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Bernadette Peters has long been heralded as one of legendary composer Stephen Sondheim’s greatest interpreters. The actress originated roles in Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods and starred in revivals of Gypsy, A Little Night Music, and Follies. Now, three years after Sondheim’s death, Peters has returned to Broadway to pay tribute to her long-time collaborator and friend in the revue Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends. If she receives recognition from the Tony Awards for her efforts, she could make history in the Best Featured Actress in a Musical category.

Peters earned her first Tony nomination in 1972 in Featured Actress for On the Town, which was her sixth Broadway production. She has received six additional nominations for Mack & Mabel, Sunday in the Park With George, Song and Dance, The Goodbye Girl, Annie Get Your Gun, and Gypsy — winning for Song and Dance and Annie Get Your Gun...

The late Stanley Donen was born on April 13, 1924. The legendary filmmaker -- the last of the directors from Hollywood's golden age -- passed away on February 21, 2019, leaving behind a legacy of classic movies filled with color, song, and dance. Let's take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Donen got his start as a dancer. It was in the chorus line for George Abbott's production of "Pal Joey" that he met Gene Kelly. The two became quick friends, and Donen started working as Kelly's assistant, helping him choreograph his intensely acrobatic dance sequences.

The two turned to filmmaking with "On the Town" (1949), a lavish Technicolor musical about three sailors on a 24 hour shore leave in New York City. They teamed up again for perhaps the greatest movie musical of all time: "Singin' in the Rain" (1952). A satire of Hollywood's rocky transition from silent cinema to sound,...

There is something very nostalgic about some of those big old Hollywood war movies from the 1960s. They may appear to offer a simplistic Boys' Own view of World War II, but my granddad, who served in the Royal Air Force, couldn't get enough of films like "The Great Escape" and "Where Eagles Dare." Perhaps it is because such rousing crowd-pleasers reassured war heroes like him that they were the good guys and could take pride in their victory over the Axis Powers. Stars were queuing up to appear in these adventures, and even Ol' Blue Eyes got in on the action in "Von Ryan's Express," an underrated escape thriller that is a must-see for fans of Old Hollywood.

Apart from establishing himself as one of the most popular musical performers of the 20th Century, Frank Sinatra also had a long and varied acting career. The legendary crooner starred in...

With this year’s Tonys coming up on June 8, the American Theatre Wing will soon be announcing its Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. The honor has gone to veteran stage performers, directors, choreographers, playwrights, songwriters, producers, and designers. In some years we get multiple recipients. Last year it was directors Jack O'Brien and George C. Wolfe.

There are several female Broadway vets, over the age of 65, who are deserving. With the likes of Jane Greenwood, Rosemary Harris, and Graciela Daniele having already received the award, here are 10 possible women who could be next in line. Vote in our poll below to let us know who you’d like to see honored.

Sign UPfor Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Jane Alexander

Tony-winning actress for The Great White Hope (1969). Additional nominations for 6 Rms Riv Vu (1973), Find Your Way Home (1974), First Monday in October (1979), The Visit (1992), The Sisters Rosensweig (1993), Honour (1998), and...

Alice Hirson, who played a confidante of Barbara Bel Geddes’ Miss Ellie Ewing on Dallas and the mother of Ellen DeGeneres’ character on the comic’s groundbreaking ABC sitcom, has died. She was 95.

Hirson died Friday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her son David Hirson told The Hollywood Reporter. She had been there for about a year.

From 1969-93, Hirson appeared on such daytime soap operas as CBS’ The Edge of Night as Stephanie Martin; on NBC’s Another World and its spinoff, Somerset, as Marsha Davis; on ABC’s One Life to Live as Eileen Siegel; on ABC’s General Hospital as Mrs. Van Gelder; and on ABC’s Loving as Dr. Lisa Helman.

On the big screen, she played the wife of Colonel Thornbush (Robert Webber), head of the paratrooper unit known as the Thornbirds, in Private Benjamin...

Top Theatre Actors Jena Pandya and Ashley Day will play the iconic lovers Simran and Rog (Roger) in Come Fall in Love – The Ddlj Musical, the new musical comedy based on one of the biggest blockbuster films in the history of Indian cinema, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Ddlj).

