Cher says she’s living ‘like a nun’ in Vegas

Cher says her new CD has got a Southern feeling to it. — AP pic

NEW YORK, Feb 18 — Cher’s concert stand in Las Vegas may be the ultimate representation of Sin City: it’s decadent, glitzy, oversized, over-the-top and a thrill-a-minute experience.

But when she leaves the Colosseum at Caesars Palace at the end of her performance, the 62-year-old singer leads a lifestyle quite opposite from the kind that Las Vegas has come to represent: She stays out of the casinos, refrains from drinking, doesn’t smoke and stays away from the all-night party scene.

“I like to go out, do my work and then come home,” says Cher, who likens her time away from the stage to living like “a nun.”

Unlikely words from a woman who has represented quite the opposite over her nearly five-decade career (as the barely there outfits she dons in her show reflect). But while she puts on an eye-popping extravaganza in Vegas, Cher likes to keep her home life decidedly more low-key.

In a recent interview, Cher — who kicks off the second phase of her concerts at Caesars Palace this month — talked about her show, life in Vegas and why she finds herself in Target stores.

AP: What was the first season of shows like in Vegas?

Cher: The schedule is a dream schedule. The only thing that I kind of didn’t anticipate for some reason, I don’t know where my brain is, but I didn’t anticipate the dryness getting to my throat the way it did. ... So when I’m there, I have to kind of live like a nun and not talk during the day, but that’s the only unusual thing.

AP: How do you not talk during the day? Is it hard?

Cher: Yeah. ... It’s so hard for me, I just really have to think about it and just not speak, but I have to remind myself about 100 times a days, because I’m not the kind of person that doesn’t want to talk.

AP: Do you text people?

Cher: (Laughs) Oh yes, I do text people — I text, I e-mail, which is kind of the only saving grace.

AP: What’s the best part of getting back to Vegas?

Cher: Look, performers love to perform — that’s the thing that we do. I think one of the best things was being able to imagine anything that I wanted, anything that I came up with we could do, because this theatre is unbelievable. I come home twice a week, so I’m kind of at home. ... I’m not there that much, but it takes me 40 minutes to get home (in the Los Angeles area), it’s like doing a show from my bedroom.

AP: What’s your upcoming movie with Johnny Knoxville about?

Cher: I can’t really talk about it yet. I just can’t.

AP: What kind of sound will your new CD have?

Cher: It’s hard to put a label sometimes on songs, but it’s a little bit more guitar-oriented, a little bit more like “I Found Someone” feeling, and there’s some stuff that’s still sort of guitar-oriented, but it’s got a Southern feeling to it. You know, I just find songs that I like and then I do them and hopefully they make something cohesive.

AP: Have you considered doing one of those exclusive marketing deals?

Cher: I think it’s a good way to market things. ... I happen to actually think Target’s pretty fabulous. On the road, when you’re in some teeny little town, I must tell you, I’ve been to a lot of Targets. I know there are a lot of Targets and a lot of stores called Michaels in the United States. We had a thing where we do painting and we would have these big Teamsters painting a little teapot for their mom. ... I would be running to Michaels and getting paintbrushes and stuff like that.

AP: What do you do when you’re not working on your music?

Cher: I have a school in Africa. I just got back from Kathmandu (Nepal) and I’m working with some Tibet children there, and I just got back from (the Los Angeles) city hall ... to try and save the life of this elephant Billy in the LA zoo. I just don’t want this elephant to die ... he has so much anxiety. He’s been alone there forever. ... Elephants should not be in zoos. Elephants don’t live in zoos, they die in zoos. — AP

Alagna, Gheorghiu ring in the New Year at the Met

NEW YORK, Jan 2 — At the end of Giacomo Puccini’s “La Rondine”, an enamoured woman jilts her ardent but poor lover, saying she can’t give up her old life as a rich man’s mistress.

And, she says, she doesn’t want to financially ruin her soul mate.

But on New Year’s Eve, after the Metropolitan Opera’s gold curtain fell, there was a second ending: The two lovers went off together into the Manhattan night.

The stars of the company’s first production of Puccini’s work since 1936 were soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna — married in real life.

“We can say to the audience, ‘OK, they will be separated in the story, but not in real life!’” Alagna said in a backstage interview.

“And we can go to the New Year’s party together!” added Gheorghiu.

The musical power couple has fertilised opera’s overripe gossip world over the years — most recently in 2007, when Gheorghiu was fired from Chicago’s Lyric Opera for missing rehearsals, saying she wanted to support her husband during his Met appearances. Months earlier, he had a dustup with Milan’s Teatro alla Scala after walking out of a performance of “Aida” because some fickle audience members booed.

