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Tag: theater

  • ‘Hamilton’ Cast Performs Spellbinding Broadway Number For 2016 Grammys

    On Monday night, audience members and TV viewers witnessed why Hamilton deserved to take home a Grammy award. Tickets for the Broadway show sold fast, but the cast treated the audience to an impressive theater performance during the 2016 Grammy Awards.

    Lin Manuel-Miranda and the rest of the Hamilton cast did not disappoint and gave the Grammy audience an impressive performance that was definitely worthy of an award.

    The Late Show host Stephen Colbert introduced the Hamilton cast from the theater. It was the first time the award-giving body stepped away from the Staples Center set to air live from Broadway.

    The Broadway stars performed live from the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York City, where the cast of Hamilton perform almost nightly.

    “Prepare to witness something truly special,” Colbert said as he introduced the performers on stage. It truly was special as the performers did not disappoint the viewers with their outstanding presentation. The cast of Hamilton performed “Alexander Hamilton,” the opening number of the hit Broadway show.

    The audience’s applause grew louder once Miranda took center stage as Alexander Hamilton. He performed alongside many talented Broadway stars including Leslie Odom Jr. as well as Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.

    Watch the Hamilton Cast Perform for the 2016 Grammys

    “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean, by providence impoverished, in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” Leslie Odom, Jr. as Aaron Burr began. He wowed the spectators as he started singing the first lines.

    With the cast’s spellbinding performance, the show’s soundtrack won the award for Best Musical Theater Album, which Miranda proudly received in New York City. Expect to see Broadway’s Hamilton bag more trophies and recognition at this year’s Tony Awards, which will be held at New York City’s Beacon Theatre in June.

  • 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.

  • Gloria Estefan’s On Your Feet To Premiere In Chicago

    It took quite a while but Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s On Your Feet is finally dancing its way to a world premiere in Chicago.

    On Your Feet showcases the life of the one and only Queen of Latin Pop and her relationship with her husband Emilio, 19-times Grammy winner and record producer extraordinaire.

    The musical will show audiences how their dedication to each other, their heritage and their pursuit of the American dream led to their remarkable success. It will cover Gloria’s early years with the Miami Sound Machine and her miraculous recovery from a broken back in 1990.

    Bringing On Your Feet to the stage is a feat in itself. It’s rare that a bilingual, Latino-centered musical is showcased and biographies are especially tricky.

    However, the couple is confident that they can pull it off and Emilio is certain that “Chicago’s gonna bring us a lot of good luck.”

    It’s a sentiment that Gloria believes in as well.

    “The audience is a wonderful nurturing audience but also they’re savvy in the way of theater so it’s a great place to try your stuff out,” the 57-year-old hitmaker said.

    As expected, Gloria’s hits will also play an essential part. Audiences will be treated to well-loved songs like “Conga,” “Rhythm is Gonna Get You,” “Don’t Want to Lose You Now” and the titular “Get On Your Feet.”

    While her hits will take center stage, Gloria won’t be.

    Instead, she’s leaving it to the very capable hands of Ana Villafane, who was discovered after a worldwide search for the lead.

    But who knows, Gloria said she might just “sneak in there and be my mom.”

    On Your Feet will open at Chicago’s Oriental Theater on June 2 and will run for five weeks. The musical will then be previewed on Broadway at the Marquis Theater on October 15 before beginning its official run on November 5.

  • 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.

  • Jennifer Lawrence Reveals That She Hated Theater in School

    Jennifer Lawrence recently interviewed Eddie Redmayne for the appropriately-named Interview Magazine. While she got plenty of great material out of Redmayne for the piece, Jennifer Lawrence herself revealed quite a lot.

    One of the things that she told Redmayne is that she rarely watches playback of her scenes when shooting a film. It’s not so much that she is The Jennifer Lawarence and does no wrong. She just doesn’t want to second-guess herself the whole time.

