Olivia Rodrigo will bring her world tour to the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory.
Photo by Lissy Elle
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo will steer her Sour world tour toward Irving for one show at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory on May 14, 2022.
The critically acclaimed singer/songwriter will visit more than 40 cities on the world tour, starting with San Francisco on April 2. Other stops in Texas will include Houston on May 12 and Austin on May 13. Rodrigo will be joined by special guest Holly Humberstone on all Texas dates.
Rodrigo took the music world by storm in January 2021 when she released her debut single, the breakup song "Drivers License," which went on to go to No. 1 in 24 countries. She released her debut album, Sour, four months later to similar success. Her third single, "Good 4 U," also went to No. 1 around the world.
Rodrigo is already starting to rack up awards and nominations. She was named New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards, took home three prizes at the Apple Music Awards, and won three MTV Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist.
She was just nominated for seven Grammys, including Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist. Just 18 years old, she's the second youngest artist in Grammy history to score nods in each of the Big Four categories in the same year.
Tickets for the Irving show are now on sale through December 7 for all Ticketmaster Verified Fans. The public ticket on-sale date is Friday, December 10.
Photo by Andrea Resmini / courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
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The beauty of movies is that they can often expose a mass audience to stories that would otherwise be forgotten. The tale told in The Penguin Lessons is not that remarkable on the surface, but it holds a deeper meaning to it that the film demonstrates through its relaxed but insightful storytelling.
Set in Argentina just as President Isabel Martínez de Perón is being overthrown in 1976, it centers on Tom Michell (Steve Coogan), who arrives as the new English teacher at St. George’s, a school in Buenos Aires. His initial teaching style is, shall we say, lacking, as he shows little interest in making the boys in his class behave or learning the proper way to coach them in rugby.
When unrest related to the military coup forces the school to go on break, Tom travels to Uruguay for an unplanned vacation. An attempt at picking up a woman there instead leads to a discovery of an oil-covered penguin on a beach, which immediately bonds with him. Essentially forced to bring it back with him, the presence of the penguin at the school changes his teaching and much more.
Directed by Peter Cattaneo and adapted by Jeff Pope from the book by the real-life Michell, the film is a crowd-pleaser with political undertones. The character of Tom is a misanthrope, so it’s easy to predict early on that the penguin will not only thaw his somewhat frozen heart, but also open up his eyes to how he could be living his life in more meaningful ways.
But the inherent politics of the story changes the dynamics of the film. Tom strikes up a friendship with Maria (Vivian El Jaber) and Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio), a grandmother and granddaughter who are housekeepers at the school, and when Sofia is kidnapped off the street for protesting against the new government, it alters the tone of the film considerably. The lighthearted nature that comes with the presence of the penguin is juxtaposed with much more serious situations, providing an interesting balance to the movie.
Of course, most of the charm of the film comes from how they use the penguin, and that aspect never gets old. There’s just something about seeing the (well-trained) penguin following Tom around, gobbling up fish fed to it by the students and others, or just standing benignly as multiple people pour out their feelings to it that brings a smile to your face. The filmmakers succeed in avoiding sappiness, proving genuinely heartfelt sentimentality instead.
Coogan’s career has featured a number of zany characters, but he plays this role with a good amount of subtlety. Even when Tom softens over time, Coogan keeps him stoic, which works well for both the character and the film. Jonathan Pryce gets a few good scenes as the school’s headmaster, but El Jaber winds up as the heart of the film as the bond between Maria and Tom evolves.
The Penguin Lessons is an easy watch with lots of superficial pleasurable elements. It’s not designed to be an ultra-dramatic story, but when it chooses to go down that road, it’s equally effective in those moments as it is when it just wants to show viewers a cute penguin.
