Waiting for Tonight

Is it time for us to feel sorry for Jennifer Lopez yet? If you’ve been following her career -- avidly or reluctantly – you’ve likely experienced the Five Stages of J.Lo. Stage one: We loved her as the scrappy Fly Girl on In Living Color. The film Selena sealed the deal; Jennifer Lopez was gonna be a movie star. And we were cool with that.

Stage two, rapt attention: Lopez dropped her album On the 6, and suddenly she was all over MTV. “If You Had My Love” and “Waiting for Tonight” were huge hits, and she was collaborating with Big Pun, which gave her just a whiff of street cred. Stage three, overexposure: All of a sudden J.Lo was everywhere. She wore that scandalous green dress to the Grammys in 2000, and then she got caught up in that gunplay drama. We blame Diddy. Stage four, disgust: Ugh, Bennifer. J.Lo was building a reputation as a demanding diva, and “Jenny from the Block” had her every move picked apart in the tabloids. And then there was the film Gigli. Who knew schadenfreude tasted like candy? We’ve finally landed at stage five, we pity the fool: Sure, it might sound odd to feel a pang of sadness for an insanely wealthy singer/actress/fashion designer, but hear us out. Nobody went to see her last movie, El Cantante, which costarred her husband, Skeletor -- um, Marc Anthony. Her latest album, Brave, didn’t even crack Billboard’s Top 10. Everyone is saying her career has jumped the shark. And just last week, her grandma died. How can we be mean to her now? J.Lo and Marc Anthony will bring their romantic song-and-dance act to the American Airlines Arena, for three crazy nights.
Fri., Nov. 2, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 3; Wed., Nov. 7, 2007