    “[I don’t watch the dailies] unless I keep getting the same note and I’m obviously not getting it, then I’ll watch it again on the monitor,” she told Redmayne, who revealed that he watched dailies all throughout the filming at The Theory of Everything.

    “Maybe watching dailies would make me better,” Jennfer Lawrence said. “Every time I’m at a premiere, all I’m doing is thinking, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have said it like that!’ Actually, it would probably just make me neurotic.”

    Lawrence revealed how she ended up acting, including the surprise that she did not like doing theater.

    “When my parents were going to be working when I got off from school, they started me with theater. I didn’t really like it, and I only did it for a few weeks. I was 14, and then somebody took my picture on a street in New York, and then I read a screenplay for a film called Gracie; it was about soccer. I had always sucked in school and hated sports, and then I read that and was like, ‘This I get! This I love!’ I became so convinced that it was going to work out that I told my parents I was moving to New York. I look back and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. You were a fucking idiot! You could’ve died!’”

    Lawrence’s move certainly has paid off for her. Between her Hunger Games films and other box office and critical favorites like Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, she is riding a wave that many other actresses hope to emulate.

  • Gillian Anderson in ‘Streetcar’ to Hit Theaters Next Week

    Gillian Anderson made a name for herself as the foil to David Duchovny’s conspiracy-minded FBI agent in the sci-fi series The X-Files, but the actress got her start in theater. Throughout her career Anderson has appeared on stage in productions in New York, Los Angeles, and London.

    Now Anderson has taken on her biggest stage role yet. She is currently depicting main character Blanche DuBois in a London production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Benedict Andrews. The plays run ends next week, but even those who can’t make it to London in the next week will get a chance to see the 46-year-old Anderson’s Blanche shed her pretentious veneer.

    Fathom Events and National Theatre Live will be broadcasting the play live on movie screens throughout the world. The event will take place next week, on September 16. The showings will last for three hours, including one intermission.

    Ben Foster co-stars with Anderson as Stanley, Blanche’s brother-in-law and rival. Foster first made waves as an awkward bisexual artist in the HBO show Six Feet Under. From there he gained larger roles in movies such as X-Men: The Last Stand, 3:10 To Yuma, and 30 Days of Night. More recently he portrayed William Burroughs in last year’s Kill Your Darlings.

    Vanessa Kirby rounds out the cast as Blanche’s sister Stella. Kirby might be best-known outside of her stage work for appearances in movies such as About Time and Queen and Country

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    This particular production of A Streetcar Named Desire is set in present-day New Orleans. Reviews of the play have been good and reveal that Andrews has used a continuously revolving stage to give audience members a shifting perspective on events. The Guardian’s review in particular singled out Anderson as “utterly compelling.”

  • James Earl Jones Is Back On Broadway In “You Can’t Take It With You”

    An eminent actor and the one who gave a distinct voice to the character of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones is making a big comeback on Broadway, where he debuted in 1957. Jones is headlining the Broadway revival of the comedic play You Can’t Take It With You, where he plays the eccentric patriarch of an equally quirky family in Manhattan. The play opens on September 28, but preview performances at the Longacre Theatre began on August 26.

    The legendary actor is joined by a powerhouse cast that includes Golden Globe nominee Rose Byrne (making her Broadway debut), Tony Award nominee Kristine Nielsen, Tony Award nominee Annaleigh Ashford, and Tony Award winner Elizabeth Ashley. Byrne plays the role of Alice, the daughter who seems the most normal in the family.

    You Can’t Take It With You won the Pulitzer Prize for drama after it premiered on Broadway at the Booth Theatre in 1936. Written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, the play was also adapted to film in 1938, and won an Academy Award. It portrays how the eccentric and freethinking Sycamore family acts when the daughter brings her fiancé’s conservative parents over to dinner on the wrong night. The play was last staged on Broadway in 1983 and returns this year helmed by six-time Tony Award nominated director Scott Ellis.

    The production featuring Jones has teamed up with the Humane Society for the kittens who will be featured in the show. In the play, Jones’ character is constantly surrounded by kittens. These kittens will be replaced as they age and offered for adoption to interested audience members.

    Ellis has enlisted the services of scenic designer David Rockwell, costume designer Jane Greenwood and composer Jason Robert Brown to round out the revival production of You Can’t Take It With You.

  • Emma Stone Will Debut On Broadway In ‘Cabaret’ Revival

    Emma Stone Will Debut On Broadway In ‘Cabaret’ Revival

    Screen star Emma Stone will debut on Broadway’s revival of the classic musical Cabaret as Michelle Williams ends her run. Stone will take over Wiliams role as Sally Bowles, the troubled 19-year-old cabaret performer.

    The Roundabout Theatre Company officially released the news Wednesday, welcoming Stone into the cast for a limited run. The 25-year-old’s prior work include The Amazing Spiderman 2, Crazy, Stupid, Love and Easy A.

    USA Today reported that Williams’ final curtain call as Bowles will be on November 9. Stone will take over two days after November 11 and will remain in the cast through February 11.  The show is scheduled to run until March 29 with Alan Cumming staying put in his role as the chilling Emcee who oversees all the cabaret action.

    Cabaret is a Kander and Ebb musical first produced on Broadway in 1966. It was based on the 1951 Broadway play I Am a Camera which, in turn, was based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood. It was very well received and later inspired numerous other productions in New York and London. It was also adapted into film in 1972 which cast Liza Minnelli as Bowles.

    The current show is a revival of the revival which ran for more than 2,000 performances from 1998 to 2004. That run won the Tony Award in 1998 for best musical revival.

    The story is set in Berlin before the Second World War, just as the Nazis are rising to power. It is a peek in and around the Kit Kat Klub, the life of showgirl Sally Bowles and her relationship with American writer, Cliff Bradshaw.  The plot also highlights a doomed romance between a German boarding house owner and an elderly Jewish fruit vendor.

    In addition to Minnelli and Williams, the part of Bowles has also been played by Judi Dench, Gina Gershon, Jill Haworth, Melina Kanakaredes, Jane Leeves, Natasha Richardson, Alyson Reed and Lea Thompson, among others.

  • Benedict Cumberbatch Sets Theater Sales Record

    I’ll admit it. I’m a Cumberbitch. Everything Benedict Cumberbatch touches these days seems to turn to pure gold; the man can seemingly do no wrong. Like every other Cumberbitch, I was terribly excited when I heard that the Christmas special of Sherlock will be a full, feature-length episode, even though said episode is not going to air until Christmas 2015. It is this, exact, anticipatory behavior which recently led to England experiencing its most furious theater ticket sales of all time.

    The Benedict Cumberbatch edition of Hamlet is set to hit the Barbican theater in England from August 5 to October 31 of next year. Despite the fact that the show doesn’t air for another year, the initial queue for tickets on Monday morning was simply astounding. As people logged in at the time the tickets became available – 10 am – they were promptly greeted with bad news. Most people learned just how many Cumberbitches there are in the world, as the queue was consistently reporting that there were 30,000+ people awaiting tickets as well.

    By 5:25 pm, all 100,000 available tickets had sold out, making Cumberbatch’s Hamlet the most sought theater tickets in British history, outpacing the current best A Streetcar Named Desire, starring former X-Files actress Gillian Anderson, by four-to-one in ticket sales and besting Jay-Z and Beyonce’s On the Run tour by 214 percent.

    For fans, the wait will most likely be worthwhile. Hamlet will not be Cumberbatch’s first foray into the British theater scene. Cumberbatch has won multiple awards for his roles in theater, including his roles in Hedda Gabler (Olivier Award nomination), After the Dance, and Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein (Olivier award winner), in which Cumberbatch portrayed both Dr. Frankenstein and his creation on opposite nights.

    If you can’t wait over a year for your next Cumberbatch fix, you’ll next be able to catch him starring in the Alan Turing biopic, The Imitation Game, which is set to hit theaters on November 21.

    Image via YouTube

  • Neil Patrick Harris Tweets Naked Selfie Post ‘Hedwig’ Show

    On Thursday, Neil Patrick Harris gave his fans a sneak peek of what goes on behind the stage of Hedwig and the Angry Inch by sharing a naked selfie from his dressing room.

    Harris was in front of the mirror holding his phone wearing nothing but remnants of his makeup and dark blue nail polish. The picture was captioned, “Other dressing room. Post show. Post wig. Just did this.” In the Broadway show, Harris plays a transgender singer and he goes through an extensive makeup process before going on stage.

    Before sharing his naked selfie, Harris also shared a picture pre-show with him wearing his full makeup sans wig. He captioned the picture, “Dressing room, Pre show. Pre wig. Let’s do this.”

    Behind the scenes of ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ with Neil Patrick Harris

    Harris has been starring in the production since March and he will continue to play the title character until August 17. Playing the character has earned Harris favorable reviews as well as a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical. After winning the award he said, “Playing Hedwig is an absolute joy, I was terrified at first but it has changed me and challenged me and exhausted me… The character is so beautiful and the songs are so amazing to sing.”

    The musical is “highly-improvisational” and Harris both impressed and surprised audiences by playing a transgender role. Just last month, Harris was so into his character that he spat water on a woman in the audience. The incident made headlines, but the show’s rep said that it was part of the show’s audience interaction and Harris did it “all in character.”

    After Harris’ leaves the show, Tony nominated actor Andrew Rannells will take over the role of Hedwig for eight weeks starting August 20. This means that Harris fans only have a couple of weeks left to watch him give his Tony-winning performance.

     Image via Actually NPH, Twitter

  • Gillian Anderson’s ‘Streetcar’ to be Broadcast Live

    Gillian Anderson’s ‘Streetcar’ to be Broadcast Live

    The rendition of Tennessee Williams’ celebrated play A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson as iconic character Blanche Dubois will be broadcast live worldwide on September 16th.

    The play, also starring American actor Ben Foster as Stanley Kowalski, is the fastest-selling ticket in the history of the Young Vic Theater.

    The NT Live program from the National Theatre is handling the September broadcast, which will air at 7 p.m. UK time (2 p.m. EDT).

    Commenting on the play, Anderson said, “I’ve never seen a production where I felt I was a fly on the wall in New Orleans and I felt that that version of it would not only be exciting to perform, but the version that I’d want to see. I’d want to sit in that room and be hot and sweaty with the actors. And after I’d had that idea there was no changing my mind… I have completely fallen in love with Blanche and I was unprepared for that.”

    A Streetcar Named Desire was penned by Williams in 1947, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December, 1947, and ran until December, 1949. The Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. The film version was directed by Kazan and starred Brando and Vivien Leigh.

    Here is the 1951 Streetcar trailer:

    Foster called the Young Vic production “a thrill. It’s very scary in the best way. There’s nowhere to hide.” The Lone Survivor actor added, “We’ve turned film into such an industry that we pursue naturalism just by shaking the camera, and cutting the film to ribbons to provoke a bogus sense of documentary. But we haven’t done the homework. To push the depth that the Actor’s Studio did or the Russian theatres did with their actors, is to rehearse, to spend time, to dig, to excavate. And that is what we are doing.”

    Image via Young Vic

  • Neil Patrick Harris Spits On Woman During ‘Hedwig’ Performance, Audience Shocked

    Neil Patrick Harris was so into his character during his performance in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Thursday that he spat water on a woman in the audience.

    According to a source, the incident happened halfway through the performance. Harris was in full drag costume and leaned down towards the audience and asked the woman “Are you drunk?” The woman waved her hands in the air in reply and the audience assumed that it was all part of the act. Harris then continued to address the woman and reprimanded her for taking pictures. He then said, “I hate you” and walked away.