But there’s no doubt that the two, who first met 16 years ago on the stage of London’s Covent Garden, share a vocal synchronicity and an emotional electricity that keeps an international audience riveted.

They proved it on Wednesday in a performance of “La Rondine” that would be difficult to match — singing with ravishing, tender voices and onstage intimacy they say is not feigned. Their 1997 recording of Puccini’s work is considered the best by many critics.

Alagna and Gheorghiu were married at the Met in 1996 by then New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

On Wednesday evening, their love story again spilled onto the stage.

First, she appears at a party as a worldly Parisian woman, Magda, who questions her existence with a wealthy older man while reminiscing about a brief youthful infatuation with a handsome stranger at a dance hall. She barely notices one party guest, a newcomer from the countryside named Ruggero — Alagna.

Reading Magda’s future in her palm, a poet friend tells her she will someday fly off like a swallow in search of a new true love — hence, “La Rondine”, meaning swallow in Italian.

In this first scene, Gheorghiu sings the opera’s most famous aria, “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta” (Doretta’s Dream Song) — a fictional woman’s dreamy longing for love lost summed up in two falling intervals: a perfect fifth followed by a tritone. Gheorghiu’s soaring, gem-like phrases created some magical moments of music.

Magda returns alone to the dance hall, where she by chance encounters Ruggero. They fall in love and she abandons her role of pampered mistress.

This second act at Bullier’s dance hall matched the evening, with an oversized mirror ball dangling from the ceiling as Alagna’s thrilling upper register opened up for the love duet. Ruggero invites Magda to dance to the strains of “Nella dolce carezza della danza” (“In the soft caresses of the dance”), with tenor and soprano singing sensuously in each other’s arms as though transported.

Knowing one another as husband and wife doesn’t make working together easier, Alagna said.

“The problem is, when you go onstage, you must be surprised,” he said. “But we know one another very, very well. I know exactly what gestures she’ll make.”

Surprise is replaced by a more interesting experience for the audience: the feeling of being allowed to peek, unnoticed, at a couple in love — at home.

For years, Gheorghiu was more “ashamed” kissing her husband onstage than any colleague, “because the whole world sees my intimacy,” she said, adding jokingly, “With a colleague, it’s ‘Mua, mua, mua — salut, ciao, arrivederci!’”

For the endless kisses on this New Year’s Eve, the Met stage must’ve been filled with mistletoe.

“La Rondine”, premiered in 1917 in Monte Carlo, packs some of opera’s most beautiful melodies into just over two hours, along with some complex, modern psychology.

In the final act, the deeply-in-debt lovers are living happily together when Ruggero proposes, sending Magda into an emotional spin. She declares herself unworthy of him because of her tawdry past, and despite his pleas, abandons him for the life to which she’s accustomed.

Alagna embodied Ruggero’s pain with throbbing heartache, his burnished voice blossoming into Gheorghiu’s for the ending.

The pleasure of performing the scene together “is double”, said Alagna. “I cry because all of a sudden, at that instant, it’s no longer Magda who is leaving — it’s as if Angela was leaving.”

The current Met production was first created for them at Covent Garden in 2002, and repeated in 2007 at the San Francisco Opera.

Making his Met debut on Wednesday was Gheorghiu’s fellow Romanian Marius Brenciu, whose clarion tenor fit the role of the poet with velvety lyricism.

The veteran bass Samuel Ramey’s rich, but now rather wobbly, aging voice was also right for the role of Magda’s wealthy lover.

Conductor Marco Armiliato led the orchestra, drawing out Puccini’s lilting melodies with elegant effervescence. — AP

Hollywood in 5

Bowling feels Malaysia has potential to be recognised for visual effects.

Malaysia has to satisfy five factors in order to woo Hollywood studios into the country. HIZREEN KAMAL talks to Hollywood film luminary William Bowling.

WHEN Hollywood blockbusters Entrapment and Anna and the King were filmed in Malaysia in 1998 and 1999 respectively, the producers had, to a certain extent, introduced the country to the world.

A decade later, Malaysia has yet to see major Hollywood studios making movies here.

Is Malaysia a suitable location for Hollywood films?

Warner Bros worldwide location executive William “Bill” Bowling believes that Malaysia still has a long way to go to entice the studios.
“Malaysia is not well known. The best way to publicise the country would be with a successful film which will open doors,” said Bowling, who was in Kuala Lumpur to conduct a recent one-day seminar entitled Future of Malaysian Film Industry and its Development from an International Perspective and Location Business — Positioning Malaysia as an Attractive Location for Foreign Film Producers at the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) in Ulu Kelang, Selangor .

The seminar was co-organised by the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry and FINAS.

“Although Malaysia has the potential to become a suitable location it also depends on what a film requires from the country,” he said.

Bowling stressed five factors for a suitable location.

