The Morning: At the opera with Angelina Jolie

Plus, Kash Patel, Syria and New York City's holiday windows.

View in browser|nytimes.com December 1, 2024 Good morning. Today, my colleague Javier Hernández writes about a unique night at the opera. We're also covering Kash Patel, Syria and New York City's holiday windows. —David Leonhardt Angelina Jolie in "Maria." Pablo Larraín/Netflix, via Associated Press Star power By Javier C. Hernández I'm a reporter covering classical music, opera and dance. Even if you're not a fan of classical music, you've probably heard the voice of Maria Callas. As opera's defining diva and one of the greatest performers of the 20th century, she is omnipresent in our culture, nearly 50 years after she died. Now Callas is the subject of "Maria," a film starring Angelina Jolie, which opened this week in select theaters and goes to Netflix on Dec. 11. "You've been hearing Maria your whole life," Jolie told me. "You just didn't know it was her." As The Times's classical music reporter, I wanted to understand how a Hollywood A-lister prepared to play an opera star. So I invited Jolie to the Metropolitan Opera in New York one recent night for a performance of Puccini's "Tosca," a signature opera for Callas. You can read my story about the experience here. Jolie's every move is tracked by the tabloids, especially since her 2016 divorce from Brad Pitt, which is still playing out in court. She at times seemed uncomfortable with my questions. But she spoke candidly about living in the spotlight; the loneliness she sometimes feels; and why she took seven months of voice lessons for "Maria," which is directed by Pablo Larraín. In today's newsletter, I'll tell you more about Callas and examine the parallels between Callas and Jolie. La Divina Callas was born in New York to Greek immigrants in 1923, and became renowned for her silky voice and her ability to give her characters the nuances of real people. Known as La Divina to her admirers, she inspired cultish devotion, and fans would sometimes wait in line for days to get tickets for her performances. Callas's personal life also drew attention, particularly her relationship with the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. He went on to marry Jackie Kennedy, leaving Callas bereft. In her late 30s, Callas's voice began to deteriorate. She canceled performances more often and started to retreat from the stage. In 1977, when she was just 53, she died of a heart attack, with only her housekeeper and butler nearby. By that point, her best singing days were already two decades behind her. A kindred spirit Jolie told me that she found a kindred spirit in the singer. Callas, too, was exalted and scorned by critics and fans. Her personal life was examined, interrogated and written about. And she, too, was described as intense and elusive. "I was very moved by the amount she had to fight in her life," Jolie told me. In preparing for "Maria," Jolie watched old interviews of Callas. She was dismayed to see an artist of her caliber asked about her personal life. Jolie was bothered in particular by a "60 Minutes" interview that aired in 1974. Mike Wallace asks Callas at one point, "You mean you're a man-eater?" Larraín, the director, told me that both Callas and Jolie had an instinct for mystery. They both knew when to let people in and when to push them out, he said. "She opens the gate for you to understand and feel what she's feeling," he said of Jolie. "And then, out of nowhere, she's out. And you cannot enter again. And then you wonder." Callas's legacy Callas can often seem like a mythical, larger-than-life, figure. Her career was preciously short, and most people know her only through recordings, photos and videos. Yet she is still a towering figure in music. In the opera world, no one has been able to match the power of her voice, her captivating stage presence and her ability to connect with the public. Jolie said she hoped "Maria" would help bring more people to opera — and to Callas. "Her music is in the air; it's a part of the fabric of society," Jolie said. "An artist is someone who studies life. And she lived fully and truthfully." Read our story about Jolie's night at the opera. THE LATEST NEWS Politics Kash Patel Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times Donald Trump said he will nominate Kash Patel, a loyalist with little law enforcement experience, as F.B.I. director. Patel is a critic of the bureau who has called for the firing of its leadership. Trump picked Chad Chronister, a veteran Florida sheriff, to be his administration's top drug enforcement official. During Trump's second term, the Senate's Republican majority may have to choose between defending the institution or bowing to a president dismissive of government norms, Carl Hulse writes. Ben Wikler, who has led the Wisconsin Democratic Party since 2019, announced a bid to be the national party chair. Middle East In Aleppo, Syria. Karam Al-Masri/EPA, via Shutterstock In Syria, rebels have seized most of the nation's largest city, Aleppo, and are attacking the western city of Hama, according to local officials and a war monitoring group. Israel said it had killed a World Central Kitchen worker it accused of being involved in the Oct. 7 attack. The aid group said that it had no knowledge of any of its team members being affiliated with Hamas. The Israeli military is determined to wipe out Hamas in Gaza. A power vacuum in the enclave could empower warlords and gangs. More International News A sophomore chemistry student in Sinaloa, Mexico.  