INSIDER
Guster, Avett Brothers and Florence Welch are helping bring alt-rock to the musical theater stage
Read full article: Guster, Avett Brothers and Florence Welch are helping bring alt-rock to the musical theater stageRyan Miller, lead singer of alternative rock band Guster, has a new gig that even he’s a little surprised about: Musical theater songwriter.
Maria Friedman, a longtime friend of Stephen Sondheim, teaches 'Merrily We Roll Along' to sing
Read full article: Maria Friedman, a longtime friend of Stephen Sondheim, teaches 'Merrily We Roll Along' to singOn opening night of the Broadway revival of “Merrily We Roll Along,” one person in the audience strangely wasn’t nervous — the director.
New opera production adds something new to Luis Buñuel's 'The Exterminating Angel': cannibalism
Read full article: New opera production adds something new to Luis Buñuel's 'The Exterminating Angel': cannibalismCalixto Bieito added an element to “The Exterminating Angel” that Luis Buñuel and Thomas Adès left out: cannibalism.
Glynis Johns, 'Mary Poppins' star who first sang Sondheim's 'Send in the Clowns,' dies at 100
Read full article: Glynis Johns, 'Mary Poppins' star who first sang Sondheim's 'Send in the Clowns,' dies at 100Glynis Johns, a Tony Award-winning stage and screen star who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in the classic movie “Mary Poppins” and introduced the world to the bittersweet standard-to-be “Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim, has died.
Sister Helen Prejean's 'Dead Man Walking' arrives at Met in Jake Heggie's operatic version
Read full article: Sister Helen Prejean's 'Dead Man Walking' arrives at Met in Jake Heggie's operatic versionJake Heggie's version of “Dead Man Walking” reaches the Metropolitan Opera for the season’s opening night in a production by Tony and Olivier Award winner Ivo van Hove starring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen Prejean.
Bryan Cranston, Jessica Chastain join star-studded Times Square rally of striking actors and writers
Read full article: Bryan Cranston, Jessica Chastain join star-studded Times Square rally of striking actors and writersSAG-AFTRA held its largest and most star-studded rally yet on Tuesday in Times Square.
Playwright Arthur Miller's old studio is in a Connecticut parking lot, awaiting its next act
Read full article: Playwright Arthur Miller's old studio is in a Connecticut parking lot, awaiting its next actThe shingled one-room structure where Arthur Miller worked at his home in Connecticut, from 1958 until his death in 2005, has been sitting behind the Roxbury town hall.
Eugene Lee, award-winning Broadway, 'SNL' set designer, dies
Read full article: Eugene Lee, award-winning Broadway, 'SNL' set designer, diesEugene Lee, the six-time Emmy Award-winning production designer for “Saturday Night Live” who won three Tony Awards for his Broadway sets, including the complicated, greenified Emerald City of “Wicked,” has died.
Lost Stephen Sondheim musical reveals insight into a giant
Read full article: Lost Stephen Sondheim musical reveals insight into a giantA copy of what’s being called Stephen Sondheim’s first original cast recording has been found on a misplaced CD, capturing the legendary composer’s budding skills in a student-led musical while at Williams College in 1948.
New this week: 'Reasonable Doubt,' 'Blonde' and Björk
Read full article: New this week: 'Reasonable Doubt,' 'Blonde' and BjörkThis week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Björk and Broadway's "Into the Woods,” the reunion of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy in “Hocus Pocus 2” and a Showtime documentary about Sinéad O’Connor.
'A Strange Loop’ makes history at Tonys; ‘Company’ wins 5
Read full article: 'A Strange Loop’ makes history at Tonys; ‘Company’ wins 5“A Strange Loop,” an irreverent, sexually frank work about Blackness and queerness took home the best new musical crown at the Tony Awards on Sunday, as voters celebrated Broadway’s most racially diverse season by choosing an envelope-pushing Black voice.
New this week: Dinosaurs, Def Leppard and 'The Responder'
Read full article: New this week: Dinosaurs, Def Leppard and 'The Responder'This week’s new entertainment releases include a new album from Def Leppard, a five-part Apple+ series on dinosaurs and a documentary about the late composer Stephen Sondheim and his musical “Company.”.
Stephen Sondheim celebrated by Dench, Peters at London gala
Read full article: Stephen Sondheim celebrated by Dench, Peters at London galaDozens of stars of musical theater gathered at a London theatre for a celebration titled “Old Friends” to raise money for the Stephen Sondheim Foundation, which will benefit young composers.
Zadie Smith to receive PEN America literary service award
Read full article: Zadie Smith to receive PEN America literary service awardAuthor Zadie Smith is this year’s winner of the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, an honor previously given to Toni Morrison, Stephen Sondheim and Margaret Atwood among others.