Cultures collide, and West End meets Bollywood in this joyous, globe-trotting new rom-com starring Jena Pandya and Ashley Day, and adapted from India’s longest-running blockbuster movie –Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, also known as Ddlj. Ddlj is the longest-running title in Indian cinema, and it has been playing continuously in Mumbai since its release in 1995.

Meet Simran – a young British woman whose future is all set with an arranged marriage back in India – as she sets off around Europe for one last summer of freedom. But getting stranded with laid-back, party-loving Roger isn’t in the guidebook, and now the unlikely pair...

Two For The Road Image: 20th Century Fox “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were like that?” Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) asks the man eventually known as Brian Cruikshank (Cary Grant) as they walk along the Seine in Paris a bit more than halfway into the comic thriller Charade.

CharadeImage: Universal Pictures

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we were like that?” Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) asks the man eventually known as Brian Cruikshank (Cary Grant) as they walk along the Seine in Paris a bit more than halfway into the comic thriller Charade. Brian is confused, because they...

A true entertainer, Frank Sinatra did more than just sing throughout his career. In the early thirties, Sinatra was destined to become a movie star. Frank was a true performer. He could do anything from dry comedies to the rigid character studies of drama and crime films. Starting early in musicals, he slowly made his way to be a more prominent star. A legendary entertainer that all of us know even if we aren’t aware! Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy. ‘On the Town’ Frank began his acting...

It's well known to fans of "The Wizard of Oz" that actor Ray Bolger was originally cast to play the Tin Man and famed comedian Buddy Ebsen was cast as the Scarecrow. They swapped roles at Bolger's insistence, as Bolger had a personal attachment to the role; he was inspired to become an actor after seeing Vaudevillian Fred Stone play the part on stage when Bolger was a child. Ebsen was fine with changing roles, although he had to drop out of production due to makeup problems. The silvery Tin Man makeup contained powered aluminum and Ebsen breathed in big clouds of it, making him sick. At the time, many merely assumed Ebsen had an allergy. Ebsen was replaced with Jack Haley, and the makeup was altered to be a paste instead of a powder.

With the possible exception of "Star Wars," no film's production has been more meticulously recorded...

Stanley Donen was one of the most celebrated directors of Hollywood's Golden Age, particularly famous for his musicals. He started out as a dancer and choreographer before transitioning to directing in the late 1940s. Early hits included his collaborations with Gene Kelly, like On the Town, Singin' in the Rain, and It's Always Fair Weather. After significant box office success as a studio filmmaker, Donen went independent in the late '50s, producing further gems like Charade, Arabesque, and Bedazzled.

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Nathaniel Rogers and Cláudio Alves on Maestro...

Nathaniel: Being on the defensive about a movie you love is always confusing. The internet has been throwing darts at Bradley Cooper's compelling and curious Maestro for months now and I will say that I'm glad to not be 'perpetually online' as I once was. For the most part I've been able to enjoy Maestro in piece. Until now in the "split decision" series. Haha. I first saw Maestro at the Paris Theater which is a famous old single-screen theater in Manhattan (the last of its kind here!) and located roughly in between Bernstein's two main NYC residences (The Dakota to the west and Park Avenue to the East). The theater was packed...

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Maestro opens with an extravagant shot that starts on a young Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) as he’s awakened with the news of his big break, filling in for the conductor of the New York Philharmonic. What thunderous score do we hear as L.B. rips open the curtains, grabs his robe, runs down the hall and, magically, steps into a balcony box inside Carnegie Hall?

A. “Symphonic Suite” from On the Waterfront

B. “Prologue” from West Side Story

C. “I Get Carried Away” from On the Town

D. “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

↓ Jump to Answer

2

Filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, who brought back Japan’s famous monster franchise with Godzilla Minus One, is the first director to be nominated for a visual effects award.

A. True

B. False

↓ Jump to Answer

3

We may never know if Sandra Hüller’s character in Anatomy of a Fall killed...

Clockwise from top left: Priceless (Screengrab); 2 Days In Paris (Screengrab); Jeffrey (Screengrab); Something’s Gotta Give (Screengrab); The Big Sick (Amazon/Lionsgate); My Man Godfrey (Screengrab)

Lovers of romantic comedies have an array of options on Amazon Prime Video—particularly when it comes to oldies but goodies. Cary Grant classics abound,...

