‘The biggest dream is never too big. I feel like I’m living proof of that’

Published

4 years ago

August 12, 2021

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Cynthia Erivo is still on a high. It’s five days after a performance at the Hollywood Bowl when we speak, and the sense of occasion of singing at such a famous, “bucket list” venue, coupled with the emotion of seeing thousands of people coming together to hear live music – her music – after so much time away, means she will never forget it.

“I don’t know if I could even find the words to really, truly describe what I experienced,” she says. “Having 7,000 people being brave enough to come out and listen… being in front of that amount of people, seeing people react the way they did. I still can’t believe it happened.”

Now, the actress and singer is “looking forward to continuing that, getting back to audiences and performing live, because it’s definitely the lifeblood for me”.

At 34, British star Erivo is already an Emmy winner, a Grammy winner and a Tony winner, achieving all three in 2016 and 2017 for her starring role in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. The treble means she is *just* an Oscar away from the rare EGOT status of having all four; and she’s halfway there, receiving a nomination for best actress, for her portrayal of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet, in 2019.

Most recently, Erivo has played her musical hero, Aretha Franklin, one of the greatest vocalists of all time, in the Genius: Aretha series chronicling five decades of the Queen of Soul’s life. It is a role that could see her add to her trophy cabinet at the upcoming 2021 Emmy Awards.

So hers is already an impressive CV, and she is about to add to it with the release of her debut album. After years of performing in character it is her chance, she tells Sky News, to connect with people “directly as me”.

“It will always feel different when you’re not playing someone else,” she says. “It allows me to show a different part of who I am. The more I can connect honestly, the better, I think.”

Titled Ch 1 Vs 1, it’s clear that Erivo sees this as just the beginning of her story. “My life isn’t over yet,” she says. “There’s lots to come, there’s lots to learn, there’s lots to write. This felt like a new beginning for me when it came to music so I wanted to mark that.”

The record is described as a 12-track journey into the star’s mental and emotional landscape – one marked by heartbreak and sadness, but also triumph and growth.

Erivo says she wants people to know she is a “fully rounded person who has thoughts and feelings just like everybody else”. That she has loved and lost. She doesn’t elaborate, but says: “Life isn’t always black and white, there are definitely grey areas, and there are things I’ve dealt with and have had to come through just like everyone else.”

Is that something people forget when it comes to celebrity?

“I think sometimes they do,” she says. “But that’s not necessarily just for me, I think that’s across the board. I think that celebrity or fame – for me, those words are so strange because I still don’t really associate them with myself. It makes me feel really weird to refer to myself as a celebrity because it’s not what I did this for. I think people often forget that behind all of the glitz and whatnot, is a human who deals with stuff, it’s just that often that stuff is out in the open.”

The star says when it comes to writing songs, there is nothing wrong with letting your emotions show. “I’m not afraid to be as truthful as I can be, you know. It doesn’t scare me. I guess I kind of am thrilled by being able to be vulnerable in front of people. I think the more I can do it, hopefully other people will be encouraged to be just as vulnerable.”

Erivo’s first single, The Good, was inspired by a conversation with a friend in mourning. “The phrase she said was that she just wanted to remember ‘the good’. I realised that it could be attached to both the loss of someone or a relationship or anything that forces you to think of the best of the worst of times.”

In the video, Erivo portrays a woman remembering the positive memories of a relationship with another woman that has come to an end.

“I wanted to pay homage to Black love, but often we see Black love – and most love – heterosexually,” she says. “I wanted to see something that felt normal, that showed two women in a relationship… and it wasn’t voyeuristic and it wasn’t fetishistic. It was just a normal relationship going through the ups and downs that relationships go through.“

Born and raised in London, Erivo now lives in the US, where her profile is bigger, but still has family and friends back here.

As a star of stage and screen, and soon the charts, I ask how she feels about the government’s treatment of the arts and entertainment industry in the UK during the pandemic. The promise of £1.57bn in funding came four months into the crisis, which many argued was too late, while confirmation of a £750m insurance scheme for festivals only came earlier this month – again, too late for many events for the second year running.

Then there is the plan requiring people to prove double vaccination status when entering nightclubs and other “crowded venues” from the end of September – bizarrely announced just as restrictions were lifted in July – which has been condemned as an “absolute shambles” by industry figures.

“I think there seems to be this terrible battle that keeps going on in the UK when it comes to the arts and I don’t know why it’s difficult for the government to see that the arts are worth taking care of,” Erivo says. “Because people gain so much, everybody gains from it, even commerce gains from it. If there’s art, there’s a reason for people to visit, there’s a reason for people to see it, that means people are spending money to come and see these shows, to see the plays, the films.

“For me personally, I don’t know that anyone should be forced to have a vaccine, everyone is individual and it’s up to them.

