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Tag: PLAY

  • Cindy Lauper And ‘Kinky Boots’ Cast And Crew Had Audience Jumping To Their Feet

    Musical Broadway show, Kinky Boots, had a great start with their opening night as the audience jumped to their feet at the curtain call.

    Kinky Boots has irresistibly endearing characters, crazy couture, a mix of emotional ballads and over-the-top ensemble numbers, and the kind of energy that had the audience dancing in their seats.

    Cyndi Lauper, the lyricist of the show together with director Jerry Mitchell and writer Harvey Fierstein, joined the cast and producers for the curtain call on stage. All of them received bouquets of flowers and the loudest cheers coming from their audience.

    Lauper went for a punkish retro look with her off-shoulder red dress, paired with black leather stilletos and fingerless gloves as she entered the red carpet for the show.

    And though her shoes were killing her, Lauper said that the musical show was great and incredible. “This show has huge heart,” Lauper said. “It’s a story about love and acceptance and friendship and overcoming obstacles.” Lauper also danced with Matt Henry, who plays a drag queen named Lola, as the show’s finale song, “Raise You Up,” played on. The cast were delighted and overwhelmed with the audience response to their show. In true Kinky Boots form, the curtains went down to the show’s resident drag queens twerking for the roaring crowd. Kinky Boots was adapted by writer, Harvey Fierstein, from a British comedy show with the same title. It was shown on Broadway in 2013. And with its music and lyrics by Lauper, Kinky Boots won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Musical and broke all box office records at New York’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

    The successful opening night of Kinky Boots marks the end of the previews for three weeks and will be the start of eight shows a week at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End.

  • Taye Diggs Is Next To Rock Hedwig’s Wigs In New Broadway Role

    Hold on to your wigs and high heels. Taye Diggs is set to play the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

    After weeks of subtle hints, it’s been formally announced that Taye Diggs will be stepping into Hedwig’s heels after Darren Criss’ finishes his run as everyone’s favorite international song stylist.

    The man who helped Stella get her groove back will be seen performing at Broadway’s Belasco Theater starting July 22. It will be a 12-week engagement and Diggs will be performing alongside Rebecca Naomi Jones, who’s set to continue portraying Yitzhak.

    “Taye is fantastic—he has theater cred, he has pop culture cred, he can sing, he can act, he can dance, he’s smart and he’s sexy,” lead producer David Binder explains Diggs’ casting.

    Well, he certainly has that and more.

    Diggs’ was part of the original cast of Rent. He has also appeared in Chicago, Carousel, off-Broadway’s The Wild Party and briefly played Fiyero in Wicked opposite then-wife Idina Menzel.

    The 44-year-old thespian also counts Brown Sugar, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Private Practice and The Best Man among his acting credentials.

    Diggs’ performance in Hedwig is quite relevant as he’ll be the first African-American actor to play the character on Broadway, a fitting match to co-star Jones who’s also the first black Yitzhak.

    Hedwig and the Angry Inch revolves around Hedwig, an East German musician who undergoes a sex changed operation. Unfortunately, the failed operation prompted him to move to Kansas and assume a female persona.

    Neil Patrick Harris starred in the first Broadway production of Hedwig in 2014 and introduced the play to a brand new generation. His Tony award-winning performance was continued by Andrew Rannells, Michael C. Hall and Darren Criss.

    And with Taye Diggs taking over soon, Hedwig’s glitter covered heels will undoubtedly dance their way to a lot more hearts.

  • Emma Stone Makes Triumphant Broadway Debut

    On November 11, Emma Stone made her highly anticipated Broadway debut as Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret. It was an important moment for the actress, who has been vocal about her desire to perform in a musical, especially one as iconic as Cabaret. In an interview with HitFlix, the star said, “Honestly, I’m having the time of my life. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s the most fun I’ve ever had. So it’s one of those. I guess this is what being a parent might be like but without the child part.”

    Stone’s boyfriend, actor Andrew Garfield, was there to show his support for the actress. “Andrew came sharply dressed in a suit. Andrew came backstage after the show with Emma’s mother and his guests. He kissed her and congratulated her,” a source told Us Weekly. According to reports, Garfield made it a point to attend Stone’s Broadway debut before flying off to Taiwan to shoot the upcoming Martin Scorsese film Silence which also stars Liam Neeson and Adam Driver.

