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ESPN unveiled a new leadership team Monday as part of a restructuring of the network’s content division.

The new structure, which is designed to “improve collaboration, centralize functions, create better alignment and redeploy resources to areas of growth,” has taken input from nearly 75 company leaders at all levels, as well as organizational experts, since May.

Mike McQuade, a 37-year veteran of the network, was promoted to executive vice president of sports production, where he will be tasked with overseeing the network’s sports-specific production and studio shows. McQuade will relocate to ESPN HQ in Bristol, Connecticut.

David Roberts will transition to overseeing the sports, news and entertainment team, which will include non-sport specific studio shows like “SportsCenter,” “First Take,” “Get Up,” “The Pat McAfee Show,” “Ath” and “Pti.”

Kaitee Daley will lead a newly formed digital, social and streaming content team as the company streamlines the three teams and...

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including events for The Bikeriders, Kinds of Kindness and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.

The Bikeriders premiere

Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Mike Faist and Norman Reedus joined writer-director Jeff Nichols at the L.A. premiere of their Focus Features film on Monday. Jason Momoa also showed his support at the premiere, rolling up on his own motorcycle with daughter Lola.

Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Jeff Nichols and Norman Reedus Lola Iolani Momoa and Jason Momoa

I Am: Celine Dion special screening

Celine Dion made a rare red carpet appearance at the NYC premiere of her new Prime Video documentary on Monday, joining director Irene Taylor.

Director Irene Taylor and Celine Dion

Carol Burnett’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony

Carol Burnett had her hands and feet immortalized in cement in front...

The Tony Awards are about to broadcast the last award of the night (Best Musical, given to The Outsiders), but champagne is already flowing at the P.J. Clarke’s across from the Lincoln Center, where the ceremony is being held. The restaurant is hosting a party for Stereophonic, this season’s buzzy new play that follows a Seventies band (that is definitely not Fleetwood Mac) as they work on a new album while on the cusp of great fame as break-ups, hard partying, and power struggles threaten to end it all.

Tony Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday, April 30 by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry. While the nominations for the 77th annual Tony Awards were determined by approximately 60 theatre professionals, winners were decided by hundreds of members of the Broadway community.

A whopping 36 shows were eligible for consideration by the nominating committee. On the play side, there were 10 original works and five revivals in the running for nominations. Over on the musical side, 15 new tuners were in contention for bids as were six musical revivals. The cutoff date for eligibility was Thursday, April 25.

The Tony Awards are set for June 16 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and will be hosted for the third year in a row by Oscar winner Ariana DeBose. The earlier “Tony Awards: Act One” ceremony will be hosted by Julianne Hough and Utkarsh Ambudkar; Skylar Astin will host...

“I think ‘Stereophonic’ has taken off in a really once-in-a-lifetime way within the theatre community,” shares Sam Eckmann about the show he believes is the frontrunner for Best Play at the 2024 Tony Awards. He and I recently reconvened to discuss all 11 of the play categories ahead of the 77th annual ceremony on Sunday, June 16, and we didn’t need much time to debate the top category with David Adjmi’s “Stereophonic” so far out front to prevail. Watch our full Tony Awards predictions slugfest above.

We are feeling similarly confident about Branden Jacobs-Jenkins‘ “Appropriate” taking home the trophy for Best Play Revival. Sam points out that since this play has never been on Broadway before – it is considered a revival under the Tony Awards “classics” rule – the playwright will be on the ballot and eligible to win, which will help push the show over the finish line because “he’s a really admired writer.

Stereophonic, the David Adjmi play about a 1970s rock band that prominently features the fictional band’s songs, will perform a musical number at the Tony Awards this Sunday after all.

The earlier exclusion of the play from the musical number line-up was publicly questioned by the playwright and widely condemned on social media among fans of the Best Play nominee.

Traditionally, the musical numbers performed on the Tony broadcast are largely drawn from the Best Musical and Best Musical Revival nominees, which this year include Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Hell’s Kitchen, Illinoise, Merrily We Roll Along, Suffs, The Outsiders, The Who’s Tommy and Water for Elephants.

But this is no traditional year. Among the 13 nominations earned by the Best Play nominee Stereophonic are two top music-related categories: Best Score (music and lyrics by Will Butler) and Best Orchestrations (Will Butler and Justin Craig).

When Tony...

The 2024 Tony Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday, May 2 by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry. The reveal of the roster of contenders was carried on the Tonys YouTube channel. While the nominations for the 77th annual Tony Awards were determined by a few dozen theater professionals, winners will be decided by upwards of 800 members of the Broadway community.

Three dozen shows were eligible for consideration by the nominating committee. On the play side, there are 10 original works and five revivals in the running. Over on the musical side, 15 new tuners were in contention as were six musical revivals. The cutoff date for eligibility was April 27.

The Tony Awards are set for June 16 at Lincoln Center and will be hosted for the third year in a row by Oscar winner Ariana DeBose.

The 2024 Tony Awards nominations list below includes all 26 competitive categories.

Musicals

Best Musical

Hell’s Kitchen

Illinoise...

