Musical
Almost Famous Musical Closing on Broadway in January
The Broadway adaptation of Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous is set to close just two months after its official opening. The musical began previews on October 3rd, ahead of its premiere on November 3rd. The final performance is now set for January 8th. The decision to end Almost Famous’ run on… Please click the link below to read the full article. Almost Famous Musical Closing on Broadway in January Alex Young [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_style” title=”Submit to Flexi” name=”my_form” ajax=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”post_title” class=”fl-input” title=”Title” value=”” required=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”category” title=”Selec...
Ryan Murphy: Glee’s Mr. Schue Was a Meth Addict in Original Script
What if Glee was a little more Breaking Bad? It turns out that the creators of the musical teen drama series originally conceived of the show with some darker undertones: As Ryan Murphy recalls, Mr. Schue was first written as a meth addict in the “NC-17” version of the script. Murphy spoke candidly about the early stages of making Glee on the new Glee-themed iHeart Radio podcast And That’s What You REALLY Missed (via Insider): “Mr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ian [Brennan]’s script,” Murphy said of the character, a high school Spanish teacher who also directs the school’s show choir. “The NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling.” But as if Mr. Schue being a meth addict wasn’t surprising enough, Murphy also revealed the unlikely s...
Will Ferrell Is the Ghost of Ryan Reynold’s Present in Trailer for Spirited: Watch
The Ghost of Christmas Present regrets his choice of Scrooge in the first teaser trailer for the holiday musical, Spirited. Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds star in this twist on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which arrives in theaters November 11th and streams on Apple TV+ beginning November 18th. Ferrell stars as Ghost of Christmas Present, who every year sets out to reform one dark soul with the help of two spectral comrades. But everything flips when he meets Clint Briggs (Reynolds), and suddenly this old Christmas Present is forced to reexamine his past and wrestle with his future. The first trailer is a mix of tight musical choreography and loose comical riffs. A tap sequence leaves both leads wondering how the other knew the moves, and sweeping set piece dances are...
NYC Broadway Week Offers 2-for-1 Tickets to 21 Shows
The Great White Way requires an awful lot of green, but during NYC Broadway Week, 21 shows are offering 2-for-1 tickets, effectively halving the price for (even-numbered) groups. NYC Broadway Week runs quite a bit longer than seven days, from September 6th through September 25th. The bargain is available for 21 selected shows, including The Lion King, Wicked, Aladdin, MJ, and Beetlejuice. Tickets for those shows are available here (use code BWAYWK). Other eligible shows include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Chicago, The Book of Mormon, Death of a Salesman, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Into the Woods, Hadestown, and A Strange Loop, among others. You can find the full list and purchase tickets here. Advertisement Related Video This is the first time since the start of ...
Lin-Manuel Miranda Launches Ham4Choice to Fundraise for Abortion Access
Not long after a church in Texas turned Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton into an evangelist nightmare, the playwright himself has announced the launch of Ham4Choice, a philanthropic effort to raise funds for organizations that province abortion access and other reproductive health services across the country. Better yet, from now until September 22nd, a $10 donation to Ham4Choice not only helps those most directly impacted by the Supreme Court’s recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, but it also gets you the chance to win tickets — plus hotel and airfare — to not one, but three Hamilton shows. First, the winner and a guest will get to see the musical’s opening night in Hamburg, Germany, where they’ll meet Miranda and partake in pre- and post-show festivities. Then, they’ll get to c...
Texas Church Twists Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton into Bible-Thumping Homophobic Screed
A Texas church’s unauthorized production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton has drawn widespread criticism and a cease-and-desist letter for shoehorning in several references to Jesus as well as a homophobic screed that compares being gay to being addicted to drugs. This attempt to put some rap into the rapture was first reported by OnStage Blog, with more details provided by The Washington Post and The Dallas Morning News. On Friday, August 5th, The Door McAllen church livestreamed a never-before-seen take on Hamilton, with plenty of lyrics that would have surprised, if not the Creator, then at least the show’s creator, Miranda. Now-iconic lyrics such as, “What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see/ I wrote some notes at the beginnin...