    Garfield and Stone met on the set of The Amazing Spider-Man and the two started dating in the summer of 2011. While the two have been seen in public together, they have managed to keep their relationship private. In a rare candid interview with ABC Nightly News, Stone talked about her beau. “He’s obviously one of the greatest actors, I think, we have alive today. He’s also just a remarkable human being. I love him very much,” she said in the interview.

    #lovehim #happythursday

    A photo posted by Emma Stone (@emmastone) on

    Stone took over the role of Sally Bowles from Oscar nominee Michelle Williams. She is joined in the play by Alan Cummings, who’s been seen lately in the role of Eli Gold in the hit TV show The Good Wife. Sam Mendes directed the musical which is being staged at Studio 54 in New York City. This current production of Cabaret run for the next three months.

  • Westboro Baptist Parody Play to be Streamed on Halloween, ‘Live from Hell’

    The Arts and Entertainment wing of the Westboro Baptist Church likes to group up and polish their Garageband skills by writing and recording their own parody versions of famous songs, with their own “God Hates _______” spin on them, of course.

    For example, the group has redone songs like Lorde’s “Royals” with lyrics like:

    Cuz every song you sing’s bare-teeth, ragin, sinnin’ in the bedroom
    Bloodlust, scoffin’, trashin’ your Creator
    You don’t care; you’re really bad-asses in your dreams.
    But in reality Christ will payback, comin’ in the clouds He’ll
    Set His throne, then mockers will be screeching
    “It ain’t fair!” … we’ll be caught up with Him in the air

    There are 145 parody songs on Westboro’s Soundcloud account, which is plenty enough for John Caswell to make hay with.

    John Caswell of New York’s Progressive Theatre Workshop wrote and directed a play called “God Hates This Show: Shirley Phelps-Roper in Concert, Live From Hell.”

    The idea of the show is that Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of WBC founder Fred Phelps, has just died and now finds herself in Hell. Surprise, Shirley!

    As part of her sentence, she is forced to perform some of Westboro’s greatest hits with a backup band of demons and imps accompanying her.

    The show had a limited run in New York in 2013 and got rave reviews. And now you can see it, streaming live on Halloween night.

    The show will have a one-night engagement at The Public Theatre’s Joe’s Pub and be streamed live over the Joe’s Pub YouTube channel so the whole Westboro congregation, everyone in Topeka, and even you can witness the splendor.

    “Westboro has been informed of their opportunity to experience the event live, and has responded by rejoicing and thanking Progressive Theatre Workshop for doing the Lord’s work on their behalf,” Caswell said.

    The lyrics for some of the parody material were taken directly from Westboro’s website. Song titles include “Death in Your Window,” a Westboro-style parody of Melissa Etheridge’s “Come to My Window”.

    As for that Lorde parody that Westboro does, here it is in all its glory.

  • Lindsay Lohan To Make Daring Comeback Attempt

    Lindsay Lohan is making yet another comeback attempt, but this time the choice is rather interesting. Lohan will star in Speed the Plow, a three-person West End play about two executive who make a bet whether one of them can sleep with secretary, Karen (Lohan).

    The play began in 1988 and Karen was a role once played by Madonna, who actually earned critical favor for her performance.

    New York Times theater critic Frank Rich said of Madonna as Karen, “It’s a relief to report that this rock star’s performance is safely removed from her own Hollywood persona. Madonna serves Mr. Mamet’s play … with intelligent, scrupulously disciplined comic acting. She delivers the shocking transitions essential to the action and needs only more confidence to relax a bit and fully command her speaking voice.”

    Let’s hope Lindsay Lohan can become “safely removed from her own Hollywood persona”. Should she be able to pull of this performance, perhaps she really could make a genuine comeback.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylGn-f0TKMs

    Since her disclosure of her miscarriage last April on her OWN network reality show, Lindsay Lohan has been noticeably absent from the scene. However, a source close to her said that she has been in London and has really been trying to get it together.

    “She’s been in London really trying to get her life together and got to meeting with a bunch of agents and managers and it just came together,” the source says. “She’s been studying for the role for over a month.”

    Lindsay seems to be rather excited about the possible fresh start that she so desperately wants and needs.

    “It’s the first time I’ve done a stage play or anything like that,” Lohan said of taking on a stage role. “I’m nervous but I’m excited.”

