Los Angeles Times - 24.02.2020

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Donizetti thought his
opera “Roberto Devereux”
jinxed. He had reason. May-
be he still does, if Los Ange-
les Opera’s opening night of
its production Saturday at
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
was any indication.
“Roberto Devereux,” an
1837 Neapolitan anything-

goes view of Elizabethan his-

tory, was born out of the

composer’s personal trage-

dy, which included the death

of his wife as he was writing

the opera and a cholera out-

break at the time of the pre-

miere.

Despite some early

mixed success, the opera

had a troubled history that

included more than a cen-

tury of neglect. It was not

until 1970, when Beverly Sills

starred as a stunning Queen

Elizabeth I for New York City

Opera, that it really took off.

The New Yorkers im-

mediately brought their

production to the Music

Center. A young tenor

named Plácido Domingo

happened to be Devereux,

the queen’s lover who jilts

her. And that young tenor,

who helped found and who

until recently ran L.A. Op-

era, had long been eager to

bring the opera to the com-

pany. Having become a bari-

tone in his later years, he was

equally eager to sing the role

of Devereux’s antagonist,

the Duke of Nottingham.

As all the opera world

knows, Domingo resigned

last year as head of L.A. Op-

era and dropped out (or was

dropped from) all his U.S.

engagements in wake of

sexual harassment accusa-

OPERA REVIEW

‘Roberto Devereux’ jinx

at work again? Perhaps

L.A. Opera carries on

without two stars. It

was a workable fix for

opening. Stay tuned.

MARK SWED
MUSIC CRITIC

CHRISTOPHER HALSTEDplays Henry VIII to Kira Hunziker’s Princess Eliza-

beth, center, and Donna Gale’s Anne Boleyn in L.A. Opera’s “Roberto Devereux.”

Cory Weaver

[SeeOpera,E4]

When her arthritis got

so bad that she needed a cane, Autumn de Wilde

didn’t just pick one up at the pharmacy. She went

to a 19th century Victorian umbrella shop in Lon-

don and told the shopkeeper: “I need your weirdest

cane.”

“Check this out,” she said, unscrewing the top of

the French walking stick, supposedly modeled af-

ter one once owned by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Inside was a thin vial containing Japanese

whiskey, bookended by a couple of shot glasses.

“These need a little wash, because we’ve partaken

recently. It actually only holds a shot, which is so

disappointing. I thought it was so much more

when I bought it.”

The idea of following standard protocol is

anathema to De Wilde. Every day, she dresses in a

uniform — some version of a suit with a broad-

brimmed felt hat. (She says her style is a mix of

Paddington Bear and Oscar Wilde.) Her friends

refer to her as “the rock ’n’ roll Martha Stewart” be-

cause at parties, she gifts everyone with hand-

made favors. Once, after spending two sleepless

nights creating 150 paper robot invitations, her

mother asked her: “Why don’t you just keep it sim-

ple?” De Wilde raged: “Don’t you know me by now?

I will never! Keep it! Simple!”

But it was this sort of extravagance that helped

her first big directing job, the new adaptation of

Jane Austen’s “Emma,”

AUTUMN DE WILDE, longtime celebrity photographer, revives “Emma” with help from her cane.

Carolyn ColeLos Angeles Times

Why she’s the right

match for ‘Emma’

Debut film director shoots, pitches her way in

BYAMYKAUFMAN>>>

[SeeDe Wilde, E3]

Supermodel Heidi Klum

hosted the fashion reality

show “Project Runway” for

16 seasons, but one element

was missing: Many of the

beautiful clothing designs

that went down the catwalk

could not be immediately

bought by the audiences

that cheered for them.

So as Klum launches

a new fashion-based reality

show, “Making the Cut,”

next month with Tim Gunn,

she’s aligning with a global

streaming service that is

also one of the world’s larg-

est online retail platforms:

Amazon.

“For the first time, finally,

our audience can shop,”

Klum said last month at

a Television Critics Assn.

panel in Pasadena. “You see

something, you want it, but

you can’t have it. So here,

you have a winning look

every week and people can

buy it around the world.”

The partnership between

Amazon and Klum illus-

trates how the Seattle glo-

bal giant can intertwine

its two most notable divi-

sions — retail and entertain-

ment — and potentially pro-

duce new lucrative revenue

streams.

When Amazon launched

its foray into video stream-

ing more than a decade ago

and later released original

shows starting in 2013, the

goal was to offer programs

that would drive traffic and

sales to its site. Until now,

however, the company has

not used an original, global

series to directly promote

its products. “Making the

Cut” will be the first, and it

could pave the way for other

tie-ins between the compa-

ny’s expanding studio and

its juggernaut e-commerce

business.

Amazon already pushes

customers to buy a $119 an-

nual Prime membership

that offers free and fast ship-

ping on items from its retail

store as well as access to

original programs like

“Fleabag” and “The Marvel-

ous Mrs. Maisel.” Amazon

Shop

direct

from

catwalk

Amazon is primed to

change the fashion biz

by linking ‘Making the

Cut’ to retail business.

By Wendy Lee

[SeeAmazon,E3]

Ever been on a date and
thought: I’d have more fun
talking to a wall?
Netflix’s new matchmak-
ing reality show “Love Is
Blind” brings that scenario
to life — but with different
intentions.
The series begins with 15
single men and 15 single
women splitting into pairs
and getting to know each
other, one on one, sight
unseen: Each is in a “pod”
separated by a wall. Think
Catholic confessional meets
Tinder.
Roughly 10 days later, af-
ter much gabbing, those who
share a strong connection
get engaged and meet for
the first time before jetting
off for a honeymoon-esque
stay in Mexico. If the connec-
tion is still thriving — this
being reality TV, it won’t be
drama-free — the couples
then venture back into the
real world, where they live
together for four weeks,
meeting family, friends and
pets. If, after all of that, the
spark remains, the couples
exchange vows and join the
ranks of other made-for-
television love stories.
The 10-episode series is
being released as a three-
week event. The first five
episodes were released last
week; the next four episodes
are now available to stream.
The finale will air on Thurs-
day.
The Times talked with
creator and executive pro-
ducer Chris Coelen about a
show that has viewers con-
fused, curious and totally
committed.

Where did the idea for the
pods come from?
Coelen is no stranger to
the relationships-made-on-
TV world. As the head of
L.A.-based Kinetic Content,
he’s behind Lifetime’s “Mar-
ried at First Sight,” which
features total strangers
tying the knot. The idea for
“Love Is Blind,” Coelen says,
was to explore the universal
desire to be loved for who
one is on the inside. The
“experiment” was to see how
to make an emotional con-
nection the starting point of
a relationship in today’s age
of physically focused dating
apps and curated social
media personas — and
whether that can overcome
all else.
“There have been many
scientific studies that talk
about the key to long-term
relationship success being
emotional connection and
not physical attraction,”
Coelen said. “If you could

Fro m

‘Blind’

dates

to altar

The matchmaking

format gets a doozy

of a makeover in this

new series for Netflix.

By Yvonne Villarreal

[See‘Love,’ E4]

Leads set for

‘Mind’ reading

A live-read of 2004’s

“Eternal Sunshine of

the Spotless Mind”

will star Adam Scott,

Tessa Thompson. E2

What’s on TV..........E5

Comics...................E6-7