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Despite the fact that Ziad Doueiri’s (a crew member on some of Quentin Tarantino’s early works) latest film The Insult is set in Lebanon, the ensuing drama can’t help but feel familiar to what’s currently happening in America. As our president says bad things are happening on “both sides” and that there are “good people” being “wrongly maligned,” we know the truth. Or at least we should. Whether or not his words are objectively correct, they fail to acknowledge that those “good people” are aligning themselves with hateful, racist notions while hiding behind politics or religion as though either is a valid excuse for a lack of simple humanity. We’ve found ourselves defaulting towards sanctimony, declaring our beliefs righteous without a care for truth or context. And nothing can ever be solved if we remain too prideful to admit we are wrong.

The big difference...

Actor, comedian and radio host Jay Thomas has died at age 69 following a battle with cancer — a loss that has prompted many of Hollywood’s biggest names to fondly remember the late Cheers and Murphy Brown star.

Wrote Parks and Recreation alum Rob Lowe on Twitter Thursday, “Had the pleasure of casting and directing Jay Thomas many years ago. He was fantastic, an underrated dramatic actor. And a great guy.”

Echoed actor Tom Arnold, “I love Jay Thomas. Many unscripted inappropriate laughs everytime we worked together. My thoughts today are with his beloved family. #Rip.”

Had the pleasure of casting...

BroadwayCon's Special Guest lineup continues to grow BroadwayCon hasannounced Ilana Levine You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Julia Murney Wicked, The Wild Party, and Nic Rouleau The Book of Mormon, Legally Blonde have joined the Special Guest lineup for BroadwayCon 2018.

Say what you want about Steven Moffat – and there are certainly a lot of opinions out there on him – but he’s done a damn fine job with Doctor Who during his time as showrunner.

Known for storylines that were always a bit too complex but enough beautifully written monologues and truly inspired episodes that more than made up for that, Moffat’s definitely had his fare share of critics over the years. On the whole, though, he’s done some excellent work on Doctor Who and has been instrumental in bringing it the level of worldwide recognition it now has, shepherding the show through arguably its most globally popular period and ensuring that the modern series will continue on in rude health after he steps down.

But of all the things he achieved while calling the shots, which is Moffat most proud of? In a recent interview with Digital Spy,...

Pete Dillon-Trenchard Jun 24, 2017

Spoilers ahoy, as we dig through the many callbacks and references in World Enough And Time...

This article contains lots and lots of Doctor Who spoilers.

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Pain… Pain… Pain… That’s one of the main emotions I experienced while watching this week’s (rather excellent) Doctor Who, as I knew this weekly round-up of references, similarities and generally interesting ‘stuff’ was going to be a whopper. That doesn’t mean I haven’t missed anything, though, so if you spot something I’ve not mentioned, do the honourable thing and leave it in the comments section below...

Poll Winners’ Party

So, Genesis Of The Cybermen, then. In case you missed the episode’s biggest sledgehammer of a reference,...

[Editor’s Note: Mild spoilers for Season 3, Episode 10, “Lantern” follow.]

It’s at times easy to forget that “Better Call Saul” is a period piece, if only because its 2002-2003 setting isn’t always noticeably distinguishable from the present day. But then every once in a while, creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould slap us in the face with a reminder that this show is happening in the past. It can be as simple as a trip to a video store — but not just any video store.

Read More: ‘Better Call Saul’: The 7 Times Jimmy and Kim Kissed On Screen, And How That Makes It The Most Rewarding Romance on TV

It’s something we all accepted as routine, just 15 years ago: Want to watch a movie? Go to Blockbuster Video. So in the Season 3 finale, “Lantern,” Kim (Rhea Seehorn) asks her assistant Francesca (Tina Parker) for a ride to what was once the dominant source for Americans in search of movie rentals, and we then get to see her browse the aisles in search of the perfect comfort viewing, following her near-fatal car accident the episode prior.

Executive producer Gennifer Hutchison, who wrote the season finale, told IndieWire that the decision to have Kim visit a video store came in the writers’ room, as the team discussed what Kim might possibly do after deciding to relax following her accident. “I just really loved the idea of her renting a bunch of videos and sitting around watching movies and eating junk food. Just because it’s something I relate to, it’s something I like to do when I destress. And I feel like it’s not something you see a lot of on TV and in movies,” she said.

And as a result, Gould — who directed the finale — got very excited about the idea of Kim going to not just any video store, but Blockbuster in particular. However, don’t think that this was an easy choice for the show — because according to production designer Michael Novotny, “it was a total nail-biter.”

Novotny told IndieWire that as soon as he received word that “Saul” wanted to recreate a Blockbuster, he got his team to work — specifically, the graphics department. “I can always do a set. A set’s the easy part. The hard part is the graphics and all of the art work you’re going to turn out,” he said.

But that process started before the show had actual permission to recreate a Blockbuster. “We started to build it without approval. That’s part of the nail-biting process,” he said. “It wasn’t until the day before we shot it that we got approval.”

This is because, as anyone who works in production might tell you, trying to depict a real brand on screen can be an incredibly difficult task. And the “Saul” team wanted to actually use Blockbuster iconography, which isn’t the easiest thing given that it’s a brand name you haven’t probably seen in the wild in years.

