Missy Elliott honored, ‘The Bachelor,’ novelist makes Obama’s reading list: Hampton Roads 2022 arts and culture review

Something in the Water returns, Missy gets her own boulevard in Portsmouth, and “The Bachelor” finds love and a home in Virginia Beach. The world loses the much-beloved comedian and actor Bob Saget, who grew up in Norfolk.

It’s been quite a year. Here we look back at the biggest headlines of 2022 in local arts and culture.

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Missy Elliott honored by her hometown

Portsmouth City Council voted to rename a 1-mile portion of McLean Street Missy Elliott Boulevard in honor of the five-time Grammy winner.

Missy returned to her alma mater, Manor High School, for an October dedication ceremony.

Her musical collaborators and friends, including Virginia natives Pusha T, Trey Songz and Timbaland, were there to watch Mayor Shannon Glover hand her a key to the city.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin pronounced that day, Oct. 17, Missy Elliott Day in Virginia.

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Virginia Beach native lands co-starring role in comic book blockbuster

Actor Quintessa Swindell has been experiencing a string of major casting successes in Hollywood over the past few years, and 2022 brought them their biggest success yet.

Swindell, who identifies as nonbinary and uses them/their pronouns, played superhero Cyclone in Warner Bros.’ action adventure, “Black Adam,” which premiered this fall and starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Swindell said prior to the movie’s release they felt like “Black Adam” could easily become their “breakout” performance, and it may very well prove to be. The movie had grossed more than $385 million as of mid-December, according to imdb.com.

Swindell, a graduate of the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, has appeared in Netflix’s “Trinkets” and HBO’s critically acclaimed series “In Treatment” and “Euphoria.”

They received equal billing with Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver in the upcoming film “Master Gardener.”

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Chesapeake native Adrienne Warren cast in 2 historical retellings

It was another big year for Chesapeake native Adrienne Warren.

Last year, she won her first Tony Award for the title role in “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” and was named one of The Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year.

This year, she landed parts in the ABC limited television series “Women of the Movement,” and movie “The Woman King.”

“Women of the Movement” was about the kidnapping and lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 Mississippi and aired in January. Warren played Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who became an activist after her son’s death.

“Women of the Movement” garnered high praise and received a critic score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

This fall, Warren played Ode in “The Woman King,” an epic story based on the history of the Kingdom of Dahomey, a state of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Warren appeared with Oscar winner Viola Davis, and actors Lashana Lynch and John Boyega.

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Bob Saget, who grew up in Norfolk, dies

The actor and comedian Bob Saget died Jan. 9 of head trauma while on a national comedy tour. He was 65.

Deputies in Orange County, Florida, found him unresponsive in a room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando.

Saget was known for his starring role as single dad Danny Tanner on the popular series “Full House” and as host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

In a 2010 interview, Saget told The Pilot he was born in California but spent much of his childhood in Norfolk.

He lived with his family in an apartment in Riverpoint, a house on Forsythe Street and later at a residence on Kingsway Road in Larrymore Lawns.

Saget attended Larrymore Elementary, Azalea Gardens Middle School and Lake Taylor High.

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Chef Kip Poole appears on HBO Max’s “The Big Brunch”

Chef Kip Poole, of the Norfolk-based CROP Foundation, competed on the first season of HBO Max’s “The Big Brunch” with nine other contestants. He was eliminated in the third episode of the eight-part series. Virginia still brought home the win, though.

Daniel Harthausen, chef and owner of Young Mother in Richmond, won the competition and the $300,000 prize because of his Korean-Japanese-inspired dishes.

The cooking show was created and hosted by Emmy Award-winning actor Dan Levy, star of the TV series “Schitt’s Creek.” No word on season two.

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Ileana D’Silva battles the ages on Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen”

Ileana D’Silva — a sous chef at Casa Pearl in Williamsburg — competed on Season 21 of Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” the “Battle of the Ages” edition.

It featured 18 contestants from the 40-somethings team (blue) and the 20-somethings team (red). The 23-year-old Gloucester native finished 11th and was eliminated on the Dec. 1 episode.

The cooking competition was created by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay; the winner gets a head chef position at one of his restaurants. The show’s champion will be revealed in the new year.

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Poquoson must be for lovers: Hampton Roads native wins “The Bachelor”

Susie Evans, from Poquoson, won the 26th season of “The Bachelor,” beating out the competition for the affections of Clayton Echard.

Echard moved to Virginia Beach with Evans after the two reconciled before the show’s reunion episode.

Evans, a wedding photographer and the winner of Miss Virginia 2020, made it to the final three and earned enough roses to have Echard travel to Virginia and visit her hometown. She showed him around Poquoson and introduced him to her family.

