The Treatment

Grammy, Emmy, and Tony-winning actress and singer Cynthia Erivo continues to conquer stage and screen. She stepped back into Elphaba’s shoes (and cape and hat) in the blockbuster musical 'Wicked: For Good' last year. Now, she’s finishing up a run in a one-woman adaptation of 'Dracula' in London’s West End. For her treat, she celebrates Nina Simone’s iconic take of the song “I’m Feeling Good.” Erivo cites the “color” and imperfections of Simone’s singing as inspiration for her own version of the song, which, she says, teaches her something new every time she sings it.

Tony nominated playwright Jeremy O. Harris and director Pete Ohs are frequent collaborators. Ohs worked on a documentary about Harris’ acclaimed and controversial 'Slave Play' and Harris starred in Ohs’ film 'The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick.'

Their latest collaboration is the film 'Erupcja,' starring pop star Charli XCX in a role far removed from her on stage persona. 'Erupcja' was filmed in Poland without a traditional script, and the actors all brought their own ideas to the film. Ohs and Harris tell Elvis how they got Charli XCX to be in the film, why Ohs likes to work without a script, and the origin of the film's Polish title.

Director India Donaldson’s 2024 feature film debut 'Good One' is deceptively simple: a teenager, her father, and her father’s friend go camping in upstate New York. But the film goes into an unexpected direction, telling its story with tension and subtlety. For her treat, she cites a 2003 sculpture by the visual artist Shimabuku, whose simplicity evokes unabashed joy.

Actor Simon Helberg is no stranger to playing highly intelligent characters with a few social shortcomings. He’s best known for his comedic turn as the brilliant, but awkward engineer Howard Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory,' which ran for 12 seasons. He’s also appeared in films including 'Old School,' 'A Serious Man,' and 'Florence Foster Jenkins,' for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.

His latest role is as Martin Phister in the AMC series 'The Audacity.' Phister is a tech genius who can’t connect with his own family. Helberg talks about getting into the psyche of someone highly intelligent and neurodivergent, why some tech titans believe they are actually saving the world, and he reveals what he thinks when he catches himself on 'The Big Bang Theory.'

Writer-director BenDavid Grabinski’s newest film, the crime caper 'Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice,' is in part an homage to the independent films of the ‘70s. For his treat, he pays tribute to a recent Broadway revival starring two performers known for going back in time and having a most excellent adventure.