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Darren Criss and Helen J Shen are headed to Broadway to star in the musical Maybe Happy Ending. The pair sits down to discuss what it’s like to work with each other, how they got the roles, the beauty of musicals and more!
Darren Criss:This is a funny little backdrop, because before we were like in previews. We’ve done performances for audiences over 20 times, I think, or something like that. This is we’ve met for …
Helen J Shen:Probably 48 hours, less.
Darren Criss:Yeah, just a couple, yeah. This is, this is so proto what we are now. The show looks very different from this. I don’t have, none of us have our wigs on, but I think the heart is there, I suppose. So I don’t want to misdirect it too much.
Rebecca Milzoff: The heart and the plant.
Darren Criss: Most importantly, the main star of our show. He couldn’t make it today. He’s already on the private yacht. Yeah, he’s partying on a yacht somewhere.
We’ll give Hua Boon his moment later on, I feel like the show is straightforward to explain, but also sort of defies description in so many ways. I would love to hear when you’re giving kind of your elevator pitch on it to friends and people considering coming. How do you describe Maybe Happy Ending?
Darren Criss: There’s what the story is, and then there is what the show is about. Those aren’t necessarily the same things. Thematically it’s kind of about, yeah, two elderly people in hospice that decide to break out of the situation, to go connect with their family. Now that is a really grim, depressing construct for a show. So why would you ever want to see a musical comedy about that?
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Join the compelling discussion moderated by Billboard’s Senior Dance Correspondent Katie Bain. Inside the Rise of John Summit, featuring the chart-topping DJ and his manager Holt Harmon. Discover the secrets behind his explosive success and the future of the dance music scene. Related Images:
Weezer’s self-titled debut album, first released in 1994, returns to Billboard’s album charts (dated Nov. 16) following its 30th-anniversary deluxe reissue on Nov. 1. The set, referred to as the Blue Album due to its blue-colored cover, boasts the top 10-charting Alternative Airplay hits “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So.” For its anniversary, it was reissued across five vinyl variants (including a deluxe four-LP set), a deluxe three-CD set and a deluxe digital download edition. The deluxe vinyl, CD and download sets included a wealth of bonus tracks.
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All versions of the album, old and new, are combined together for tracking and charting purposes. On the Top Album Sales chart, the set reaches the top 10 for the first time, re-entering at No. 10 with 8,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 7 (up 719%), according to Luminate. The album previously peaked at No. 16 in early 1995. With its delayed arrival to the top 10, the album marks the 14th top 10-charting effort for the band on Top Album Sales.
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The Blue Album also re-enters at No. 3 on Indie Store Album Sales, No. 4 on Vinyl Albums, No. 10 on Top Alternative Albums, No. 13 on Top Rock Albums, No. 17 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums and No. 87 on the Billboard 200.
Elsewhere on the Top Album Sales chart, The Cure’s Songs of a Lost World debuts at No. 1, Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning jingles in at No. 3, Skillet’s Revolution bows at No. 7 and the Saltburn soundtrack enters at No. 8.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units.
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, The Cure’s Songs of a Lost World arrives with 53,000 copies sold in its first week – marking the band’s best sales week since 2004. Tyler, The Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA falls 1-2 in its second week, with 44,000 sold (down 69%). Fallon’s first festive album, Holiday Seasoning, opens at No. 3 with 12,000 sold; it’s Fallon’s first top 10-charting set on Top Album Sales. Rounding out the top five is Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (jumping 16-4 with 11,000 sold; up 22%, following her turn on NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Nov. 2) and SEVENTEEN’s chart-topping SPILL THE FEELS (7-5 with nearly 11,000; down 40%).
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet steps 13-6 (10,000; down 2%), Skillet snares its sixth top 10 with the debut of Revolution at No. 7 (nearly 10,000), the Saltburn soundtrack debuts at No. 8 (nearly 10,000; largely from vinyl sales), Jelly Roll’s former leader Beautifully Broken rises 11-9 (8,000; down 30%) and Weezer’s self-titled debut re-enters at No. 10.
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Ariana Grande is starring in Wicked, but what other singers have made their way into the world of movie musicals? Keep watching to see who else made it big in their roles! Tetris Kelly: Ariana isn’t the only singer to star in a movie musical. Here are four other singers that crossed over into the […]