D espite more than a year of build-up and an exhaustive – some might say exhausting – press tour that rivaled a Marvel movie in budget, there were still many people who did not know that Wicked , now the most successful film adaptation of a Broadway musical of all time, is actually one half of a pair. To be fair to those who do not follow the entertainment industry, Universal billed the 2hr 40min film, which opens with Ariana Grande’s Glinda the Good Witch promising to tell the “whole story” of her long-lost friend Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), as just Wicked, not by its title card, Wicked: Part One. And Jon M Chu’s first act concludes with a wildly cathartic, very CGI-ed rendition of Defying Gravity – the rare musical tune to transcend theater-kid fandom and probably the one thing non-Wicked fans would know about the show. The split, which engendered some skepticism among fans and critics, has not deterred audiences; Wicked made more than $359m in two weekends, smashing a host of musical and holiday-related box office records . The Wicked faithful and newly converted – my screening was full of young girls born long after the musical premiered in 2003 – will not have to wait too long to see how Elphaba and Glinda end up on opposite sides of the East/West, Good/Wicked divide. Wicked: Part Two is slated for 21 November 2025, a day short of a year after Part One premiered. This is not a Dune situation, where Part Two was greenlit only after a misleadingly titled Part One proved its mettle at the box office; both Wickeds were filmed together over five months on soundstages in the UK (plus an extra 10 days earlier this year, owing to the Hollywood strikes), ensuring that the cast – also including Jeff Goldblum , Michelle Yeoh , Bowen Yang, Jonathan Bailey and Ethan Slater – will remain intact for both parts. Part One, written by Winnie Holzman (who wrote the book for the musical) and Dana Fox, hewed closely to the original stage version, not cutting any songs and expanding some scenes. Part Two, which picks up after the stage version’s intermission, was also adapted by Holzman and Fox, and thus will probably also mirror the leaner, darker second act of the musical. (It’s been 21 years of Wicked on Broadway, but spoilers ahead ... ) While part one functions mostly as prequel, taking place before a misunderstood Elphaba becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, Part Two is more revisionist fable, playing out in parallel to the events of L Frank Baum’s 1900 novel and the classic 1939 film adaptation. Elphaba exits the Emerald City in both exile and triumph, having summoned her full powers and learned the hideous truth of the Wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible’s (Michelle Yeoh) embrace of fascism at the expense of vulnerable scapegoats. (The musical, at turns saccharine and impassioned, is not subtle on the politics, and neither is Chu’s movie). Part Two, assuming Chu once again remains faithful to the musical’s plot (itself loosely based on the novel by Gregory Maguire), picks up some time later, when Something Bad has fully manifested in Oz, with a much swifter timeline as well as origin stories for the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. “If Part 1 is about choices, Part 2 is about consequences,” Chu told Entertainment Weekly. “Choices are difficult to make, but when you do make those choices, sometimes the result isn’t what you expect it to be. It can be lonely, it can be hard.” And those choices have become “eight times more relevant” in the context of recent political and social events, Chu teased to Variety , calling Part Two, at least thematically, a “doozy”. Despite the resonantly dark material, Chu has assured that Part Two will keep some of the first part’s levity, as best embodied by the buoyant, near-confectionary presence of Grande. “There is lots of lightness in the movie,” he told EW. “There’s a lot of fun parts. We’ve not forgotten about that, but there’s a matureness and a nuance to it that we earn from the first movie.” One of the musical’s weaknesses was that its second act lacked the musical firepower of its first, which contained not only Defying Gravity but theater-kid karaoke staples such as Popular, Dancing Through Life and The Wizard and I. Act two has For Good, arguably the show’s best duet, as well as a few reprisals. Chu seems to have anticipated the need for balance; Stephen Schwartz confirmed that Part Two will include two new songs. There are other anticipated areas of expansion. Part One included a shot from behind of Dorothy and her ragtag crew, and the trailer included an as-yet unused shot of them before the Wizard, suggesting screen time for characters who are not seen in the stage version. (Chu, for his part, has said : “There is interaction and some crossover.”) Another teaser image shows Glinda in what appears to be a wedding gown, a development outside the scope of the original show. And while Part One contained the bulk of significant cameos – including original stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, as well as Schwartz (as an Emerald City guard) and Holzman (as a member of an acting troupe) – Part Two will likely contain at least a few names for Broadway and West End fans to spot. Given the extensive promotion for Part One, I assume we will have answers to some questions (and cameos) before next Thanksgiving. But only time will tell whether Part Two can cast as strong a box office spell as the dubiously marketed Part One.t99win casino login 。

ENPH Investor Alert: Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP Has Filed a Securities Fraud Class Action Lawsuit Against Enphase Energy, Inc.