The Tony Awards Administration Committee met for the fourth and final time during the 2023-2024 Broadway season on April 26, to discuss eligibility of 12 productions for the 77th Annual Tony Awards in 2024.

The productions discussed were: “The Wiz,” “Suffs,” “Stereophonic,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Cabaret,” “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” “Patriots,” “Mary Jane,” “Uncle Vanya,” “Illinoise,” “Mother Play,” and “The Great Gatsby.”

The most impactful decision of this announcement is the determination that both Steve Carell and William Jackson Harper will be eligible for Lead Actor in a Play for the Lincoln Center Theatre revival of “Uncle Vanya.” Most prognosticators assumed that Harper would contend in the Featured Actor race. This category switch means that Lead Actor in a Play will have a guaranteed five nominees. Conversely, Anika Noni Rose was not bumped up to the Lead Actress in a Play category, so that race will contain just four guaranteed nominees...

“He is in a lot of ways an Everyman, but he’s an unlikely one, and that’s how I see myself, too,” shares Eli Gelb about his character Grover in the new Broadway play “Stereophonic” by David Adjmi. The drama unfolds in a recording studio in the 1970s and the actor plays the sound engineer who has to help a band on the cusp of superstardom record their next album. The actor thinks that each of the seven characters in the play are “complex,” and of his in particular, he explains, “For as loveable as Grover is, he also isn’t perfect. It’s the 1970s, he’s a straight man, he’s pretty misogynistic when you meet him, and I think that’s important to acknowledge,” though he does prove to have “a good heart.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

“Stereophonic” is a unique theatrical piece because...

Stereophonic, the critically lauded play by David Adjmi that struck a chord with Off Broadway audiences last year with its very Fleetwood Mac-esque tale of music-making and ’70s-style excess, will move to Broadway this spring.

The Broadway staging, with the Off Broadway cast intact, will begin performances at Broadway’s Golden Theatre on Wednesday, April 3, with an official opening night on Friday, April 19. The limited run will play for 14 weeks only.

The play-with-music had its premiere engagement at Off Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons. Directed by Daniel Aukin, Stereophonic, which features original songs by Academy Award nominee and Grammy Award winner Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire, Stereophonic stars Will Brill as Reg, Andrew R. Butler as Charlie, Juliana Canfield as Holly, Eli Gelb as Grover, Tom Pecinka as Peter, Sarah Pidgeon as Diana, and Chris Stack as Simon.

Producing are Sue Wagner, John Johnson, Seaview, Sonia Friedman Productions, Linden Productions,...

Jonathan Lee is a designer whose work has appeared in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, but his latest job is perhaps his most iconic yet – production designer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

In particular, Lee was responsible for designing much of the interior for the latest iteration of the world’s most famous starship. We had a chat with him to learn the secrets of this version of the USS Enterprise Ncc-1701

Here’s what we learned.

The Tos Enterprise Got a Lot Right First Time

Jonathan and his team were not the first to redesign the Enterprise for the 2020s. A large part of why Strange New Worlds was commissioned was the warm fan reception to a guest appearance by Pike & Co in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, but even that appearance left a lot of room for the...

Berkeley Rep’s world premiere of Swept Away, a stage production featuring the music of The Avett Brothers, written by Moulin Rouge!‘s John Logan and reteaming Spring Awakening director Michael Mayer and star John Gallagher Jr, has been postponed for a year to summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With its high-profile creative team and cast (Kinky Boots‘ Stark Sands will co-star), the new musical’s development has already drawn considerable New York attention. Gallagher himself released a video today announcing the postponement and the reasoning behind it. (Watch it below.)

“This week I was set to begin rehearsals for a brand new musical, Swept Away, with a tremendous book by the great John Logan and featuring the beautiful music of one of my favorite bands The Avett Brothers,” Gallagher says from his Brooklyn home, “and it is with a very heavy heart indeed that I announce to you...

Tony-winner and Grammy nominee Lena Hall returns to Cafe Carlyle with Oh You Pretty Things, running through June 25. The all-new show acts as a love letter to Lena's rock amp roll spirit guides, the pantheon of misfits and rebels who inspired us to transcend by transforming themselves. This intimate journey through Lena's personal love life will reveal how pivotal these artists have been in helping her navigate her relationships, shining like beacons and helping her shape her voice and her identity, again and again. At Cafe Carlyle, Lena Hall will be joined by a band including Justin Craig, Watt White and Brian Fishler. Oh You Pretty Things is directed by Stephen Amato.

Oscar nominees, watch out - there's a new crop of talented filmmakers that may soon be gunning for their very own statuettes. This year, six young filmmakers were chosen to become members of Team Oscar after submitting 60-second films based on the subject "The best piece of advice I've ever received." The winners - Chris Carmona, Justin Craig, Kelly FitzGerald, Justin Floyd, Rhianna Shaheen and Patrick Walker - will deliver Oscar statuettes to celebrity presenters at the Oscars on Sunday. People caught up with some of the up-and-coming filmmakers to find out what the opportunity meant to them, their advice for other aspiring filmmakers,...

