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By Norfleet Pruden
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/27/19

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

03/27/19

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2019

ACROSS
1 Sow chow
5 Sport with clay 
disks
10 “House Hunters” 
channel
14 Kind of 
curriculum
15 Mural prefix
16 Nécessité for a 
soufflé
17 Food thickener
18 Anti-wrinkle 
option
19 Hearty bowlful
20 Shenanigans
23 Wrinkly little 
dog
24 Gore and 
Green
25 Defunct 
supermarket 
chain that once 
had nearly 
16,000 stores
27 Lines on a list
29 Thick slice
32 Break bread
33 Adds bubbles to
36 Tropicana Field 
MLB team
37 “Nonsense!”
40 Cry under a pop 
fly
41 Shiraz resident
42 Find a job for
43 Organic 
compound
44 Freeways and 
parkways
48 Store in a queue 
for printing
50 Like some pkgs.
52 India-born author 
Santha Rama __
53 Nabisco product 
whose package 
formerly 
displayed circus 
cages
58 Soon, long ago
59 Baby’s ailment
60 Oodles
61 URL connection
62 Tiny amount
63 Beekeeper 
played by Peter 
Fonda
64 Deck quartet
65 Underground 
home of the Ninja 
Turtles
66 Surname of the 
stars of 20-, 37- 
and 53-Across

DOWN
1 Shrimp dish
2 Leave a chat 
room, say
3 Grand Marnier 
flavor
4 Central __: 
“Friends” coffee 
house
5 Female oracle
6 Drawer handles
7 Words to a traitor
8 Love god
9 Roll to the 
runway
10 Biblical prophet
11 Comes close to
12 When general 
U.S. elections 
are held
13 Ex-GIs’ gp.
21 Makes less 
difficult
22 Catch red-
handed
26 Qt. halves
28 Stable mother
29 Base runner’s 
ploy
30 Like tough 
economic times
31 Wine province 
near Turin
34 Free __: carte 
blanche

35 Jackson 5 hairdo
36 City that aptly 
rhymes with 
“casino”
37 From Latin 
America
38 Like a typical 
therapy session
39 Capital of 
Canada?
40 Juilliard subj.
43 Shade tree
45 Colorful ring
46 Quick mover

47 English Channel 
county
49 Sty chorus
50 Haggling focus
51 Indiana NBA 
player
54 Show parts
55 Handed-down 
stories
56 Crab’s grabber
57 “America’s Got 
Talent” judge 
Heidi
58 Miss. neighbor

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A few months ago, the writer Rachel Syme asked 
on Twitter, “Who is a woman, who, growing up, 
you always thought of as kind of a public joke but 
upon getting older you realized her story wasn’t 
so funny after all.” Thousands of replies poured 
in: the elderly woman who sued McDonald’s in 
the famous hot coffee case, Monica Lewinsky, 
Judy 
Garland, 
Tonya Harding, 
Yoko Ono. It was 
a 
discomfiting 
reminder 
of 
all the women 
unfairly written 
off, left to the 
wrath 
of 
a 
vicious 
public 
and 
an 
even 
more 
vicious 
tabloid press.
Among 
the 
more 
popular 
answers 
to 
Syme’s 
prompt 
was 
Marcia 
Clark, the lead 
prosecutor 
in 
the O.J. Simpson 
trial, who, for 
a few months in 1995, was subjected to the most 
derisive, intrusive media coverage imaginable. 
Her sartorial choices were mocked, her marital 
troubles dissected for entertainment. When 
the O.J. case was revisited in the form of two 
spectacular TV shows in 2016 — an eight-hour 
documentary on ESPN and an FX miniseries — it 
only seemed right that Clark be reappraised with 
it.
And she was. When Sarah Paulson won an 
Emmy for her thoughtful portrayal of Clark 
in FX’s “American Crime Story: People v. O.J. 
Simpson,” the actress took the opportunity to 
offer a personal and symbolic apology: “The more 
I learned about the real Marcia Clark … I had to 
recognize that I, along with the rest of the world, 
had been superficial and careless in my judgment. 
And I am glad to be able to stand here today in 
front of everyone and tell you I’m sorry.”
But Clark’s redemption is only a recent 
development. 
The 
first 
season 
finale 
of 
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” had Tina Fey 

