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To celebrate the opening night of previews for the original Broadway musical & Juliet on Friday (Oct. 28), the complete cast recording is now available on streaming services. The album features a brand new version of Kelly Clarkson‘s 2004 hit “Since U Been Gone” performed by the show’s star Lorna Courtney along with Clarkson herself.
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& Juliet is set to open at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York City on November 17 and features songs by the legendary and Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Max Martin. In addition to “Since U Been Gone,” the track listing also features pop anthems like Katy Perry’s “Roar,” Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time,” Backstreet Boys’ “Larger Than Life,” Celine Dion’s “That’s The Way It Is,” Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and many more.
The show reimagines the classic Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet, picturing what life would have been like for Juliet had she not ended it for Romeo. Tickets for & Juliet start at $79 and are available through andjulietbroadway.com.
Upon its release, Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” peaked at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. The singer said of her Breakaway hit in a 2020 interview, “I love what the song does for people, I love that it was very different in demo form sent to me. Behind the scenes, it was not so fun to record because of situations I won’t talk about, because I won’t sell people out.”
“But I will say, my favorite memory, if I’m being more positive about it, was the fact that I got to show up to a video shoot and completely trash an apartment, and that was my job,” she continued. “That video was possibly one of my favorite videos ever to make, because literally I just got to just have rage, and just break stuff all day long.”
Listen to Courtney and Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” below.
Lucy Simon, the composer who received a Tony nomination in 1991 for her work on the long-running Broadway musical The Secret Garden, has died. She was 82.
Simon, sister of pop superstar Carly Simon, died Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York, a family spokesperson said. Simon had breast cancer.
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The Secret Garden, with a book by Marsha Norman, opened in New York in 1991. Reviews were mixed, but it won a Tony for best book of a musical and went on to play for almost two years. A slightly revised version opened in London’s West End, and a pared-down-from-Broadway version went on tour.
The musical — adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s novel — focuses on Mary, a young English girl forced to move to England from colonial India when her parents die of cholera. She moves in with her Uncle Archibald, a hunchback who is mourning his late wife, Lily, and blaming his bedridden son for her death.
While living in her uncle’s home, Mary discovers a hidden and neglected garden that once belonged to Lily, and she and a young gardener bring it back to life. At the same time, she brings new life to her uncle and cousin. The songs include “The Girl I Mean to Be” and “How Could I Ever Know.”
Steven Pasquale and Sierra Boggess were among the Broadway stars mourning Simon’s passing. “Her music is her gift to the world. In one of her last messages to me she said ‘I was going to ask you to carry my voice onward’ and I sat and wept,” Boggess wrote on Instagram.
Simon was born in New York on May 5, 1940, to publishing giant Richard Simon and his wife, Andrea. She was the second oldest of four children Joanna, Lucy, Carly and Peter.
Carly and Lucy once performed as The Simon Sisters, opening for other acts in Greenwich Village folk clubs. Their recording of “Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod” hit No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.
While Carly Simon would find huge success with such hits as “Anticipation,” “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” and “You’re So Vain,” Lucy went to nursing school.
After marrying and having children, Lucy Simon recorded two solo albums, Lucy Simon (1975) and Stolen Time (1977), for RCA. Lucy and her husband, David Levine, produced two Grammy-winning children’s albums, In Harmony (1981) and In Harmony 2 (1983).
Her return to Broadway with Doctor Zhivago in 2015 was less successful. The tale of five intertwined lovers set during final days of czarist Russia lasted less than two months after blistering reviews.
She is survived by her husband; her children, Julie Simon and James Levine; and four grandchildren Sophie, Ben, Charlie and Evie.
RIP, Lucy Simon. So sad to hear this news.A great woman and writer.That Secret Garden score goes right in the pantheon.💔💔💔— steven pasquale (@StevePasquale) October 21, 2022
Lea Michele was filled with glee when she saw which young pop star was in the audience at Funny Girl Wednesday night (Oct. 12). Posting on Instagram, the 36-year-old actress revealed that Olivia Rodrigo had attended the night’s show, and had posed for a backstage photo with Michele, who’s starred as the titular role of Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival since taking over for Beanie Feldstein in September.
In the Thursday (Oct. 13) Instagram photo, the two stars cozy up next to each other, Michele’s hand on the “Drivers License” singer’s shoulder, and smile into the camera behind the stage curtain at New York City’s August Wilson theater. “This beautiful girl came to see @funnygirlbwy last night,” the Glee alum captioned the post.
“Loved seeing you @oliviarodrigo,” she added. “Absolutely adore you!”
“LOVE U!” Rodrigo replied in the comments. “U WERE INCREDIBLE!!!!”
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series actress isn’t the only famous friend to have stopped to see Funny Girl as of late — though she is probably the only one to have written a No. 3 hit single (“Deja Vu”) that specifically mentions Michele’s breakout TV show by name (“Watching reruns of Glee / Being annoying, singing in harmony”). One week ago, Michele’s former Glee costar Darren Criss came to see the show with his wife, Mia Swier, both of whom also posed for a photo backstage with the “Funny Girl” herself.
“The amount of times this guy has heard me sing Don’t Rain On My Parade,” Michele joked at the time, referencing in her caption the multitude of times her Glee character Rachel Berry performed the song Barbra Streisand made famous. “I love you.”
See Lea Michele’s photo with Olivia Rodrigo backstage at Funny Girl on Broadway below: