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Paul McCartney to Play Warm Up Show to Glastonbury for 800 People in UK Village

Roger Friedman
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Paul McCartney to Play Warm Up Show to Glastonbury for 800 People in UK Village

Paul McCartney is surprising a little English village tomorrow night.

He’s playing a warm up show in Frome, at a place called Cheese & Grain, for 800 people. It’s a warm up for his appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on Saturday.

Tickets are £25 each and limited to two per person.

McCartney was famous back in his early solo days with Wings for doing pop up shows in small UK villages. Wings went around in a van, arrived at pubs, and surprised the patrons.

We are very jealous we’re not in Frome, wherever that is. Let’s hope they film it. Indeed, fans will put it on YouTube.

A spokesperson for the venue, which welcomed Foo Fighters for a surprise gig before they headlined Glastonbury, said tickets were £25 each and limited to two per person who came to buy them.

“In 24 hours time from now Paul McCartney will be performing live, here in Frome, at the Cheese & Grain,” a spokesperson told the local paper in Bristol. “Tickets for this extraordinary experience are available now from our box office in person only and will be available on a strictly first come first served basis. The box office will be open for extended hours this evening until tickets have sold out.”

Flash! Exclusive Clip from Unseen Trump Documentary Headed to Jan 6 Committee Hearing

Roger Friedman
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Flash! Exclusive Clip from Unseen Trump Documentary Headed to Jan 6 Committee Hearing

Filmmaker Alex Holder has released a 1 minute 15 second teaser from his movie “Unprecedented.” Holder is complying with a subpeona from the January 6th committee to turn over all his raw footage. The movie will come out this summer, although Holder hasn’t said yet who is releasing it. I am told that at first the plan was to stream it, but now a theatrical distribution is being talked about so the film can qualify for the Academy Award.

This clip is from December 5, 2020. Holder released with a statement about editorial control of the film. “The Trumps had no editorial control,” Holder said and his lawyer confirmed it.

Adele Drama: Two Big London Shows Coming, But In Vegas Her Cancellations Lead to Lay Offs, Headaches, and Anger

Roger Friedman
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Adele Drama: Two Big London Shows Coming, But In Vegas Her Cancellations Lead to Lay Offs, Headaches, and Anger

Believe it or not, Adele is getting ready to do two big shows in London.

They are set for July 1st and July 2nd in Hyde Park. They are all sold out, of course.

Will she make the dates? Or cancel the way she did in Las Vegas this past winter and spring. The f bomb dropping chanteuse scrapped 13 weeks in Vegas, a total of 26 shows, without much notice. Fans with tickets bought on secondary sites were left high and dry. They also had to deal with hotel and airline cancellations.

Now the Las Vegas Review Journal reports that Caesar’s Palace is about to lay off dozens of employees partly because of Adele’s sudden change of mind. Caesar’s has never announced replacement dates for the 26 shows. Their Colosseum– which just hosted a run of sold out shows from Sting — is reportedly moving on with new new bookings, but the loss of revenue from Adele has stung in a real world way.

Hitsdailydouble.com says Adele might be rebooking at Planet Hollywood in Vegas, which is managed by Caesar’s. But so far nothing has happened, no one’s heard a thing, and there is a lot of anger among Vegas crews and musicians over the cancelled dates.

Back to Hyde Park: the capacity for concerts is 65,000. If Adele cancels these shows, there will be 130,000 very angry fans. So all eyes will be on London next Friday and Saturday.

PS So far, all other scheduled shows at Hyde Park for the Eagles, Elton John, and the Rolling Stones feature five or six opening acts. So far, no one has been announced to open for Adele.

Ratings: Tuesday’s January 6th Committee Drew Millions on Cable, MSNBC Leads CNN, Beats Fox News

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: Tuesday’s January 6th Committee Drew Millions on Cable, MSNBC Leads CNN, Beats Fox News

Tuesday’s dramatic presentation by the January 6th committee was a hit on cable.