Maestro has been the source of numerous controversies since the film went into production, and director and star Bradley Cooper has found himself at the center of many of them. From his divisive decision to wear a prosthetic nose to his revelation that he doesn’t allow chairs on set because they cause “energy dips,” Cooper has not always endeared himself to social media during what some see as an increasingly desperate campaign to win an Oscar.

We won’t know Cooper and Maestro’s final Oscar fate until the 96th Academy Awards air on March 10, but Maestro’s award season has been dismal so far. Despite numerous nominations, the passion project has yet to secure the kinds of big award show wins that usually foretell Oscar success. It’s shaping up to be another entry into Cooper’s “award show bridesmaid” career, which is ironically tragic when you consider...

Jerome Robbins is alive and well and living in choreographer Justin Peck.

Two years after Peck crafted choreography based on Robbins’ iconic original for “West Side Story,” the Tony Award winner returns to Robbins’ work with an unforgettable sequence in Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro.”

Bernstein, the polymath who was equally at home writing Broadway musicals as he was conducting orchestras and teaching young conductors, was a seminal figure in musical theater, composing scores for now-classics including “On the Town,” “Wonderful Town,” and “West Side Story.” But, as Cooper’s film makes clear, with great talent comes great doubts. And Bernstein was torn between the razzle-dazzle of Broadway and the more “serious” music that his conducting and composing colleagues expected of him. That push-pull comes to thrilling life early in the film, when his soon-to-be-wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) yanks him from a luncheon where he’s being...

The list of actors who have jumped behind the camera to sit in the director’s chair is very long. One way to shorten it considerably would be to specify which of their debut-directed flicks were both a critical and commercial hit. Yes, Orson Welles’ Citizen Caine is lauded by film scholars but barely produced a ripple in that competitive “golden year” of 1941. Yes, it’s rare, but one actor really hit a “home run” in his first time “up to the plate” with a film that’s the third screen take on a beloved early sound classic, that packed the multiplex, made some top ten lists, and snagged some Oscar gold. Ah, but the actor was nominated for his performance, but nothing for his strong cinematic storytelling. Now five years later, he’s back directing himself, for his follow-up. And though this is a biopic rather than a romantic drama,...

The greatest film score of 2023 isn’t eligible for an Academy Award. That’s because Leonard Bernstein composed it between 1944 and 1977, multiple pieces that collectively form the musical backdrop of “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s film about the 20th century American composer-conductor.

The classical excerpts functioning as dramatic score include Bernstein’s ballets “Fancy Free” and “Facsimile,” parts of his Broadway scores for “West Side Story” and “Candide,” his opera “A Quiet Place,” music for the film “On the Waterfront,” portions of his second and third symphonies as well as his “Mass” and “Chichester Psalms.”

“I think of the score as the co-star of the film,” says the composer’s oldest daughter, Jamie Bernstein. “We knew that Bradley wanted to use our dad’s music in the score, but I don’t think, in the beginning, we even grasped how much of a presence it would wind up having in the film.

Exclusive: Tony Yazbeck is set for a key recurring role opposite Josh Andrés Rivera, Lindsay Mendez and Patrick Schwarzenegger in Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology American Sports Story, Deadline has learned.

American Sports Story, a new extension of Murphy’s “American Story” franchise, is a scripted anthological limited series focusing on a prominent event involving a sports figure and re-examines it through the prism of today’s world, telling that story from multiple perspective.

The first installment, written by Stu Zicherman, is based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc from the Boston Globe and Wondery. It charts the rise and fall of NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez, played by Rivera, and explores the connections of the disparate strands of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide, and their legacy in sports and American culture. Schwarzenegger portrays Hernandez’s friend, former college teammate and fellow former NFL star Tim Tebow.

Clockwise from top left: The Wicker Man (Warner Bros.), Vanilla Sky (Paramont), Oldboy (FilmDistrict), The Toy (Columbia)Image: AVClub

In Hollywood, it often seems that the sincerest form of flattery is to remake a foreign film. Domestic versions of international hits are a long-running thing in a town where familiarity assumes success,...

26 October 2023 — Directed, written, produced by, and starring Bradley Cooper in the title role, opposite Carey Mulligan, Maestro is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love. Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to be releasing the original soundtrack album for the movie, which has already garnered widespread critical acclaim. All the music in the film was chosen by Cooper, and the new recordings on the soundtrack were made by the London Symphony Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who also worked closely with the actor-director as conducting consultant before and throughout the film-making process.

