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My dear, my dear! Director Jon M. Chu shared the news Thursday (Dec. 8) that Michelle Yeoh has been cast in the big-screen adaptation of Wicked as Madame Morrible.
“It took one tweet to convince the ICON (and dear friend) #MichelleYeoh to play our Madame Morrible in #WickedMovie,” the filmmaker tweeted along with an article by The Hollywood Reporter confirming the casting. (Variety was first to report the news.) “Am I the luckiest director in the world to get to work with her again?! Spoiler alert: yes I am. Welcome to Shiz.”
In the Broadway version of the beloved Wizard of Oz prequel, Yeoh’s character serves as the headmistress of Shiz and promises to introduce Elphaba to the famous Wizard himself, leading into fan-favorite number “The Wizard and I.”
As filming begins on the silver-screen musical — which is being split into two movies — Tony-nominated actor Ethan Slater was announced as Boq, joining Ariana Grande as Glinda, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Bridgerton heartthrob Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero. According to THR, Jeff Goldblum will also be playing the Wizard.
Grande celebrated Yeoh’s casting in her Instagram Stories, reposting Chu’s announcement along with dozens of exclamation points.
Idina Menzel, who originated the role of Elphaba on the Great White Way, revealed the advice she gave to Erivo and Grande via a November appearance on E! News. “Just always keeping in mind that what’s underneath it all is just a woman that wants to be loved,” she said. “Think of all the other little young women or men that are or anybody that are watching them to see what it’s like to be different but be beautiful and to own that.”
See Chu’s tweet welcoming Yeoh to Shiz below.
The audience at Sunday night’s (Dec. 4) Broadway opening of A Beautiful Noise: the Neil Diamond Musical showed up to hear their favorite hits from the legendary 81-year-old singer. But they went home with much more. According to CNN, Diamond surprised theatergoers when he popped up in the balcony during the curtain call to help lead the audience in a singalong of his beloved 1969 hit “Sweet Caroline.”
The singer, who retired from touring in 2018 after receiving a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, sang the song’s opening lines before encouraging the packed house at the Broadhurst Theatre to join in on the iconic chorus as the house band played along. The pop-in at the jukebox musical that pays homage to his long, hit-filled musical career was New Yorker Diamond’s first appearance in his hometown since 2017 and one of the few times he’s appeared in public since his diagnosis.
According to People, before the surprise, Diamond walked the red carpet with his wife, Katie McNeil, and received a standing ovation from the audience upon entering the theater. While Diamond has kept a low profile since 2018, he did show up for a rare public appearance during a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park in June to sing “Caroline.”
Diamond stepped out during the 8th inning of the Red Sox’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals to deliver a rousing rendition of his 1969 hit; the singer had last performed at Fenway Park in 2013, just days after the Boston Marathon bombing. “Sweet Caroline” has been an 8th inning tradition at the ballpark since 1997. Standing alongside Diamond at Fenway was Broadway veteran Will Swenson, who plays the lead role in A Beautiful Noise.
Check out footage of the impromptu “Caroline” singalong below.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but Neil Diamond, who retired from performing five years ago because of Parkinsons, just had a Broadway show of him open and it at the opening night he did this pic.twitter.com/eJ02YUAzr5— Ben Phillips (@benphillips76) December 6, 2022
KPOP, which broke ground on Broadway for its casting and representation of Korean culture, is closing just a few weeks after opening at the Circle in the Square.
The musical, which originally premiered off-Broadway in 2017, will end its run on Dec. 11, the producers announced Tuesday (Dec. 6). Written by Jason Kim and directed by Teddy Bergman with music and lyrics by Helen Park and Max Vernon and choreography by Jennifer Weber, KPOP‘s closure follows 44 previews and 17 regular performances.
The final performance will feature a panel discussion celebrating and reflecting on AAPI representation on Broadway. Those panelists include David Henry Hwang, the first Asian American playwright to win a Tony; KPOP‘s Park the first Asian female composer in Broadway history; Korean playwright Hansol Jung; and actor Pun Bandhu. In support of that final performance, 200 complimentary tickets are being offered to AAPI community members and youth.
