Tuner, now playing in theaters throughout Israel, is an offbeat, interesting drama and crime caper, with some funny moments.
Entertainment
Cyndi Lauper wants to have more than just fun with the ‘Working Girl’ musical
In the 1988 movie “Working Girl,” an assistant secretly stays at her absent boss’ apartment, ogles its opulence alongside her best friend and tries on a dress with a $6,000 price tag.
The new musical version of the beloved film re-creates this iconic scene with nine women onstage. They enter the glamorous dwelling with voluminous permed hair, shoulder-padded blazers and white athletic sneakers — the latter for commuting from the outer boroughs into Manhattan — and take turns admiring the tweed Chanel suits, silk Versace robes and vintage Hermes scarves. They then quick-change into fabulous metallic gowns and, with the help of LED panels and lighting cues, the bedroom transforms into a fashion runway of scintillating secretaries, singing and dancing in feminine revelry. And that showstopper dress? It now costs $7,000.
The moment epitomizes the approach of this adaptation, which begins its world-premiere run Tuesday at La Jolla Playhouse: take the most memorable parts of the movie and turn up the volume for the stage. The result: an unabashed celebration of women, theater and all things 1980s, led by the quintessential musician who embodies it all: Cyndi Lauper.
Cyndi Lauper in New York City in September.
(Larsen&Talbert / For The Times)
“I want the audience to be entertained — laughing, crying, standing up and feeling like they can do it all too,” Lauper said of the show, already extended through Dec. 7. “Not that you could go in your boss’ closet and wear her clothes, no! But that exciting feeling of living in the city in the ‘80s, being creative and not backing down.”
A corporate Cinderella story, the 20th Century Fox comedy starred Melanie Griffith as Tess, a tenacious secretary at a Wall Street brokerage firm who learns that her boss, Katharine, has taken credit for her business proposal. When a ski accident keeps Katharine out of the office, Tess poses as her superior to team up with Jack — an investment broker played by Harrison Ford — and pitch her idea to the top brass herself.
Directed by Mike Nichols, “Working Girl” was nominated for six Academy Awards, highlighting the performances of Griffith, Sigourney Weaver as the deliciously cutthroat Katharine, and Joan Cusack as Tess’ best friend Cyn. “The tacit recognition of the barriers that hold the Cyns and the Tesses back and the lack of condescension to them in the direction and in [the] script makes ‘Working Girl’ one of the warmest films that Nichols has touched,” praised The Times’ film critic Sheila Benson in her review.
Since the “Working Girl” plot is locked into the ‘80s — “If you tried to pass yourself off as an executive today, people would Google you and it’d be over!” joked director Christopher Ashley — the musical wholly embraces the era’s aesthetics in its costumes, choreography and, of course, its score. “Sonically, there was a lot of individuality at the time, with so many new sounds and genres,” recalled Lauper, a born-and-bred New Yorker who briefly worked as an office assistant before her career took off. (Lauper’s agent even encouraged her to audition to play Tess in the movie.)
With the launch of MTV, “the ‘80s was the first time we were watching music,” she continued. “Like, the first time we saw Annie Lennox in a boardroom in that suit with her fist on the table, looking right at us and saying, ‘Sweet dreams are made of this,’ oh my God, it stopped you. It wasn’t just her androgynous image or the color of her hair, which was awesome, but it was also the fact that, maybe for the first time, we were getting a real sense of who she was, because music videos were where the artists were in creative control. Anyway, there was a lot of stuff going on then, and we wanted all of it in the show.”
Lauper — whose debut theatrical outing, the 2013 Broadway hit “Kinky Boots,” won six Tony Awards, including for her original score — has been writing “Working Girl” compositions for a decade. To create songs for the five-piece band that fully represents the variety of the era’s music — electronic, hip-hop, hair metal and more — Lauper brought in her “Time After Time” co-writer Rob Hyman of the Hooters, Cheryl James of the rap group Salt-N-Pepa and Sammy James Jr., who co-wrote the title song for the film “School of Rock.” (Carly Simon’s Oscar-winning original song “Let the River Run” is not in the score.)
Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith, center, and Sigourney Weaver, right, in Mike Nichols’ 1988 comedy drama “Working Girl.”
(20th Century Fox)
“Working Girl” is the latest hit comedy to attempt the jump from ‘80s movie to musical theater, following “9 to 5,” “Big,” “Beetlejuice,” “Footloose,” “Tootsie” and “Back to the Future.” Not all of these titles stuck the landing, critically or commercially.
