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Christopher Nolan Exits Warner Bros and Chooses Universal for His J. Robert Oppenheimer Atom Bomb Movie

Roger Friedman
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Christopher Nolan Exits Warner Bros and Chooses Universal for His J. Robert Oppenheimer Atom Bomb Movie

After a long run, Warner Bros. is no longer home to Christopher Nolan.

The “Tenet” director has chosen Universal Pictures where he’ll make his movie about Robert Oppenheimer and the atom bomb.

Nolan was furious with Warner’s over the release of “Tenet” on HBO Max and on screens simultaneously. He didn’t want “Tenet” on small screens, and reviewers had to see it live last September even as the pandemic raged.

Deadline.com is suggesting that Cillian Murphy could be tapped to play Oppenheimer, although I think that’s far fetched. Universal is going to want a Movie Star, and please god not Leonardo DiCaprio. The absolute best choice would be Daniel Day-Lewis, if someone can go up to his farm and pull him by the overalls to a set. (DDL, this is for you.)

One potential title: “Da Bomb.” But I would guess “The Manhattan Project.” Is it a straight telling of the Oppenheimer story? Or will Nolan go back and forth in time with a what/if, what/if not story? Maybe the scientists in Area 51 will take Polaroids and write the equations on them. (Just kidding!)

So here we go, looking at Nolan’s first Oscar movie. If this doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will!

 

Broadway is Back! Four Musicals Re-open Tonight, and “Lackawanna Blues” Arrives

Roger Friedman
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Broadway is Back! Four Musicals Re-open Tonight, and “Lackawanna Blues” Arrives

Broadway is back tonight!

Four musicals are re-opening, and one new play is going to previews. Hallelujah!

“Hamilton,” “The Lion King,” “Wicked,” and “Chicago” are all hitting their stages tonight for the first time since March 2020. Can we actually see all four in one night? We’ll try!

Plus: Ruben Santiago-Hudson starts previews for his one man “Lackawanna Blues” by August Wilson at Manhattan Theater Club’s Samuel Freedman Theater. Hudson plays 20 characters in the one man show which opens September 28th.

Ben Platt, star of “Dear Evan Hansen,” told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest this morning he’ll be in the audience at “Wicked.”

Over at “Chicago,” the great Lillias White comes in as prison Matron Mama Thornton, and she will undoubtedly stop the show.

“Hamilton” has the great  Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, plus former Boy George (only I remember “Taboo”) and Tony nominee Euan Morton camping it up as King George III.

Meet you at Joe Allen after the shows! Welcome back! (And don’t forget the Tony Awards on September 26th.)

Dave Chappelle’s Sunday Night: Won an Emmy in LA, Had a Fan Thrown Out of MSG for Filming His Act

Roger Friedman
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Dave Chappelle’s Sunday Night: Won an Emmy in LA, Had a Fan Thrown Out of MSG for Filming His Act

Sunday was a big night for comic Dave Chappelle.

The troubled, controversial comedian was on stage Sunday night at Madison Square Garden performing in “NYC Still Rising After 20 Years” when he won an Emmy award in Hollywood for Guest Actor hosting “Saturday Night Live.”

The Creative Arts Emmys also gave a guest actress award to Maya Rudolph for “SNL.”

But Chappelle’s time on stage at MSG, spies say, was pretty rough. As usual he made everyone who came into the arena place their phones in a locked Yondr bag so they couldn’t record his act. But when Chappelle discovered someone near the stage, in a floor seat, was taping him, he went ballistic.

“He called for security and had the guy thrown out,” says my source. “He was screaming for security to erase anything they found of him on the phone. He kept ranting to the audience that there was an unwritten law about taping and so on. And that he’d paid for the locked containers, or that he’d passed the expense on to us.” Chappelle’s Pilot Boy Productions was listed as a producer for the show.

Chappelle was also late for his set in the Jon Stewart-Pete Davidson produced fundraiser for 9-11 families om the 20th anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedies. When he didn’t take the stage on time, Chris Rock appeared on stage as a surprise, unbilled, but had no material prepared. Instead, he ranted, I’m told, about the cost of his divorce. He said some unmentionable things about the women he’d been with during the pandemic, as well.

Indeed, I’m told all the comedians said things that were not politically correct and could have gotten them in some hot water had they been recorded or disseminated. John Mulaney made reference to having a baby (with actress Olivia Munn) fresh out of rehab, and went on do a capsule version of his recent show about drug addiction. Sounds like fun.

Some of the other participants in the night were Jimmy Fallon, who sang a clever song; Wanda Sykes; Bill Burr; Michael Che, Colin Quinn, and Colin Jost; and “SNL” ex player Jay Pharaoh, who “killed.”

Sounds like a night full of belly laughs!

PS This locking away of phones is going to reach a tipping point and maybe be tested in court soon. Artists don’t want their material reproduced without permission, but fans don’t want to give up their phones. A dilemma.

