By JOHN CARUCCI and MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — It began as it always should, with her voice.

The second solo album from Cynthia Erivo, fresh off a herculean press run with the success of the first “Wicked” film, was always meant to be “vocal-focused,” she told The Associated Press recently. It may be the understatement of a lifetime: to know her is to know her instrument — that range, the notes few else can hit but many attempt.

And Erivo’s new soulful album, the evocatively titled “I Forgive You,” hits the mark.

In the studio, that meant using her vocals “as the pads, as the stacking,” like an artist might with a guitar or piano. “The meat of each of the pieces that you listen to is the voice,” she says, “So that you can hear the lyrics, you can hear the song, you can hear the emotion in it,” she explains. The other instruments, too, were performed live. “Everything you hear in there is real and tangible.”

For that reason — and other expressions of autonomy take across the album — she says it felt like her first. For the listener, it evokes a real feeling of intimacy.

Erivo spoke to the AP about “I Forgive You,” life after “Wicked” and the forthcoming “Wicked: For Good,” and the ways in which acting, singing and writing inform one another.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

AP: The title is “I Forgive You.” What’s the significance?

ERIVO: This album is a collection of stories and songs that are both personal for things that are happening now, things that have happened in the past, and I think some of which I have had to forgive people for. And honestly, some of which I’ve had to forgive myself for. And I loved the idea of calling it this title, because it’s a simple concept, but not an easy one. And not one that we as humans are very good at, often.

A part of me was feeling, like, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people had to keep repeating the words, ‘I forgive you?’” So even if you’re finding it difficult to say this album will give you the permission to actually say the words, even if you’re not quite ready.

Cynthia Erivo poses for a portrait on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

AP: There’s a lot of candor on the album. Like in the song “Replay.”

ERIVO: The concept of being a work in progress — who still gets scared of things, who still has to deal with things — that won’t ever necessarily stop. It might get quiet, but that feeling doesn’t necessarily always go away. I just wanted to be honest, and I think that “Replay” was probably the first song that I put out was because I felt like it was sort of a reintroduction to the inner part of me that most people might not really know.

But it’s also a tricky song in that it’s fun, it’s kind of upbeat, and if you actually listen, you hear that there’s like a person who’s a little bit fragile, a person whose trying to figure some things out, a person who’s been through some things, who’s dealt with things, who has abandonment issues, who has fear, who an inferiority complex sometimes, who wants to help everyone, who wants to save everyone, but gets it wrong.

Those are human, human things that I want to share.

AP: So, there was no apprehension in being so forthright?

ERIVO: No apprehension about writing it, a little apprehension about sharing it, because it’s honest. But once it’s done, what can you do? It’s time to share.

AP: Writing, singing, acting — how does one inform the other?

ERIVO: They feed each other. When I sing, I feel free and I feel open, which means that when I go and act — because I’ve given myself that experience — the want to close off again sort of goes away. So, when I’m on a set, I’m as open as I am when I am singing. I’m waiting to receive whatever I’m getting from my counterpart or whoever’s opposite me so I can actually listen. Because the act of writing and singing actually is also the act of listening.

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AP: You’ve long been a powerhouse in theater. “Wicked” has launched you to the heights of mainstream culture. What’s the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make?

ERIVO: I had a sort of level of anonymity that I think I got used to and I really kind of enjoyed. That isn’t necessarily there anymore, which is still really lovely because people are kind and sweet, and I’m really grateful for it. But that’s an adjustment, to realize that you can’t just walk into a store and no one will know who you are, or you can’t get on a plane, and no one will there you are. That’s a new thing that I didn’t expect or wasn’t seeking.

AP: Are you done shooting “Wicked”?

ERIVO: We have a couple pickups and then we’re done.

AP: Is there anything else you’d like to add about the album?

ERIVO: I’m so proud of it. We spent a lot of time on it. We worked really, really hard on it. There was no stone unturned on it because I love what I do, and I love music, and I loved making it.

So just know that this was made with a lot of love.

By ELISE RYAN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Kimberly Belflower knew “John Proctor is the Villain” needed its final cathartic scene to work — and, for that, it needed Lorde’s “Green Light.”

“I literally told my agent, ‘I would rather the play just not get done if it can’t use that song,’” the playwright laughed. She wrote Lorde a letter, explaining what the song meant, and got her green light.

