Television

A stage adaptation is in the works for Broadway, the West End and Australia. The goal is a 2023 debut.“Game of Thrones” ended in 2019 but George R.R. Martin still hasn’t finished the next novel in his Song of Ice and Fire series, the books that inspired the globally popular HBO drama.Alas, no word on when that might happen. But impatient fans may have something else to look forward to: The return of favorite characters like Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister in a stage adaptation of “Game of Thrones” that is being developed in the hope of productions on Broadway, in London’s West End and in Australia, with a target debut of 2023.“It ought to be spectacular,” Martin said in a statement announcing the play on Tuesday.The author will write the story alongside the playwright Duncan Macmillan, who also adapted George Orwell’s “1984” for the stage and recently wrote “Lungs,” a play that streamed live from London’s Old Vic Theater last summer. Dominic Cooke, a former artistic director of the Royal Court Theater, will direct.Martin said the play, which is not yet titled, will be set during a pivotal moment in the history of the series — The Great Tourney at Harrenhal, which took place 16 years before the events of “Game of Thrones” — and include many of the show’s “most iconic and well-known characters.” The production’s story, he said, will be “centered around love, vengeance, madness and the dangers of dealing in prophecy, in the process revealing secrets and lies that have only been hinted at until now.”The Great Tourney featured jousting and archery competitions and was considered the biggest tournament in Westeros history. No specific characters have yet been confirmed to recur, but a few seem like safe bets — a young Ned Stark, his sister Lyanna, and a braggadocious teenage Jaime Lannister all attended the event in Martin’s books.Simon Painter, Tim Lawson and Jonathan Sanford will produce, in partnership with Kilburn Live. Painter is known for creating large-scale touring shows like “The Illusionist” franchise, which he launched with Lawson. Vince Gerardis will also serve as an executive producer.The play is the latest in a series of prequel projects that have been announced since the HBO fantasy epic concluded in 2019. Martin recently agreed to a five-year deal with HBO to create content for the network, and one “Game of Thrones” prequel, “House of the Dragon,” has already been greenlit, with an expected premiere in 2022.The series became a singularly enormous hit for HBO, regularly attracting millions of viewers for each episode across its eight seasons. The final episode was the most-watched of the series, drawing 19.3 million viewers when it aired in May 2019.This will not be the first “Game of Thrones” project for the stage. Ramin Djawadi, the show’s composer, toured with musicians playing the score set to clips from the series in arenas all over the world from 2017 to 2019, complete with confetti snow, sparks, smoke and “dragon” fire.Other fantasy epics have attempted journeys to the stage after the conclusion of their literary sagas, among them J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series and J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” books. The two-part “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which debuted in London in 2016, won six Tony Awards during its Broadway run, which began in 2018, and has been produced in Melbourne and Toronto. But the “Lord of the Rings” musical, which opened in Toronto in 2006 before transferring to the West End, was never a critical — or box office — success, and went on to become one of the biggest commercial flops in West End history.But, right now, for Westeros fans, excitement is running high.“The seeds of war are often planted in times of peace,” Martin said. “And now, at last, we can tell the whole story … on the stage.” More