Complete list of winners and nominees of the 2014 Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles at the Staples Center on Sunday February 8. Winners will be updated as they're announced during the telecast and pre-telecast. Record Of The Year “Fancy,” Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli Xcx “Chandelier,” Sia **Winner** “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version),” Sam Smith “Shake It Off,” Taylor Swift “All About That Bass,” Meghan Trainor Album Of The Year **Winner** “Morning Phase,” Beck “Beyoncé,” Beyoncé “X,” Ed Sheeran “In The Lonely Hour,” Sam Smith “Girl,” Pharrell Williams Song Of The Year “All About That Bass,” Kevin Kadish & Meghan Trainor, songwriters (Meghan Trainor) “Chandelier,” Sia Furler & Jesse Shatkin, songwriters (Sia) “Shake It Off,” Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift) **Winner** “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version),” James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith, songwriters (Sam Smith) “Take Me To Church,” Andrew Hozier-Byrne, songwriter (Hozier) Best New Artist Iggy Azalea Bastille Brandy Clark...

Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

In today’s Academy News:

Musical artists Common and John Legend will perform their Oscar-nominated song “Glory” at the 87th Oscars, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today.

“Common and John Legend are artists who have always lifted our spirits and made us think,” said Zadan and Meron. “The Oscar stage is that much more profound because of their presence and we welcome them.”

“Glory,” written by John Stephens (a.k.a. John Legend) and Lonnie Lynn (a.k.a. Common) for the film “Selma,” is nominated for Original Song. The four other nominated songs are “Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie,” “Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights,” “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me” and “Lost Stars” from “Begin Again.”

Common won a Grammy in 2002 for Best R&B Song for “Love...

Atlantic Records will release the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the most nominated musical revival of the season, featuring Tony Award nominees Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall. The album is produced by Hedwig composer Stephen Trask, Tony Award nominated sound designer and platinum-selling record producer Tim O'Heir, and the production's music director Justin Craig. The album is executive produced by Elie Landau and David Binder.

Atlantic Records will release the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the most nominated musical revival of the season, featuring Tony Award nominees Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall. The album is produced by Hedwig composer Stephen Trask, Tony Award nominated sound designer and platinum-selling record producer Tim O'Heir, and the production's music director Justin Craig. The album is executive produced by Elie Landau and David Binder.

Ready to rock out to some midnight radio?

The Tony-nominated, Neil Patrick Harris-led Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch — which centers around “internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig Robinson and her tale of life, loves, and a botched operation — will release a cast album July 1 digitally and July 15 in stores.

“Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me in the last three months knows how excited I am by the new versions of these songs,” Hedwig composer and album producer Stephen Trask said in a release. “The talents of Neil and Lena and this amazing f—ing...

Put on some makeup, turn up the eight-track, and pull the wig down from the shelf, because cult musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch is coming to Broadway for the very first time. But does a swanky new setting mean this version of the show will be kinder, gentler, and altogether less gritty?

In a word: nein. ”I don’t want the Broadway version of Hedwig to be all jazz hands,” says star Neil Patrick Harris, who plays the musical’s titular gender-bending rocker. “It needs to be rough around the edges at all times.”

That said, Harris and his cohort — director Michael Mayer,...

We went back a couple of weeks for After Earth, and ultimately had a strange experience with it. Here’s one where you’ll really have to check out the show to get any feel for what we thought, but ultimately it just had so many things wrong with it that there was no handhold to grab.

Jaden Smith, we agreed, was simply awful. Passable in a few scenes, maybe, but overall the acting was downright off-putting. Even if you can put that aside, which is a tough job, the film has a slew of odd choices that it make it a difficult watch. The curiosities of technology alone are too many to count.

The decision we came to was that the movie just isn’t actually for adults. With a few tweaks this would be a fairly solid young adult feature, but given the fact that what we’re...

The New York Observer's film critic, Rex Reed, not only trashed the Jason Bateman-led "Identify Thief," but also attacked Melissa McCarthy on a personal level -- calling her "tractor-sized," "hippo" and "obese."

Directed by Seth Gordon, the movie is about Denver businessman Sandy Patterson (Bateman) who goes to Miami to find the person who stole his identity and wracked up tons of debt on his credit cards. He eventually finds Diana (McCarthy), a con artist with a penchant for excess, and the two embark on a wild adventure trying to escape criminals who are after Diana for her schemes.

The insulting review describes McCarthy as "cacophonous, tractor-sized" and dubs her a "female hippo."

"Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) is a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success," writes Reed. "Poor Jason Bateman. How did an actor so charming, talented, attractive and versatile...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Oct. 23, 2012

Price: DVD $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.99, Blu-ray 3D Combo $49.99

Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

A secret life of the 16th U.S. President is shown in the fantasy movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Starring Benjamin Walker (Flags of Our Fathers) as Honest Abe, the film is based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, who also wrote the screenplay. The movie tells the story of how, before he was President, Lincoln discovered that vampires were planning to take over the United States and he made it his mission to eliminate them.

Dominic Cooper (The Devil’s Double), Anthony Mackie (Real Steel), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Rufus Sewell (The Tourist) also star in the film.

Produced by Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland), the movie was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who brought us the 2008 visually interesting action film Wanted.

But despite having...