The show, which announced last week that a Broadway cast recording would release on Feb. 24, stars Luna, Julia Abueva, BoHyung, Major Curda, Jinwoo Jung, Jiho Kang, Amy Keum, James Kho, Marina Kondo, Eddy Lee, Joshua Lee, Jully Lee, Lina Rose Lee, Timothy H. Lee, Abraham Lim, Min, Kate Mina Lin, Aubie Merrylees, Patrick Park, Zachary Noah Piser, Kevin Woo and John Yi.
The story presents a behind-the-scenes look at various K-pop groups and a massive solo star who have come together to film for a special one-night-only concert. In the process, they find themselves unpacking both cultural and personal issues that threaten to dismantle one of the industry’s hottest labels and their sense of self as artists.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in early November, producer Joey Parnes acknowledged that the show had struggled to attract early audiences, saying that it has been challenging for producers to attract theatergoers to new or unknown work when some may still be nervous to return. “It’s not surprising that if they’re having to be discerning, they’re going to choose something that is more certain,” Parnes said.
Since it began previews in October, the new musical has often made less than $200,000 a week, ranking among the lowest-grossing in weekly industry tallies. Capacity has remained fairly healthy but alongside a low average weekly ticket price. The quick closing means KPOP will not be able to benefit from the traditional boost in ticket sales that comes around the holidays and for which many shows hold out for.
Beyond its box office, the musical’s presence on Broadway was historically significant, marking firsts in terms of its subject, its cast and creative team. As the first musical ever about Korean culture on Broadway, KPOP featured Korean representation in the creative team and onstage, including 18 Broadway debuts and only one non-Asian actor in the principal cast. It also featured lyrics for the songs and lines in Korean, with Park not only making history as a first for Asian women but joining just a handful of Asian composers to work on any Broadway show.
Earlier this week, producers Parnes and fellow producer Tim Forbes addressed these milestones while responding to a New York Times review of the show which both called an “insensitive and frankly offensive” take on the musical. In a lengthy Instagram statement addressing the critic Jesse Greene, along with the paper’s theater editor Nicole Herrington and chairman Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, the duo addressed a “cultural insensitivity, underlying ignorance of and distaste for K-pop” present in the review, which they cited with a number of examples as statements that come “across as casual racism.”
They wrote that from the headline to the review itself, specific word choices about the script, choreography, costuming, lighting design and score — coupled with the review’s decision to leave out both audience reaction to the show’s Korean language elements and a lack of discussion about the performers themselves — denied the production’s K-pop performance elements “very legitimacy as part of a Broadway musical” and offered an “implicit assertion of traditional white cultural supremacy.”
“The job of theater critics is to dissect, analyze and ultimately judge work,” the producers’ statement concluded. “We also contend that they have a responsibility to meet a show on its own terms and to be informed enough to know what that even means. Above all, in these troubled times, they have an obligation to do so with cultural sensitivity and absolutely without the casual racist tropes Mr. Green wittingly or not perpetuates.”
In a statement shared with Playbill on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Times noted that after the open letter, the publication “quickly convened a discussion among editors and members of our standards department.” It found that the publication was “in agreement that Jesse’s review was fair” and disagreed “with the argument that Jesse’s criticism is somehow racist.”
This story originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
Lea Michele swung by Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday night (Dec. 5) to chat about her role as Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl.
“It’s wild,” she told host Seth Meyers. “This show has been following me throughout the course of my life; I first watched the movie when I was in Spring Awakening on Broadway and then I did so much of it on Glee, and now I’m a mom and a wife and I’m doing it. And I really feel like this is the perfect time in my life to be doing this show.”
The Scream Queens alum also compared her experience on the Great White Way to her stint performing numbers from the show on Glee, calling it a “dream come true” to step into the role made famous by Barbra Streisand in front of a live audience for seven shows a week.
And speaking of Babs, Michele revealed she recently received the screen and stage legend’s belated blessing in typical grandiose fashion. “I got to work the other day and my dresser…had this, like, gold envelope,” she said. “It was, I don’t know, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, like getting invited.”
“And I just knew, and I was like, ‘Is it from Barbra?’” the actress continued. “And she said it was. And it was very sweet, she wrote me this beautiful letter. But one thing she said in it…She was like, ‘It’s really wonderful when your dreams come true, isn’t it?’ And I just, like, fell to my knees and I called Ryan Murphy, my mom, Jonathan Groff and Michael Mayer.”