In an unprecedented move, a recording of the show will start streaming in October, while audiences can see it live (if theaters reopen) in December.“Diana,” a new musical about the idolized but ill-fated British princess, managed to get through nine preview performances before Broadway shut down last March.Now, one year, one pandemic, and one Oprah interview later, the show is ready to try again, with a new strategy and a new context.In a first for a Broadway show, a filmed version of the stage production will start streaming before the musical opens. “Diana,” which was shot over a week last September in an audience-less Longacre Theater, will begin streaming on Netflix on Oct. 1, and then two months later, on Dec. 1, will resume previews on Broadway.The musical’s producers announced Tuesday that they intend to open Dec. 16, which is 625 days after its originally scheduled, but pandemic-postponed, opening night. The producers are putting their Broadway tickets on sale now, and counting on the Netflix film, which will have an open-ended run, to boost interest in the stage production.“I think people will see the movie and will say, that’s a show I want to see in person,” said Frank Marshall, a prominent filmmaker who is one of the musical’s lead producers. Another lead producer, the Broadway veteran Beth Williams, acknowledged that the plan involves “a slightly more complicated rollout,” but added “we feel like it’s an incredible opportunity to put ‘Diana’ in front of the global Netflix audience, and then give them an opportunity to see it live.”Broadway, of course, remains closed in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and producers expect that most full-scale plays and musicals won’t attempt to start performances until after Labor Day. “Diana,” which chronicles the life and death of the Princess of Wales, who was the first wife of Prince Charles, is among the first shows to put tickets on sale and to choose a specific date for a target opening.The scheduling, Marshall said, was a matter of trying to anticipate how the country’s post-pandemic reopening will unfold, and trying to coordinate the two projects to strengthen them both. “We wanted to make sure our marketing plans aligned,” he said. “I’m very optimistic about the fall, for both movies and for Broadway.” (A spokesman for the show declined to say how much Netflix paid for the streaming rights.)The musical, featuring Jeanna de Waal in the title role, is directed by Christopher Ashley and choreographed by Kelly Devine, who previously collaborated on “Come From Away”; it was written by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan (the Bon Jovi keyboardist), who created the Tony Award-winning “Memphis.”Through virtual and in-person work, the show, which had a pre-Broadway production at La Jolla Playhouse, was revised early in the pandemic. The producers said they do not expect further revisions, and expect their cast to remain intact.Diana has remained an object of public fascination in the years since her death in a 1997 car crash. But her story also has a contemporary sequel, as her younger son, Harry, and his wife, Meghan, stepped away from their royal duties, and, in an interview this month with Oprah Winfrey, he said that “my biggest concern was history repeating itself.”The lives of Diana’s children are not the subject of the new show. “You see Diana become a mother, but her children are not in the musical,” Williams said. “We’re telling the story of a complicated marriage, and at the same time we’re telling a coming-of-age story, and we’ve always seen it as a celebration of Princess Diana, whose legacy will live forever.”The producers said they don’t yet know what sort of safety protocols might be required for cast, crew, or ticket holders at the in-person production. Will there even be an opening night party? “There will be a celebration,” Williams said. “It’s too soon to know what that will look like.” More

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The tension between the two Housewives was hinted in season 13 trailer which Bravo released earlier this month in which Leah was heard calling Heather a ‘Karen’ for an unknown reason.

Mar 30, 2021

AceShowbiz –
Heather Thomson may not appear much in season 13 of “The Real Housewives of New York City”. According to a new report, Heather has stopped filming as she’s feuding with co-star Leah McSweeney.

“Heather’s popular history with the old cast and the excitement about new cast member Eboni Williams prompted production to maneuver her return,” a source claims to Us Weekly. The source also shares that Ramona Singer invited the 50-year-old fashion designer to the Hamptons for the weekend during production.

That was when Heather and Leah were involved in a verbal fight. “Shortly after she arrived, Leah [McSweeney] and Heather butt heads. Their exchanges got messy and included some name-calling,” the insider details. Heather allegedly “was stunned” over the fight as she “had minimal interaction” with Leah before season 13.

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“Heather could see Leah was acting up for the cameras and using behavior she considered demeaning and exploitative and frankly, crossed a line,” says the source. “Heather wanted no part of Leah so after she left that weekend Heather had no interest in continuing the season at all and stopped filming.”

The tension between Heather and Leah was hinted in season 13 trailer which Bravo released earlier this month. The video saw Leah calling Heather a “Karen” for an unknown reason.