WASHINGTON — As she checked into a recent flight to Mexico for vacation, Teja Smith chuckled at the idea of joining another Women’s March on Washington . As a Black woman, she just couldn’t see herself helping to replicate the largest act of resistance against then-President Donald Trump’s first term in January 2017. Even in an election this year where Trump questioned his opponent’s race , held rallies featuring racist insults and falsely claimed Black migrants in Ohio were eating residents’ pets , he didn't just win a second term. He became the first Republican in two decades to clinch the popular vote, although by a small margin. “It’s like the people have spoken and this is what America looks like,” said Smith, the Los Angeles-based founder of the advocacy social media agency, Get Social. “And there’s not too much more fighting that you’re going to be able to do without losing your own sanity.” After Trump was declared the winner over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris , many politically engaged Black women said they were so dismayed by the outcome that they were reassessing — but not completely abandoning — their enthusiasm for electoral politics and movement organizing. Black women often carry much of the work of getting out the vote in their communities. They had vigorously supported the historic candidacy of Harris, who would have been the first woman of Black and South Asian descent to win the presidency. Harris' loss spurred a wave of Black women across social media resolving to prioritize themselves, before giving so much to a country that over and over has shown its indifference to their concerns. AP VoteCast , a survey of more than 120,000 voters, found that 6 in 10 Black women said the future of democracy in the United States was the single most important factor for their vote this year, a higher share than for other demographic groups. But now, with Trump set to return to office in two months, some Black women are renewing calls to emphasize rest, focus on mental health and become more selective about what fight they lend their organizing power to. “America is going to have to save herself,” said LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of the national voting rights group Black Voters Matter. She compared Black women’s presence in social justice movements as “core strategists and core organizers” to the North Star, known as the most consistent and dependable star in the galaxy because of its seemingly fixed position in the sky. People can rely on Black women to lead change, Brown said, but the next four years will look different. “That’s not a herculean task that’s for us. We don’t want that title. ... I have no goals to be a martyr for a nation that cares nothing about me,” she said. AP VoteCast paints a clear picture of Black women's concerns. Black female voters were most likely to say that democracy was the single most important factor for their vote, compared to other motivators such as high prices or abortion. More than 7 in 10 Black female voters said they were “very concerned” that electing Trump would lead the nation toward authoritarianism, while only about 2 in 10 said this about Harris. About 9 in 10 Black female voters supported Harris in 2024, according to AP VoteCast, similar to the share that backed Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Trump received support from more than half of white voters, who made up the vast majority of his coalition in both years. Like voters overall, Black women were most likely to say the economy and jobs were the most important issues facing the country, with about one-third saying that. But they were more likely than many other groups to say that abortion and racism were the top issues, and much less likely than other groups to say immigration was the top issue. Despite those concerns, which were well-voiced by Black women throughout the campaign, increased support from young men of color and white women helped expand Trump’s lead and secured his victory. Politically engaged Black women said they don’t plan to continue positioning themselves in the vertebrae of the “backbone” of America’s democracy. The growing movement prompting Black women to withdraw is a shift from history, where they are often present and at the forefront of political and social change. One of the earliest examples is the women’s suffrage movement that led to ratification in 1920 of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution , which gave women the right to vote. Black women, however, were prevented from voting for decades afterward because of Jim Crow-era literacy tests, poll taxes and laws that blocked the grandchildren of slaves from voting. Most Black women couldn’t vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Black women were among the organizers and counted among the marchers brutalized on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, during the historic march in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery that preceded federal legislation. Decades later, Black women were prominent organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police and vigilantes. In his 2024 campaign, Trump called for leveraging federal money to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government programs and discussions of race, gender or sexual orientation in schools. His rhetoric on immigration, including false claims that Black Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating cats and dogs, drove support for his plan to deport millions of people . Tenita Taylor, a Black resident of Atlanta who supported Trump this year, said she was initially excited about Harris’ candidacy. But after thinking about how high her grocery bills have been, she feels that voting for Trump in hopes of finally getting lower prices was a form of self-prioritization. “People say, ‘Well, that’s selfish, it was gonna be better for the greater good,''' she said. “I’m a mother of five kids. ... The things that (Democrats) do either affect the rich or the poor.” Some of Trump’s plans affect people in Olivia Gordon’s immediate community, which is why she struggled to get behind the “Black women rest” wave. Gordon, a New York-based lawyer who supported the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s presidential nominee, Claudia de la Cruz, worries about who may be left behind if the 92% of Black women voters who backed Harris simply stopped advocating. “We’re talking millions of Black women here. If millions of Black women take a step back, it absolutely leaves holes, but for other Black women,” she said. “I think we sometimes are in the bubble of if it’s not in your immediate circle, maybe it doesn’t apply to you. And I truly implore people to understand that it does.” Nicole Lewis, an Alabama-based therapist who specializes in treating Black women’s stress, said she’s aware that Black women withdrawing from social impact movements could have a fallout. But she also hopes that it forces a reckoning for the nation to understand the consequences of not standing in solidarity with Black women. “It could impact things negatively because there isn’t that voice from the most empathetic group,” she said. “I also think it’s going to give other groups an opportunity to step up. ... My hope is that they do show up for themselves and everyone else.” Brown said a reckoning might be exactly what the country needs, but it’s a reckoning for everyone else. Black women, she said, did their job when they supported Harris in droves in hopes they could thwart the massive changes expected under Trump. “This ain’t our reckoning,” she said. “I don’t feel no guilt.” ____ AP polling editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux and Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.