The album will be released digitally on November 17, 2023, and on CD and vinyl on December 1. A taster track featuring an excerpt from the Finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, with soprano Rosa Feola,...

"Maestro" continues Bradley Cooper's rise as a director to watch, particularly one for music-centric stories, capturing both the auditory and visual spectacle of the stage with ease. While this is clearly a personal story Cooper was keen to tell — obsessively convincing Speilberg not only to give away the project but also sign on as a producer — the end result is a disappointingly tame tale of the first great American composer, a movie that plays like a traditional awards season biopic complete with a focus on a doomed marriage. While this ends up being the emotional core of the film, the story of Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre treads overly familiar grounds, and it doesn't help that Carey Mulligan is miscast in the role of a Latina actress.

There are moments of greatness, however, particularly when it comes to Cooper's visual eye. The story tells the rise of...

Larry Charles is no stranger to envelope-pushing comedy. As a writer on such subversive series as "Seinfeld" and "The Tick," as well as a director of shows like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and the Sacha Baron Cohen films "Borat" and "Brüno," he's well-versed in the art of provocation.

Perhaps that's why he was drawn to the material which became the first musical comedy to be produced and distributed by A24, a film which features the family-friendly title of "Dicks: The Musical." The movie is a cinematic adaptation of a Upright Citizens Brigade NY show from 2014 with the even more family-friendly title of "F—ing Identical Twins," written and performed by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp.

Under Charles' direction, "Dicks" translates the scrappy, raucous, underground theatre vibes of "F—ing Identical Twins" while adding a little bit of star power to Jackson and Sharp's lead performances; the likes of D'Arcy Carden,...

Last year's Everything Everywhere All at Once showed audiences a different side of A24. Heading into the film, we already knew about A24's reputation when it came to telling gut-wrenching stories about love, family, and trauma, and the precision with which they could inject levity in even the bleakest of stories without undermining themselves, so the emotional ride of a family coming together across the multiverse was, to an extent, expected. No, it was the fighting with double-ended dildos and butt plugs and the incorporation of kinks and fetishes that veritably opened our eyes to a raunchier side of the famed indie film studio.

"The Daniels walked, so we could run," joked Josh Sharp, co-writer and -star of Dicks: The Musical, in our Zoom interview ahead of the film's theatrical release. Of course, Dicks effectively sprints past Eeaao when it comes to boundary-pushing raunchiness and sex-forward themes. The film...

Leonard Bernstein is one of the most important and influential composers in history, and one of the first American conductors to be recognized internationally. In addition to that, Bernstein was also a conductor, a pianist, a music teacher, and an author. He composed the music for 1944's On The Town, 1950's Peter Pan, 1953's Wonderful Time, and 1957's West Side Story (together with Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins), among many other musicals and compositions. Bernstein won 16 Grammy Awards, seven Emmy Awards, and two Tony Awards, and received one of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1980 (an event in which he also served as the inaugural host in 1978).

Now Bradley Cooper is set to play the legendary composer in the upcoming biopic Maestro. Carey Mulligan stars alongside as Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montealegre. Cooper is also returned to the director's chair for the film, which will be his first directorial effort since the...

Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are being praised for their performances as Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre, respectively, in “Maestro,” despite a somewhat mixed reaction. The film made its debut Saturday at the Venice Film Festival to praise for its leads though the overall reaction has been more muted than anticipated.

Directed, co-written by and starring Cooper, the film tells the story of Bernstein and his relationship with his wife, as well as the acclaimed composer’s musical work. Co-written by Josh Singer, the drama also stars Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke and Sarah Silverman.

TheWrap’s Ben Croll said the film proves Cooper, who made his feature directorial debut with “A Star Is Born,” is no one-trick pony. “The filmmaker delights in oh-so-perfect match cuts, creates transitions that render the concept of off-stage obsolete and even stages a fantasy musical number as Lenny watches an early rehearsal for ‘On The Town,...