In addition to that, the clip saw Eboni calling out fellow Housewife Ramona for her comment on her housekeeper. She confronted Ramona for referring to her employees for her party as “the help,” saying, “The ‘help’ comment was a little triggering for me.” To that, Ramona fired back, “Here’s to ‘hospitality assistance.’ ”

Elsewhere in the teaser, Eboni bragged about being the most educated person among other Housewives. “I have more education frankly than anybody at this table,” so the lawyer said. “Don’t come into my house and tell me I dont have an education,” Luann de Lesseps snapped at Eboni who responded, “I can leave your house Lu!”

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Gearing up for its production, the Disney Plus series unveils Kumail Nanjiani, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Sung Kang, Benny Safdie, Moses Ingram and Simone Kessell among the cast ensemble.

Mar 30, 2021

AceShowbiz –
Actor Joel Edgerton is reprising his role as Uncle Owen Lars in the upcoming “Star Wars” spin-off series about Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“The Great Gatsby” star portrayed a younger version of the character in 2002’s “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones”, and its sequel, “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” in 2005, and now he’s signed up to return as Lars, the stepbrother of Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader, played in the prequel films and the planned “Obi-Wan” series by Hayden Christensen.

Bonnie Piesse, who previously appeared as Edgerton’s onscreen wife, Beru Lars, is also stepping back into the “Star Wars” Universe, while other new additions to the cast of the Disney+ show include Kumail Nanjiani, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Benny Safdie, Moses Ingram, Simone Kessell, and Indira Varma, whose involvement was announced earlier this month (March 2021).

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Production on “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, starring Ewan McGregor as the titular Jedi, is set to begin in April, with the story set 10 years after the events of “Revenge of the Sith”. Deborah Chow, who took charge of two season one episodes of “The Mandalorian”, will direct the new series.

McGregor and Chow will share their executive producer role with Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan and writer Joby Harold.

Back in October 2020, McGregor spilled a bit about the spin-off series during a Zoom appearance on “The Graham Norton Show”. While not revealing much, he stated at the time, “It’s the Obi-Wan Kenobi story, I suppose. It’s not all me, but it certainly will be a lot of me, which is good.”

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The ‘Mank’ actress has been brought in to the Hulu series, which is based on a podcast about the rise and fall of Holmes and her biotech company Theranos, in the wake of Kate McKinnon’s exit.

Mar 30, 2021

AceShowbiz –
Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried has replaced Kate McKinnon as billionaire Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s upcoming “The Dropout”.

“Saturday Night Live” regular McKinnon exited the series, based on a podcast about the rise and fall of Holmes and her biotech company Theranos, in February, and now the “Mank” star has stepped up to play the fraudster and also produce the project.

This role as Holmes was Amanda’s first since receiving a Best Supporting Actress nomination at 2021 Oscars for her portrayal of Hollywood actress Marion Davies in “Mank”. She will be seen starring in Amy Koppelman’s “A Mouthful of Air” as well as an upcoming Netflix thriller, “Things Heard and Seen”.

Showrunner Elizabeth Meriwether will executive produce this limited drama series along with Liz Heldens, Liz Hannah, Katherine Pope, Rebecca Jarvis, Victoria Thompson and Taylor Dunn. It was suggested that filming may start in May.

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Holmes founded medical testing start-up Theranos and became the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire in 2014 after claiming scientists at her company would revolutionize blood testing. It was later revealed that none of the tech she created actually worked, putting thousands of people’s health in danger.

In 2018, Holmes and another former Theranos boss were indicted on a string of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges for falsifying results to consumers.

“The Dropout” is the latest screen project to explore Holmes’ story – it was also the subject of the 2020 documentary “The Inventor”, directed by Alex Gibney.

Jennifer Lawrence had also previously been linked to the role of Holmes in a planned Adam McKay film, called “Bad Blood”, although it’s unclear if the film, initially announced in 2016, is still in development.

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The ‘Obsessed’ singer, who has been criticized for stealing from Black entertainers without giving due credit, says that ‘it’s kind of hard to credit during the show.’