Following her sit-down with the host, Michele made a costume change to perform “I’m the Greatest Star” backed by the Funny Girl orchestra.
Watch Michele’s interview and performance below.
It’s been several years since Lea Michele and Darren Criss were in the New Directions, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still sing classic Glee songs together. In an adorable TikTok posted to the Funny Girl star’s account Monday (Dec. 5), the former costars jammed out in the car to Journey‘s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
“Streetlights, people,” they sang from the back seat, big smiles on their faces as Criss nailed the high note.
“When you’re with your best friend and don’t stop believin’ randomly comes on the radio,” Michele captioned the nostalgic video.
Not so long ago, Michele and Criss starred together as New Directions teammates Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson, respectively, on Ryan Murphy’s hit Fox show Glee. “Don’t Stop Believing” was a song performed often by the show choir after first being included in the series’ pilot.
In fact, Rachel Berry sang the song during one of her final auditions for Funny Girl, a fictional season four plot point on Glee that became reality earlier this year when Michele was cast as Fanny Brice in Broadway’s ongoing revival of the musical. She took over for Beanie Feldstein after a series of high profile casting changes, including fellow Glee alum Jane Lynch’s earlier-than-expected departure from the show.
Another fiction-turned-reality moment came when Criss came to see Michele perform in Funny Girl in October, paralleling the show moment when Blaine watches Rachel play Fanny from the audience. “The amount of times this guy has heard me sing Don’t Rain On My Parade,” the Scream Queens actress said at the time. “I love you.”
Watch Lea Michele and Darren Criss’ adorable TikTok below:
Broadway actor Quentin Oliver Lee has died following a battle with stage 4 colon cancer. He was 34.
Lee’s wife, Angie Lee Graham, confirmed his death Thursday in an Instagram post, saying, “He had a smile on his face, and was surrounded by those he loves. It was peaceful, and perfect.”
Lee’s Broadway credits included the 2017 production of Prince of Broadway and the 2021 revival of Caroline, or Change. He played the title role in a national tour of The Phantom of the Opera, and earlier this year was part of an Off-Broadway production of Oratorio for Living Things that had a two-month run after opening in March.
The Phantom of the Opera posted a tribute to Lee on its Instagram account: “The Phantom family is saddened to hear of the passing of Quentin Oliver Lee. Quentin brilliantly lead our North American tour in 2018. Our hearts are with Quentin’s family and friends.”
In June, the performer shared in a Caring Bridge journal entry that he was diagnosed with colon cancer at the end of May. Lee said he had COVID-19 at the beginning of May, but after two weeks, his symptoms didn’t go away, which led him to see a doctor. After his cancer diagnosis, he continued to post updates about his health journey.
After his death, Lee Graham took to the journal to post the same message she shared to Instagram to announce his passing. It read, in part, “He was an incredible man, husband, father, son, brother, friend, singer, actor, and disciple of Christ with great faith in his Father in Heaven. To say ‘he will be dearly missed’ doesn’t reflect the scope of the people and communities he has created and touched.”
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
Cameron Crowe believes the spirit of a place lingers long after the moment has passed. That’s what makes recording the Broadway Almost Famous cast album at New York’s iconic Power Station studio so special for him.
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“It’s like going back to the roots of why I love music and what I love about records,” Crowe told The Associated Press during a break in the recording session.
Working in the control room alongside fellow producers Tom Kitt and Scott M. Riesett, Crowe called the process “utterly authentic” as they directed the cast, chorus and band in different studios across multiple levels.
“I have this thing where I believe that the spirits of a place, the spirit of what’s happened in a room stay. The house you lived in, you can go visit. You can feel what happened to you when you lived there,” Crowe said.
Some of the most prominent rock and pop albums were recorded at the legendary studio, including Bruce Springsteen’s The River, David Bowie’s Scary Monsters and Tattoo You by The Rolling Stones.
Standing against the soundboard, Crowe wears that pride on his brow as he tells the latest version of his story through the music. More than another project, Almost Famous was a deeply personal coming-of-age-story for Crowe when he wrote and directed the 2000 film, loosely based on his experiences as a teenage music journalist.