In “Maestro,” playing the legendary American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, Bradley Cooper has a light in his eye — a glow of merriment and mischief, of gleeful cosmopolitan desire. His Lenny is a prodigy, a prankster, a seducer, a monk of creative devotion and, through it all, a man of epic contradiction. In public, he tends toward the proper and stentorian; in private, he’s recklessly exuberant enough to give new — or maybe old — meaning to the word gay. He’s a layered soul, a quality that extends from his professional life, where he’s a reverent conductor of the classics and a jubilant composer of Broadway musicals (as well as a serious composer who longs to be thought of as classic), to his personal life, where he’s an ardent hedonist, unapologetically attracted to men, as well as a devoted husband and family man.

It turns out that the...

Easily clearing the sophomore slump and proving that 2018’s surprisingly vibrant “A Star is Born” was hardly a one-off, Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” bolsters the writer/director/producer/star’s Mo as a contemporary jack-of-all-trades with an Old Hollywood soul. Hell, even the Cooper-produced “Joker” pulled from a similar songbook, dusting off reliable American cinema standards and giving them a fresh new spin.

Viewed in that light, this prestige pic’s curious indifference to many of the artistic qualities and career triumphs that made Leonard Bernstein such a coveted biopic subject make a lot more sense. “Maestro” does not go behind the music – it’s here to put on a show.

And in Leonard Bernstein – the only composer/conductor/highbrow-celebrity to earn a shout-out in an R.E.M. song – Cooper sees a similar type. The film tells us right from the start, opening on an aged-Bernstein alone before his piano.

Hollywood has had a very spotty record in telling the complete truths of some of our great musical geniuses. 1946’s Night And Day, an attempted, but really fictionalized, biopic on the life of Cole Porter with Cary Grant, totally ignored his real life homosexuality as well as sham marriage. That is just one example. The latest in the genre, Maestro having its World Premiere tonight at the Venice Film Festival, does not attempt to be a biopic at all on the great Leonard Bernstein, but instead puts its key focus on the relationship and 25 year marriage of Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, a star in her own right on the Broadway stage. All of it is presented including bringing up their three children – Jamie, Alexander, Nina – as well as Bernstein’s own bisexuality and attraction to younger men, not a secret to his wife.

It is a...

Bradley Cooper has had a fascinating career, with comedic roles in some of the best and some of the biggest comedies of the past 20 years, as well as more dramatic roles. But it was really his move towards directing with "A Star Is Born" that showed Cooper had more to offer the film world, with a stunning debut that resulted in some of the catchiest songs of the past few years, a new karaoke staple, and arguably the best of the "A Star Is Born" remakes.

Now, for his next project, Cooper is aiming for the Oscar with a film that feels very much like an auteur flexing his unique vision — "Maestro." The upcoming film is about the late composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, and in order to tell the story, Cooper held a closed and controlled environment, while getting a very close look at Bernstein's life by shooting in the conductor's actual home.

All hail legendary song-and-dance man Gene Kelly. In the history of American film, there were unarguably two great male dancers — Fred Astaire and Kelly. Astaire’s style was romantic and sophisticated, with long lines and elegant movement. Kelly’s style was more athletic — a guy’s guy, if you will — with a scrappy style that set him apart from other dancers of his era.

Kelly appeared to be able to do it all. He could dance, sing, and act in his films, ultimately choreographing and directing them as well. In the course of his nearly four decades on film, he starred in such classics as “An American in Paris” and “Anchors Aweigh,” as well as starring and co-directing the great musicals “On the Town” and “Singin’ in the Rain.”

For his work, Kelly earned two Golden Globe nominations — one for Best Actor for 1951’s “An American in Paris” and a...

It's hard to believe it's been 70 years since Fred Zinneman's "From Here to Eternity" came out. Not that we were all there of course, but time has been really kind to the all-star, Best Picture-winning drama. Unlike many of the rah-rah war films emerging from America during and post-World War II, "From Here to Eternity" argues not that war is hell — since most of the movie takes place during peace time — but that men, even in the army, are subconsciously determined to make life hell whether there's a war on or not.

Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra star as soldiers stationed in Hawaii immediately prior to World War II, whose stubborn pride and barely contained insecurities lead directly to many avoidable tragedies. Clift plays Private Prewitt, a formerly promising boxer who refuses to box again after accidentally blinding a fellow soldier, and endures criminal abuse just because...

It was an emotional evening for Jennifer Grey after the 63-year-old Dirty Dancing star was given the honor of presenting her father, Joel Grey, with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Tony Awards.