    Later, Harris was supposed to spit water at the audience as part of the performance, but he spat on the woman instead. “It was all a bit frosty and awkward. His anger was spectacular, especially the ‘I hate you’ bit. The audience went into a stunned silence. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife!” a source said.

    Reports do not indicate how the woman reacted after Harris spat on her face.

    A representative of the show said that in every performance, there is an element of audience interaction. They also said that the incident that happened is “all in character.”

    However, many still think that Harris was serious when he spat on the woman. Others say that he was bothered that the woman was taking pictures in the middle of the show. Taking pictures is prohibited during Broadway shows and other productions.

    This is not the first time that Harris was inappropriate during a performance. According to reports, Harris was the center of attention for swearing at an audience member. However, many people also understand that Hedwig and the Angry Inch consists of lots of improvisation from the actors.

    Harris won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Hedwig in the play.

    Image via YouTube

  • 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.

  • Rupert Grint Scared Away From Drugs by Shia LaBeouf

    One would think that filming 7 (officially 8) Harry Potter movies would make Rupert Grint, best known as Ron Weasley, a more open-minded individual, receptive to fantastical ideas and alternate realities. While that may be true, apparently Grint is not receptive to those alternative realities created by taking LSD, or acid.

    While filming The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, an upcoming film in which Grint portrays an aspiring porn star, Grint witnessed Shia LaBeouf dropping LSD in order to continue his practice of method acting. Apparently the scene was so scary that Grint has decided he will not touch any drugs in the near future: “He smashed the place up, got naked and kept seeing this owl. If anything will make you not do drugs, it’s watching that,” stated Grint.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y65XoPNWLw0

    Grint’s newest project is a theater production of Mojo, a story which recreates the lives of people in rival gangs in Soho during the 1950’s. Grint plays Sweet, a man known for dealing uppers and downers (Ironic, huh?). While this is Grint’s first foray into theater, he says that he would love to follow his compatriot, Daniel Radcliffe, and pursue more theater in the future, adding that “It’s opened my eyes; I’ve learned so much.”

    Apparently, Grint has learned so much that he has even been nominated for the London Newcomer of the Year award at this year’s What’sOnStage Awards.

    Not only is Grint distancing himself from his Ron Weasley beginnings by portraying a drug dealer and an aspiring porn star, but also a punk-rock legend in the upcoming film, CBGB. IN CBGB, Grint plays former rocker Cheetah Chrome, a man known for his extreme drug usage and crazy antics onstage as a guitarist for the band, The Dead Boys.

    In taking these new roles, Grint assures his fans that its not simply for publicity: “It’s not really that I am trying to shock people or make a big statement. It’s just part of moving on,” says Grint. The former child-star actor added, “This is a completely new thing, a whole new level. It does scare me. That’s kind of a reason why I want to do it.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Joan Collins Gets Her Own One-Woman Show

    Joan Collins will be giving fans a chance to hear some never-before-told tales of her private life and see previously unseen film footage early next year, as she takes to the stage in London for a one-woman show.

    Collins rose to fame in the ’80s with a high-profile role on “Dynasty” and has written three very successful memoirs. This new show–which runs from February 2 to February 9–will encompass several years of the star’s life and give theater-goers an intimate look at her early years in show business. According to Broadway.com:

    “One Night With Joan follows the ups and downs of the TV legend’s life and career. Collins will screen rare and hilarious film footage and speak first hand about her screen test for Cleopatra and why she lost the role to Elizabeth Taylor, her on-set encounters with Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Paul Newman and Richard Burton, and, of course, her many relationships. Audiences can also expect to see outtakes of her legendary catfights with Linda Evans in Dynasty. The evening includes a question and answer session with the chance to ask Joan anything about her headline-making life.”