Blockbuster went bankrupt in 2010, and “roughly a dozen” stores currently exist today. Thus, the set was built on one of the show’s Albuquerque soundstages, and in fact, a great deal of what was on screen was made from scratch by the “Saul” production team, including the big Blockbuster sign hanging in the wall and the period-accurate movie covers.

One thing they were able to buy: the shelving units came thanks to an ironic stroke of luck and an Albuquerque video store that was going out of business. The production was thus able to buy those displays, which Novotny made sure were shortened so that, as they shot the scene, Kim and Francesca could be seen walking through the aisles. That framing was based on Gould’s storyboards, which were altered slightly during the production process, but otherwise didn’t require any major additional construction.

But really, here’s what people care about — the movies that are being considered, as Kim prepares for an epic binge in the pre-Netflix days. None of the titles are fake, and Novotny did work carefully with his team to carefully curate the movies that appeared on screen during the scene, all of which were drawn from a list provided by Peter Gould and the writers. Here are just some of the ones we happened to spot while freeze-framing:

“A Knight’s Tale” “Lawrence of Arabia” (the 40th anniversary special edition) “Love Liza” “The Mothman Prophecies” “Punch-Drunk Love” A Richard Pryor stand-up special “Beverly Hills Ninja” “The Cheap Detective” “Hanky Panky” “Blue Thunder” “American Sledge” “Darkness Falls” “Night of the Living Dead”

They’re all movies that feel appropriate to the era at least within a year or two or as classics, though unfortunately a quick Internet search can reveal whether a film in question would have been available on DVD in the year 2003. Perhaps the most glaring oversight is the appearance of Tim Burton’s “Big Fish,” which was released in theaters December 10, 2003 and made available on DVD April 27, 2004 — something Hutchison’s husband (who actually worked at Blockbuster in the past) noticed while watching the final product. “We don’t always get it right,” she admitted.

Novotny acknowledged the “Big Fish” error, but he was relatively zen about it, given the intense pressure of making the scene happen in the first place. “It really was a down to the wire thing,” he said. “If that’s as much as I’m wrong… I’m sad to hear that but at the same time I’m happy that it went as good as it did.”

Update: On Twitter, Gould offered a little clarity as to why “Big Fish” might have time traveled back a year:

And that #BigFish they mention? Could be a shoutout to my former student @johnaugust… #YesYouReadThatRight

— Peter Gould (@petergould) June 23, 2017

Hutchison couldn’t remember every one of the 10 films Kim officially rented, though such a list was made during production. Beyond “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Monty Python,” she said the rest were mostly legal dramas, though she did make sure to include the Luc Besson sci-fi romp “The Fifth Element.” “That was one for some reason I was really stuck on making sure was in her stack,” Hutchison said.

While hardly the most memorable scene of the finale, it still sticks in the mind because of how it triggers memories of an experience we’ve largely lost, traded in for the convenience of Netflix.

“I like the idea of physically walking around and choosing movies,” Hutchison said. “There is something about actually going into a store, having everything broken down by genre. Sometimes with the streaming services it’s a little overwhelming, but having that physical space… I don’t know. It was like a ritual.”

And depicting that ritual was just more proof that “Better Call Saul” will always find a way to surprise us with the seemingly mundane.

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You couldn’t ask for a harder reset than the one “Preacher” unleashed at the end of last year’s first season. Even though much of the show’s first ten episodes had the familiar beats of a trial-by-fire origin story, it was a methane-induced farewell blow that effectively cleared the board of all but a handful of main characters.

And it left “Preacher” in a precarious situation, one where its title character has the most powerful weapon in any plane of existence and is leading an unlikely gang of folks on a road trip/deity hunt. Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy, a motley crew of ex-lovers and ex-humans, escaped that fateful blast with a common goal: find God, who went missing some time before Jesse came into control of Genesis, the cosmic power that can compel people in his path to obey his will. Because when they find God, they have some questions for him.

Read More: ‘Preacher’ Season 2 First Look Photos: The Road Trip to Find God Makes for Strange Bedfellows

Armed with a greater knowledge of the tool that Jesse has at his disposal, the outset of Season 2 finds “Preacher” at an even more solipsistic level. And it’s working to the show’s advantage. More than ever, Jesse and the power inside of him become the specific mechanisms powering the story forward. But with every passing interaction, Jesse’s web of influence is regrowing, catching in more side characters after so many were wiped away by last season’s explosion. There’s a rich world lying right outside the boundaries of what this preacher is concerned with, and the show has taken full advantage of its quick breather before the rest of the calvary catches up.

Catch up it certainly does, showcasing an even more solid handle on the whirlwind action that “Preacher” already did fairly well. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg waste little time recapturing that thrill of the chase far outside the former Annville city lines, this time with a grindhouse-tinged highway shootout in the first episode that plunges viewers into Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy’s strange new world.

Violence in the world of “Preacher,” especially when an all-powerful force like Genesis is involved, has become a means of expression, not merely a means to an end. As last season’s finale filled in some major gaps in Jesse and Tulip’s past, the new ways in which they respond to outside threats help to show who and what they value most. For good measure, there’s even a sly “good guy with a gun” commentary slipped into one of these early-episode standoffs. (One particular Michael Slovis-directed fight sequence also shows that the series has some new tricks up its sleeve as well.)