But Evans left the show when Echard told her that he’d slept with the other finalists.

Echard told The Pilot in July that going on the show caused him to face his long struggle with body dysmorphia, a mental health disorder that involves obsessively focusing on a perceived physical flaw. He is now touring and talking to groups as a mental health advocate.

The two announced on Instagram in September that they are no longer a couple.

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Something’s gonna be in Virginia Beach’s water next spring

Pharrell Williams announced his music festival, Something in the Water, is returning to Virginia Beach next spring. It was first held on the Oceanfront in 2019.

Williams made the announcement in November while at his business conference, the Mighty Dream Forum, in downtown Norfolk.

He moved Something in the Water from Virginia Beach last year, citing the city’s “toxic energy” after a Virginia Beach police officer shot and killed his cousin Donovon Lynch in March 2021.

This year the music festival went to Washington, D.C., and was held Juneteenth weekend.

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Virginia Beach native earns a spot in prestigious Hollywood program

Steven J. Kung, who grew up in Virginia Beach, was chosen for the Paramount Directing Initiative.

As a film director, Kung has already directed episodes of “Fresh Off the Boat” on ABC and Netflix’s “Dear White People.”

The Paramount Directing Initiative is designed to help directors from underrepresented groups develop their careers. Kung will shadow a director on multiple CBS productions and learn from network executives.

Kung told The Pilot that he became a director to change the way Asian people are portrayed on television and in movies. He said he still remembers being teased at Providence Elementary School in Virginia Beach as a child because he is Taiwanese.

“I want the future me or future Asian American children to not have a rougher time on the playground,” Kung said in a February interview. “I’m in a unique position to do something about it.”

He enjoys creating shows centering on communities of color, the LGBTQ+ community and women.

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The landmark case Loving v. Virginia to become an opera

The Virginia Opera and the Richmond Symphony commissioned a new opera, “Loving v. Virginia.” It will be based on the Caroline County couple, Mildred and Richard Loving.

In 1958, Virginia law made it illegal for Richard Loving, who was white, and Mildred, who was of mixed race, to marry; they were jailed and sentenced to move out of the state. They challenged the law and in 1967 a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned states’ laws banning interracial marriage.

The opera will take three years to write, score and workshop before being performed. It will premiere as part of the Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season in the spring of 2025.

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Gloucester novelist makes Obama’s summer reading list

Gloucester author S.A. Cosby apparently shed tears of joy when he learned his book made former President Barack Obama’s reading list this summer.

“I’ve read a couple of great books this year and wanted to share some of my favorites so far,” Obama wrote on Instagram July 26.

Cosby’s hit novel “Razorblade Tears,” about two formerly incarcerated men of different races who seek to avenge the deaths of their sons who were married to each other, was listed as one of Obama’s favorites.

“I can’t speak ... there are no words,” Cosby tweeted. “I’m crying right now, not Razorblade Tears but Tears of joy All Things Are Possible!!!”

“Razorblade Tears” was on several top-books lists for 2021 — including those of The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, Time and the New York Public Library, Kirkus and Financial Times.

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Virginia Beach resident competes on Netflix reality show

She might not have won, but Virginia Beach resident Jazlyn Holloway made her presence known on Netflix’s reality show “Too Hot to Handle.”

The third season premiered Jan. 19 and featured a cast of 20-somethings who party and complete workshops together on a Caribbean island but are barred from any sort of physical intimacy. Holloway said she wanted to compete in part to ensure that dark-skinned girls were represented in the series, since dark-skinned women are often plagued by negative stereotypes.

Born in Portsmouth, Holloway is a graduate of Old Dominion University who spent her childhood moving around the country because her father was in the military.

Holloway stayed at a villa in the Turks and Caicos Islands with the show’s nine other contestants.

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Star opera singer from Virginia Beach nominated for Grammys

Will Liverman, an opera singer from Virginia Beach, received two Grammy Award nominations in November.

The nominations follow what The New York Times called a “breakthrough performance” at the Metropolitan Opera, as Charles in Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.”

One of Liverman’s nominations is for Best Opera Recording for the show.

The opera was the first work by a Black composer to be presented by the Met, and Liverman plans to use his acclaim to continue promoting other minority musicians’ work whenever possible, he said.

His second Grammy nomination was for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, for a collaborative album he created with pianist Paul Sanchez, “Okpebholo: Lord, How Come Me Here?”

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards air on Feb. 5.

Rekaya Gibson, 757-289-8809, rekaya.gibson@virginiamedia.com ; on Twitter @gibsonrekaya

Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8138, colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com