Theater fans were shocked to see that the touching moment was not featured during the main broadcast of the annual Broadway awards show, but rather was shown in the live pre-show, which exclusively played on Pluto TV.

Jennifer began her tribute, joking, “Hi, friends of my dad. I’m Joel Grey’s daughter, my name is Jennifer.”

Jennifer Grey presents her father Joel Grey with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the #TonyAwards #Broadway #JoelGrey pic.twitter.com/sdN9NAI5tz

— Angela Bishop Oam (@AngelaBishop) June 12, 2023

The proud daughter called the moment an “amazing honor,” tearing up as she introduced her 91-year-old famous dad, who is a theater veteran.

Joel took to the stage to accept the honor,...

There are so many big sells for the 1955 musical It’s Always Fair Weather. Firstly, the golden pairing of Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen is the key factor. The musical maestros behind such great heavy hitters such as Singing in the Rain (1952) and On the Town (1949) return for another outing, promising an exquisite smorgasbord of dancing and colour.

The other interest in this musical is that it is an MGM musical. That means all the scintillating scenes of the spectrum on the screen. A nouvelle advancement here is It’s Always Fair Weather is shot in CinemaScope and, instead of Technicolor, it is filmed in brilliant Eastmancolor.

Plus, seeing the original 1955 print, as the filmmakers intended, thanks to the BFI Film on Film festival made It’s Always Fair Weather a must-see outing.

So, one heads into It’s Always Fair Weather with all this in mind and comes away with one name – Dolores Gray…...

Actors are known to transform themselves, emotionally and physically, to disappear into their roles, but these performers look unrecognizable in upcoming movies and TV shows. From the use of prosthetics to affix an entirely new face onto their own and growing beards, to wearing wigs and dying their hair, these actors aren't afraid to cash in on their trademark looks to commit to the story. In many ways, the process of turning into completely different people can be both challenging and liberating, particularly if an actor is known for their distinct and recognizable features.

Upcoming sci-fi epics like Dune: Part 2, HBO's Dceu origin story Penguin, and other genre movies and TV shows are appropriate — even expected — places to find actors undergoing a shocking metamorphosis to become their characters. However, there are a few projects set in the real world that also feature actors becoming characters startlingly removed from themselves...

Exclusive: Broadway casting director Benton Whitley announced today the creation of Whitley Theatrical, a New York City-based casting and producing office for theater, film, and television.

Whitley is the co-founder, with former business partner Duncan Stewart, of the Broadway casting agency Stewart/Whitley. As reported by Deadline yesterday, Stewart is joining Rws Entertainment Group to head up its new casting arm Arc; the Stewart/Whitley agency has been dissolved.

Joining Whitley in his new endeavor is Associate Casting Director Micah Johnson-Levy, with acquisitions and legal counsel from Jordan Manekin, and business management by Karen Morales at Armanino Llp.

In a statement, Whitley said, “Over the last few years, as much disruption and needed change has happened both in the world at large, and specifically, the theater industry, it became apparent that the critical conversations around casting happen at the very first stage of a show’s development, making it the ideal...

It only takes about five minutes of conversation with Chad Stahelski, the director of all four “John Wick” movies, to realize that he’s a passionate cinephile whose unique combination of influences is what gives the “Wick” franchise its distinct look. While Stahelski’s devotion to Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, and other action directors might be expected, it’s an entirely different genre that provides the most important — and perhaps most surprising — basis for his work. “Everybody laughs when I say it, but I love musicals,” Stahelski told IndieWire. “Bob Fosse is a huge inspiration. Gene Kelly in ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ We didn’t reinvent action or anything with ‘John Wick’ — we just spent all our money and time preparing Keanu to be our Gene Kelly.”

Read More: Why ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Earns Its Almost 3-Hour Running Time

All of the “John Wick” movies use Stahelski favorites like...

Smash is finally heading to Broadway.

In an announcement long awaited by fans of the 2012 NBC series, a stage musical adaptation is planned to arrive on Broadway during the 2024-25 season, with a lead producing team of Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Steven Spielberg. A top flight creative team is attached, including director Susan Stroman, composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, book writers Rick Elice and Bob Martin, and the TV series’ choreographer Joshua Bergasse.