“I do hope that we’ll finally get to a place where people deem the arts a necessary thing, because it is, and it’s often how a lot of people survive. And right now, there are people I know for sure in London who are only just getting back to work, only just getting back to shows and rehearsals. And they’ve desperately needed to be back at work and haven’t really been taken care of, and that saddens me. A lot. So I hope that that gets fixed.”

Before our time is up, I ask Erivo about another professional accomplishment that cements her status as a true multi-hyphenate in the industry. She is soon to become a published author, with her debut children’s book, Remember to Dream, Ebere, to be published in a few weeks. It tells the story of a mother and child who is encouraged to dream big.

“I am telling that story for anybody who has a dream, who thinks that things are impossible, who needs to be encouraged to keep dreaming – adults or children,” Erivo says. “I wrote it because it was the thing that I can relate to the most, the idea that the biggest dream is never too big. I feel like I’m living proof of that. I have definitely been able to live within the dreams that I’ve wanted for myself and I guess I wanted to share it with everybody else. I wanted other people to feel like they have that possibility, too.”

Cynthia Erivo’s debut album, Ch 1 Vs 1, will be released on 17 September.

Entertainment

Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia talked about modern masculinity before Gen Z was born

Published

11 hours ago

April 5, 2025

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Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia talked about modern masculinity before Gen Z was born

Despite The Who’s Quadrophenia being set over 60 years ago, Pete Townshend’s themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.

The album is having a renaissance as Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia A Mod ballet is being brought to life via dance at Sadler’s Wells East, and Sky News has an exclusive first look.

As Townshend puts it, the album he wrote is “perfect” for the stage.

“My wife Rachel did the orchestration for me, and as soon as I heard it I said to her it would make a fabulous ballet and we never really let that go,” he tells Sky News.

“Heavy percussion, concussive sequences. They’re explosive moments. They’re also romantic movement moments.”

If you identify with the demographics of Millennial, Gen Y or Gen Z, you might not be familiar with The Who and Mod culture.

But in post-war Britain the Mods were a cultural phenomenon characterised by fashion, music, and of course, scooters. The young rebels were seen as a counter-culture to the establishment and The Who, with Roger Daltry’s lead vocals and Pete Townshend’s writing, were the soundtrack.

Quadrophenia the album is widely regarded as an essay on the British adolescent experience at the time, focusing on the life of fictional protagonist Jimmy – a young Mod struggling with his sanity, self-doubt, and alienation. 

Townshend sets the rock opera in 1965 but thinks its themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.

He says: “The phobias and the restrictions and the unwritten laws about how young men should behave. The ground that they broke, that we broke because I was a part of it.

“Men were letting go of [the] wartime-related, uniform-related stance that if I wear this kind of outfit it makes me look like a man.”

This struggle of modern masculinity and identity appears to be echoing today as manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, incel culture, and Netflix’s Adolescence make headlines.

For dancer Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy, the story resonates.

“I think there’s a connection massively and I think there may even be a little more revival in some way,” he tells Sky News.

“I love that myself. I love non-conforming to gender norms and typical masculinity; I think it’s great to challenge things.”

Despite the album being written before he was born, the dancer says he was familiar with the genre already.

“I actually did an art GCSE project about Mods and rockers and Quadrophenia,” he says.

“I think we’ll be able to bring it to new audiences and hopefully, maybe people will be inspired to to learn more about their music and the whole cultural movement of the early 60s.”

In 1979, the album was adapted into a film directed by Franc Roddam starring Ray Winstone and Sting but Townshend admits because the film missed key points he is “not a big fan”.

“What it turned out to be in the movie was a story about culture, about social scenario and less about really the specifics of mental illness and how that affects young people,” he adds, also complimenting Roddam’s writing for the film.

Perhaps a testament to Pete Townshend’s creativity, Quadrophenia started as an album, was successfully adapted to film and now it will hit the stage as a contemporary ballet.

It appears that over six decades later Mod culture is still cool and their issues still relatable.

Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 28 May to 1 June 2025, Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 June 2025 and the Mayflower, Southampton from 18 to 21 June 2025 before having its official opening at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London on 24 June running to 13 July 2025 and then visiting The Lowry, Salford from 15 to 19 July 2025.

Entertainment

Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault

Published

17 hours ago

April 4, 2025

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Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.

The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.

The charges relate to four women.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.

Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.

He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.

The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.

Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.

The comedian has denied the accusations and said he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.

He added in a video on X: “Of course, I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”

Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.

“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”

Entertainment

Tom Cruise leads moment of silence in tribute to ‘dear friend’ Val Kilmer

Published

2 days ago

April 3, 2025

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Tom Cruise leads moment of silence in tribute to 'dear friend' Val Kilmer

Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.

Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.

Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.

His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.

“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.

“I wish you well on the next journey.”

The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.

Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.

Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.

He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.

Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.

He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.

In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.

The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.