Thankfully, this action evolution hasn’t come at the expense of the irreverent banter that carried Garth Ennis’ warped vision from the comics into the TV realm. There’s an endearing nature to the way that the show uses some well-timed whimsy to cut through the overbearing implications of an all-consuming, heaven-hell throwdown. One standout winking quip that sounds like a secondary series mission statement: “The Internet is a soul-killer. Stay clear of it if you can.”

Yes, the Saint of Killers, a terrifying and timeless cowboy assassin with a Groot-esque vocabulary, is lurking right behind every one of this trio’s pit stops, even when Jesse and Tulip and Cassidy pause to enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company. But with every confrontation that this ragtag gang can escape from with everyone still alive, the show keeps a steady rotation of vices to help ease the journey on their way to finding God.

It’s a fitting addition, given that “Preacher” has left much of its grimy palette behind, trading it in for one that still acknowledges the show’s nihilist streak but leaves room for plenty of color. Those neon lights and bright casino interiors make for an indicative shift as its central cast of characters try on some tiny, added doses of hedonism and — dare we say it — happiness.

Dominic Cooper is as dutiful as ever as Jesse, handling the soft-spoken charge of a man of God with a quiet stubbornness. Though “Preacher” has yet to fully unleash Tulip’s potential, Ruth Negga continues to be a highlight, whether or not bullets are flying. Tulip hasn’t fully escaped the consequences of last season’s late revelations, but whenever the show slightly veers from Jesse’s quest, any added layers to Tulip’s character are a welcome chance for Negga to show why she’s one of TV’s most versatile actresses.

Read More: Ruth Negga and Dominic Cooper Kick Ass to ‘Come On Eileen’ In ‘Preacher’ Season 2 Teaser — Watch

And even as vampire Cassidy is put through physical torment, it’s hard to imagine an actor having more fun in a role on TV right now than Joseph Gilgun. After the persistent “Lebowski” criticism from last season, Gilgun continues to dig into Cassidy’s perplexed reactions to human nature with delightful results.

With Jesse still taking much of the main focus, this newest season of “Preacher” benefits from his sense of singular purpose. Having an overarching goal and a shortened list of distractions has left the humans and immortal beings in his inner circle with the perfect antidote to a world where God is missing and an honest mistake can trap a teenager in Hell. There are plenty of miles on the odometer still left to travel, but few shows have done a better job tidying up the roadmap.

Grade: B+

“Preacher” Season 2 premieres Sunday, June 25 at 10 p.m. on AMC.

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The central romance of “Better Call Saul” is one of the most profound on television — because on the surface, it’s barely there.

When viewers first see Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) together in the pilot episode, the scene proves to be a memorable introduction: He finds her smoking in the Hh&M parking garage, and barely touches her as he plucks the cigarette from her mouth, taking a drag before returning it to her lips.

The moment speaks to a pre-established intimacy between two people we don’t really know yet, and as the series has continued, there’s still a lot to be uncovered about who these two people are, and what it means when they’re together. Part of that comes from how subtly creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have woven their love story into the narrative, most notably avoiding the sort of physical...

TV has never been more beautiful, more daring, and more dramatic, and that’s owed to the new level of talent being given a chance to redefine what might be possible within this medium today. Since the dawn of the 21st century, we’ve witnessed an incredible array of directors (some native to TV, some fleeing the fluctuating feature film world) come to episodic storytelling to discover its potential.

Read More: The 25 Best TV Theme Songs of the 21st Century, Ranked

True story: We began this list with a wider range of genres in mind, but the number of shows we wanted to recognize grew so large that we decided to split it into drama and comedy series (we’ll get to comedies down the line). This is also the ritual place where we acknowledge that “The Sopranos,” if it had premiered just a little bit later, would have...

To say there’s no conflict in “Gypsy” would be a slight exaggeration, but to say it’s one of the most boring thrillers on Netflix would not. Intended as an exploration of a middle-aged woman’s unrestrained desires, the new series never elevates its drama to anything thematically challenging or narratively titillating. It’s as familiar as it wants to be risqué, which is the one rule you shouldn’t break when constructing a mind game.

Lisa Rubin’s 10-episode first season tracks Naomi Watts’ Jean Halloway, a Manhattan-based therapist with a good husband, Michael (Billy Crudup), and an adorable child, Dolly (Maren Heary). She spends her days seeing patients, discussing treatment plans with her colleagues, and getting blow-outs as a relaxing treat. Her nights are spent experimenting in the kitchen, watching movies with the family, and drinking a glass of wine or two.

Read More: ‘F is for Family...

The more prestige dramas there are, the harder it is to watch all of them. They’re long. They’re heavy. And for most content on Netflix, they’re far too loosely edited, which only makes them feel longer and heavier. So as the streaming giant prepares to release a 30-minute live-action comedy-drama hybrid this week (the much-anticipated “Glow”), it’s important to note Netflix has been killing it when making shorter dramatic content, with the most recent example being “F is for Family.”

