Flipping out

Olympics’ biggest stars join Simone Biles for thrilling gymnastics showcase — but not in Austin

Gymnasts Jordan Chiles, MyKayla Skinner, Jade Carey, and Grace McCallum dazzled the world at the recent Olympics, winning a trove of medals in Tokyo — and now they’re heading to Texas to entertain fans in a thrilling gymnastics “spectacular.” But as it turns out, they won’t be landing in Austin.

Nearly every member of the Team USA gymnastics squad (minus one, Sunisa Lee) will join headliner and Texan Simone Biles on the Gold Over America Tour, making stops in Texas locales like San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth in October. An Austin show was originally planned for October 10 at the Frank Erwin Center, but according to the venue, that show has been canceled. No reason was provided and the Erwin Center notes ticket holders should contact their ticket point of purchase to claim a refund.

Austinites who were flipping for the chance to see Biles perform in person may find their excitement twisted into knots when they learn the tour has added some particularly spectacular performers to the lineup.

According to an August 19 news release, also performing as part of the tour will be 2016 Olympic gold and silver medalist and Dancing With The Stars champion Laurie Hernandez; All-American, NCAA National Champion and viral video sensation Katelyn Ohashi; three-time gold medalist in 2019 and 2020 at the Tokyo World Cup Morgan Hurd; elite gymnast Shilese Jones; former USA Gymnastics Women’s Athlete of the Year Chellsie Memmel; 2021 French Olympian Melanie De Jesus dos Santos; and 2018 NCAA National Champion from UCLA (where she achieved 10 perfect 10s), Peng-Peng Lee.

“The Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour will match athleticism and entertainment,” Biles says in the release. “The show embodies the themes of empowerment and togetherness, which was on display in Tokyo. Together, all the gymnasts on this tour want to inspire the next generation of women and athletes.”

Beyond being a demonstration of eye-popping twists and flips, the show promises to promote values of empowerment, friendship, positive body image, mental-health awareness, and self-confidence, organizers say.

But let’s be real. Fans want eye-popping twists and flips, too — but Austinites will have to settle for watching Olympics reruns or vaulting down to San Antonio on October 6 for the closest tour performance.

For those who need an Olympics refresher:

(Deep breath)

Houston’s Biles — the most-decorated gymnast of all time — experienced a medical issue referred to as the “twisties” after qualifying rounds, which made her death-defying stunts too dangerous to compete safely. When she suddenly dropped out of the team final, her Texas training mate, Chiles, and calm-and-collected teammate McCallum delivered some unscheduled clutch performances that helped win the team a silver medal.

And then ... when Biles couldn’t compete in the vault final, Skinner — who hadn’t qualified, announced her retirement, and packed her bags to leave Tokyo — got the call to compete in Biles’ spot and won herself a silver medal.

And then ... Carey, who’d flubbed her vault in the same final in which Skinner won the silver medal, came charging back the next day with a stunning floor exercise and won herself a gold medal.

And then ... Biles returned triumphantly on the very last day of competition with a “twist-less” balance beam routine she could complete safely, and won herself a bronze medal.

(Exhale)

These shining stars of the games will each perform some of their most famous routines on the tour, mixed with career highlights, personal videos, and social media interactions.

“The show is a high-energy, gymnastics-meets-pop-concert spectacular,” the release says.

A crew of gymnastic dancers under bright LED video screens and lights will heighten the adrenaline, and some ticket holders will get to join them onstage at the end.

It could be fans’ last time to see Skinner perform, as she still plans to retire, so it might be worth making the trip to San Antonio for the show. Biles has not yet announced her future plans, but there was much pre-Olympics speculation that she’d hang up her leotard after this year, too. Both women are a “grandmotherly” 24 in a sport dominated by teenagers.

Fans of Hernandez will be happy to see her back on the mats, too, as an injury in warmups at the National Championships took her out of a recent Fort Worth competition. She served as an NBC commentator at the Olympics. (Follow her comeback journey, as well as those of Hurd and other elite gymnasts, in the excellent docuseries Golden, streaming on NBC’s Peacock app.)

The 35-city tour, which starts September 21 in Tucson, Arizona, will also make Texas stops in Houston on October 8 and Fort Worth on October 9.

Tickets for the San Antonio show start at $26.50, and are available through Ticketmaster.

To sign up for more information about VIP packages and a chance to dance in the show finale, visit www.GoldOverAmericaTour.com. Follow on Instagram & Facebook @GoldOverAmericaTour, Twitter @GoldOverAmerica and YouTube. #GoldInAllOfUs

Five of these Team USA gymnasts are going on tour.

Getty Images

Five of these Team USA gymnasts are going on tour.

tours sports

Movie Review

Strange decisions pay off in unusual movie musical Emilia Pérez

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez.

Musicals have been used as a medium to convey all sorts of different stories, from the Old West, to cats, to one of the Founding Fathers. But it takes a certain kind of imagination to think that a cartel boss making a gender transition as she quits the drug business is a prime candidate for an original movie musical, as is done in Emilia Pérez.

The person with that unusual thinking is French writer/director Jacques Audiard, who in addition to making the film a musical, decided to do it almost entirely in Spanish, a language he doesn’t even speak. Adding to all the other atypical aspects, the main character of the film is not the one after whom the film is named. Instead, the main character is Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña), the lawyer hired by cartel boss Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), to help her achieve her dream of becoming a woman.

Of course, that dream comes with consequences, most importantly how to separate the soon-to-be Emilia Pérez from her wife, Jessi (Selena Gomez), and her kids without arousing suspicion. The solution, as well as the “death” of Manitas, is elegant, but after a period of time Emilia finds herself longing for her kids again. Rita re-enters to set up the arrangements, setting in motion a series of events that are both predictable and unpredictable.

The musical sequences of the film are fascinating, mostly because they don’t adhere to the rules typically used in musical films. More often than not they pop up out of nowhere, with a character speaking normally and then deciding that the next line needs to be the start of a song. This allows Audiard to utilize all sorts of locations as the settings for the sequences, as well as the incorporation of unorthodox elements, such as the loading of guns as musical beats.

Even though 90 percent of the film is in Spanish with English subtitles, none of the feeling of the story is lost in translation. Several of the songs are certified bangers, with the repetition of phrases giving them a great rhythm even if you have to keep glancing down to understand what they’re singing. Each of the main three characters get a chance to shine even though none of the songs require the actors to belt them out.

Audiard does a subtle job of commenting on the experience of being a transgender woman in the position that Emilia finds herself. Her desire to live her life as she’s always wanted is in conflict with still wanting to see her kids, as she doesn’t want to reveal the person she used to be. Her personal life is also in conflict with a newfound urge to help families that were victimized by Manitas. The ever-changing story keeps both the characters and the audience on their toes.

Saldaña, whose time in the worlds of Star Trek, Marvel, and Avatar the past 15 years has been her biggest exposure, digs deep into this character, putting on a compelling performance. So too does Gascón, a Spanish transgender actor who embodies every aspect of her role in a manner only someone like her could. Gomez seems slightly miscast, but she has enough solid scenes to justify her presence in the film.

Emilia Pérez is a film that upends expectations at almost every turn. While it might have also worked as a non-musical, the music side of it supports the story in unconventional ways, drawing the audience deeper into a story that itself is out of the ordinary.

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Emilia Pérez is now streaming on Netflix.

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