Leanne Cope (left) and Robert Fairchild on stage for the Broadway opening of An American In Paris on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Leanne Cope built a career in the rarefied world of Britain's Royal Ballet. So it was something of a shock when acclaimed choreographer Christopher Wheeldon asked her to sing in a shower cubicle.
It was an unorthodox audition for Broadway's newest star
Malik McDowell Jersey , who made her New York theater debut Sunday night in new musical An American in Paris - a recrafted, modernized version of the 1951 Oscar-winning film.
"I got a message from Christopher over Facebook saying I heard you used to sing in the school choir and would you be interested in singing for me?" Cope told AFP ahead of New York's star-studded opening night.
"It was a Saturday between a double showing of Swan Lake. I went up to the changing room... and I sang for him in a shower cubicle because he said it would have the best acoustic."
At the time, Cope had no idea what it was for, but after numerous auditions, she won the role of Lise Dassin, a French ingenue who falls in love with an American artist after the liberation of Paris in 1944.
To play the role, she took a sabbatical from the Royal Ballet, where she is First Artist, swapping one of the world's finest classical dance companies for the razzmatazz of Broadway.
"Yes it's terrifying, but even my husband says you're a different person when you're doing this kind of theater," she said.
"I think maybe I feel a little bit more at home here than I ever felt just doing ballet, so maybe this shoe fits."
Based on the book by Craig Lucas and Hollywood film starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, the score is by George and Ira Gershwin and the musical has long ballet sequences choreographed by Wheeldon, who is also director.
It tells of the romance between Dassin and Jerry Mulligan, who competes for her love with a US composer and French resistance fighter turned cabaret star as they recover from the horrors of World War II.
The show made its world premiere in Paris in November.
MONTEVIDEO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Uruguayan leftist writer Eduardo Galeano, author of the seminal book "Open Veins of Latin America," died Monday in Montevideo at the age of 74.
He had been battling lung cancer for several years and was hospitalized last week at the Casmu Hospital, local media reported.
"Open Veins of Latin America," published in 1971 on ravages of colonialism in Latin America, has long been a must read among Spanish speakers in the region and became a bestseller again in 2009 after then Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave a copy to his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama.
Among his other well-known books, translated into some 20 languages, are "The Book of Embraces" and "Memory of Fire," which earned him comparisons to Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
As a leading voice of the region's leftist movement, Galeano's books once were banned by right-wing military governments in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
He was forced into exile after Uruguay's military regime seized power in 1973 and returned in 1985 after the left-leaning Broad Front alliance won presidential elections.
Galeano was last seen publicly on Feb. 26, visited at home by Bolivian President Evo Morales, who said Monday that "the world has lost ...an illustrious personality in the liberation of Latin American peoples."
Galeano's death was also mourned by many regional leaders including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica.
SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's industrial output posted a first contraction in three months, reflecting the lackluster growth of the economy, a government report showed Tuesday. Retail sales grew, indicating a recovery in consumer confidence.
Production in all industries decreased 0.6 percent in August from a month earlier, the first decline in three months, according to Statistics Korea. The gauge for industrial activity retreated 1 percent in May before rising 2.3 percent in June and 0.3 percent in July respectively.
Output in construction, service and public administration sectors increased 1 percent, 0.3 percent and 7.2 percent each on a monthly basis.
Production in the mining and manufacturing industry tumbled 3. 8 percent, marking the biggest monthly fall since it plunged 10.5 percent in December 2008 when the global financial crisis sapped global demand.
Production among manufacturers declined 3.8 percent in August from a month earlier due to a double-digit drop in production of automakers and transport equipment manufacturers.
Some major automakers here went on a partial strike last month, contributing to an output reduction in the auto industry. Summer vacation and rainfall disrupted last month's auto production.
"Industrial output declined on weaker exports and lower motor vehicle production, as production was suspended for the summer vacation period, which occurred mostly from Aug. 4-8 this year, later in the year than July 29-Aug. 2 in 2013," said Kwon Young- sun, a senior economist at Nomura International in Hong Kong.
Kwon expected the Bank of Korea (BOK) to cut its policy rate by 25 basis points to an all-time low of 2 percent at the Oct. 15 policy meeting. The central bank lowered the base rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.25 percent in August.
Private consumption showed signs of getting back on a recovery track. Retail sales climbed 2.7 percent in August, marking the highest monthly growth since May 2011 when it recorded a 3.4- percent expansion.
The April ferry sinking disaster, which killed more than 300 people, dampened sentiment among economic agents as deep grief swept over the country. Consumers refrained from travel and entertainment to mourn the deaths of teenagers.
The service industry, which was hit hardest b.
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