And by killing it, I do mean death is but a heartbeat away in Bill Burr’s R-rated, animated take on “Married With Children.” It’s not so much that the ’70s-set family show deals with existential fears (like “BoJack Horseman”) or knocks off characters left and right (like most dramas these days), but that Burr’s fictionalized memoir of growing up deals with the era...

Black Panther may be (rightfully) stealing a lot of the spotlight from game four of the NBA Finals last Friday (at least for us nerds), but they weren’t the only Marvel property to take advantage of the NBA. Over the course of the past few weeks, Spider-Man: Homecoming has been releasing of series of ads, wherein Spider-Man desperately tries to make it to Tony Stark’s viewing party. Now, KinoCheck has taken all the separate ads and cut them together to make one mondo ad.

The videos themselves are fun, silly, and seem indicative of what to expect from the film itself in terms of tone. However, before there’s any confusion, it’s worth mentioning that no, these are not scenes pulled from the film, but rather an original story and original footage for the ad itself. You can pretty much make your own judgment from there if...

Wendell Burton, who made his screen debut opposite Liza Minnelli in 1969’s The Sterile Cuckoo and appeared in touchstone 1970s fare like Go Ask Alice, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Fortune and Men’s Eyes, died Tuesday at 69 of brain cancer at home in Houston. Burton largely gave up his Hollywood career in the 1980s, becoming a Christian minister and, in 1997, moving to Houston to work with Joel Osteen and the Lakewood Church, first doing business work and later…...

Pete Dillon-Trenchard May 20, 2017

The references and nerdy spots we caught in Doctor Who series 10: Extremis...

This article contains spoilers. Lots of them.

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Whether you like it or not, we’re now halfway through this series of Doctor Who, and it’s time for the stakes to get higher; we now know who’s in the vault (or at least, who the Doctor thinks is in the vault), there’s a massive alien invasion waiting to strike, and oh yeah, the Doctor’s still blind. While you bite your nails waiting for next week’s instalment, here are our viewing notes with all the vaguely interesting things we noticed about this week’s episode. As ever, if you’ve noticed things we haven’t,...

Pete Dillon-Trenchard Apr 29, 2017

Spoilers! We dig into Doctor Who series 10's Thin Ice, to see what else we can find...

This article contains spoilers. Lots of them.

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The Doctor and Bill have saved the day again and something’s knocking in the vault - but it’s only knocking three times, so it doesn’t constitute a reference. Instead, here’s our weekly list of references, callbacks, tenuous spots and generally interesting waffle from this week’s episode. You’ll have to forgive me if I’ve missed anything - I’m at my sister’s wedding as this episode goes out, and they’ve refused to turn the music off for an hour so we can watch it.

What an extraordinary hour of television.

Underground is a thrilling, emotional journey that tugs at the heart-strings and deftly captures the human experience. This installment was no exception.

Underground Season 2 Episode 2 gave us twists, revelations, and truly poignant moments. It's not often that a show can successfully pull off making you laugh, cry, hold your breath, reevaluate and self-reflect all within one night.

The arrangement of this installment was especially great. The way it flowed from one story to the next through the lens of each character made each arc feel like a chapter in a larger story.

I'm enjoying the glimpses into Daniel's life. He comes across as a simple family man with a lovely family. Then it hits you; life was far from simple for a black man during the 19th century.

Daniel was so proud because he was able to teach himself how to read and write.

As on-the-nose cinematic warnings go, This Is Your Death is like a bright-red clown schnoz. Giancarlo Esposito directs a reality show gone suicidal, but it’s all with positive intent. Writers Noah Pink and Kenny Yakkel mean to affirm life, not death. Society is too obsessed with garbage “reality” shows and social white noise, corrupted by The Bachelor (women pitted like catty gladiators) and warped programming. Success is now monitored by viral appeal. Ex-con models who post slutty pictures 24/7 amass 2.5 million followers, while the youngest college graduate *ever* is known only by a few thousand. Esposito’s response to all this digital rot? Simple: turn it off.

Josh Duhamel stars as television host Adam Rogers, who becomes a national hero after saving one of his Married To A Millionaire contestants during an unexpected murder/suicide finale. Rogers’ network positions him as a hero, but that doesn’t cleanse the blood from his own hands.

'The Doctor is In' this week as we get Broadwaysted with actress and podcast buddy Ilana Levine The crew is pouring out cider and red wine as we discuss our favorite kinds of apples and how cute it would be if a shark gave you a hickey. Ilana spills about her amazing experience with you're A Good Man Charlie Brown and the different ways she and her fellow cast members warmed up.

'Deck them Halls and all that stuff,' Lucy proclaims to Schroeder in the beloved holiday classic, 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.' The young theater vets of the recently released cast album, 'you're A Good Man, Charlie Brown' Broadway Records, decided to follow suit with a holiday visit to stage doors to share their new CD with fellow kid performers on the Great White Way.

Playing Link Larkin on NBC’s Hairspray Live! is a full-circle moment for Garrett Clayton.

The 25-year-old actor — known for roles on TV’s The Fosters, the indie film King Cobra and in the Disney Channel’s Teen Beach movie franchise — first chose Larkin’s signature tune, “It Takes Two,” as his audition song while studying to get his B.F.A. in musical theater at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

Since then, Clayton’s kept 16- and 32-bar cuts of the 1950s-style doo-wop ballad in his audition cycle. (It’s one of the songs that helped him book the...