Starring Sadie Sink, the staggering play about high schoolers studying “The Crucible” as the #MeToo movement arrives in their small Georgia town, earned seven Tony nominations, including best new play — the most of any this season. It’s among a group of Broadway shows that have centered the stories of young people and attracted audiences to match.

This image released by O&M/DKC shows Sadie Sink, left, and Amalia Yoo during a performance of “John Proctor Is the Villain” in New York. (Julieta Cervantes/O&M/DKC via AP)

Sam Gold’s Brooklyn-rave take on “Romeo + Juliet,” nominated for best revival of a play and led by Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler with music from Jack Antonoff, drew the youngest ticket-buying audience recorded on Broadway, producers reported, with 14% of ticket purchasers aged 18-24, compared to the industry average of 3%.

The shows share some DNA: pop music (specifically the stylings of Antonoff, who also produced “Green Light”), Hollywood stars with established fanbases and stories that reflect the complexity of young adulthood.

“It was very clear that young people found our show because it was doing what theater’s supposed to do,” Gold said. “Be a mirror.”

Embracing the poetry of teenage language

The themes “John Proctor” investigates aren’t danced around (until they literally are). The girls are quick to discuss #MeToo’s impact, intersectional feminism and sexual autonomy. Their conversations, true to teenage girlhood, are laced with comedy and pop culture references — Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, “Twilight,” and, of course, Lorde.

This image released by O&M/DKC shows, from left, Maggie Kuntz, Morgan Scott and Amalia Yoo during a performance of “John Proctor Is the Villain” in New York. (Julieta Cervantes/O&M/DKC via AP)

Fina Strazza, 19, portrays Beth, a leader who is whip-smart and well-intentioned — but whose friendships and belief system are shaken by the play’s revelations.

“You have so much empathy and are so invested in her, but she still has these mishaps and slip-ups that young people often have,” said Strazza, nominated for best featured actor in a play. Some audience members have given her letters detailing how Beth helped them forgive themselves for how they handled similar experiences.

The script is written in prose, with frequent line breaks and infrequent capital letters. Director Danya Taymor, nominated for best direction of a play a year after winning a Tony for another teenage canon classic, “The Outsiders, ” was drawn to that rhythm — and how Belflower’s depiction of adolescence captured its intensity, just as S.E. Hinton had.

“There’s something about the teenage years that is so raw,” Taymor said. “None of us can escape it.”

Classic themes, made modern

During his Tony-winning production of “An Enemy of the People,” Gold found himself having conversations with young actors and theatergoers about climate change, politics and how “theater was something that people their age and younger really need in a different way, as the world is becoming so addicted to technology,” he said.

That conjured “Romeo and Juliet.” The original text “has it all in terms of what it means to inherit the future that people older than you have created,” Gold said.

Alyah Chanelle Scott,from left, Kathryn Gallagher and Julie Lester appear in a scene from “All Nighter” in New York. (Evan Zimmerman/MurphyMade via AP)

Building the world of this show, with an ensemble under 30, was not unlike building “An Enemy of the People,” set in 19th century Norway, Gold said: “I think the difference is that the world that I made for this show is something that a very hungry audience had not gotten to see.”

Fans, Gold correctly predicted, were ravenous. Demand ahead of the first preview prompted a preemptive extension. Word (and bootleg video) of Connor doing a pullup to kiss Zegler made the rounds. “Man of the House,” an Antonoff-produced ballad sung by Zegler mid-show, was released as a single. With the show premiering just before the U.S. presidential election, Voters of Tomorrow even registered new voters in the lobby.

This image released by Polk & Co. shows Rachel Zegler as Juliet, left, and Kit Connor as Romeo, during a performance of “Romeo + Juliet” in New York. (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman /Polk & Co. via AP)

Audiences proved willing to pay: Average ticket prices hovered around $150. Cheaper rush and lottery tickets drew lines hours before the box office opened. Every week but one sold out.

“The show was initially really well sold because we had a cast that appealed to a really specific audience,” said producer Greg Nobile of Seaview Productions. “We continued to see the houses sell out because these audiences came, and they were all over online talking about the ways in which they actually felt seen.”

Building a Gen Z theater experience with Gen Z

Thomas Laub, 28, and Alyah Chanelle Scott, 27, started Runyonland Productions for that very reason.