MSNBC scored 3 million viewers at 1pm, and held onto 2.6 million when they were re-checked at 3:40pm. At 8pm, 2.4 million people tuned in to see it all again and watched through the 9 to 10 hour.

On CNN, 2 million people came in at 1pm, and most of them stayed at 3:40pm when the hearing resumed from a break. Jake Tapper held onto 1.4 million when the hearing was over.

Alas, CNN’s other ratings for the day were miniscule. But that has nothing to do with “partisan” anchors. The last thing CNN viewers want to see is a bunch of right wingers lying to the audience about the importance of the hearings or rationalizing Trump backed efforts to overthrow the government.

On FoxNews however, lies are preferred. The extremely partisan network only pulled 773,000 viewers at 1pm and lagged well behind both MSNBC and CNN all day. It was only at night when Fox’s team of ghouls comes out that their audience grew, hungry for lies about what had happened all day.

It should be some consolation that no Fox evening show drew a rating above 3 million, and did not beat MSNBC’s 1pm coverage.

PS All afternoon as the news broke, Fox also ignored the news about its addled 91 year old owner, Rupert Murdoch, getting his fourth divorce.

NY Post, Fox News Silent on Murdoch Divorce, UK Papers Also Self-Censor from Fear

Roger Friedman
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NY Post, Fox News Silent on Murdoch Divorce, UK Papers Also Self-Censor from Fear

If Rupert Murdoch didn’t pay their salaries, Page Six in the NY Post would be all over his divorce from Mick Jagger’s ex, Jerry Hall.

Ditto the cowards at Fox News.

So there is no notice of the dissolution of the marriage of the world’s most evil press baron anywhere on those outlets. There is also almost nothing in the UK press as the usually bold tabloid writers fear for their lives.

What a mess.

Whoever called the NY Times yesterday with the big scoop knew what they were doing. The Times is one of the few important media outlets that would report the story.

But does a divorce make a noise when no one is brave enough to report it?

If you know something and want to tell me confidentiality, this site is all ears. Email me at showbiz411@gmail.com. Otherwise, it’s going to be slim pickins. Page Six and Cindy Adams are not going to go there. And the Daily News doesn’t have a regular gossip columnist (although they have hard working entertainment writers).

If you hear something, say something!

Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Hall Divorcing After 6 Years: She Blew Smoke in His Face, and There is a Pre-Nup

Roger Friedman
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Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Hall Divorcing After 6 Years: She Blew Smoke in His Face, and There is a Pre-Nup

Liver spotted and 91, Rupert Murdoch is getting a divorce from his fourth wife, 65 year old Jerry Hall. They’ve been married six years.

When they announced their surprise relationship, what did they want? He wanted a younger person to take care of him after Wendi Deng didn’t. She needed money. Hall was broke and ex husband Mick Jagger, who claimed they were never married after 22 years and 4 children, wasn’t going to be her ATM.

So these two kids got hitched. What went wrong? Everything, apparently.

Hall, a Texan, preferred spending time in Dallas rather than Bel Air, California or or London. A source says that Murdoch objected to Hall’s smoking when they were together and she didn’t care. “She’d blow smoke in his face,” they say, which doesn’t sound like true love.

There was the practical problem of Murdoch running a racist TV network and New York tabloid both of which publish lies and promote right wing craziness. It’s possible that Hall just wasn’t on board for the mayhem Murdoch has endorsed.

On Monday night, Murdoch hosted a party in London’s Serpentine Gallery, the perfect name for a gathering of snakes. The invitations came from Rupert, Hall. and son Lachlan Murdoch. It’s an annual summer party for Conservatives. It was a private kiss-the-ring affair. Guess who was there? The UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, and his cabinet. So much for his independence.

Guess who was not there? Jerry Hall. Sharp eyed guests realized this and one of them called the New York Times. A scoop followed yesterday afternoon.