Poet Sonia Sanchez to receive Edward MacDowell Medal
Read full article: Poet Sonia Sanchez to receive Edward MacDowell MedalThe poet, activist and educator Sonia Sanchez is this year’s winner of the Edward MacDowell Medal, a lifetime achievement honor started in 1960 and previously given to Robert Frost, Toni Morrison and Stephen Sondheim among others.
New this week: 'Turning Red,' Ryan Reynolds and Mooski album
Read full article: New this week: 'Turning Red,' Ryan Reynolds and Mooski albumThis week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Canadian rocker Bryan Adams and a Stephen Sondheim tribute from Betty Buckley, Ryan Reynolds starring as a time-traveling pilot in Netflix’s “The Adam Project” and a small-town murder case gets some big-star wattage in NBC’s “The Thing About Pam” with Renée Zellweger.
Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ stays true to era, but acknowledges 21st century audience
Read full article: Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ stays true to era, but acknowledges 21st century audienceSteven Spielberg creates an authentic, yet true to form remake of the American theater classic "West Side Story."
Days before his death, video captured Stephen Sondheim seeing revival of ‘Company’ on Broadway
Read full article: Days before his death, video captured Stephen Sondheim seeing revival of ‘Company’ on BroadwayIt’s still hard to believe for fans of musical theater, but Broadway icon and legend Stephen Sondheim passed away over the weekend at the age of 91.
Vanessa Williams to honor Juneteenth at July 4 festivities
Read full article: Vanessa Williams to honor Juneteenth at July 4 festivitiesWhen Vanessa Williams hosts this year’s televised Capitol Fourth celebration, she will not only honor the nation’s traditional independence day, but also the country’s newly designated holiday — Juneteenth.
Joe Allen, whose bistro was a Broadway draw, dies at 87
Read full article: Joe Allen, whose bistro was a Broadway draw, dies at 87FILE - Joe Allen, proprietor of Joe Allen's restaurant poses behind the bar in New York on Nov. 10, 2005. Allen died Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021, in Hampton, New Hampshire, according to Jason Woodruff, a former staffer for the Allen family of restaurants who spoke to the family. Allen died Sunday in Hampton, New Hampshire, according to Jason Woodruff, a former staffer for the Allen family of restaurants who spoke to the family. Many of the servers at Joe Allen were actors earning paychecks when not onstage. At its height, Joe Allen had an outpost in Paris.
Tony Award-winning choreographer Bob Avian dies at 83
Read full article: Tony Award-winning choreographer Bob Avian dies at 83FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2006 file photo, Tony Award-winning choreographer Bob Avian poses in front of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, home of the revival of " A Chorus Line," in New York. Avian died Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021 of cardiac arrest at Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, He was 83. (AP Photo/Shiho Fukada, File)NEW YORK – Bob Avian, a Tony Award-winning choreographer who had a role in some of the most beloved and influential shows on Broadway, including “Dreamgirls,” “A Chorus Line,” “Follies” and “Miss Saigon,” has died. Avian earned six Tony nominations and won twice, for choreographing “Ballroom” and co-choreographing “A Chorus Line.” He won an Oliver Award for choreographing Boublil and Schonberg's musical “Martin Guerre” in London. Avian's association with “A Chorus Line” continued when he directed the 2006 revival on Broadway and the London revival at the Palladium in 2013.
Tony-nominated Broadway star Rebecca Luker dies at 59
Read full article: Tony-nominated Broadway star Rebecca Luker dies at 59FILE - Rebecca Luker, left, and her husband Danny Burstein arrive at the 73rd annual Tony Awards in New York on June 9, 2019. Luker, 59, a three-time Tony nominated actor who starred in some of the biggest Broadway hits of the past three decades, died Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020, said Sarah Fargo, her agent. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)LOS ANGELES – Soprano Rebecca Luker, a three-time Tony nominated actor who starred in some of the biggest Broadway hits of the past three decades, died Wednesday. Her death was announced by her husband, veteran Broadway actor Danny Burstein, who said in a statement “our family is devastated. Luker made her Broadway debut in 1988 in “The Phantom of the Opera” first as an understudy to Sarah Brightman and then playing Christine opposite the legendary Michael Crawford.
New this week: ‘Soul,’ a Tom Hanks film & ‘Bridgerton’ on TV
Read full article: New this week: ‘Soul,’ a Tom Hanks film & ‘Bridgerton’ on TVThis image released by Disney-Pixar shows the character 22, voiced by Tina Fey, left, and Joe Gardner, voiced by Jamie Foxx, in a scene from the animated film "Soul." But with more than half of U.S. theaters closed, two of the biggest movies of the year — “Soul” and “Wonder Woman 1984” — will be going straight to streaming. — Also arriving Christmas Day is “Wonder Woman 1984,” Patty Jenkins' sequel to her barrier-breaking 2017 film. With Gal Gadot returning, “Wonder Woman 1984” fast-forwards from 1918 to the “greed is good” decade. — AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy___Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/apf-entertainment.