doing a particularly cruel impression — bumbling, 
inept, unfortunately-permed — as late as 2015. 
A little empathy now hardly makes up for two 
decades of ridicule. Can you really blame Marcia 
Clark for wanting a do-over?
She gets one on ABC’s new drama “The Fix,” if 
only a fictional one. The show, executive produced 
by Clark, imagines a maligned prosecutor being 
given a second chance to convict the beloved 
Black celebrity who got away. Maya Travis (Robin 
Tunney, “The Mentalist”) is living a quiet life 
on a ranch in 
Washington 
State eight years 
after failing to 
convict the actor 
Sevvy 
Johnson 
(Adewale 
Akinnuoye-
Agbaje, 
“Lost”) 
of 
the 
double 
homicide 
of 
his 
wife 
and 
her friend. But 
Maya 
springs 
back into action 
when her former 
co-prosecutor 
(Adam 
Rayner, 
“Tyrant”) 
shows up on her 
doorstep to ask 
for help: Sevvy’s 
girlfriend has been found bludgeoned to death on 
a beach, and this time, the Los Angeles County 
DA’s office wants to win.
It’s about as O.J. as you can get without it being 
the real thing. There’s an oily, coiffed Robert 
Kardashian-Robert Shapiro wannabe defense 
lawyer, a floppy-haired Kato Kaelin analogue 
living in the pool house, rumors of a dalliance 
between the prosecutors. To its credit, “The Fix” 
doesn’t try to pretend this is anything other than 
what it is: pure wish fulfillment, a postmortem 
revenge fantasy. Beyond that intrigue, there 
isn’t much here. There’s some slick production, 
self-important lines about carrying out justice 
and some very good-looking people delivering 
them — ABC is a perfect home for it. It’s mostly 
entertaining, with one caveat: A story about a 
white woman on a revenge crusade to lock up a 
rage-filled Black man plays a little awkwardly in 
2019. And if we learned anything from the O.J. 
revisiting in 2016, it’s that telling one side of a 
story doesn’t do anyone much good.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

TV REVIEW

MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN
Daily Arts Writer

The Fix 

ABC

Pilot

Mondays @ 10 p.m.

Following 
the 
unqualified 
success of “Wonder Woman,” 
the equally unqualified failure 
of “Justice League” and that 
time they let James Wan dose 
the entire world with a cocktail 
of crack cocaine, LSD 
and seaweed, it’s safe 
to say that the future 
of the DC films slate 
is somewhat in flux, 
to say nothing of the 
numerous 
behind-
the-scenes 
shake-
ups. The burden was 
on “Shazam!” (along 
with “Aquaman”) to 
shine a light on where 
things are going next. 
Are they going to keep 
trying to chase that 
most elusive of white 
whales, the Marvel-
style shared universe? 
Or 
are 
the 
rumors 
true 
that they’ll focus more on 
individual stories rather than 
risk another “Justice League”-
caliber cinematic belly flop? If 
“Shazam!” is any indication, 
its definitely the latter, but that 
doesn’t necessarily result in 
a better movie, as DC shows 
that even with a brighter coat 
of paint, they are committed to 
doing little more than the bare 
minimum in search of superhero 
success.
“Shazam!” has been billed as 
a classic sort of family movie in 
the vein of “Big,” and not just in 
terms of story — we’ve been told 
it’ll pack thrills and laughs for 
parents and children alike, and 
to an extent it does just that. In 
the title role, Zachary Levi (“The 
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) brings 
the youthful enthusiasm and 
boundless, likeable energy that’s 
made him a nerd icon to a role 
he was born to play: a teenager 
with the ability to transform 
into an adult superhero. Again, 
the parallels to “Big” almost 
write themselves. The message 