Is there a pre-nup? I’m told, “absolutely, of course there is.” Hall is not likely to get a large settlement. One insider speculated it was less than $10 million. It’s possible the pre-nup pays $1 million for the first ten years, and then scales up. Most pre-nups with the wealthy go like that. The fact that Jerry couldn’t past the sixth year is disappointing. I wish she could have really soaked him.

Will she be able to write a book? Or will an NDA be involved? How can Hall parlay all this into some income? I hope she can figure that out. I knew her back in the day via Liz Smith, they were two Texas broads who admired each other immensely. Jerry was always a bubbly personality. She can rebound from this. Murdoch is 91, he could certainly fit in one more marriage. Hall, too, easily. Good luck to both of them!

Oscars: Academy Welcomes New Governors Including Marlee Matlin, Horror Producer Jason Blum, Director Jason Reitman, and Doc Maker Chris Hegedus

Roger Friedman
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Oscars: Academy Welcomes New Governors Including Marlee Matlin, Horror Producer Jason Blum, Director Jason Reitman, and Doc Maker Chris Hegedus

Here’s the release from the Academy. Great new names have been added to the list of Governors, or board members. Including those I posted in the headline, Dion Beebe is one of the great cinematographers. And Megan Colligan is a PR trailblazer who rose to the top of the ranks at Paramount under the late Brad Grey. Chris Hegedus won the DGA Award for Best Documentary in 2000 for “Startup.com,” and made dozens of films with her late husband, the legendary DA Pennebaker including “The War Room.”

Congrats to all!

Elected to the Board for the first time:

Marlee Matlin, Actors Branch
Richard Hicks, Casting Directors Branch
Dion Beebe, Cinematographers Branch
Jason Reitman, Directors Branch
Chris Hegedus, Documentary Branch
Nancy Richardson, Film Editors Branch
Megan Colligan, Marketing and Public Relations Branch
Jason Blum, Producers Branch
Missy Parker, Production Design Branch
Marlon West, Short Films and Feature Animation Branch
Peter Devlin, Sound Branch
Paul Debevec, Visual Effects Branch 

Incumbent governors reelected to the Board:

Ruth E. Carter, Costume Designers Branch
Donna Gigliotti, Executives Branch
Howard Berger, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch
Eric Roth, Writers Branch

Returning to the Board after a hiatus:

Charles Fox, Music Branch

They will join returning governors Pam Abdy, Kate Amend, Bonnie Arnold, Lesley Barber, Charles Bernstein, Susanne Bier, Jon Bloom, Gary C. Bourgeois, Rob Bredow, Brooke Breton, Paul Cameron, Eduardo Castro, Bill Corso, Teri E. Dorman, Tom Duffield, Ava DuVernay, Linda Flowers, DeVon Franklin, Rodrigo García, Whoopi Goldberg, Lynette Howell Taylor, Larry Karaszewski, Laura C. Kim, Christina Kounelias, David Linde, Isis Mussenden, Stephen Rivkin, Howard A. Rodman, Terilyn A. Shropshire, Kim Taylor-Coleman, Wynn P. Thomas, Jennifer Todd, Jean Tsien, Mandy Walker, Rita Wilson, Janet Yang and Debra Zane.

As a result of this election, the Board comprises 54% women and 28% belonging to an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.

The Academy’s 17 branches are each represented by three governors, who may serve up to two three-year terms (consecutive or non-consecutive), followed by a two-year hiatus, after which eligibility renews for up to two additional three-year terms, for a lifetime maximum of 12 years.  The Board of Governors sets the Academy’s strategic vision, preserves the organization’s financial health, and assures the fulfillment of its mission.

Broadway Recession: Daniel Craig’s “Macbeth” Had a Tough Week, “Paradise” Lost, “Loop” Not So Strange

Roger Friedman
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Broadway Recession: Daniel Craig’s “Macbeth” Had a Tough Week, “Paradise” Lost, “Loop” Not So Strange

Last week was tough on Broadway, even for big stars.