“We both felt a lot of frustration with the industry, and the ways that we were boxed out of it as students in Michigan who were able to come to New York sparingly,” Laub said. Runyonland was launched in 2018 with the premise that highlighting new, bold voices would bring change.

This image released by O&M/DKC shows, from left, Maggie Kuntz, Morgan Scott, Fina Strazza and Amelia Yoo during a performance of “John Proctor Is the Villain” in New York. (Julieta Cervantes/O&M/DKC via AP)

This spring, Scott, known for playing Whitney in HBO’s “Sex Lives of College Girls,” acted off-Broadway in Natalie Margolin’s “All Nighter.”

“I was standing onstage and looking out and seeing the college kids that I was playing,” Scott said. “I was like, ‘I respect you so much. I want to do you proud. I want to show you a story that represents you in a way that doesn’t belittle or demean you, but uplifts you.’”

Producing “John Proctor,” Scott said, gave Runyonland the opportunity to target that audience on a Broadway scale. Belflower developed the show with students as part of a The Farm College Collaboration Project. It’s been licensed over 100 times for high school and college productions. The Broadway production’s social and influencer marketing is run by 20-somethings, too.

This image released by O&M/DKC shows, from left, Amelia Yoo, Morgan Scott, Sadie Sink, Fina Strazza, Nihar Duvvuri and Hagan Oliveras during a performance of “John Proctor Is the Villain” in New York. (Julieta Cervantes/O&M/DKC via AP)

Previews attracted fans with a $29 ticket lottery. While average prices jumped to over $100 last week (still below the Broadway-wide average), $40 rush, lottery and standing room tickets have sold out most nights, pushing capacity over 100%. The success is validating Runyonland’s mission, Laub said.

“Alyah doesn’t believe me that I cry every time at the end,” Laub said. Scott laughs. “I just want to assure you, on the record, that I do indeed cry every time.”

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Harnessing a cultural catharsis

The final scene of “John Proctor” is a reclamation fueled by rage and “Green Light.” Capturing that electricity has been key to the show’s marketing.

“The pullup (in ‘Romeo + Juliet’) is so impactful because it’s so real. It’s like so exactly what a teenage boy would do,” Taymor said. “I think when you see the girls in ‘John Proctor’ screaming … it hits you in a visceral way.” That screaming made the Playbill cover.

“In my opinion, the look and feel of that campaign feels different from a traditional theatrical campaign, and it feels a lot closer to a film campaign,” Laub said. The show’s team indeed considered the zeitgeist-infiltrating work of their sister industries, specifically studios like Neon and A24.

In May, “John Proctor is the Villain” finished its second “spirit week” with a school spirit day. Earlier events included an ice cream social — actors served Van Leeuwen — a silent disco and a banned book giveaway. For those not in their own school’s colors, the merch stand offered T-shirts, including one printed with the Walt Whitman-channeling line said by Sink’s Shelby: “I contain frickin’ multitudes.”

Julia Lawrence, 26, designed the shirt after the show’s team saw her TikTok video reimagining their traditional merch into something more like a concert tee.

“It’s just so incredible to bring Gen Z into the theater that way, especially at a time when theater has never been more important,” Lawrence said. “In a world that’s overpowered by screens, live art can be such a powerful way to find understanding.”

By AYAKA McGILL

TOKYO (AP) — Eager customers joined long lines outside of stores from Tokyo to New York City hours before they opened in hopes of snaring a long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 video game console.

The much anticipated Switch 2, being released around the world Thursday, is an upgrade to its eight-year-old predecessor with new social features meant to draw players into online gaming. Nintendo is counting on the Switch 2 to boost sagging sales.

In the U.S., a chaotic pre-order process in April left some fans frustrated after the consoles quickly sold out. Still, some eager fans lined up early Thursday at retailers such as Target in hopes of purchasing a unit.

“I’m just rolling the dice here,” said Edgar Huo, who was in a line of about 25 outside of a Target in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Many of those waiting for the store to open had ordered online, but a few like Huo hoped for a chance at purchasing any extra inventory the store had.

In Japan, the new consoles were sold through a competitive lottery system that Nintendo said got about 2.2 million applications.

Outside the official draw, some retailers offered their own lotteries to pre-order the devices.