“I think some musicals get caught in trying to recapture the exact lightning-in-a-bottle of the movie,” said Ashley. “We have the fortunate circumstance of Kevin Wade, the film’s screenwriter, passing this to us and saying, ‘Take what’s useful and remake what you need to.’”
Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, left, and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer star in the musical adaptation of the 1988 movie “Working Girl,” near the La Jolla Playhouse.
(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)
The production stars Joanna “JoJo” Levesque as Tess, who is “a little rougher around the edges” onstage, said Levesque. “We lean into her working-class background because we’re really telling a story about class, the haves and the have nots. And in this time that we’re living in, that’s important to talk about.” (Yes, Tess still says her legendary line: “I’ve got a head for business and a bod for sin.”)
Likewise, Levesque’s co-star Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer teased that her Katharine has moments of hilariously frantic energy — a Kritzer character signature. Nevertheless, she remains as statuesque and merciless as Weaver was onscreen. “This is my third movie-musical adaptation,” said Kritzer, who originated roles in the “Legally Blonde” and “Beetlejuice” musicals. Each time, “it’s about figuring out how to make it different but still giving the audience what they want.”
Though Tess and Katharine are rivals in the show, seasoned stage actor Kritzer become a mentor of sorts to Levesque, the pop star who entered the theater scene with a 2023 stint in Broadway’s “Moulin Rouge!” and is originating a role for the first time. In rehearsals, they help each other incorporate key vocal influences: Lennox, Pat Benatar, Roxette, Joan Jett, Patti Smith, Blondie and Lauper herself. Onstage, the secretaries collectively echo that same women-helping-women attitude, which might inspire any young women watching.
“There’s so much beauty in Cyndi’s lyrics about dreaming big and using hope as a fuel,” said book writer Theresa Rebeck. “In the ‘80s, companies kept getting bought and split open, but our story celebrates that fight for opportunity and coming together to build something new. It was important then, and it’s important now.”
So will it all appeal to today’s working girls? “It’s been my experience that a lot of the kids like the ‘80s music,” said Lauper. “I’m always surprised to see how many kids are in my audience.”
Movie Reviews
Film review: ‘Tuner’ mixes classical music, crime, and Dustin Hoffman | The Jerusalem Post
It co-stars Dustin Hoffman in a story of a young piano tuner, Niki (Leo Woodall), a former music prodigy with perfect pitch who suffers from hyperacusis, a condition that makes him extraordinarily sensitive to loud noises.
In a series of events that are a bit improbable but that seem quite credible while you’re watching, Niki discovers his finely tuned hearing gives him a great talent for safecracking, which brings him to the attention of a crime gang.
It features a clever, often surprising screenplay, co-written by its director, Daniel Roher (who won an Oscar for the documentary, Navalny) and Robert Ramsey. There are also wonderful performances from the cast, which also includes distinguished actress Tovah Feldshuh of Nobody Wants This and Fauda star Lior Raz.
The characters have a nice, funny raport
When Tuner opens, Niki is working in a piano-tuning business in New York with a former musician, Harry Horowitz (Hoffman).
The beefy, laconic, young man treats the garrulous, wisecracking Harry with respect, listening patiently to all his jokes and stories about the good old days when he worked with jazz greats.
These two have a nice rapport, as Niki drives Harry all over the New York area in an old van and eats in diners with him.
Niki does the work while Harry sits on a sofa, critiquing him.
The two stick out like sore thumbs in the many mansions where they work on spectacular pianos that haven’t been played in decades, for clients who ask them if they can also repair toilets and modems.
Harry, who never made much of a living despite his talent, has fallen on hard times, and he and his wife, Marla (Feldshuh), are barely scraping by. Niki is also broke.
Recognizing what a great musician Niki is, Harry tries to cajole him into playing again, but the younger man refuses, living an isolated life and trying not to draw attention to himself.
The three incidents that set the plot in motion
Harry has forgotten the combination to his safe and needs to open it. When Niki goes on YouTube to look at a video on how to do it, he discovers that his sensitive hearing makes him a genius at safecracking.
Harry becomes ill and, due to a mess with Medicare, suddenly falls into a huge debt; and Niki meets Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), an extremely ambitious pianist and composing student, who is astounded by his perfect pitch.
Soon, Niki’s talent for safecracking draws the attention of Uri (Lior Raz), an Israeli who runs a bogus security company, where he uses his knowledge of his client’s homes and passwords to steal what he contends are minor trinkets, but which add up to big money for his gang, much like Jon Hamm’s character in the Apple TV series, Your Friends and Neighbors.
