has taken to his Instagram feed to post a previously unseen photograph of himself with Tom. In the dark snap, Max can be seen wearing a white T-shirt as he wraps an arm around Tom, who appears happy and relaxed as they sit and pose together.The pair could be seen smiling as Max did a thumbs up for the camera before the star wrote about "true friends" in the caption.

EXCLUSIVE: Broadway playwright and American Rust TV writer Adam Rapp has signed with CAA in all areas.

Broadway’s Plaza Suite, the Neil Simon revival starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, announced a third extension today, citing ticket demand. The comedy will now run at the Hudson Theatre through Sunday, July 10.

Mary-Louise Parker doesn’t have a lot of confidence in her driving skills.

NEW YORK -- There is a cosmic deliciousness to the fact that “A Strange Loop” has landed on Broadway mere yards away from one of its juiciest targets.In the new musical that opened Tuesday at the Lyceum Theatre, we meet the character Usher, an unhappy playwright slumming as an usher at “The Lion King,” which in real life is playing just across 7th Avenue at the Miskoff Theatre. If the wind was just right, Usher might be able to heave a rock and hit Rafiki.Every once and a while — sadly, too few — we get something that pushes the musical theater form completely, taking an utterly unforgettable, idiosyncratic trip.

Naveen Kumar Subjectivity is conditional. We can only understand our own points of view in relation to the differences that separate us.

If you think you’re wasting your life, consider the case of Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, who spent the years 1945 to 1974 in the jungle of Lubang, in the Philippines, waging the Second World War on behalf of Emperor Hirohito. Talk about fighting for a lost cause; and making a movie about the most famous and among the last of the Japanese “holdout soldiers” of the Pacific War may seem like a similarly foolhardy undertaking for the French filmmaker Arthur Harari.

If you think you’re wasting your life, consider the case of Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, who spent the years 1945 to 1974 in the jungle of Lubang, in the Philippines, waging the Second World War on behalf of Emperor Hirohito. Talk about fighting for a lost cause; and making a movie about the most famous and among the last of the Japanese “holdout soldiers” of the Pacific War may seem like a similarly foolhardy undertaking for the French filmmaker Arthur Harari.

Matthew Broderick loves working with his wife on the stage.

The Wanted fans were overcome with emotion as they paid tribute to late singer Tom Parker during his funeral on Wednesday 20 April. Supporters of Tom lined the streets through Petts Wood and around Queensway, South East London, for the service that saw the star's wife Kelsey supported by family as she followed her late husband's hearse. And after Kelsey and Tom's The Wanted bandmates delivered moving speeches, fans of the boyband also lent their tributes during the service.

Marilyn Stasio Theater CriticMommas, don’t give your daughters the kind of nicknames that would appeal to their pedophile uncles. Cursed with a cutesy moniker like “Li’l Bit,“ what do you think might happen to a supposedly worldly but ever so innocent teenager like the one played to shattering perfection by Mary-Louise Parker? The actor and her equally brilliant co-star, David Morse, originated these roles in playwright Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer-winning play “How I Learned to Drive” a quarter-century ago — and after all these years, they still own them.“I’m not gonna do anything….” kindly Uncle Peck promises his buxom 17-year-old niece as he undertakes her first perilous driving lesson. Huge sigh of relief.

Max George paid tribute to his "feisty" friend and The Wanted bandmate Tom Parker in a heartwarming eulogy at his funeral service today. Max, 33, was joined by Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, and Nathan Sykes, as they said their final goodbyes to Tom, alongside his loved ones. The four band members joined together as pallbearers at the private service at Queensway, South East London, putting on brave faces in front of the large crowd of mourners.

The Wanted's Siva Kaneswaran remembered his late bandmate Tom Parker as a "firecracker" in an emotional speech and poem during his funeral.Tom's funeral took place today, Wednesday 20 April, where his wife Kelsey was seen supported by family as she followed her late husband's hearse on fan-lined streets through Petts Wood and around Queensway, South East London. And during the service, Siva was overcome with emotion as he paid tribute to his "legendary" and "absolute hero" bandmate Tom. "Where do we begin? There can never be one paragraph to contain the legendary Tom Parker.

Hundreds of fans have lined the streets to mark their respects for The Wanted star Tom Parker, who passed away aged 33 on March 30 .

In the 25 years since Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse first performed Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned To Drive, the name for the disturbing process that we witness being depicted on stage has long since entered widespread usage. If audiences can now readily label what happens as “grooming,” Vogel’s emotionally complex masterwork remains as unsettling, disarmingly funny and as deeply moving as ever.