Koji Takahashi was among those who missed out on the official draw but he was selected in the second round of a lottery held by a major electronics retailer in Japan.

He was first in line waiting outside the store, arriving four hours ahead of its opening. He hoped to secure a limited supply of Nintendo accessories to buy along with his pre-ordered Switch 2.

“I feel very sorry for those who weren’t successful in the lottery. But I also had tough time getting this far, so I hope they forgive me!” Takahashi said.

Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser told CBS Morning Plus today that the company is aware of the demand for its newest system and is working to get units into the hands of customers.

“We have a steady supply of manufacturing that will be coming in, and we believe we’ll be able to meet that demand all the way through the summer, through Father’s Day and then on into the holiday period also,” Bowser said.

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The new console comes with a larger and higher resolution screen than its predecessor, with improved processing power, offering smoother and more vivid graphics. Central to its updated system is a new “C” button on its controller, which will launch a “GameChat” feature that requires a subscription to Nintendo’s Switch online service. It allows players to “communicate with friends and family while playing a game,” and lets them share their game screen with others. A built-in microphone will also allow chatting with other gamers.

Nintendo has said it expects to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles for the fiscal year through March 2026.

The company has promised to roll out attractive software for the Switch 2 later this year, including “The Legend of Zelda” games, a Pokemon title and a Kirby game, as well as offerings from outside software companies.

Nintendo is capitalizing on the launch with the opening of a store in San Francisco and the Super Nintendo World amusement facility in Orlando, Florida, both set for this month.

The Switch 2’s rollout arrives at an uncertain time for much of the gaming industry due to new tariffs implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In the U.S., the Switch 2’s baseline launch price is $449.99 — significantly higher than the original Switch’s $299 price tag.

U.S. preorders for the Switch 2 were delayed for several weeks so the company could assess the potential impact of tariffs.

By CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL for Associated Press

Straccetti di manzo, which translates roughly from the Italian to “little rags of beef,” is a trattoria staple. The cooking is minimal and quick, making this ideal for a weeknight dinner, but the beef must be thinly sliced.

In this recipe from our cookbook “Milk Street Backroads Italy,” we freeze the meat for about 20 minutes to firm it a bit, which allows a knife to glide through the grain. After a quick sear in a hot skillet, the steak slices go directly onto a bed of peppery arugula and sweet-tart tomatoes. We prefer tri-tip steak for this recipe, as it has great flavor and a tender texture.

This image released by Milk Street shows a recipe for straccetti di manzo, made with steak with arugula and parmesan. (Milk Street via AP)

Don’t dress the arugula and tomatoes too far in advance or they will wilt and turn soggy. Wait until after the beef is sliced before tossing the veggies with the oil, lemon juice and salt. Also, don’t stir the beef during the first three minutes of cooking. Allowing it to cook undisturbed will give the meat a chance to develop flavorful browning.

Balsamic vinegar, reduced as it deglazes the pan, acts as tangy-sweet dressing when combined with vegetables. Shaved Parmesan, along with black pepper and a final drizzle of olive oil, are perfect finishing touches.

Straccetti di Manzo

Start to finish: 45 minutes (25 minutes active)

Servings: 4 to 6

This image released by Milk Street shows a recipe for straccetti di manzo, made with steak with arugula and parmesan. (Milk Street via AP)

Ingredients:

1½ pounds beef tri-tip steak

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

5-ounce container baby arugula

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more to serve

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

Parmesan cheese, for shaving

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Directions:

Place the steak on a plate and freeze, uncovered, until partially frozen, about 20 minutes. Using a sharp knife, slice the beef against the grain on the diagonal no thicker than ¼ inch. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper; toss to coat. On a deep, wide platter, toss the arugula and tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of the oil, the lemon juice and ¼ teaspoon salt.
In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil until barely smoking. Add the garlic and pepper flakes; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the beef in an even layer; cook without stirring until only a little pinkness remains and some liquid has been released, about 3 minutes. Stir, redistribute in an even layer and cook until no longer pink, about 1 minute. Using tongs, place the steak on the vegetables, leaving the garlic in the pan.
Add the balsamic to the pan and bring to a simmer over medium-high; cook, scraping up any browned bits, until slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Discard the garlic; pour the balsamic over the steak. Shave Parmesan over the top, then finish with additional oil and black pepper.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street at 177milkstreet.com/ap