    “I’m going back to my West End world. I’m a little overwhelmed. I haven’t done this — I haven’t really done the shows — in the last few years.”

    Hopefully the tragic and desperate story of Lindsay Lohan will get back on track if she can pull this one off!

    Image via YouTube

  • Audra McDonald Has Record-Breaking Night at Tonys

    When Audra McDonald took home the award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical in 2012 for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, she tied Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury for most Tony awards of all time, and she was one win shy of achieving the grand slam of Tonys. As most people expected, it did not take McDonald long to surpass either of those two milestones.

    In a night which celebrated newcomers and classics alike, McDonald took home the award for Best Leading Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. The play takes place in a bar in Philadelphia in 1959, just four months before Billie Holiday would die after a lifetime of heavy drinking and drug abuse. McDonald belts out classic Holiday tunes and intersperses the numbers with stories of Holiday’s life, choosing to not skip over the darker details.

    With her win, McDonald surpasses both Lansbury and Harris as the person to have won the most competitive Tony awards in a lifetime. (Harris has six awards, one being a non-competitive lifetime achievement award.) McDonald won her first award in 1994 for Featured Actress in a Musical in Carousel. Two years later, McDonald won the award for Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Master Class. McDonald would subsequently win two more awards for Featured Actress in a Play thanks to her roles in Ragtime and A Raisin in the Sun. Her 2014 award for Best Actress in a Play means that McDonald has now won an award in every possible acting category, completing the grand slam of the Tonys.

    “I want to thank my Mum and Dad up in heaven for disobeying the doctor’s orders and not medicating their hyperactive girl and finding out what she was interested in and pushing her into the theatre,” McDonald stated in her acceptance speech, shortly before paying homage to “all the shoulders of the strong and brave and courageous women that I’m standing on” – including such women as Lena Horne, Maya Angelou, Diahann Carroll, Ruby Dee, and Billie Holiday.

    While McDonald has already set the mark for others to aspire to for generations to come, her career is far from over. McDonald is only 43 years old, and her career only continues to improve.

    Image via YouTube

  • Peru Inmates Perform Musical ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ for Holy Week

    Holy Week-the last week before Lent leading up to Easter Sunday-has kicked off to a theatrical start.

    Peruvian inmates at the Sarita Colonia prison performed their version of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar Tuesday as part of Holy Week in Lima.

    The cast, which has been preparing for the play since February, finally made their debut presentation among fellow inmates and prison officials.

    The production crew consisting of over a dozen actors, apparently designed their own costumes, built their own set, and studied their lines for two months straight.

    One of the inmates was chosen to portray Jesus.

    The reenactment of Jesus’ crucifixion couldn’t have been more realistic. The actor was forced to carry his own cross, was then tied to it, and mounted above for everyone to see.

    Sarita Colonia guards also had the opportunity to enjoy the show as they heavily monitored the play in the back of the prison yard.

    According to the prison’s press release, officials said that the purpose behind the rock opera was to encourage and inspire the prisoners during their time of rehabilitation.

    Director and convicted robber, Freddy Battifora, 35, told reporters that the performance was a “healthier means of self-expression for blowing off steam,” especially for the cast members.

    In other related news, an additional event started on Sunday April 13 in Seville, Spain.

    The Christian Easter Holy Week also includes Semana Santa de Sevilla, which comprises of floats, holy figures, and religious processions.

    One feature in particular involves penitents (sinners) dressed up in robes and hoods to conceal their identity while they confess of their sins in public.

    The traditional festivities are usually celebrated in most Spanish towns during this time of the year.

    In the streets of Jerusalem, both Jewish and Christian people of faith have also gathered to commemorate the Passover and Holy Week by remembering miraculous stories in the Bible.

    Check out this clip of the original 1973 musical Jesus Christ Superstar:

    Image via YouTube

  • Catherine Zeta-Jones Attends Public Event With Michael Douglas

    Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas made their first public appearance together since separating last year.

    On Tuesday, April 15, the reunited couple attended opening night of The Library at The Public Theater in New York City.

    According to People Magazine, “The couple looked relaxed and happily posed for photos.”

    Hopefully this public outing is a good sign for the couple and their marriage. The parents to son Dylan, 13, and daughter Carys, 10, have been steadily working on their marriage since separating last August.

    A longtime family friend told People Magazine, “It is so easy to just give up. But they wanted to put in the work. I’m really happy for them.”

