18/10/2025

LYFE SATURDAY | OCT 18, 2025

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B EST known for her acclaimed TV roles in Grey’s Anatomy and Killing Eve , Sandra Oh says she finds herself “amazed” by the magic of the stage as she readies for her operatic debut in New York. In La Fille du Regiment , Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera, the Canadian-American actress plays the Duchess of Krakenthorp, who reluctantly marries off her son. The role is spoken rather than sung – and in French. “She’s very stern and she’s very angry, and I find it very, very difficult to keep that face when the most beautiful music is happening right in front of me,” Oh says with a laugh during an interview after a dress rehearsal recently. Her first foray on the Metropolitan Opera stage was the result of a happy accident: the storied institution’s general manager offered her the role after seeing her perform Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in the open-air theatre in Central Park this summer. “To move into a stage this grand, and to move into the heights of what opera is, and really it’s to be in rehearsal with some of the greatest artistes... is something that’s very, very rare,” she reflects.

Sandra Oh trades small screen for grand stage of Met Opera

o Actress plays duchess in La Fille du Regiment

“I wanted to try that experience. And I do try and do that in my life and in my career, to just try things that are new, things that mostly scare me,” added the 54-year-old. What surprised her most was the “crazy” pace of the production, at odds with the “slow or gentle” way audiences experience opera: “You have sets that are moving all the time, people who are just coming, and you have people who are telling you exactly where to be all the time. And

Oh makes her operatic debut as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in New York. – PICS FROM AFP

and draw peals of laughter. “In a special stage this big, you do have to be very conscious of all your gestures,” she sums up, noting that on screen, it’s the quality of an actor’s expressions that the lens captures. “As an actor, you should be able to do all of it.” As it happens, Oh is also set to appear in US theatres, alongside Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer in the comedy Good Fortune . “I’m in my comedy phase, and everything is like, feel good, it’s a comedy. And, you know, bring a bit of joy,” she concludes. – AFP

The winner of two Golden Globes, among other awards, for her roles as a talented surgeon in Grey’s Anatomy and an intelligence agent obsessed with an assassin in Killing Eve is delighted by the prospect of these youngsters and her fans to “see the opera and to experience what storytelling is in a grand scale, what music is and to see the top artistes in the world.” On the wide stage, the actress herself more than holds her own. Far from the subtlety required before a camera, her powerful voice and exaggerated gestures fill the space –

while it is divine, it’s bananas.”

‘I’m in my comedy phase’ There’s little doubt that the presence of a bona fide small screen star at the Met will attract a larger audience than usual – a boon for an institution struggling financially since the Covid pandemic and eager to modernise its programming. Oh’s entrance on stage – in a purple gown, her hair adorned with feathers and waving a fan – drew cheers and excited shouts from New York schoolchildren invited to the dress rehearsal.

Oh rehearses for Donizetti’s comic opera La Fille du Regiment at the Metropolitan Opera.

Springsteen film strips away myth to depict person behind music U S rock star Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance on the London Film Festival red carpet on Wednesday, lending his support to the cast and makers of a new biographical movie about his life. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere stars The Bear actor Jeremy Allen White as the multiple Grammy winner. But instead of focusing on his high-flying career, it offers a raw portrayal of the person behind the music. between him and his father. I think he made decisions during this period in his life that allowed him to live the life that he wanted to live,” said White. The film features Succession star Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s supportive, longtime manager Jon Landau. “It’s a film obviously about Bruce and about the making of Nebraska , but it’s about repairing trauma through art and confronting depression and

Springsteen attends the premiere of Springsteen:

Deliver Me from Nowhere at the London Film Festival recently. – REUTERSPIC

Directed and co-written by Scott Cooper, the film is based on the book of the same name by Warren Zanes. It follows a young Springsteen, on the cusp of hitting the big time, struggling with his inner demons and childhood trauma while writing the stark 1982 album Nebraska . White said the drama, which also delves into Springsteen’s fraught relationship with his father, played by Stephen Graham, shows a difficult but decisive period in the rocker’s life. “I think at the core of it so much is about that longing for familial connection and the relationship

mental health issues. I think it’s an incredibly courageous story to tell about someone as mythologised as Bruce, to tell the story of Bruce, the man,” Strong said. The movie marks the first time the musician’s life has been depicted on the big screen. Springsteen, 76, was closely involved in the production. “Very early on, he listened to me singing his songs. He said, ‘you sing very well. You sound like me, not just like me. You’re making the songs your own and I want the whole process to feel that way’,” White recalled.

“Without that sort of blessing, I don’t think I would have been able to do what I did. He’s been very

generous in every way. He gave me the guitar I learned to play on. I still have it,” White said.

The film begins its global cinematic rollout on Oct 22. – Reuters