Whether or not you are familiar with Clark Gesner's musical you're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, you are bound to recognize Track 21 of the York Theatre Company 2016 Off-Broadway Cast Recording. The theme 'Linus and Lucy,' written by Vince Guaraldi, is a familiar tune to all who have seen the well-known animated specials featuring the Peanuts kids. There is something oddly soothing about this gentle, understated theme, with its rolling feeling of continuity paired with plinking notes of whimsy, that has become so closely associated with Charles M. Schulz's legacy of 17,897 comic strips. The you're A Good Man, Charlie Brown band played 'Linus and Lucy' as walking-out music after the show, prompting much of the audience to stay and hear it through to the end.

Today, November 11, Broadway Records releases the 2016 off-Broadway cast recording of you're A Good Man Charlie Brown. Come spend a couple of days in the lives of Charlie Brown and his pint-sized philosopher friends-from bright, uncertain morning to starlit, hopeful evening-and all of the lonely brown-bag lunches, kite-flying failures, book reports, glee club rehearsals, and suppertimes in between. Audiences of all ages will learn that 'Happiness is' the simple joys ofYou're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

The aftermath of the hurricane should have been as dramatic as the storm itself, especially with two dead bodies in the field, yet somehow Queen Sugar Season 1 Episode 9 lacked the punch of earlier installments.

I wish they hadn’t shown the discovery of the two bodies in the previews because then I could have felt as shocked as Charley, Remy, and Ralph Angel at finding them.

I kept wondering where Prosper was in all of this. As farm manager, I would have expected him to know the workers’ names, but I guess with the roads still flooded out, he couldn’t make it back to the farm, although it would have been good if the story covered that somehow, because the Deputy seemed to have no trouble making it out there.

We're just trying to do our jobs. If they don't trust us, it's on them.

Deputy Permalink: We're just trying to do our jobs.

(Spoiler Alert: Do not keep reading if you are not caught up on “Westworld”) “Westworld’s” resident bad ass, the Man in Black (Ed Harris), is driving intense speculation about the HBO series; namely, people want to know who in the hell he really is. A number of theories have popped up to explain MiB’s backstory. We don’t know anything for sure, given the limited amount of information we have on him yet, but some of these theories are pretty convincing. Also Read: 'Westworld': Jimmi Simpson Talks About Playing A Good Man In A Bleak Virtual...

Kristin Chenoweth, star of Broadway's original 'Wicked' and Tony-winner for 'You're A Good Man Charlie Brown,' star of TV's 'Glee' and Emmy-winner for 'Pushing Daisies,' will perform solo shows for Broadway The Performing Arts Center on Martha's Vineyard on August 14 at 6pm for one show only, and at Broadway Town Hall in Provincetown on August 16 for two shows at 6pm and 830pm.

It's not hard to stumble across an excess of reviews for any given Broadway show these days, but there is a group of theatregoers that is wildly underrepresented when it comes to opinions on Broadway- kids BroadwayWorld continues our new series, Kid Critics, which gives parents and children alike a kid's perspective on Broadway's hottest shows.We are continuing the series with Tai 9, Isabella 11, and Charles 8, who just stopped by York Theatre Company's you're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Curious of what they thought about the show Find out below...

Today in 1971, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown opened at the John Golden Theatre, where it ran for 32 performances. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts. Directed by Joseph Hardy and with choreography by Patricia Birch, the 1971 cast included Grant Cowan as Snoopy and Dean Stolber as Charlie Brown.

Little Known Factsis a podcast hosted by stage and film actress, Ilana Levine, best known for her role of Lucy in you're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. With her unique style of hosting, best described as Podcast Verite,' actress Ilana Levine gives her listeners access to conversations with today's most fascinating celebrities -- with her raw, honest and hilarious interviews.

It's only a few moments before choreographer Jennifer Paulson- Lee will watch her cast give the press a 'sneak peek' of their rehearsals. They're preparing to perform three musical numbers from 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown' which will be presented at The York Theatre beginning this week for a limited engagement. What's unique about this revival is the fact that a pint-sized cast of 9 to 13 year olds is performing all the roles. But don't let their ages fool you. This young bunch of talented thespians has a list of professional credits that any seasoned 35-year-old performer would envy. As the press files into the theatre, Paulson-Lee is busy making last minute corrections on her young charges. She is gentle and soft-spoken yet gets her point across to these eager children who take her notes and make the adjustments on the spot. The mutual love and admiration between this gang...

Dan and I were friendly competitors in the early days of video acquisitions. He was at Vestron, the first home video company whose deal with Time Life brought the industry into the mainstream. When he bought "Dirty Dancing", the video technology came into its own. I was at Lorimar Home Video and my earliest acquisition, "My Beautiful Laundrette" premiered at the Seattle Film Festival, the festival he had founded with Darryl McDonald (but was not running then as he had moved on to Vestron). We have stayed friends over these many years and I will always be beholden to Dan Ireland. A good man and all of his many friends already miss him!