    Douglas’ mother, Diana Douglas, also shared news of a reconciliation between the couple last month. “They are together. I knew they would work it out. They’re both gentle people, not hysterical. They’re always very affectionate and easy with each other. I figured the more everybody stayed out of it, the better,” said Douglas’ mother.

    One fan couldn’t have been more excited to see Zeta-Jones and Douglas at the event, as well as all the other celebrity faces that hit the red carpet.

    Another fan got a little hashtag crazy after posting a picture of the couple from Tuesday night to Instagram. The photo is captioned, “Catherine zeta Jones and Michael Douglas together again…. #catherinezetajones #actress #Chicago #broadway #zorro #legendofzorro #rockofages #film #movie #michaeldouglas #actor #liberace #behindthecandelabra #fatalatraction #oscarwinner #couple #instalike #instafollow #insta #regram #followback #followme #shoutouts #likeback”

    The Library stars Chloe Grace Moretz and is directed by Steven Soderbergh. Moretz plays “a survivor of a deadly high school shooting. She struggles to tell her story to her parents, the authorities or anyone who will listen. But there are other narratives that gain purchase in the media and paint her in a different light. The drama asks us to examine our relationship to the truth and the lies that claim to heal us.”

    Image via YouTube.

  • Sophie Okonedo Shines In Broadway’s “Raisin In The Sun”

    Sophie Okonedo is stunning in her Broadway debut of “A Raisin In The Sun” opposite Denzel Washington. The British born actress, best known for her role in Hotel Rwanda, stars as Ruth, Walter’s (Washington) distressed, but strong, wife. A review by The Washington Post calls Sophie the play’s mournful foundation: “Okonedo is deceptively subdued as Ruth, who embodies the bone-breaking hardship of poverty.”

    “A Raisin In The Sun” follows a poor family struggling in one small Chicago apartment until they receive their salvation: a $10,000 check from a life-insurance policy payout. The real struggle begins when the family all has differing opinions on what to do with the money.

    On getting the role, Sophie says it was a “dream come true.” “Hansberry knew so much about the human spirit, getting older, and living in the world when you don’t have much,” she says of the 1950s production. Despite the age of the play, Sophie believes the content of “Raisin” is still relevant today. “The gap between the rich and the poor is bigger than ever. That grips me.”

    The Washington Post adds that “you can see Ruth’s weariness in the carriage of Okonedo’s shoulders, the set of her mouth. She embraces every part of the character.” Okonedo says that she decided to focus more on portraying Ruth’s strength rather than her fatigue. “She’s quite tough, quite robust,” says Okonedo. “She couldn’t be falling apart every second. She’d have to be trying to keep it together.”

    “A Raisin In The Sun” has been receiving overall rave reviews and has even seen some high profile guests. This weekend President Obama and First Lady Michelle attended the play, heading backstage to meet the actors during intermission. “I was so excited I couldn’t even hear anything he said,” Sophie says about meeting the president. She was also able to squeeze in a quick hug with Michelle. “I hugged her! I just couldn’t help it. She just feels so approachable.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Angela Lansbury Shines On London Stage

    Angela Lansbury Shines On London Stage

    In January it was announced that Dame Angela Lansbury would be reprising her role as Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, on the same stage her mother performed on in 1918.

    In Blithe Spirit, Lansbury’s Madame Arcati, a medium, is invited to the home of socialite and novelist Charles Condomine to conduct a seance. Charles only hopes to get some material for a new novel, but instead sees the ghost of his late first wife Elvira. When the seance is over, Elvira sticks around and tries to ruin Charles’s marriage to his second wife Ruth, who can’t see or hear Elvira.

    Now the critics have had a chance to see the play and they couldn’t be more thrilled with it and Lansbury’s performance.

    Theater critic Charles Spencer said Lansbury was “on sparkling form” and continued, “Thirty-five years ago I remember being bowled over by Lansbury’s performance as Mrs Lovett in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway. She brings a similar energy and high definition wit to Madame Arcati. Her voice swoops and soars with superb grandeur and her extraordinary dance routine, in which she seems physically to vibrate as she goes into a trance, is a wonder to behold. This is a tour de force that will glow warmly in the memory of all who see it.”

    If you couldn’t guess, Spencer gave Blithe Spirit a five star review.

