Notícias

“You Never Know” It was fate, the story goes, that brought together composer Tom Kitt and writer/lyricist Brian Yorkey in the spring of 1994.Kitt had been recruited for the Columbia soccer team and was studying economics, but felt himself being pulled, instead, in the direction of a musical career. One night, in search of a musician to assist with a crisis at Columbia’s famed “Varsity Show,” Kitt’s future wife, the actress Rita Pietropinto, knocked on his door for help. Kitt saved the day, and met Yorkey, a “Varsity Show” veteran, in the process. The rest was history. “Every day we make choices,” Kitt says. “Sometimes they’re just small choices and sometimes they’re bigger ones. But we often wonder about the power of those choices and whether our life would have turned out the way it did.” “If we look back to where we met, there...

Actor to produce and possibly take lead role in film based on biography of celebrated choreographer and director

Ryan Gosling may star in a biopic of Hollywood legend Busby Berkeley, the choreographer and director who created some of the most famous dance routines in the history of film.

Gosling has signed on to produce a proposed movie from Warner Bros, which has optioned Jeffrey Spivak's biography Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley. The studio plans to develop the project as a vehicle for the star of Drive and Blue Valentine.

Born in Los Angeles in 1895, Berkeley rose to fame in the 1930s with his work on dance routines for hit Warner Bros musicals 42nd Street, Footlight Parade and Gold Diggers of 1933 – all of which were released in 1933 – and the following year's Fashions of 1934. He was known for his use of kaleidoscope-style imagery incorporating showgirls and props to create elaborate fantasy motifs.

This week's featured composer is Benjamin Velez. Benjamin Velez is a composerlyricist and recent Columbia University graduate where he studied film and wrote the 114th Annual Varsity Show. He is a member of the Bmi Lehman Engel Musical Theater workshop where he was named the Jerry Harrington award winner for the 2nd year workshop. His work has been featured as part of Awol's 8 Minute Musicals at Nymf, The Platform concert series, and in last year's Neo concert. He is currently workshopping his original musical Afterland with collaborator Kathryn Hathaway, and recently premiered the title song at Joe's Pub as part of the latest Cec concert. While originally from Miami, he is now happy to call New York home sweet home.

David L. Wolper, the groundbreaking producer who made television history with the miniseries "Roots" as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics, died at his home in Beverly Hills on Tuesday of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 82.

Wolper won two Emmy Awards for 1977’s "Roots" and its 1979 "Roots: The Next Generations," the two miniseries based on Alex Haley’s novel about his African-American ancestors pioneered the docudrama genre. Broadcast in one-and-two hour segments over an eight-day period in early 1977, the first series won huge ratings, despite initial reservations that its focus on the history of African-Americans would not have wide appeal. It won a 44.9 Nielsen rating and garnered a 66% share of the national audience, becoming one of the most-watched programs in TV history.

Although he primarily turned out documentaries for TV and films, Wolper also produced several theatrical movies, including 1971's...