Mar 30, 2021

AceShowbiz –
Addison Rae has reacted to backlash over her performance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”. Having been criticized for stealing from Black entertainers without giving due credit, the “Obsessed” singer stressed that she supports TikTok dance creators.

The 20-year-old offered her two cents when speaking to TMZ during an outing on Monday, March 29. “I think they were all credited in the original YouTube post, but it’s kind of hard to credit during the show. But they all know that I love them so much. I mean, I support all of them so much. And hopefully one day we can all meet up and dance together,” she said.

The “He’s All That” actress noted that she already talked about the criticism with host Jimmy Fallon. Despite the heat, she gushed that the performance was such “so much fun.” She further raved, “I’m very grateful and thankful. It was such a great time.”

When pressed if she has plans to “collaborate” with those creators, Addison was quick to reply, “For sure. I mean, I think ever since the beginning that I’ve been talking about most of them, and um, definitely wanna collab with a lot of them.” She continued, “So hopefully, once the world opens up, we can all meet up and so something together because they’d be so much fun. And they’re also talented. And I definitely don’t do them justice. They’re amazing.”

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Addison came under fire after she appeared in the Friday, March 26 episode of the late night talk show for a segment called “Addison Rae Teaches Jimmy Eight TikTok Dances”. In it, she performed some popular dances according to cue cards that the TV host held.

Addison has since been slammed by many on Twitter. One in particular argued, “Addison Rae on Fallon is a prime example of how mediocre and basic white girls talent have to be to get far meanwhile she build her whole brand off of stealing tick tok’s from black girls…let me know when y’all ready to talk about how the media pushes WHITE #AddisonRaeonFallon.”

The criticism did not stop there. More came forward with one stating, “these moves/dances were made by black ppl yet she’s the one getting the recognition and money. she doesn’t have any individual talent or creativity she’s just an average looking yt girl with colonizer tendencies and she gets all this. ridiculous.” Another raged, “Jimmy Fallon having Addison Rae on for Tiktok dances she clearly stole and butchered from black creators.”

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A new episode of the long-running singing competition show marks the premiere of Battle Rounds in season 20, featuring singers going head-to-head before some of them advance to the Knockout Rounds.

Mar 30, 2021

AceShowbiz –
“The Voice” returned with a new episode on Tuesday, March 29. The episode marks the premiere of Battle Rounds in season 20, featuring singers going head-to-head before some of them advanced to the Knockout Rounds. During this round, each coach was given one steal and one save.

The first battle was between Team Kelly Clarkson’s Ryleigh Modig and Gean Garcia. The pair took the stage to sing “POV” by Ariana Grande. Coach Blake Shelton commented, “If Kelly was here I would tell her, why did you pair these two together, it’s awful, what is she doing.” Kelsea Ballerini, who stepped in for Kelly as she was sick, was having a hard time to choose one between the amazing singers. Eventually, Riley won with John Legend and Nick Jonas hitting their buttons to steal Gene. Gene chose John.

The next singers to go head-to-head were Connor Christian and Aaron Konzelman from Team Blake. The two sang Waylon Jennings’ “Ain’t Living Long Like This”. Nick gushed over Connor’s “rasp” while he loved Aaron’s “professional qualities.” As for John, he said, “I really had a fun time listening to the whole thing.” Coach Blake commented, “Aaron, I don’t know how you manage to do anything else when you are so good at this. Connor, once you are in the zone, nobody can get you out of there.” Blake eventually announced Connor as the winner and no one unfortunately stole Aaron.

Dana Monique and Devan Blake Jones from Team Nick then hit the stage to belt out “Stuck on U” by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. Blake mentioned about Dana’s “powerful” vocal. John added, “Devan, I really think you are a great vocalist, you have so much fire, my only concern is that there were a few accuracy issues when it came to the pitch. Dana, you looked natural up there, when it came to execution you were on point the whole time.” Dana won the battle. However, Devan stayed on the competition as Nick decided to save him.