“It was the movie we got to make because Jerry Maguire did really well. And so, the fact that that becomes what we get to take to Broadway just means the power of music.”
That power increased with the addition of original songs, allowing Crowe — with a huge heaping of help from composer Kitt — to transform the stage version into something more than his cinematic love letter to rock ‘n’ roll. Those songs allowed Crowe to tell a more personal story.
“I thought, if we are going to do something for the theater, for the stage, maybe it’s this personal story that’s filled with music that could make people feel that kind of elixir of the movie. And that was always our goal,” Crowe said.
Before the interview, Crowe sat beside Kitt for one more pass at “Something Real,” one of the songs written for the stage version that includes homage to Deep Purple’s “Highway Star.”
Next on the agenda was a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On.” Interestingly enough, the time-honored track blended well with the new songs in a morphing of classic rock and show tunes. Crowe credits Kitt with finding that “sweet spot” between the two genres.
“Tom understands what the songs of the day felt like,” he said. “He’ll write a song that feels like it could have been on Madman Across the Water,” the Elton John album.
But the admiration goes both ways. During another recording break, Kitt attributes Crowe with familiarizing him with music of the era.
“Cameron is someone who is just a walking encyclopedia when it comes to music,” Kitt said. “So, I was looking forward just learning from him and hearing new songs and new tonalities that were going to inform the work,” Kitt said.
Released by Sony Masterworks Broadway, the cast recording of Almost Famous will be available for digital purchase and streaming along with physical releases on CD and vinyl March 17. Of course, for now fans can always catch the show at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre on Broadway.
Britney Spears’ biggest hits are getting a fairy-tale makeover with the arrival of Once Upon a One More Time on Broadway.
Produced by Tony winners James L. Nederlander and Hunter Arnold, the musical comedy will open at the Marquis Theatre on June 23 following previews, which begin May 13. Directed and choreographed by Keone and Mari Madrid (Beyond Babel, Karate Kid), the show combines classic storybook characters — think Cinderella, Snow White, Little Mermaid and more — with hits from Spears’ extensive, award-winning music catalog.
The show is billed as being inspired by music performed and recorded by Spears, who is otherwise not known to be involved. According to a rep for the production, all of the musical compositions in the show are licensed through their publishers with the approval of the songwriters. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to a lawyer for Spears for comment.
Described as a revisionist fairy tale, Once Upon a One More Time is a “musical adventure about claiming your own happily ever after,” according to the production. Singles like “Oops I Did It Again,” “Lucky,” “Circus” and “Toxic” serve as the soundtrack to a fairy-tale book club upended by a rogue fairy godmother, who decides to drop The Feminine Mystique into the laps of women who have known little else outside of “bird-made dresses and true love’s kiss.”
With an original story written by Jon Hartmere (Bare, The Upside), the production’s creative team includes David Leveaux (Nine, Romeo and Juliet) as a creative consultant, scenic designer Anna Fleischle (Hangmen, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), costume and hair designer Loren Elstein (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), lighting designer Kenneth Posner (Wicked, Beetlejuice), sound designer Andrew Keister (KPOP, On Your Feet!) and projection designer Sven Ortel (Newsies).
The show was originally slated for a pre-Broadway run in Chicago in 2019 at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, but delayed its opening to spring 2020. In March, the pandemic shut down theaters across the country, with producers deciding to cancel the show’s Chicago engagement.
Once Upon a One More Time would make its world premiere in December 2021 at Washington D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, where it eventually extended its limited engagement from Jan. 3 to 9 due to demand.
Spears, who is not credited as part of the creative or producer team, was present for an early reading in 2019, according to The Washington Post. Ahead of the musical’s abandoned Chicago run, during which Spears was still in her now-ended 13-year conservatorship, Playbill reported that the pop icon called the production “a dream come true for me.”
“I’m so excited to have a musical with my songs — especially one that takes place in such a magical world filled with characters that I grew up on, who I love and adore,” she continued in a statement at the time.