Meridith Kohut for The New York Times On college campuses in Mexico, cartels are recruiting chemistry students to make fentanyl. Russian troops in eastern Ukraine have seized at least 10 villages and settlements in roughly as many days, according to a group with ties to the Ukrainian Army. At negotiations in South Korea for a treaty to tackle plastic pollution, officials from Saudi Arabia are leading an effort to block a deal. Under a new law in Belgium, sex workers will be entitled to official employment contracts and maternity leave, BBC News reports. Other Big Stories More than two feet of snow blanketed western New York and Pennsylvania, as a lake-effect snowstorm disrupted travel after Thanksgiving. At least 68 people have fallen ill across 19 U.S. states in a salmonella outbreak believed to be linked to cucumbers. FROM OPINION Our messed-up dating culture has led to loneliness, anger and, ultimately, Trump, Sarah Bernstein writes. New Orleans has an advantage in the age of climate change: It knows that every hurricane season poses an existential threat, Nathaniel Rich writes. Here's a column by David French on a simple act of kindness. Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving. Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors' picks to easily find something delicious. MORNING READS At Saks Fifth Avenue. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times New York: In some of the city's department stores, the holiday window display is the result of almost a year's work. Read how they come together. Travel: Spend 36 hours in Honolulu. Cold case unit: This little-known squad of New York's medical examiner's office uses dogs and DNA to identify the nameless dead. Life after death: America's cemeteries are rewilding. Most clicked this week: Read the story of an I.V.F. mix-up that swapped two couples' genetic daughters. Bookstores, gay bars, fresh salt air: How can cities preserve what matters most to people? Vows: A breakup was just the beginning. Lives Lived: A. Cornelius Baker spent 40 years working with urgency and compassion to improve the lives of people with H.I.V. and AIDS, by promoting testing, securing federal funding for research and pushing for a vaccine. He died at 63. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan "Variation," by Rebecca Yarros: Rebecca Yarros's stand-alone romance novel is a graceful departure from her best-selling fantasy juggernauts "Fourth Wing" and "Iron Flame." With shades of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" and "Bunheads," this winter-appropriate beach read begins with an ocean rescue off the coast of Cape Cod. Hudson, a local Coast Guard swimmer in training, swoops in to save Allie, a wealthy young ballerina, from a sinking rowboat. Metaphors and plot twists abound as Yarros's story bobs neatly into the future. A decade later, her star-crossed characters land back where they started, for different and equally complicated reasons. The question of whether they'll find their way back to one another is a fun one to ponder over a slice of leftover pie. More on books Here are 100 Notable Books from 2024, selected by the staff of the Book Review. How many have you read? How many do you want to read? These new thrillers feature a nosy and deadly 81-year-old, a roadkill-obsessed teenager and a reckless former U.S. marshal. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE The New York Times Click the cover image above to read this week's magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Fall asleep to these podcasts. Read transcendent (and occasionally filthy) new romance novels. Buy a gift for a coffee lover. Trudge through snow with winter boots. MEAL PLAN Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. In this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein suggests making easy 20-minute pork and ricotta meatballs; a hoisin-peanut shrimp and slaw that's perfect for a big group; and a winter squash and wild mushroom curry from the renowned cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were anticlimactic and claimant. Can you put eight historical events — including the discovery of penicillin, the building of the Great Library of Alexandria, and the release of Jane Fonda's "Workout" — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. 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