“Macbeth” starring Daniel Craig only filled 83% of the Longacre Theater in 8 shows. What’s going on? This is James Bond in a terrific performance. Ruth Negga was nominated for a Tony Award as Lady MacBeth. This production should be selling out.

But the peculiar voting of the Tony Awards didn’t give Craig a nomination for Best Actor in a Play. This was a mistake. The result was that Craig was not on the Tony Awards broadcast. The play didn’t get the exposure it needed, and frankly, the Tonys lost viewers not having him on.

Last week, “Macbeth” fell short of the magic million dollar mark, too. That’s good news for the theaterlovers who will can get a ticket to see the Scottish play before it closes on July 10th. But “Macbeth” with these two stars should be totally sold out.

“A Strange Loop,” on other hand, won the Tony for Best Musical even though it didn’t win Best Score. The result is that the show sold at 100% capacity last week even though receipts are low–just $845K total. But “A Strange Loop” has no stars so it’s not as expensive as, say, “The Music Man.” The fact that it won Best Musical is a coup for everyone involved. I ran into a top producer last week who observed that the very frank and graphic musical will have trouble on national tour outside of Chicago and San Francisco, and certainly can’t be performed by high schools or mainstream theater groups. But a long Broadway run should make up for that.

Finally, “Paradise Square” is certainly in jeopardy of closing. Despite Joaquina Kalukango winning Best Actress in a Musical, the show is a box office dud. Last week it played to 64% capacity and took in a measly $387K. And that was an increase of more than $100K from the previous week! But it’s not enough of an increase to keep it going very long. “Paradise” is mostly lost. How they would get through the summer with such empty houses is a puzzlement.

John Mellencamp Comes Out Swinging: “Only in America can 21 people be murdered and a week later buried and forgotten”

Roger Friedman
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John Mellencamp Comes Out Swinging: “Only in America can 21 people be murdered and a week later buried and forgotten”

Singer John Mellencamp has always been a man of the people. He was instrumental in Farm Aid and other causes. But I never saw him as a rocker who made powerful statements, like Bruce Springsteen.

But tonight Mellencamp posted a stunning statement to Twitter and social media about the continual mass shootings in this country. Mellencamp is writing to the gun lobby and to the people who support it. He says: “Politicians don’t give a f*ck about you, they don’t give a f*ck about me, they don’t give a f*ck about our children.”

This is for all the people living in little pink houses.

Bravo!

Broadway: Tony Awards Can’t Stop Acclaimed “Company” from Closing at End of July

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: Tony Awards Can’t Stop Acclaimed “Company” from Closing at End of July

The acclaimed revival of “Company” won a Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, and Tonys for its two featured actors, Patti Lupone and Matt Doyle.

Even those couldn’t stop the show from closing. Producers have set July 31st for the final performance. What a shame. This is a production people will be talking about forever.

The show also won Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Bunny Christie). Marianne Elliott also received the Tony for Best Director of a Musical, her third Tony Award, making her the most honored female director in Broadway history. It also received four Drama Desk Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, four Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards, and the GLAAD Media Award.

So what went wrong? COVID took its toll on “Company” several times. It’s been an unforgiving time. Omicron was this show’s; enemy. And then what to do when the lead actors want to leave? Lupone is impossible to replace. It’s not easy getting Big Name actors on Broadway to open shows, let alone replace leads.

Producer Chris Harper said in a statement, “It remains the honor of a lifetime to bring Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s masterpiece to Broadway in Marianne Elliott’s Tony Award-winning reimagined production. It is a testament to the dedication of everyone who works on the production that we have withstood all the challenges that Broadway has faced over the last two years to share this show with our amazing audiences.

“We have six more weeks of performances to celebrate our astonishing cast, orchestra, and crew at the Jacobs Theatre and we are delighted to be planning a touring production to bring Company to audiences across North America soon.”

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