    While the Independent‘s critic Paul Taylor also enjoyed the performance, he only gave it four stars, saying, “With her red Princess Leia-style coiffure and clashing arty-meets-hearty wardrobe, Lansbury’s Madame A is a quivering, deliciously erratic blend of bohemian lady novelist and girl guide. It’s the way, though, that she emphasises the medium’s batty and strangely admirable self-belief that makes her portrayal so funny and endearing.”

    Rod McPhee of the Daily Mirror gave a five star review. “Lansbury shows she still has razor sharp comic timing and the arsenal of withering looks and gestures required to play this timeless comedy character. The most subtle change in delivery and tone of voice is perfected by the experienced star, leaving the audience in stitches throughout,” said McPhee.

    Fans also enjoyed Lansbury’s performance, taking to Twitter to share with those not lucky enough to have seen the play.

    Blithe Spirit continues to run through June 7 at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End.

    Image via YouTube.

  • Danai Gurira’s Play Part Of Yale Rep Season

    While most people recognize Danai Gurira from her performance as Michonne on AMC’s hit drama The Walking Dead, Gurira is also known as a famous playwright.

    Before becoming a part of many Sunday night routines, Gurira won an OBIE Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award, and has written such plays as Eclipsed, The Convert, and co-wrote In the Continuum with Nikkole Salter. She won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress for In the Continuum, which was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

    Now Gurira’s play, Familiar, will be part of the Yale Repertory Theater’s 2014-15 season. The play will be directed by Rebecca Taichman and will run from January 30 – February 21, 2015.

    Yale Rep even took to their Twitter to link the announcement of Gurira’s play, as well as four other plays. Gurira’s Familiar, as well as Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ War and Sheila Callaghan’s Elevada will all be world premieres. New productions of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia and Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle will also be featured in the 2014-15 season.

    Familiar is described as follows: “In a snowy Midwestern suburb, Marvelous and Donald are preparing for the marriage of their eldest daughter. Clashes erupt within the family when the first-generation American bride-to-be insists on observing a traditional Zimbabwean wedding ritual. Familiar is a richly funny and deeply moving new play about the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters, wives and husbands—the customs they keep, and the secrets they keep buried.”

    Gurira is even getting help from friends on getting the word out about her new play.

    Like Familiar, War, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Elevada will be directed by women.

    Image via YouTube.

  • J.K. Rowling Is Preparing To Bring Harry Potter To The Stage

    Listen up Harry Potter fans, big news is here. J.K. Rowling is working on a stage play about the beloved character of Harry Potter, featuring a story that fans have never been exposed to before. The upcoming stage production will debut in London’s West End.

    First, J.K. Rowling was responsible for one of the most popular and best-selling young adult franchises in history, then they were turned into some of the highest grossing films, and now she has turned to the theater to further build on the franchise.

    Unlike the films which were adapted from each book, Rowling’s new venture to the stage will explore a part of Harry Potter’s life that has never been seen before.

    The play will be a prequel to the books, and show life of Harry Potter before entering the famous Hogwarts school that everyone got to know throughout the books and films.

    Whether the story will simply feature Harry Potter living at 4 Privet Drive with the Dursley family, or feature his friends, Ron and Hermione, is unclear, but it could be an interesting way to tie them all together before meeting.

    J.K. Rowling released a statement on her Facebook page which highlights the plot of the production as well as what has finally prompted her to bring the story to the stage.

    Post by J.K. Rowling.

    The play will also explore Potter’s life as an orphan and outcast, before being accepted by the community of wizards and witches and having his life changed forever.

    In addtion to the new play, J.K. Rowling will also be writing the script for an upcoming film based on a Hogwarts text book from the Harry Potter saga called Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them.

    J.K. Rowling has also noted that she will enlist the help of another writer to pen the script of the play, but she has not revealed who it will be yet. However, it has been announced that she will be collaborating with with award-winning theater producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender.

    J.K. Rowling’s upcoming stage production has yet to be given a premiere date, but is set to begin production in 2014.

    Some fans are already getting excited about the upcoming play.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Bryan Cranston Will Portray LBJ In Broadway Play

    After the end of Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston has already taken on a new role. He will play former president Lyndon Johnson in a Broadway play called All The Way. For those of you going through withdrawals without Breaking Bad on Sunday nights, you will be able to catch him on Broadway soon enough, which will debut this winter.