Tom Cruise to Star in Untitled Song-and-Dance Musical
Tom Cruise is retiring his airplane for the power of song. The action movie legend is teaming up with producer Christopher McQuarrie for an original song and dance-style musical, Deadline reports. Although — especially in the shadow of Top Gun: Maverick — it’s hard to imagine Cruise doing much else on screen besides his own stunts, he did flaunt his pipes for Adam Shankman’s 2012 jukebox musical comedy Rock of Ages. Evidently, he’s been wanting to take on another musical for a while now, with plans to dance this go around and write the script alongside McQuarrie. The as-yet-unnamed musical is just one of many movies Cruise and McQuarrie have coming down the pipeline. To the surprise of no one, they’re also working on another original action film with “franchise pot...
Shawn Mendes Takes Over 88th Street in Trailer for Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: Watch
Shawn Mendes is the titular reptile in Sony Pictures’ upcoming film adaptation of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, and in the first trailer for the film, we see the creature charm the Primm family (led by matriarch Constance Wu) and the rest of New York City. Check out the clip below. Based off Bernard Waber’s children story of the same name, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile follows Mrs. Primm, Mr. Primm (Scoot McNairy), and their son Josh (Winslow Fegley) as they discover a crocodile living in the attic of their new Manhattan home. While Mrs. Primm and Lyle’s main enemy, Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman), are naturally terrified of the animal, Josh, and Lyle’s owner, Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), assures them he’s a gentle giant — after all, “he wears a scarf, and he can sing.” Enter pop star Mend...
Emma Thompson Tosses Insults and Students in Teaser Trailer for Matilda the Musical: Watch
The girl lost in daydreams and the headmistress of nightmares face off in the new teaser trailer for Roald Dahl‘s Matilda the Musical. It’s coming to Netflix this holiday season, and stars a nearly-unrecognizable Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull. Adapted from the Tony-winning Matilda the Musical, this Netflix film is directed by Matthew Warchus with original music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Alisha Weir (Darklands) plays the titular hero, a young girl with a sharp mind and the world’s dullest parents. While her mom (Andrea Riseborough) and dad (Stephen Graham) watch trash TV, Matilda quietly reads. This endears her to her teacher Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch), but draws the ire of Trunchbull (Thompson), a disciplinarian who craves nothing more than to see the children fall in li...
Joker 2: Lady Gaga in Talks to Play Harley Quinn in Musical Sequel
Big news regarding the Joker sequel Todd Phillips teased last week: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joker 2 is going to be a musical, and Lady Gaga is in talks to join Joaquin Phoenix as Harley Quinn. While the report doesn’t say much about what a musical Joker would look like, it does make sense to cast the singer in such a project. THR says that neither Gaga nor Phoenix have been completely secured for the sequel, which, according to the script cover Phillips posted to Instagram, is called Joker: Folie à Deux. The French title translates to “shared madness,” which tipped us off to Harley Quinn’s appearance in the sequel. Now we’ll just have to wait to see how the pair’s “Bad Romance” fares on screen (sorry). Prior to Gaga, Margot Robbie played Harley Q...
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked Will Be Split into Two Films
The lions and tigers and bears (and witches) of The Wizard of Oz have inspired endless spinoffs and adaptations — most famously, Gregory Maguire’s prequel novel Wicked, which Stephen Schwartz adapted into a beloved musical in 2003. Now, rich source material in mind, director Jon M. Chu has announced his upcoming film adaptation of the story, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, will be split into two parts. “As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of WICKED into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu explained in a statement. “As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all f...
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked Will Be Split into Two Films
The lions and tigers and bears (and witches) of The Wizard of Oz have inspired endless spinoffs and adaptations — most famously, Gregory Maguire’s prequel novel Wicked, which Stephen Schwartz adapted into a beloved musical in 2003. Now, rich source material in mind, director Jon M. Chu has announced his upcoming film adaptation of the story, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, will be split into two parts. “As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of WICKED into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu explained in a statement. “As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all f...