Nicki Minaj, A Genius With Barely a High School Education, Not Getting Vaxxed Til She Does More Research

Roger Friedman
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Nicki Minaj, A Genius With Barely a High School Education, Not Getting Vaxxed Til She Does More Research

Hip hop and rap star Nicki Minaj is skipping the Met Ball tonight. Why? She’s not vaccinated and doesn’t care to be.

Minaj wrote on Twitter: “They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one”

She barely has a high school education but thinks she will know more than the CDC and all the scientists involved. LOL. You have to love this. She is an idiot, and deserves whatever comes next. What’s wrong with these people? I’d love to know how she’s conducting her research.

She also Tweeted: “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied”

 

Meantime, the Met Ball red carpet live stream started late and is lacking celebrities. Maybe they’re all with Nicki!

PS This is the same Nicki Minaj who called into “American Idol” live on TV because she was late to the show, caught in traffic, she said. She’s like Einstein.

Say It Three Times: “Beetlejuice” Is Coming Back to Broadway After “The Music Man” Chased it Away

Roger Friedman
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Say It Three Times: “Beetlejuice” Is Coming Back to Broadway After “The Music Man” Chased it Away

Say it three times: “Beetlejuice” is coming back to Broadway.

The hit musical exited Broadway in March 2020 because of the pandemic. But it was going to close anyway because it was losing the Winter Garden Theater to “The Music Man.”

But “Beetlejuice” was a box office hit, and doing better than the other shows it opened with. Indeed, “Tootsie” stole its thunder and then wound up closing!

I loved “Beetlejuice,” I recommend it to everyone, and can’t wait to see it again. Alex Brightman and company are just super! I hope he’s coming back with the show.

Details to come…First performance April 8th at the Marriott Marquis Theater. See you there!

Jeff Bridges Reveals He Got COVID Last January at His Chemo Treatment Center, Almost Died

Roger Friedman
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Jeff Bridges Reveals He Got COVID Last January at His Chemo Treatment Center, Almost Died

We are all human.

Actor Jeff Bridges has revealed today on his website that last January, while getting chemotherapy, he was exposed to COVID and got it. He and his wife went to the ICU. He spent five weeks there.

Bridges was going to publish a note about this last March, but decided not to until everything was under control. Today, he published an update and a link to the unpublished post from March 28th.

He says his cancer is now in remission. The tumor has shrunk “to the size of a marble.”

Bridges says he is still on oxygen assistance, although he was able to dance with his daughter at their wedding Oxygen Free. He is also shooting a mini series for FX called “The Old Man.” How he’s doing that, I don’t know.

He says the sound of oxygen machine reminds him of Darth Vader. He writes:

“COVID kicked my ass pretty good but I’m double vaccinated & feeling much better now. I heard the vaccine can help folks with Long Haulers. Maybe that’s the cause of my quick improvement.”

You can read all about it here, plus there are drawings and some sound effects.

Jeff is beloved as the star of “The Big Lebowski,” but his career has been so much more than that including his Oscar turn in “Crazy Heart.” He has dozens of great performances, millions of fans and people rooting for him. It sounds like 2021 has been a miserable year for him. Let’s keep him in our prayers.

 

Review: Julia Fordham Takes the Cutting Room By Storm in Triumphant New York Return

Roger Friedman
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Review: Julia Fordham Takes the Cutting Room By Storm in Triumphant New York Return

What a pleasure to be back at the Cutting Room last night to hear live music. And that pleasure was doubled by the sound of Julia Fordham’s’ voice, a whole separate musical instrument of magnificence.

Fordham’s first hit, “Happy Ever After,” written as apartheid fell apart, came in 1988 and still holds up sounding as fresh and relevant as ever. She’s just signed a new deal with BMG Music Publishing and released a new album ironically called “Cutting Room Floor.”

A UK singer who lives in Los Angeles, Fordham has been on a short tour of the east coast selling out venues. I was even startled when I saw the line down East 32nd St. yesterday of fans waiting to get into the Cutting Room. (Proof of vax was required, many wore masks.)

Yes, it’s the voice. It doesn’t hurt that Fordham is attractive and funny, has a great stage patter and an ease with the audience. Her fans are legion, and bring gifts because her songs like “Manhattan Skyline” and “Concrete Love,” “Porcelain” and “Lock and Key” have touched them personally over the last three decades.

Fordham performed all her hits as well as three new songs with composer Steven Argila, who accompanied on her piano as she played guitar and percussion. (This is the way it is now as her British musicians couldn’t get into the US because of pandemic restrictions.)

Back to the voice. It is its own instrument, one of a kind, an octave jumper that has more colors in it than any other singer of her generation. She’s at much as home with Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” as she is with her own international hit of “Love Moves in Mysterious Ways.” (Fordham joked about recently watching the music video of that song which intercuts her with Demi Moore, star of “The Butcher’s Wife.”)