    The premiere date is unknown, but it will mark the Broadway debut for the veteran television actor. Cranston gained a lot of fans and recognition for his role as Walter White and although fans are sad to see it go, they can rejoice in the fact that he has a new role to impress audiences with.

    All The Way is written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, and it tells the story of LBJ through his first year in office after taking over the presidency, following the death of JFK in 1963. It goes on to tell the story of how he get elected and beat out Barry Goldwater in the following year, according to CBS News. It also discusses his advancements in the field of civil rights and the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

    This role will be quite the contrast for Cranston who just finished a five-year-run of playing one of the biggest drug kingpins in the country. AMC’s Breaking Bad recently finished it’s fifth season and was shown to a record number of people, totaling 10.3 million. Cranston has been appearing in the play at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The production has been performing to a sold out crowd and is set to close out the run on Sunday.

    All The Way, which has a runtime of about 3 hours, The Los Angeles Times mentions that it has received mixed reviews so far. The news of Cranston’s casting was released from producer Jeffrey Richards over social media on Sunday. Cranston has been in theater performances before, starting back in 1987 with The Steven Weed Show, and appearing in a 2006 production of Sam Shepard’s The God of Hell.

    Well, it did. It looks like congratulations are in order for All The Way.

    Bryan Cranston is also getting ready to play Lex Luthor in the next Superman film.

    Image via Youtube

  • Phylicia Rashad Moves into the Director Role

    While famous for her notable TV role as the “Cosby Show” matriarch, Phylicia Rashad, has embarked onto another facet of performing arts. According to the Star Tribune, Rashad has taken on the role of director in the national staged reading for the New York-based play, “Four Little Girls: Birmingham 1963.”

    Today commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that took place in Birmingham, AL on September 15, 1963. The bombing, which claimed the lives of four African-American little girls, denoted a strong progression in the turn of events that pushed the envelop for the 1960s Civil Rights movement. The historic bombing served as a strong influential factor in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

    The reading for “Four Little Girls,” written by playwright Christina Ham, took place at the Kennedy Center Family Theater in Washington DC. The talented stage readers consisted of high school students from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and college students from Howard University.

    As a Howard University alumni, Rashad accepted the directorial role as an esteemed honor, stating that while the leadership is challenging, the gratuitous effort are quite rewarding. Rashad said her desire for the reading was to elaborate on the “sanctity of joy, human existence, and the value of life.” She went on to explain that as director her main focal point is maintaining the creative energy, keeping it in sync with the Ham’s’ vision, “while leaving room for people to add to the vision.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • YouTube Adds New Play Icon to Browser Tabs to Help Alleviate a Very Annoying Problem

    YouTube has just made a small tweak that makes me very, very happy – and it’ll make you happy too if you’re the type of person who consistently browses the web with dozens of tabs open at the same time.

    Now, when a video is playing, YouTube will indicate that with a new play icon that appears in your browser tab. Check it out:

    You know when something starts blaring in your headphones and you don’t know where it’s coming from, so you have to click through all of your tabs to find the culprit. Well, as long as the culprit is a YouTube video, this new feature should eliminate the guesswork.

    And let’s be honest, the problem is usually YouTube. The site autoplays all videos when you click the link – and that leads to a bunch of confused audio when you’re a tab-happy browser.

    The new play icon also shows up during ads – so that’s a huge bonus.

    Sometimes it’s the small things, you know?

    [h/t The Verge]

  • AOL PLAY Music App Reaches 250,000 Downloads

    AOL said today its social music app PLAY has been downloaded over 250,000 times since its launch three weeks ago at SXSW.

    “Music is a big part of what makes a smartphone a smartphone. But the future of portable music is more than just listening to music you like — it involves sharing your music experience with friends,” said David Temkin, VP of Mobile at AOL.

    AOL-PLAY

    “With PLAY, we’ve recognized that music says a lot about who you are and what you’re doing; and it’s gratifying to see it catch on so quickly.”

    PLAY allows users to listen to songs from their device along with the music their friends are listening to. While listening, users can share music experiences with personalized album art or messages with other users of PLAY or to Facebook and Twitter.

    Users can also find new music by following their friends on PLAY and listening to free AOL Music content like Spinner’s free MP3 of the Day and AOL Music’s CD Listening Parties.

    PLAY is currently available on the Android Market and is coming soon to the iPhone.