about the importance of family 
is a nice touch, as well, and if 
the movie is anything more than 
the sum of its parts, it’s because 
of the emotion Levi and costars 
Asher Angel (“Andi Mack”) and 
Jack Dylan Grazer (“It”) wring 
out of their scenes as foster 
brothers.
“Shazam!” is an old-fashioned 

movie in another way, though 
— like last year’s “Venom,” it’s 
the kind of superhero movie 
that was getting made before 
we knew they were capable of 
more. It feels like it’s from a 
time where it was enough to 
cast a couple likeable actors, 
put one of them in a supersuit 
and have them punch bad guys 
with the exact same power set 
as them, but it’s 2019, and the 
genre has moved on. “Black 
Panther” just won three Oscars 
and got nominated for Best 
Picture. “Into the Spiderverse” 
was one of the best movies of 
last year and opened an entire 
multiverse of possibilities for 
animation going forward. DC’s 
own “Wonder Woman” dragged 
the genre kicking and screaming 
into an era it should have entered 
long ago, but two years later, DC 
is back to playing catch-up, not 
with Marvel, but with superhero 
filmdom itself.
I’m not saying that every 
superhero movie has to be a 
success on the level of those 
films; that would be deeply 

unfair. But a little effort outside 
of the bare minimum is a 
necessity at this point. Write 
a three-dimensional cast, or a 
villain worthy of the actor you 
cast in the role or something 
interesting. That’s where these 
movies — where any movies 
— live and breathe. “Ant-Man 
and the Wasp” doesn’t have a 
good story, but what it 
does have that makes 
it easy to return to is a 
great cast of characters. 
Outside 
of 
Billy 
Batson 
(Angel/Levi) 
and Freddy Freeman 
(Grazer) not a single 
member of the cast 
of “Shazam!” gets a 
personality outside of 
their one quirk: the one 
who plays video games, 
the one going to college, 
the one who … talks, 
etc. Then there’s Mark 
Strong 
(“Kingsman: 
The Golden Circle”) as 
Thaddeus Sivana, a villain who 
stops the film cold whenever 
he appears. His requisite CGI 
cohorts, despite ostensibly being 
the driving force of the plot, 
apparently don’t even merit the 
effort it would take to animate 
their mouths moving when they 
speak.
“Shazam!” isn’t necessarily a 
step backward for DC, because 
at 
the 
very 
least, 
they’ve 
stopped mucking around in 
monochromatic 
doom 
and 
gloom, but it’s representative of 
something just as bad: stagnation. 
It’s good for a chuckle here and 
there and anything that gets 
Levi’s name on a marquee will 
always be somewhat welcome to 
me, but its overly simplistic story 
and underwritten characters 
are reminiscent of an era comic 
book movies are quickly leaving 
behind. If DC wants a chance 
at keeping up, they need to 
understand that adding a few 
jokes isn’t the solution, it’s 
taking a page from the superhero 
handbook 
and 
becoming 
something more.

DC continues their losing
game with latest ‘Shazam’

FILM REVIEW

JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
Daily Arts Writer

Shazam!

Warner Bros. Pictures

Early Screening

This 
past 
weekend 
MUSKET, 
the 
University’s 
student-run musical theatre 
organization, 
presented 
“Legally Blonde,” directed by 
School of Music, Theatre & 
Dance senior BFA directing 
candidate Bruna d’Avila and 
produced by a team of all 
female producers.
The 
musical 
has 
some 
serious undertones, which in 
the “Me Too” era takes on a 
different face. d’Avila set out 
to reinvent what we think of 
when we think “Elle Woods” 
and her connection to modern, 
third wave feminism. As I 
watched the musical play out 
on that glorious Power Center 
stage, no longer was Elle a 
breezy, materialistic blonde 
on the hunt for a man. Instead, 
in MUSKET’s world, Elle is a 
fierce feminist in a universe 
that 
pushes 
back 
against 
her integrity, proving that 
surface level judgements don’t 
aggregate in truth.
d’Avila’s 
direction 
was 
thoughtful 
and 
poignant, 
with an astute lens on the 
political implications of the 
text and how it can stretch 
and resonate with audiences 
today. She focused not only 
on aesthetic, but substance, 
giving 
audiences 
spoonfuls 
of what they remember from 
the film along with added 
layers of depth. The happy-go-
lucky dialogue and impressive 
ensemble 
dance 
numbers 
choreographed 
by 
SMTD 
junior 
Maya 
Alwan 
read 
as nothing short of a party 
you just can’t help but want 
to join and married nicely 
with a strong consideration 
on the true themes of the 
story. d’Avila dug into the 
text, finding the exceptional 