Raz hams it up as a character who fits the stereotype of the obnoxious Israeli in the US, and lords it over his supposedly bright accomplice, Yoni (Gil Frank), and his much dimmer nephew, Benny (Nissan Sakira).
Much of the comedy in the movie comes from Uri browbeating the two, and if you can understand the Hebrew, it’s even funnier than the subtitles.
Criticisms of Tuner
Niki’s romance with Ruthie, which develops quickly, feels a little convenient at times, though the screenplay paints a realistic picture of the competitive world of high-level music students. You know, for most of the movie, that eventually Niki will reveal to her that he was once a great pianist, and when it comes, it’s something of an anti-climax.
After Hoffman’s character gets sick, he disappears from the rest of the movie except for a couple of scenes, and that’s too bad. It’s great to see Hoffman having fun as Harry, and the scenes where he and Niki banter help humanize the younger man, making him more likable and less self-centered.
Woodall is one of the most in-demand young actors. He played a hunky love interest in both Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and the Netflix series Vladimir; he also appeared in the second season of The White Lotus.
He has a buff body and conventional leading-man good looks, and generally plays confident, happy-go-lucky guys, which means he is cast against type here.
Niki is the kind of role that might seem better suited for actors like Josh O’Connor, Jeremy Allen White, or Timothée Chalamet. Woodall has to work hard to convince us he is withdrawn and feels out of place in all the mansions where he tunes pianos, but his charm wins out, and soon, you come to accept him in the role.
Mixed music and mixed genres
The soundtrack features a mix of classical music and jazz, and it’s clear it was made by a director who appreciates both.
Tuner settles neatly into a mini-genre of movies that feature plot lines that combine piano-playing characters and crime, that include James Toback’s Fingers with Harvey Keitel, and Jacques Audiard’s remake of it, The Beat that My Heart Skipped with Romain Duris; Francois Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player with Charles Aznavour; and Eugenio Mira’s Grand Piano with Elijah Wood. It also recalls the spirit of Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces, which features Jack Nicholson in one of his best performances; here as a piano prodigy who has rejected his oppressive family and become an oil field worker.
Tuner shares some of the bleakness typical of 1970s films, like Fingers and Five Easy Pieces. At times, the movie moves jarringly between brooding, almost noir-like darkness and scenes with the chatty Harry or the bumbling gangsters.
It might have been a stronger film if Roher had gone in one direction instead of mixing genres, but it would likely have been less entertaining.
Entertainment
Tom Sandoval’s girlfriend Victoria Robinson arrested after patio fire pit altercation
Tom Sandoval’s girlfriend Victoria Lee Robinson was arrested after the two had an altercation that involved her father being pushed into a lit fire pit.
Sandoval, known for the cheating “Scandoval” that erupted on the reality television series “Vanderpump Rules,” filed a restraining order against the model and her father J. Will Robinson (who goes by Will) over a June 3 incident that was partially caught on video. He was granted a temporary restraining order and a subsequent hearing was set for July 16.
According to court documents obtained by The Times, the altercation involving Sandoval, Victoria Robinson and J. Will Robinson happened in the early morning hours after the couple returned home from a night out at a bar. Sandoval claimed in the petition that since the two became a couple in February 2024, Victoria Lee Robinson has been violent and attacked him physically, as well as changing the passwords on his phone and social media and tracking him using Airtags.
“The most recent physical incident occurred on June 3 when [she] punched my face and injured my neck and ear. During this same incident, Mr. Robinson, grabbed me and punched an approximately 12-inch hole in the door of my spare bedroom where I was barricading myself,” reads the petition.
In a video, obtained by TMZ, that captured part of the June 3 incident, Victoria Robinson and Will Robinson are seen sitting next to a lit fire pit on the patio when Sandoval and Will Robinson begin arguing. Sandoval is heard yelling at Will Robinson before he asks Victoria Robinson if she is recording and approaches her. Will Robinson stands and wraps his arms around Sandoval, seemingly to get him to back away from Victoria Robinson, and Sandoval turns and pushes Will Robinson, who falls backward into the lit fire pit.
After Will Robinson gets back up, he rushes after Sandoval into the home while Victoria Robinson screams for the men to stop.
According to the petition, the fight escalated, and Will Robinson phoned the police while Sandoval hid inside a spare bedroom. When police arrived, the petition claims that they initially put Sandoval in handcuffs, but after reviewing footage, Victoria Robinson was arrested for intimate partner battery with physical violence.