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Battling next were Team John’s Christine Cain and Pia Renee who sang Brandy’s song “Baby”. “I feel like I just watched a sass off. Both of you look amazing, you look like I have it together, I am ready to go, and I think as a woman in music it is important to know yourself like that and I see that in both of you as well and that is really amazing,” Kelsea gushed. Meanwhile, Blake said, “Christine, you are such a good singer but at times I felt like you were so laid back and it goes to Pia and she explodes with these vocal moments that really hit the mark. For that reason, I think I would go with Pia.” The winner of the battle was Pia and no one stole Christine.

Team Nick’s Jose Figueroa Jr. and Awari were then up next, singing “You Say” by Lauren Daigle. “This is genuinely a tough decision Nick Jonas. I feel like your voice Jose was a little more fluid and a little more effortless. Awari I love how strong and solid your voice is. Nick, I might very slightly edge towards Awari and I’m not even sure about that, it’s very close,” John commented. Nick also called the duet “phenomenal.” Eventually, Nick picked Jose as the winner of the battle. Awari was sent home as nobody hit their buttons.

The final battle that night was between Ethan Lively and Avery Robinson as they sang “Just Got Started Lovin’ You” by James Otto. “I felt like it was inviting, the performance. This song did have that low note and I felt like Ethan has that robust low tone. It is amazing to me that Ethan is only seventeen. I think at this moment, Ethan did a little bit better, but this song played to his strengths,” John raved. “Ethan, you made Nick half the man, you made him jealous. Avery, you came in high demand, you had all four coaches want you. I say you come alive up there,” Blake added. After a tough decision, Ethan was named as the winner. As Avery was available to steal, Kelsea stole Avery on behalf of Kelly.

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The network announced Sharon’s departure in a statement on Friday, March 26, two weeks after the 68-year-old British was involved in a heated argument about race with black co-host Sheryl Underwood.

Mar 30, 2021

AceShowbiz –
CBS has responded to a report claiming that CBS gave Sharon Osbourne up to $10 million ahead of her exit from “The Talk”. According to Page Six, a source spilled that Sharon “is walking away with a $5 to $10 million minimum payout and was able to spin that it was her decision [to leave the show].”

Another source, meanwhile, added that the wife of Ozzy Osbourne would be speaking out about her exit “when she is ready.” The informant continued, “She has been on that show for 11 years and knows all the secrets.”

CBS, however, has denied the claims. “False, inaccurate or untrue. Take your pick,” a CBS spokesperson said.

The network announced Sharon’s departure in a statement which was released on Friday, March 26, two weeks after the 68-year-old British was involved in a heated argument about race with black co-host Sheryl Underwood. “Sharon Osbourne has decided to leave ‘The Talk’. The events of the March 10 broadcast were upsetting to everyone involved, including the audience watching at home,” the statement read.

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“As part of our review, we concluded that Sharon’s behavior toward her co-hosts during the March 10 episode did not align with our values for a respectful workplace,” the statement continued.

CBS also denied Sharon’s claims that she was “blindsided” by producers over the confrontation in the episode. “We also did not find any evidence that CBS executives orchestrated the discussion or blindsided any of the hosts,” the statement also read. “At the same time, we acknowledge the Network and Studio teams, as well as the showrunners, are accountable for what happened during that broadcast as it was clear the co-hosts were not properly prepared by the staff for a complex and sensitive discussion involving race.”

“During this week’s hiatus, we are coordinating workshops, listening sessions and training about equity, inclusion and cultural awareness for the hosts, producers and crew. Going forward, we are identifying plans to enhance the producing staff and producing procedures to better serve the hosts, the production and, ultimately, our viewers,” the statement concluded.

Sharon received backlash after she defended Piers Morgan who said that he didn’t believe Meghan Markle’s claims, including her racism experience in the royal family. “I am with you. I stand by you,” she tweeted at the time. “People forget that you’re paid for your opinion and that you’re just speaking your truth.”

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