moments to highlight amidst 
the zeal and the sequins.
Mikaela 
Secada, 
SMTD 
sophomore 
BFA 
musical 
theatre candidate, who took 
the stage by storm as Elle 
Woods, is nothing short of a 
star. She vocally carried the 
show — her clear, strong belt 
filled the Power Center, which 
is not an easily accomplished 
feat. She proved herself a 
triple 
threat, 
mastering 
Alwan’s choreography in three 
inch heels, riffing her way 
through act one finale “So 
Much Better” and bringing 
a new light to Elle Woods. 
She managed to render Elle 
as something more than the 
charming ingenue we’re quick 
to see her as. Secada’s Elle was 
as a passionate young woman 
with 
motivated 
choices, 
nuanced 
thoughtfulness, 
a 
selfless 
energy 
and 
peppy 
resilience — even when the 
world wants her to fail. Secada 
took the stereotypes Elle could 
be reduced to and subverted 
them. 
Secada’s Elle Woods isn’t 
the Elle we picture in our 
head — and that’s where 
the magic comes from. As 
a 
Cuban-American 
woman, 
the possibility to play Elle 
Woods was never on her 
radar. It has only recently 
become more common to see 
members of the Latinx and 
minority communities playing 
traditionally white roles. It 
takes directors like d’Avila 
and young theatre makers 
like Secada to blaze a trail for 
more inclusive casting going 
forward.
When 
asking 
d’Avila, 
in an interview about the 
casting choice, she said, “My 
Elle Woods is Latina. In 
discussions with her about 
how we felt about that choice, 
Mikaela Secada told me, ‘I just 
never thought I could be Elle 

Woods, it is an amazing role, 
but I never considered it one 
of my dream roles because I 
didn’t look like her.’ It’s actors 
like 
Mikaela 
Secada 
who 
expand young performer of 
color’s view of what they can 
do on stage.”
Along 
with 
the 
nontraditional casting, which 
comments on the trajectory 
theatre is on toward a more 
inclusive reality, d’Avila made 
choices to open the piece 
to 
a 
larger 
socio-political 
dimension as well. Professor 
Callahan, 
the 
brusque, 
misogynistic 
law 
professor 
played by SMTD sophomore 
Henry 
Pederson, 
another 
strong 
cast 
standout, 
was 
dressed in a navy blue suit 
and a red tie, appearing eerily 
similar to a certain current 
U.S. president, as he belittled 
and picked on Elle to the point 
of sexual assault in the climax 
of the musical. 
The 
backbone 
of 
the 
excellence was the imaginative, 
multi-functional set. Rendered 
by SMTD Bachelor Theatre 
Art senior Emma Somers, it 
consisted of moving walls to 
exhibit multiple locations. This 
innovative set design allowed 
for 
seamless 
transitions 
between scenes.
d’Avila truly outdid herself 
with 
MUSKET’s 
“Legally 
Blonde”, proving that she is 
ready for a larger career in 
pushing 
and 
illuminating 
minority 
stories 
on 
stage. 
MUSKET’s 
production 
of 
“Legally 
Blonde” 
was 
a 
sugar rush with no cavity, a 
believe in yourself comedy 
with a feminist protagonist 
and 
surprisingly 
weighty 
undertones. It is a perfectly 
pink confectionary experience 
which 
leaves 
you 
winded, 
thoughtful, 
pleasantly 
surprised and dancing straight 
out of the theatre.

Remixing ‘Legally Blonde’

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

ELI RALLO
Daily Arts Writer

6A — Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Arts
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