Robinson bonded out and was released the same day. The Los Angeles Police Department was not able to confirm the reason for Victoria Robinson’s arrest.
Representatives for Sandoval did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment. Victoria Robinson could not be reached for comment.
According to the petition, both Victoria Robinson and her father have lived in the Los Angeles rental home with Sandoval. According to the filing, the reality star hopped between hotels and friends’ houses after the June 3 incident.
Will Robinson told TMZ, “The DA did not file the case for a reason. I lifted Tom off of my daughter because he was overpowering and twisting her arm and trying to take her phone aggressively after yelling at us in a very aggressive and threatening manner.”
“This is my daughter’s home and we just want Tom as far away from us as possible and to keep his lies and drunken abuse away,” Robinson said.
Movie Reviews
Movie review: Hero of folklore worse off in ‘The Death of Robin Hood’
“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” This is one of the culminating lines from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hit 2015 musical “Hamilton,” but it’s also the animating force behind Michael Sarnoski’s “The Death of Robin Hood,” starring Hugh Jackman in the title role. This legendary figure of English folklore has a specific meaning attached to his name, which is synonymous with the altruistic impulse to redistribute wealth. But in his take on the tale, focusing on the end of his life, Sarnoski suggests that perhaps Robin Hood wasn’t such a good guy, even if he was robbing from the rich to give to the poor. It all depends on who’s telling the story, right?
Sarnoski burst onto the scene in 2021 with his debut feature “Pig,” in which he outfitted Nicolas Cage with a long gray wig and sent him on a dangerous quest (to find his beloved, valuable pet). He does something similar in “The Death of Robin Hood,” outfitting Jackman in a long gray wig and sending him on a quest (to achieve some kind of salvation).
But first, Sarnoski has to establish that this Robin Hood isn’t the one we remember from the movies — he’s not the dashing cartoon Disney fox, or Errol Flynn, or Kevin Costner, or Cary Elwes, or Russell Crowe, or even Taron Egerton. No, this Robin Hood is much worse, sleeping in matted filth on the moors, reduced to a feral life of constant vigilance against murderous revenge-seekers for the years of evil deeds he’s carried out with his compatriot, Little John (Bill Skarsgård).
Now called Edward, Little John has achieved some measure of domesticity, but still, he and Robin go a-murdering once again, resulting in a yet another vengeful attack from a relative of their victims. A wounded Robin ends up in an idyllic priory on a coastal island, tended to by a healer, Brigid (Jodie Comer), learning the ropes from the local leper (Murray Bartlett). In this oasis, Robin’s identity is unknown, and he finds the space to embrace a gentler side of himself, particularly with Little John/Edward’s daughter, Little Margaret (Faith Delaney).
Set on the misty outlying islands of the North Atlantic, with its blend of bloody, brutal violence, primitive spirituality and meditative tone, “The Death of Robin Hood” is situated in the realm of films like David Lowery’s “The Green Knight” and Robert Eggers’ “The Northman.” Cinematographer Pat Scola pulls some arresting images out of the fire and fog, and the score of largely traditional Celtic music by Jim Ghedi is easily one of the best of the year. The film is a fine showcase for a different kind of performance from Jackman, and Comer is always a compelling screen presence.
But “The Death of Robin Hood” isn’t as hallucinatory or weird as it could — or should — be. Sarnoski gestures at bleakness but feints from full existential crisis; he tries and fails to be witchy. Despite all the mud and blood, nothing about this film is particularly earthy or embodied. It ends up as this profoundly dull and utterly pointless commentary on the concept of narrative and mythology. “What if Robin Hood was a bad guy?” OK, what of it? The best concept that Sarnoski presents here is the hell of living in an endless cycle of vengeance, but he allows his anti-hero to escape that all too cleanly and conveniently. This Robin Hood is just an old, tired man who ultimately finds some peace at the end of his life, even if it’s unearned.
As an audience, we’re left wondering what all of this is for, and who it’s for. Why trouble the Robin Hood myth at all, and why now? One can’t help but cynically wonder if the inspiration for this project was merely the convenience of recognizable intellectual property and available financing from Screen Ireland. This theory might be creatively pessimistic, but it is a nagging question, especially when the ones posed by the film are already so stale and tired. Expect no revelations from “The Death of Robin Hood” except the one that’s announced in the title.
‘The Death of Robin Hood’
2 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: R (for strong bloody violence)
Running time: 2:03
How to watch: In theaters June 19
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