First is safety and security.

“Schedules are normally tight and a production cannot be halted due to this factor.”

The feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a location is also important.

The fourth factor is getting support from the local government.

“Filming is not simple. For instance, if a scene requires a car to be driven at high speed through a city, the support of the local council is essential.

“Also, film equipment has to arrive promptly and visas must be processed quickly,” he said.

The fifth aspect is skilled and highly trained crew members.

“This is necessary since studios do not want to fly in their crew which will increase production costs.

“Malaysia also needs to consider competition from its neighbours such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, which are wooing international film studios.

“For example, if a Hollywood studio wants to make a movie in Asia, it may consider Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines which are similar to Malaysia. If production costs is cheaper in Thailand and suitable crew members are available, it’s likely the studio will go there.”

Countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Singapore and South Korea also offer financial incentives to Hollywood studios.

“Financial incentives are a major influence on Hollywood studios. Malaysia needs to work on that.”

A classic example is New Zealand, the location of the award-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“This is a big challenge for Malaysia but it is good that the country is working towards developing this industry.

“I look at the booming audiences in China and Indonesia as a positive sign that people are interested in cinema products and building more cinemas. Hollywood studios are looking at ways to penetrate the film markets there.

“They want to bring their products and be part of the Asian film industry,” said Bowling, who is a respectable film luminary in Hollywood.

Bowling has high regards for Malaysia and FINAS.

“A FINAS representative visited Warner Brothers to promote Malaysia. The country is serious about developing a viable and strong industry.”

As for visual effects, Bowling feels Malaysia has potential to be recognised.

“Some Hollywood studios have been in talks to develop digital technology here as another way to improve production costs. Sometimes, it is not just about bringing in a big movie crew but also bringing work in.

“If Malaysian companies excel at visual effects, they can be employed whenever Hollywood needs the expertise even if it doesn’t make movies here. But that takes a lot of training and skills.”

Bowling says filming Hollywood movies locally can create job opportunities and boost the country’s tourism industry.

“Local crew members can also get hands-on training in their respective fields.”

Bowling has worked in more than 80 countries in 25 years.

Among the feature films he was involved in were Talladega Nights, Starship Troopers, Saving Private Ryan and Speed Racer.

Clooney, Pitt arrive in Venice for film festival

Brad Pitt with family in tow arrives in Venice. — AP pic

VENICE, Aug 27 — George Clooney hosted a charity event last night to raise money for victims in Darfur.

Clooney, who's in Venice for the premiere of the Coen brothers' film "Burn After Reading", swept past reporters as he arrived for the fundraiser for his "Not On Our Watch" charity.

The event was expected to raise US$ million (RM6.6 million), said Manuele Malenotti, the executive director of the Italian clothing company Belstaff, which sponsored the event.

"Not On Our Watch" has raised more than US$7 million to help victims, both of the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan and the cyclone in Myanmar, according to executive director Alex Wagner.

The charity, which was started last year by Clooney, Brad Pitt and some of their "Ocean's Thirteen" colleagues, uses celebrity appeal to bring attention to human rights abuses, but it isn't easy to get even two of the founders together because of filming and family demands, Wagner conceded.

Pitt, who arrived in Venice earlier with sons Maddox and Pax, was expected at the event, but hadn't arrived by the time cocktail hour was over. He also appear in the Coen brothers' film.

"Scheduling is very difficult. Two of them happened to be in Venice at the same time because of the 'Burn After Reading' premiere ... so there was a brainstorming session," Wagner said of the planned joint appearance.

Inside, Clooney was discussing the issues and where the charity puts its money at the fundraising dinner on Venice's Giudecca island, where 200 industry insiders and Italian VIPs were slated to attend, Wagner said.

One recent grant by the group was US$500,000 in March to keep helicopters and airplanes flying aid into Darfur region of Sudan — topping off a US$1 million donation a year earlier for the same programme.

"We sent out a press release one day saying we were on the verge of closing it down and the next day we had US$500,000," said Bettina Luescher, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program at UN headquarters in New York. "They shine the light on the real emergencies and step up where we really need help."

Without that money, Luescher said, the World Food Program had been on the verge of shutting down the air service to Darfur, which brings 3,000 aid workers a month to the stricken region. The UN food charity fed 3.3 million people there last month.

The air service is critical given deteriorating security, which makes road convoys vulnerable. Nearly 100 World Food Programme food trucks have been hijacked this year.

Clooney has spoken for several years about the crisis in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and about 2.5 million people displaced in three years of fighting between African rebels and government troops allied with Arab militia known as the "janjaweed".

He went on a UN technical mission including Darfur and neighbouring Chad in January, sharing his impressions with reporters upon his return to draw attention to the crisis. — AP