    Image: YouTube

  • Robert De Niro Stars in “The Family”, In Theaters Today

     

    If there’s anything Robert De Niro has a knack for, it’s bringing the Mafia world to life on the big screen. With memorable films like “Good Fellas” and “The God Father”, De Niro has an impeccable reputation of portraying the brash, callous Italian mobster. Now, he’s made his way back to theaters with “The Family”.

    According to ABC News, the Luc Besson-directed film, centers around the Manzoni family. When Giovanni Manzoni (De Niro) snitches on a few of his mob friends, he becomes an exiled entity and a target within the mafia, which places his family in imminent danger. As a result of his confessions, the family is placed in the Witness Protection Program, abruptly uprooted, and relocated to Normandy, France. The objective is to lay low, and that just happens to be the crux of the problem. Introversion is not a trait that runs in the Manzoni family. So remaining unseen and unheard is nearly impossible, which is how all hell breaks loose.

     

     

    The film has been coined as a dark comedy, with De Niro reincarnating his ever-popular, ‘Mr. Focker’ persona, fusing it with his signature, cynical nature as a mobster. The quick-wit banter of the film puts a fresh new spin on big screen Mafia life.

    According to Today, De Niro stars alongside Michelle Pfeiffer in “The Family”, which only adds even more anticipation, given their on-screen reputation to deliver laudably. “The Family” opens in theaters nationwide, today Friday Sept. 13.

     

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons

     

     

     

  • Theatergoing Hero Threw Woman’s Cellphone When She Refused to Shut Up, Stop Googling

    Kevin Williamson is a theater critic and a writer for the National Review. This does not make him a hero. What does make him a hero is that he took action on an impulse that plenty of us have battled from time to time: physically separating the loud, obnoxious, moviegoer who won’t turn off their damn phone from said phone.

    In Williamson’s case, we’re talking theatergoers here. But the principle remains the same: When you’re at a play, turn off your phone you self-absorbed butthole. I promise you that nothing you’re doing is that important. Promise.

    As he tells it, the night began with a couple of annoying women who were “talking, using their phones, and making a general nuisance of themselves.” The audience was watching a performance of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, and two women with “too much makeup and too-high heels, and insufficient attention span for following a two-hour musical” were preventing everyone from enjoying the show. Or at least preventing Williamson, as he was seated right next to them.

    Williamson claims his date spoke to theater management during intermission, whose assurances that the situation would be taken care of wound up being hollow.

    I’ll let him take it from there:

    The lady seated to my immediate right (very close quarters on bench seating) was fairly insistent about using her phone. I asked her to turn it off. She answered: “So don’t look.” I asked her whether I had missed something during the very pointed announcements to please turn off your phones, perhaps a special exemption granted for her. She suggested that I should mind my own business.

    So I minded my own business by utilizing my famously feline agility to deftly snatch the phone out of her hand and toss it across the room, where it would do no more damage. She slapped me and stormed away to seek managerial succor. Eventually, I was visited by a black-suited agent of order, who asked whether he might have a word.

    Williamson tells Gothamist that some rude Googling on the device is what eventually prompted him to remove it from her possession. He was eventually kicked out and says that “there is talk of criminal charges.”

    Whatever happens, we salute you. No, I’m not going to suggest that every annoying movie or theater attendee who refuses to follow simple rules and courtesies should be separated from their iPhones – but if I happened to be one of the crowdmembers enjoying Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 that fateful night, well, let’s just say the play (which he says was quite good) wouldn’t have been the only thing to receive a standing O.

    Of course, as of now, this is a one-sided story.

  • Google Talk Deals With ‘Theater In A Digital Age’

    Rick Lombardo, Artistic Director for the San Jose Repertory Theatre, recently participated in an “At Google” talk, in which he discussed becoming an artist, and why theater arts “are going to continue to prosper” in the digital age.

    It’s an interesting topic if you’ve got 45 minutes to spare.

    The talk took place on April 2nd.

    More recent At Google talks here.