He was supposed to be at Louisiana International Film Festival which he coprogrammed with Ian Birnie who just wrote in:

"In total shock. But almost no time to process. I am at Louisiana Ff. Dan was supposed to fly down with me but was feeling sick on Monday and thinking of cancelling. I called Tuesday and never heard back, so flew down solo, and was surprised to learn at the Opening Night on Thursday that no one at the fest had heard from him. Got the news in the middle of the night on Thursday...It would appear he had a stroke late Monday or early Tuesday. Will try to write some kind of tribute but am being pulled in 100 directions. Sorry I couldn't tell him that attendance has doubled this year, screenings are selling out, there is real energy. He is greatly missed in Louisiana today."

Ireland worked as an acquisitions executive, co-founded the renowned Seattle Film Festival, and directed films such as "The Whole Wide World," The Velocity of Gray," and "Jolene."

Here are some of the reactions from people who knew and worked with Dan Ireland over the years:

From Tim Ireland:

To all Dan's friends,

With great shock and sadness, Mike Ireland, Judy, and I must tell you that we have lost our "Hollywood" star. Dan passed away suddenly from natural causes on April 14. We found out just a few short hours ago, so details are sparse at the moment. We know the great multitude of Dan's friends will want to know this sorrowful news as soon as possible; and to all those in Los Angeles especially, we will appreciate your help and input in the coming days.

Ira Deutchman: If you haven’t heard, Dan Ireland has died. He was one of us.

Darryl Macdonald: Dan and I were emotional and intellectual SiameseTwins for most of our lives. We used to sneak out of classes in grade 7 to watch movies together, then came back together as best friends when he moved back to Vancouver in the early 70s and we ran into each other in a bar. We moved to Seattle together to refurbish and open the Moore Egyptian in 1975 and started Siff in 1976. The truth is that Dan's boundless ambition, dedication to talent, refusal to take 'no' for an answer and ability to bring anyone 'outside the fold' on-side is what made our success possible. Though our professional paths diverged somewhat a decade later when he moved to L.A. to pursue his real passion - making great movies - we were never less than cosmic lovers, and remained as close as close can be for the next 30 years. His legacy - best exemplified by his body of work and the enduring love of his huge circle of friends, is a testament to the unique sensibility and incredibly positive energy Dan brought to everything in his life. But that's not what I will miss forever - as rare a trait as that constant positive energy is. It's that positivity, and Dan's unique, twisted sense of humor I will forever miss. Nobody on earth will ever take his place where either of those elements are concerned. I'll miss him madly, and pray he has access to making the movies he cares about in Heaven.

Jeff Dowd: Kindly Please Share Widely. Rip Dan Ireland. Dan was and will eternally be one of the leads in so many people's personal “It's a Wonderful Life”--he touched and helped so many people in so many ways. I just wrote a lot about Dan recently in one of Our Classic Tales Episodes. If you email me at jeffdowd6[At] gmail.com with Dan in the subject line I will send you a rough draft with some Dan Classic Tales some time soon. If you want to talk about Dan please feel free to call me. Lotsa of love to everyone--and never forget that one of Dan's great attributes was his sense of humor and his laugh which you are all hearing now. Have a laugh for Daaaaaan!

Diane Slattery: Heartbroken... longtime friend from Vestron days. Please keep us posted on what we can do and greatest sympathies to his sister and all close to him.

Karen Roberts: Beautiful soul, handsome man, good friend to many - this is such a terrible loss for all who had the good fortune to know him - way too soon, very sad news. Please let me know how I can help - please let me know of any arrangements to remember him with others. Tears...

Temi Lopez: Dan is one of my closest friends ever... I'm devastated...will miss his warmth, his smile, his lovely voice... I love you Dan and always will.

Backstage’s casting notices this week featured listings for countless theatrical productions from across the nation. We’ve rounded up some of our favorites below! “Carrie: The Musical”This musical’s pig blood and gore may give Broadway’s currently running “American Psycho” a run for its money! The Western Stage theater company is now seeking submissions from the Salinas, California area for the lead roles of Mr. Stephens as well as ensemble and chorus members. Based on the iconic psychological horror novel by Stephen King, this musical from 1988 follows Carrie, a tormented high schooler with telekinetic powers. Mr. Stephen’s is the school’s English teacher and guidance counselor. The production runs from July 16–Aug. 6. “[title of show]”Williams Street Rep in Crystal Lake, Illinois, is seeking submissions to cast the four leads of its summer musical production, “[title of show].” The musical follows Jeff and Hunter, struggling writers who decide to write their own...

Tony Award nominee Kerry Butler was on a roll in her last appearance on The Road to Disaster Click here for Kerry's episode.Now, she's putting her Disaster co-star Roger Bart in the dog house-and they promise it has nothing to do with the Tony Award he picked up for his portrayal of Snoopy in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown.