Spielberg, whose original idea led to the NBC series, said in a statement, “Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage. We now have an incredible creative team, and I’m looking forward to completing the Smash journey which began with my producing partners over ten years ago.”

In addition to new music, the stage version...

Exclusive: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, John Berendt’s 1994 bestselling book and Pulitzer Prize finalist is being developed into a new musical by playwright Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, choreography by Tanya Birl and Sarah O’Gleby and direction by Rob Ashford.

An invitation only industry reading will take place May 12 and 13 in New York.

Mac is the MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony Nominee perhaps best known for the critically acclaimed Off Broadway production of A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.

Ashford is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director and choreographer whose Broadway credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Frozen, How To Succeed In Business, Promises, Promises, Evita, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek, John Water’s Cry Baby, Curtains, and The Wedding Singer.

The full cast and creative team for the upcoming Kander & Ebb Broadway musical New York, New York were announced by producers today, with, among others, Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Stage Show) joining the previously announced stars Colton Ryan and Anna Uzele.

Inspired by the 1977 Martin Scorsese movie (written by Earl M. Rauch), New York, New York begins performances Friday, March 24 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre, with an official opening on Wednesday, April 26.

In addition to Skinner, the stage actor most recently seen on Broadway in The Cher Show and who will play a character named Madame Veltri, the New York, New York cast will include Clyde Alves (On The Town), John Clay III (Choir Boy), Janet Dacal (In The Heights), Ben Davis (Dear Evan Hansen), and, in their Broadway debuts, Oliver Prose and Angel Sigala .

The ensemble will include Wendi Bergamini, Allison Blackwell, Giovanni Bonaventura, Jim Borstelmann, Lauren Carr,...

Stanley Donen's 1952 film "Singin' in the Rain," starring Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, and the obnoxiously chipper Gene Kelly, was once held up in the pages of /Film as the Platonic ideal of movie musicals. It is a certainly a dance showcase of the highest order, and an unapologetic Hollywood nostalgia piece. Silent films are on the way out, sound pictures are on the way in, and singing and dancing are all set to be the future of cinema. "Singin' on the Rain" is also a jukebox musical. The songs are all old standards, including the title number, which came from "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" as did "You Were Meant for Me." "You Are My Lucky Star" was from "The Hollywood Revue of 1936," and "Good Morning" came from Busby Berkeley's 1939 film "Babes in Arms." Kelly and Donen concluded their film with a very, very long -- a Very long...

“My job was to find out who my Mason was and carve a new path for him,” explains Jesse Tyler Ferguson of his character in “Take Me Out.” The actor portrays an accountant who discovers a love of baseball in the Second Stage Theater revival of Richard Greenberg’s Tony-winning play. His efforts to reinvent the role earned him a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play, his first bid after 25 years on stage. Watch the exclusive video interview above.

“I was incredibly intimidated. I dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome,” admits Ferguson. He had seen the original staging of “Take Me Out” where Denis O’Hare gave a critically lauded (and Tony-winning) performance as Mason. That performance still lived “vividly” in his memory, so part of the rehearsal process was finding new ways to embody the role. “A lot of time it was doing the exact opposite...

(For nearly 30 years, Susan Haskins-Doloff was co-host and executive producer of the classic PBS TV show “Theater Talk,” featuring fascinating and witty interviews with the leading stars and other creators of Broadway’s greatest shows.)

Anyone who has ever seen “The Music Man” knows act 1 ends with the citizens of River City, Iowa anticipating and then celebrating in song the arrival of the Wells Fargo wagon, which is bringing to town musical instruments for the kids that Professor Harold Hill has conned their parents into buying. After the townspeople have sung two verses expressing their excitement, Winthrop Paroo, the younger brother of the show’s heroine, Marian Paroo, steps forward and sings a third verse of the song. The audience knows that Winthrop has a lisp which has made him hesitant to talk, but here he is so joyful, that he is sufficiently unselfconscious to express himself in song. As...

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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Announces The Beloved Classic

Singin’ In The Rain To Be Released On 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray™

Acclaimed as one of the greatest Musical films of all time,

will Be Available For The First Time In 4K Resolution With High Dynamic Range (Hdr)

Burbank, CA, – To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1952 acclaimed and beloved film, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Singin’ In The Rain will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on April 26.

