‘Harmony’ review: Barry Manilow’s musical has flaws, but stellar singing

Oscars ceremony on March 27.Fans were concerned last month for the 76-year-old “Cabaret” legend after she appeared frail while on stage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater to present an award with Lady Gaga.In a clip from Hollywood’s biggest night, her close friend Michael Feinstein, who claimed she was “sabotaged” by the Academy, shared a video on both Facebook and Instagram that he shot in the car with Minnelli shortly before the show.The clip featured the Oscar winner smoking a cigarette, dancing in her seat and singing gleefully.Minnelli looked joyous and spirited as she made her way to the event. She then started singing the show tune “(It’s Gonna Be) A Great Day” by Vincent Youmans, Edward Eliscu and Billy Rose.Fans gave so much love after seeing the video of the EGOT recipient looking lively, with one commenter on Instagram writing: “Still smoking too.

Allow Usher, the central – only? – character of Michael R. Jackson’s scathingly funny and Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop, to introduce himself.

Some friendly advice. Katy Perry had a hilarious reaction when an American Idol contestant sang a track by her ex-boyfriend John Mayer — and she offered him a tip he could use in the future.

HBO Max will release Menudo: Forever Young, a new documentary about the Latin American boy band from filmmakers Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) and Kristofer Ríos (Havana Skate Days), on June 23. The premiere will follow the project’s debut at the 2022 Tribeca Festival on June 11.

Mean Girls (★★★☆☆) are reprising roles from the 2019-2020 tour, and their experience shows in the well-honed comedy and character work on display.As Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith — two of The Plastics, the pastel-pretty apex predators of the story’s high school jungle — Megan Masako Haley and Jonalyn Saxer know where all the laughs are. They nail Gretchen and Karen’s dramatic beats, too.And Mary Kate Morrissey, with the pipes to elevate every song she takes on, delivers snark without resting on stereotype in her portrayal of proud misfit Janis Sarkisian, eager to see The Plastics toppled from atop the North Shore High food chain.Janis might get her wish with the arrival of new student Cady Heron, played by Danielle Wade, also reprising her role from the previous tour.An American girl raised in Kenya, Cady hasn’t a clue how to navigate the social savagery of a suburban Illinois high school, but she learns fast from Janis and vividly gay fellow outcast Damian Hubbard, performed by Eric Huffman, another in the cast with an engaging take on their character and firm handle on the comic timing.Damian and Janis’ tutelage in numbers like “Where Do You Belong?” sets Cady up for finding popularity.

It takes a lot of confidence to wear a white suit to a fight in an open-cut mine. It takes something else — maybe an Avengers-style superpower, to repel dirt — to come out of said fight still gleaming, shirt collar tidily spread across those snowy lapels, shades on. Rocky, outlaw hero of KGF, has confidence to burn, obviously: when he tells a former U.S. president that he is the CEO of India, he isn’t joking. We know that for sure because, whatever else he does — fighting off would-be assassins, staging boardroom coups, buying off every politician in the Indian legislature or mashing heads with a mallet — Rocky, like his American namesake, doesn’t joke. He’s got stuff to do.

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.MOVIES— “The Batman,” the biggest box-office hit so far this year, will promptly land Monday on HBO Max immediately following its 45-day run in theaters. As a response to the pandemic and a way to boost its streaming service, Warner Bros. last year premiered its films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.

Art Rupe to exploit the opportunity and provide the means of getting the music to a wider audience via juke boxes and radio stations. Rupe, who has died aged 104, was a record man, as the founders of such independent companies as Atlantic, Chess, Savoy, King and Modern were known.

his foundation announced on Sunday. The cause of death was not disclosed.Born Arthur Goldberg in Pittsburgh in 1917, the executive changed his name to Rupe and got his start in the music industry after working at a shipbuilding company during World War II. In 1945, he founded his record label Specialty Records, which got its start selling what were called “race records,” albums from Black gospel and R&B artists like Jimmy Liggins, Roy Milton, and the Soul Stirrers, which featured a young Sam Cooke.

A.D. Amorosi Since 1997, composer-singer Barry Manilow and lyricist-librettist Bruce Sussman — the team behind iconic ’70s pop classics such as “Copacabana” — have been looking to get their wise and witty “Harmony: The Musical” to Broadway.

A new stage musical co-written by Barry Manilow opens tonight in New York, but the decades-in-the-making project will have to go on without Manilow there to support it: He has Covid.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorLegendary music creators Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller will be honored as BMI Icons on May 10 in Beverly Hills.In addition to celebrating their timeless contributions to the art of songwriting, the honorees behind BMI’s pop song of the year, songwriter of the year, publisher of the year and BMI’s top 50 most-performed pop songs in the U.S. of the previous year will also be named.“BMI is thrilled to be honoring two iconic songwriters, Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller, alongside the creators of some of today’s most-performed songs,” said vice president of worldwide creative Barbara Cane.

premiering April 27 on HBO — is based on the true story of Harry Haft, a Polish-born Jew who was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp as a teen. There he managed to survive by being a boxer and was forced to pummel fellow prisoners for the amusement of the German officers.After World War II, Haft eventually moved to the United States, where he continued his boxing career for an unusual reason: Haft was convinced his first love was still alive and believed that if he became famous enough through boxing, she would see his name in newspapers and they would be reunited.

Carrie Underwood gave one of the most impressive performances at the 2022 CMT Music Awards, though it didn’t happen live.

wrote on YouTube. “The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for.”The singer-songwriter son of Beatle John Lennon presented the cover version of his father’s ode to peace as part of the Stand Up For Ukraine campaign, a global fund-raising effort broadcast from Warsaw, Poland.“I had always said, that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘Imagine’ would be if it was the ‘End of the World’,” Lennon wrote.But “the War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy,” he explained.

 without Vanessa Hudgens?! It almost happened. Hudgens opened up about how she nearly auditioned for  ahead of auditioning for the role of Gabriella in the early aughts classic, during Tuesday's episode of .«I grew up doing theater, and this has always been a passion of mine, and you were on , and you won, and I was like, 'That's it, I'm going on, and then that next week, I got an audition for  and booked it, so then I was like, 'Well, never mind,'» she told Clarkson.