The 2016 Cassian Elwes Independent Screenwriting Fellows, Kristina Zacharias and Terrell Garrett, spent a long weekend at Sundance with prolific independent producer Elwes ("Lee Daniels' The Butler," "Ain't Them Bodies Saints") — the first time in the three years of the fellowship program that not one but two entrants have been selected. The experience is a prime opportunity for emerging writers with, as The Black List puts it, "an independent sensibility": past fellows include Matthew Hickman, a former Santa Monica Ups Store employee now represented by Wme and Writ Large, and Boston-based screenwriter Mike Harden, whose script, "A Good Man," has been optioned by Mutressa Movies. Read More: "The Black List Unveils the Best Unproduced Screenplays of 2015 (Full List)" Kristina Zacharias is an American writer who spent her early childhood in Tunisia, Bangladesh, and Egypt before settling in the...

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Spoilers! It's our viewing notes and geeky spots for the Doctor Who Christmas special, The Husbands Of River Song....

It’s Christmas Day and that can only mean one thing - the Doctor Who return of Professor River Song, and the Den of Geek return of the geeky spots. So join us, won’t you, for a festive walk through the callbacks, allusions and generally interesting similarities featured in The Husbands Of River Song. If you spot anything we’ve missed out - we’ve been on the Christmas sherry since 9 o’clock this morning - let us know in the comments!

The References of River Song

As you might expect from the convoluted story of the Doctor and River Song, this episode contains a lot of references to their previous adventures together. Before reading this article, it might be useful to read our article on River Song’s timeline,...

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Unit: Extinction has only been out a couple of days, but already Big Finish has released another New Series title: Jago & Litefoot & Strax: The Haunting! The audio adventure teams the Infernal Investigators from The Talons of Weng-Chiang with Strax, the Sontaran who first appeared in A Good Man Goes to War and who has since found...

The post Out Now: Jago & Litefoot & Strax – The Haunting [Trailer] appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Cast your mind back to the dark and distant year 2011 – where we reported the rumour that in 1995, fan turned show runner Steven Moffat, took to a Doctor Who forum to share his theory on the origin of the term ‘Doctor’. Sound familiar? Well if you’ve seen A Good Man Goes to War,...

The post How Moffat’s 1995 Fan Theory Became Canon appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Spoilers: here are our viewing notes for Doctor Who series 9 episode 1, The Magician's Apprentice. There's a lot to spot...

When a show has over 50 years of history, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with all the continuity, callbacks and generally geeky references. Which is why, for series 9 (or series 35), we're trying this extra weekly feature of, effectively, viewing notes.

Which is fortunate because, as you might expect, The Magician’s Apprentice contained more than its fair share of these. Here are the ones we found; if you noticed something we haven’t, feel free to add it in the comments!

This is a very spoiler-heavy article. Thus, we've deployed our spoiler squirrel - Daphne - to stop your eyes accidentally drifting to the text of the article if you want to be spoiler-free. Scroll below Daphne at your peril...

Back to Skaro

It may surprise you to learn...

It's not just Rory. These 42 Doctor Who characters have all, in their own way, died and been resurrected...

Spoilers! Lot of them, for Doctor Who of old and new lie ahead. Including the (publicised) return of a face or two to Doctor Who series 9.

Cheating death is a fundamental part of the make-up of Doctor Who. It's lasted for 52 years so far, whether on television or in spin-off media, and that's in no small part because of the original idea to recast the title character in 1966, thus creating the concept of regeneration.

But resurrection has also affected the characters around the Doctor and with a new series about to start, that looks to be as prominent as ever. Heck, series 9 even has a two-parter called The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived. Plus, we already know that apparently dead characters such as Missy, Osgood and River Song will...

On September 2nd and 3rd, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown The Musical, is coming to 54 Below. But this isn't your usual production of the show. This concert version of the musical will have a cast of kids, 12-13 years old which is different from past productions of the show, since it is usually performed with a cast of adults playing children.

Want to catch up with post-2005 Doctor Who but don’t have 85 spare hours to watch the whole thing? We’ve some tips for you…

Maps To TV Shows: Is there a popular show you’d really like to watch but you just don’t have time to wade through years of it all at once? Do you just want to know why that one character keeps turning up on Tumblr? Do the fans all tell you ‘season one is a bit iffy but stick with it, it gets great!’, leaving you with absolutely zero desire ever to watch the boring/silly/just plain weird season one? Then Maps To TV Shows is for you!

In these articles, we’ll outline routes through popular TV shows focusing on particular characters, story arcs or episode types. Are you really into the Klingon episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation? Do...

Today in 1999, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown closed at the Ambassador Theatre, where it ran for 149 performances. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts. The revival cast featured Anthony Rapp as Charlie Brown, Kristin Chenoweth as Sally and Roger Bart as Snoopy.

Past Tony champs Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth co-hosted this year's Tony Awards. Not surprisingly, these two musical comedy vets opened the kudocast with a tuneful ditty that was full of laughs. Watch the duo duet below and then rate the opening number in our poll. -Break- Cumming, who bagged the Best Actor (Musical) prize in 1998 for a revival of "Cabaret" made merry with the jokes about appearing in yet another rialto remount of this show while Chenoweth, who claimed the Featured Actress (Musical) award in 1998 for "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," referenced her nomination this year for "On the Twentieth Century."  Join the fiery debate over the Tony Awards going on right now in our red-hot forums What did you think of the Tony Awards opening number?...