Singin’ In The Rain is widely considered to be one of the greatest musical films in cinematic history. The musical romantic comedy was directed by choreographed by Gene Kelly (On the Town) and Stanley Donen (On the Town) and stars Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchel and Cyd Charisse.

The film was written by Adolph Green and...

Burbank, CA – To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1952 acclaimed and beloved film, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Singin’ in the Rain will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on April 26.

Singin’ in the Rain is widely considered to be one of the greatest musical films in cinematic history. The musical romantic comedy was directed by choreographed by Gene Kelly (On the Town) and Stanley Donen (On the Town) and stars Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchel and Cyd Charisse.

The film was written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden and produced by Arthur Freed. The music is by Nacio Herb Brown and the lyrics are by Arthur Freed.

O’Connor won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green won the Writers Guild of America Award for their screenplay, while...

The opening of “West Side Story,” both the 1961 and 2021 films, is not a song or a dialogue scene or even a traditional overture; it’s a dance. And it’s not just a dance — it’s a plunge into a world in which street gangs in 1950s New York launch into the air in bursts of aggressive leaps and exhilarating turns. In Steven Spielberg’s reimagining, the Jets rove through their neighborhood as it is being demolished, their tours and pirouettes not only expressing their rage but also a sense of helplessness against larger forces at hand.

The dance in Spielberg’s “West Side Story” is different from what we’ve seen in movie musicals in the last half century. The film marks a stunning retrieval of a relationship between Hollywood, Broadway, and the ballet world not really seen since, well, the original Jerome Robbins-Robert Wise “West Side Story.

The film is based on an original concept created byChris Evans, following a 12 year old boy who works on the MGM Lot in 1952 and creates an imaginary friendship with the Gene Kelly while he works on his next film.Gene Kelly starred in iconic movie musicals, such as Singin'In the Rain, An American in Paris, On the Town, Xanadu, and Brigadoon.

At 15, David Alvarez became one of the youngest Tony Award winners in history, sharing Best Actor in a Musical with his “Billy Elliott” co-stars Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish at the 2009 awards ceremony. But rather than jumping to another lavish Broadway production, Alvarez fulfilled a lifelong dream by joining the military.

“When I joined the military, I never thought I’d come back to acting or the arts in general,” he tells Gold Derby. “I was actually thinking about making it a career. I wanted to become an officer and hopefully one day a general.”

But after three years, Alvarez realized he missed the arts community. He returned to Broadway in 2015 as a swing performer in “On the Town,” and then took another break to backpack through Mexico and, eventually, study to become a philosophy professor. It was during this stage of his life that casting director Cindy Tolan reached...

Aldous Huxley, Cary Grant and Clare Boothe Luce – a grouping that might sound more like the set-up for a joke than the premise of a musical – were, in real life, proponents of lysergic acid diethylamide, what we’d now call early adopters. Though each of them tripped the light phantasmagorical during the 1950s, the writer, the movie star and the ambassador never actually came face to face, much less mind to mind, at least as far as we know, but they somehow should have, a situation the new, very original and often delightful musical Flying Over Sunset seeks to rectify.

With a book and direction by James Lapine (Into The Woods), music by Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) and lyrics by Michael Korie (Grey Gardens), Flying Over Sunset boasts a top-notch creative team and cast and a physical production that’s one of the most ravishing on Broadway. Carmen Cusack (Bright Star) as Luce,...

Billy Crystal is returning to Broadway and revisiting one of his most popular film roles: Mr. Saturday Night, a new musical based on the 1992 movie will begin performances at the Nederlander Theatre next spring.

Crystal will play Buddy Young Jr., the veteran comedian looking for a comeback. Crystal portrayed the character in the film, which also marked his directorial debut.

Mr. Saturday Night begins performances on March 1, 2022, with an official opening night on March 31.

“Creating and portraying the 75-year-old comedian Buddy Young Jr. in the film of Mr. Saturday Night was one of the highlights of my career,” Crystal said in a statement, adding, “30 years ago I needed 5 hours of make-up to play him, now I just show up.”

Co-starring will be Randy Graff as Elaine Young; David Paymer, who appeared with Crystal in the 1991 movie City Slickers, recreating his Oscar-nominated role as Buddy’s brother Stan Yankelman; and Chasten Harmon as agent Annie Wells.