The Voice remains supple as ever, an absolute delight coming out of a dedicated musician who’s gone her own way, making albums with Peter Asher and Larry Klein, with comedian Paul Reiser, attracting the attentions of people like David Lynch and India Arie, the latter stopping the release of “Concrete Love” years ago so she could sing on it with Fordham.

Next stop: the great Club Passim in Cambridge, Mass tomorrow night.  I’m sure there will be a line down their block, too!

“Succession” Is Back October 17th With An All Star Guest Cast and Lots of Plotting, Squabbling, and Scheming

Roger Friedman
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“Succession” Is Back October 17th With An All Star Guest Cast and Lots of Plotting, Squabbling, and Scheming

“Succession” has a return date: October 17th.

The Roys continue their squabbling, plotting, and scheming, much to everyone’s amusement and delight.

The guest cast for Season 3 of the HBO hit includes Alexander Skarsgård, Sanaa Lathan, Linda Emond, Jihae, Adrien Brody, Hope Davis and Dasha Nekrasova. I told you about Brody joining the group first right here months ago.

Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfadyen, Peter Friedman, J. Smith-Cameron, Dagmara Dominczyk, Justine Lupe, David Rasche, Fisher Stevens, Hiam Abbass, Arian Moayed, Harriet Walter, James Cromwell, Natalie Gold, Juliana Canfield, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Zoë Winters and Jeannie Berlin return.

“Ambushed by his rebellious son Kendall at the end of Season two, Logan Roy begins Season three in a perilous position, scrambling to secure familial, political, and financial alliances. Tensions rise as a bitter corporate battle threatens to turn into a family civil war.”

After “Billions,” this is my next favorite show. Buckle in!

Broadway: Tony Awards Get Hosts in Audra McDonald, Leslie Odom Jr, “Book of Mormon” Gets a Cast and Maybe Some Editing

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: Tony Awards Get Hosts in Audra McDonald, Leslie Odom Jr, “Book of Mormon” Gets a Cast and Maybe Some Editing

The 2020 Tony Awards  have hosts. Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom, Jr. are picking up the batons for  the CBS-Paramount Plus special night on Sunday, September 26th. The first two hours are on Paramount Plus from 7 to 9pm, then the whole thing moves to CBS for a two hour special.

This is more of a celebration of Broadway than actual Tony Awards since the shows that were eligible were negligible. But everyone’s very excited for Adrienne Warren to pick up her award for playing Tina Turner. And Aaron Tveit had better win– he’s the only nominee in his category!

The show is coming from the Winter Garden Theater and not Radio City Music Hall because the latter was already booked for the four days leading up with comedian Jim Gaffigan. The Winter Garden is a quarter of Radio City’s size, which will make it easier for COVID. And the Winter Garden will get a plug for “The Music Man,” which starts loading in soon, with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. Ticket prices are $1 million for the loge.

Scott Rudin’s name is off the production of “THE BOOK OF MORMON”  but the irreverent musical is returning soon. They’ve announced a cast including Kevin Clay as Elder Price, Cody Jamison Strand as Elder Cunningham, Kim Exum as Nabulungi, Olivier Award winner Stephen Ashfield as Elder McKinley and Sterling Jarvis as Mafala Hatimbi.

There’s been talk that the Mormon book has been toned down or changed to reflect our new PC times. “Book of Mormon” is anti- everything, and I hope they don’t water that down. “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker never back down from anything. Now is not the time! Performances resume on November 5th.

Record Biz: Streaming Was 84% of All Revenue So Far This Year, Digital Downloads are Just 5%

Roger Friedman
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Record Biz: Streaming Was 84% of All Revenue So Far This Year, Digital Downloads are Just 5%

For iTunes this can’t be good news.

According to the RIAA, streaming has been 84% of all revenue so far this year. Digital downloads only 5%. Physical sales of CDs and vinyl are actually 10%, more than than digital downloads.

This means that the downloading world is over. People don’t really care if they own the new music or not. Fans are not clutching albums to their bosoms or studying liner notes on CDs.

This is evident from the stories I’ve been telling you lately about Drake and Kanye West. They’ve sold hundreds of thousands of streaming equivalent copies of their new music and no downloads. And they have no CDs.

The music now is disposable. And the CD/LP number being higher than downloads is important. That’s for legacy artists, box sets, the stuff people do or did care about, what they want to say they “own” because it matters. The rest of it, which is largely rap and hip hop, is fine on a subscription service.

That’s good news for Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and the others. They’re providing the entertainment. For people my age, it’s a mystery. And no one cares anyway what people over 40 or 50 think. It’s about kids pressing play on their phones over and over on the Spotify app.

Subscriptions are up, up, up, too. And revenue in the record biz is also trending up, up, up.

 

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