The 69th annual edition of the Tony Awards will be telecast on CBS tonight (Sunday, June 8) at 8 p.m. Pt and Et. While the kudocast will go out live to TV viewers on the east coast, the show will be delayed for west coast fans. The Tony Awards ceremony takes place at Radio City Music Hall and will be hosted by past Tony winners  Alan Cumming ("Cabaret") and Kristin Chenoweth ("You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown"). Chenoweth is also a nominee this year for her bravura performance in "On the Twentieth Century." According to the combined predictions of our Experts, Editors, Top 24 Users (at predicting last year's awards) and All Users, she will finally win a bookend to her 1999 trophy. -Break- Join the fiery debate over the Tony Awards going on right now in our red-hot forums We expect "Fun Home" to dominate the musical categories, while "The Curious Incident...

The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular is a must-see tribute to the show's tremendous musical repertoire...

Doctor Who has been around for over half a century, and a decade on from its triumphant return to TV, it's fair to say that it's never been more popular around the world. Events like the 2013 simulcast and special cinema screenings of The Day Of The Doctor will attest to this and it never seems like we're far off from another reminder of its regenerated global fandom.

Following successful runs in Australia and New Zeleand, the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular arena show reiterated that case on its first UK tour last week, drawing crowds across the nation. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and members of the National Chorus of Wales went from Wembley to Glasgow over the course of seven dates, in celebration of composer Murray Gold's spellbinding musical score for the series.

"It's been over a decade - and if you had asked me then if I'd be writing music in 10 years' time for Doctor Who, I'd probably have said no - but it keeps replenishing itself, and you never feel like you've done it right, you just want to do it better every time."

Murray Gold's unyielding passion for scoring Doctor Who is plain to hear when one listens to his decade's worth of work on the series - there's a determination and drive behind these pieces, a refusal to be staid or to rely on a standard bag of tricks.

Gold's remarkable music is - no surprise - the biggest draw of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular, a nationwide tour which comes to the UK following a stint in Australia and will travel to New York later in the year.

Brought to life by the 100+ performers of BBC National Orchestra of Wales...

Oscar nominee Uma Thurman (Nymphomaniac: Vol. I, Kill Bill: Vol 1-2, Pulp Fiction) and Emmy and Tony Award winning actress Kristin Chenoweth (ABC’s “Pushing Daisies,” Fox’s “Glee”) are set to star in the comedy The Brits Are Coming, it was announced today by producers Cassian Elwes (Dallas Buyers Club, Lee Daniels’ The Butler), Jc Chandor (A Most Violent Year, All Is Lost), Robert Ogden Barnum (Margin Call, Lawless), and Will Clevinger (upcoming Life At These Speeds, Maternal Bonds).

In this broad comedy, an eccentric British con-artist couple, Harriet (Thurman) and Peter Fox, flee to Los Angeles to get away from paying a large debt to a notorious gangster after a failed poker game. With the gangster hot on their trail, the pair scheme to win back the money by executing a jewel theft operation involving Peter’s ex-wife and her new husband, Gabriel. Chenoweth will play Gabriel’s pill-popping assistant,...

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for filmed Conversations QampA series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. The most recent conversation featured 2015 Tony nominee Kristin Chenoweth, moderated by BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge, discussing how things are going at On the Twentieth Century, how she looks back on some of her past shows, and so much more. Check out Kristin's favorite menories from you're A Good Man Charlie Brown and Wicked below and watch the full interview here...

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for filmed Conversations QampA series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. The most recent conversation featured 2015 Tony nominee Kristin Chenoweth, moderated by BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge, discussing how things are going at On the Twentieth Century, how she looks back on some of her past shows, and so much more. Check out Kristin's favorite menories from you're A Good Man Charlie Brown and Wicked below and watch the full interview here...

John Alexander (Steven Seagal) uses some MacGyver-esque skills, turning an ordinary cell phone into a bomb, in our exclusive clip from Absolution. If there is any lesson to be learned in this scene, it's to never pick up a phone that isn't yours, which mysteriously starts ringing as soon as you enter the room. This scene also features Adina Stetcu as Nadia, a young girl who John is trying to protect.

When a contract killer () encounters a girl on the run from a dangerous, politically connected mob boss (Vinnie Jones) running a human trafficking operation, he is torn between protecting the girl, and remaining loyal to the government agency that hired him. The supporting cast includes Byron Mann, Josh Barnett, Massimo Dobrovic, Maria Bata, Sabina Branduse, Dominte Cosmin and Sergiu Costache. Absolution will be released in theaters and on VOD formats May 15.

This action-thriller reunites with director Keoni Waxman. The...

Doctor Who will release a new soundtrack next month.

The score from Peter Capaldi's debut series will be available via Silva Screen Records on May 18.

Murray Gold's music from the eighth series and 2014 Christmas special 'Last Christmas' will be split over three discs.

The soundtrack will feature the Twelfth Doctor's theme 'A Good Man?'.

The first 5,000 copies of the CD will come with a bonus booklet featuring the 13 retro episode posters designed by Stuart Manning for Radio Times.

Gold has composed all of the music for Doctor Who since its return to screens in 2005.

Speaking to Digital Spy recently, Gold said that Doctor Who is still teaching him new things about music despite working on the show for ten years.

Watch a preview of the live performance of 'A Good Man?' at the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular below:...