Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
Jonathan Bailey (image via Instagram)Director Jon M. Chu confirmed via Twitter that out hottie Jonathan Bailey will play romantic lead “Fiyero” in the upcoming Wicked movies. Continue reading “Jonathan Bailey Joins Cast Of WICKED Movies”
The award-winning Western short film STEAM! will premiere on LGBTQ streaming network Revry on January 28, 2022. Continue reading “What To Watch: Award-Winning Western Short Film STEAM!”
To celebrate the launch of tick, tick…BOOM!, the feature directorial debut from Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, Netflix is shining a spotlight on emerging teen performers and filmmakers to celebrate the arts and honor the legacy of beloved American composer and playwright Jonathan Larson (1960-1996). Continue reading “Video: Performing Arts High Schools Celebrate Launch Of ‘tick, tick,…BOOM!’”
With 30 on the horizon, an aspiring theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out. Continue reading “Trailer: Critics Are Raving About “tick, tick…BOOM!””
Some news items you might have missed:
• Boy Culture: Tom Hardy (above), easily one of my favorite actors (and eye-candy) celebrates his 44th trip around the sun today. BC has a round-up of some of his more eye-catching moments in film. Continue reading “News Round-Up: September 16, 2021”
Ben Platt is playing the role that made him uber-famous one more time, fortunately for us.
Universal Pictures drops the official trailer for the film adaptation for Dear Evan Hansen, the moving stage musical that promises ‘you will be found.’
From Vanity Fair:
The story centers on a kid whose therapist has given him the assignment of writing letters to himself, addressing his fears, hopes, and insecurities.
A classmate named Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan, who understudied the role on Broadway) steals one of the letters and later takes his own life. That boy’s parents (played in the film by Amy Adams and Danny Pino) mistake the letter Evan wrote for their son’s final words, addressed to a kid they assume was his close friend. Evan lets them believe this because he thinks it brings them comfort—but the confusion and lies soon pile up, leading to greater heartbreak.
The Broadway production scored 5 Tony Awards including Best Musical and a Best Actor in a Musical statue for Platt.
Folks on social media are making light of 27-year-old Platt playing a high school student, but come on folks – suspend your disbelief a bit and just enjoy.
The movie hits theaters September 24.
Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler in West Side Story (credit: Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios)In addition to seeing the legend herself, Rita Moreno, present on last night’s Oscars, viewers were also treated to the first look at the upcoming film reboot of West Side Story.
Directed by Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tony Kushner, West Side Story reinvents the classic Romeo and Juliet story seen through the lens of fierce gang rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City.
With the focus on young lovers Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler), sharing the spotlight are territorial gangs Sharks and Jets pulsing with youhtful angst and a desire to find ‘somewhere’ they can belong.
I know I have a lot of readers who love Broadway musicals. Having performed WSS several times (playing just about every Jet from Riff to Action to Snowboy to Baby John) as well as staging the show, this looks to be amazing. I got chills watching this quick sneak peek.
From 20th Century Studios, The Walt Disney Company will release West Side Story in US theaters on December 10, 2021. Can’t wait!
The luminous Moreno (who scored one of the original 1961 film’s 10 Oscars) not only plays the role of ‘Valentina’ in gender-flipped casting of the local drug store owner ‘Doc,’ but is an executive producer on the film.
Political satirist Randy Rainbow is on top of his game as he releases his response to Donald Trump’s (non-sarcastic) suggestion that injecting patients with disinfectants might be a possible treatment.
Set to the tune of “A Spoonful Of Sugar,” from Disney’s 1964 classic, Mary Poppins, Rainbow’s clever lyrics are on point as usual.
Wikipedia notes that the tune’s lyricist, Robert Sherman, wrote the song after arriving home to find his children had received their polio vaccine, which was delivered in a sugar cube.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical In The Heights has made it to Hollywood and we finally get the official trailer.
Set in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood, the musical chronicles the lives of immigrants and the generations that follow them, including Usnavi played by Anthony Ramos.
Usnavi owns the local bodega and dreams of winning big in the lottery and making it out of the barrio.
The quintessential steamy New York summer brings complications for characters from all parts of the neighborhood, including a love interest for Usnavi in the form of Vanessa (Melissa Barrera).
In The Heights dances into theaters Summer 2020.
|
| Glenn Close in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ (photo: Joan Marcus) |
The film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Boulevard, will star Glenn Close re-creating her Tony-winning performance.
Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford (Thoroughly Modern Millie) will make his feature film directorial debut with the movie musical, reports the Hollywood Reporter.
From Playbill:
Close starred in the original 1994 Broadway production of Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, earning a Tony for her work as faded silent-screen star Norma Desmond, as well as the acclaimed 2017 revival. The prospective project was first reported in January 2016, prior to Close taking on the Hollywood star once more at the London Coliseum before a Broadway bow at the Palace Theatre. At the time, co-lyricist and book writer Christopher Hampton hoped shooting would begin while Close was still in London.
It had been over 20 years since Close opened the original Broadway production, but the seven-time Oscar nominee used the years away from Norma Desmond to find a new window into the character.
“I’m not saying I’m getting better, but I am saying that I do have more experience,” Close told Playbill as she discussed returning to the role first seen in the 1950 Wilder film. “With more knowledge of myself and experiences I’ve had and heartbreaks I’ve had and enduring as I have—theoretically, an actor should only get better because our bodies and our minds and hearts are the material with which we build characters.”
Filming is expected to begin in Fall 2019. No other casting has been reported.