  • Iron Man Stunt Goes Wrong in Missouri Theater

    Iron Man 3 kicked off the summer movie blockbuster season with a huge opening weekend. One theater in Missouri decided, as many theaters do, to provide a little extra entertainment to die-hard moviegoers who showed up for opening night. Unfortunately, the theater’s management failed to realize that patrons might be a bit worried about fake guns in a movie theater given the Aurora, Colorado shooting that took place during the opening weekend of last year’s big super hero blockbuster, The Dark Knight Rises.

    According to an Associated Press report, the Goodrich Capital 8 Theatres in Jefferson City, Missouri hired cosplayers to dress up as Marvel characters, including some dressed as members of S.H.I.E.L.D., the paramilitary organization tasked with combating superhuman threats in the Marvel universe. One of the costume-wearers was reported to have carried a prop assault rifle. Complaints were made, and the Jefferson City police were called.

    The theater has now made a formal apology through its Facebook page. Capital 8 claims that the incident was not a publicity stunt, and that in the future it will “take the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” The statement, in full:

    (image)

    Capital 8 Theatres4 days ago

    To our customers:

    We apologize and are sympathetic to those who felt they were in harm’s way with our character promotion for Iron Man 3. This was not a publicity stunt. We have worked with the Cosplacon group on many movies to dress up and help entertain our customers. We have had many complaints about the members dressed specifically as S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives carrying fake guns. We didn’t clearly tell our customers and some people didn’t realize it was for entertainment purposes only. We apologize that police were called to come out to our theater. We have a wonderful working relationship with the Jefferson City Police Department. Going forward we will take the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Security and safety for our customers is our number one priority.

    Sincerely,

    Capital 8, Goodrich Quality Theaters Powered by socialditto(image)  70 likes ·  237 comments

    (Image courtesy Capital 8 Theatres Facebook page)

  • Mike Daisey, Steve Jobs, and A Controversial Monologue

    Mike Daisey is a respected writer, actor, and performer of the stage who has toured the world with his one-man-shows. So why is he embroiled in such a controversy regarding Apple and it’s founder, Steve Jobs?

    For statements he makes in his latest monologue, entitled “The Agony And Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs”, which were broadcast on a public radio program called “This American Life”. The statements include Apple’s relationship with Chinese factory workers and their conditions, which Ira Glass, the host of the program, says were proven to be false after the show’s fact-checkers were unable to verify his account of meeting those workers.

    The monologue has been at the Public Theater since its debut last year, but Oskar Eustis, the theater’s artistic director, has now added a disclaimer before the opening of the show and has edited out the parts he “doesn’t feel he stand behind”.

    Daisey defended his work on his blog, stating, What I do is not journalism. The tools of the theater are not the same as the tools of journalism. For this reason, I regret that I allowed “This American Life” to air an excerpt from my monologue. “This American Life” is essentially a journalistic ­- not a theatrical ­- enterprise, and as such it operates under a different set of rules and expectations.”

    In a post made today, Daisey vented about the whole experience, calling it “galling” that the public is so “eager to dance on his grave… so they can return to ignoring everything about the circumstances under which their devices are made.”

    He also points out, “There is nothing in this controversy that contests the facts in my work about the nature of Chinese manufacturing. Nothing. I think we all know if there was, Ira would have brought it up.”

    Charles Isherwood of the New York Times reviewed “The Agony And Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs”, calling it an “eye-opening exploration of the moral choices we unknowingly or unthinkingly make when we purchase nifty little gadgets like the iPhone and the iPad and the PowerBook.” Despite his appreciation for the show, however, Isherwood took a different view after the controversy broke.

    “The problem is Mr. Daisey’s particular brand of theater is experienced by the audience as direct and honest testimony to events that he witnessed,” he wrote in the Times. “But in his stage shows Mr. Daisey is the sole voice we hear, and while his monologues undoubtedly contain much writing that is obviously opinion, when it comes to describing his experience, we take him at his word.”