Before the musical’s D.C. run in 2021, Hartmere said he was “given access to all of Spears’ songs,” according to an interview with the Post. “The only thing I was told was that she loves fairies,” he said of Spears. “And I was like, ‘That’s it, that’s what we’ve got to go on.’”
“I knew the songs that everybody else knew,” he added. “I didn’t know the deep cuts. She literally has a song [called] ‘Cinderella.’ I was like, ‘All right, I have to do this.’”
The news comes on the pop icon’s 41st birthday.
This story was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
KPOP only just held its opening night on Broadway earlier this week, but the brand-new musical is ready to unveil the exciting details of its official cast recording.
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Next year, listeners worldwide will be able to bring the musical into their daily lives with the release of the KPOP – Original Broadway Cast Recording album via Sony Masterworks Broadway. After being in development since premiering Off-Broadway in 2017, KPOP finally made its Broadway debut this month at the Circle in the Square Theatre shining the spotlight on Korean culture and Korean, Korean-American, and overall AAPI representation on and off the stage.
The KPOP show also features K-pop stars including Luna (of girl group f(x) in the lead role as singer MwE), Kevin Woo (from U-KISS playing the leader of KPOP boy band F8), Min (from miss A who plays Riya in girl group RTMIS) and BoHyung (a member of SPICA and the vocal duo KEEMBO who plays Tiny D in RTMIS).
While the show features music, lyrics, production and arrangements by Helen Park, as well as music and lyrics by Max Vernon, the cast recording album will feature production by Harvey Mason Jr.
On his own and as one-half of the production duo The Underdogs, Harvey Mason Jr. has been close to the K-pop scene for years. The current CEO of the Recording Academy has produced hit K-pop singles like Girls’ Generation‘s “Mr.Mr.,” EXO‘s “Overdose,” BoA‘s “CAMO” and NCT 127‘s “Limitless.”
“I am such a fan of this music and this musical,” Mason Jr. says in a press release statement. “Having worked in the K-pop music space for over a decade, finally experiencing the music live on a Broadway stage has been so exciting. With the popularity and impact of this music, it’s the perfect time for the KPOP show and the cast album.”
With the mix of celebs living the real K-pop experience alongside seasoned and fresh Broadway talent, KPOP has stood out for its genuine attempt to approach the pressure, sacrifices and joy within the industry putting South Korea on the global-music map. Directed by Teddy Bergman, KPOP also features a book written by Jason Kim (who’s written on Girls), choreographer Jennifer Weber (The Hip Hop Nutcracker and & Juliet) and associate choreographer MJ Choi (founder and director of I Love Dance studio).
The KPOP – Original Broadway Cast Recording will drop on Feb. 24, 2023, via Sony Masterworks Broadway and is available for pre-order now.
KPOP‘s full cast recently performed the number “This Is My Korea” live on Good Morning America and released the song digitally ahead of KPOP’s official opening:
Hillary Clinton took to social media on Tuesday (Nov. 22) to give Lea Michele and the cast of Broadway’s Funny Girl her personal stamp of approval.
“Had the best time seeing @leamichele and company in @funnygirlbway this weekend. Don’t miss the show!” the politician wrote on Instagram beneath a photo of herself posing with the Glee alum, who plays Fanny Brice. In the snap, Michele wears a simple gray cardigan while the former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate grins beside her wearing a nameplate necklace emblazoned with the name of her eight-year-old granddaughter, Charlotte.
Clinton’s visit to the August Wilson Theatre comes just one week after Michele and her cast mates unveiled the new Broadway cast recording from the revival, featuring studio versions of classics like “I’m the Greatest Star,” “Sadie, Sadie,” “People” and, of course, “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
And while Funny Girl‘s leading lady has gotten plenty of famous visitors backstage lately, including Olivia Rodrigo, her Glee cast mates have generally been split about whether they’ll see the show.
On the one hand, Darren Criss, Becca Tobin and Michele’s bestie Jonathan Groff have all stopped by for a backstage visit. On the other, Tony winner Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale and Chris Colfer have all either politely dodged the question or made it clear they won’t be in the audience. (“I can be triggered at home,” quipped the latter when questioned by Michelle Collins about seeing the show.)
Check out Clinton’s post-show shout-out to Michele and the cast of Funny Girl here.