How Broadway Got ‘Shucked’: The 12-Year Journey to a Riotous Production That Could Be the Musical-Comedy Sleeper of the Season

Todd Haimes, who built New York’s Roundabout Theater Company into one of the city’s – and country’s- leading nonprofit theaters, died today at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital of complications from osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. He was 66.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. No one could have predicted that the year’s biggest Broadway hit would be about corn. But the new musical comedy “Shucked,” which opened in April, has become the surprise delight of the season, boasting rave reviews for its catchy music, lovable characters and heartfelt themes. The show, which began a decade ago as a stage version of the sketch TV series “Hee-Haw,” follows an isolated rural community whose livelihood is completely reliant on their production of corn. But things go haywire when the crops suddenly fail and Maize (Caroline Innerbichler) is forced to venture out of her small town to Tampa, Florida to ask for outside help.

Keri Russell revealed why she “had to say yes” to her new show “The Diplomat” in a new interview with ET Canada’s Brittnee Blair.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features Michael Trope remembers the day he entered the living room of his childhood home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles to find Cary Grant sipping a martini. Michael’s father, famed attorney Sorrell Trope, was representing Grant in his 1968 divorce from Dyan Cannon.  “My father used to love to tell the story about how Cary Grant became his client,” says Michael Trope, an LA-based trial lawyer and former sports agent.  “Cary Grant went to a mattress store to buy a mattress,” Michael Trope continues. “He was talking to the mattress salesman and testing out mattresses because he wanted to buy a bed. And he started complaining to this mattress salesman about his divorce. The mattress salesman then said, ‘Oh, I went through a divorce. And I had a great experience with my lawyer. He did a really phenomenal job for me.’ And Cary Grant said, ‘Well, who was that?’ And the mattress salesman went and got my dad’s business card and gave it to Cary Grant. And then my dad wound up representing Cary Grant for over 20 years.” 

Angelique Jackson Monday morning started out just like any other day for Ryan Seacrest. The alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. and he got straight to work. Except this time, he wasn’t in New York City leaving for the “Live With Kelly and Ryan” studio, where he’d do “Host Chat” perched next to Kelly Ripa. Instead, he threw off the covers and leaned into a microphone at his bedside to start “On Air With Ryan Seacrest” on Los Angeles’ KIIS-FM. You see, last Friday marked his final episode of “Live,” and after six years of working six jobs at once, life as he knew it had changed. “The benefit of radio is I can do it remotely,” Seacrest says. “I will be able to jump out of bed, slip into my Uggs, make my coffee and be on the radio. And flip on ‘Live With Kelly and Mark’ in the background while I’m on air.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Eric Clapton announced Monday that his recurring Crossroads Guitar Festival will take place in Los Angeles this fall, with a roster of 41 guest musicians or bands set to take the stage across two nights at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Sept. 23-24. Musicians due to perform one or both nights include Santana, the War on Drugs, the John Mayer Trio, ZZ Top, Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark Jr., H.E.R., Buddy Guy, Los Lobos, Vince Gill, Stephen Stills, Jimmy Vaughan, Robbie Robertson, the Del McCoury Band and Joe Bonamassa. Others announced include John McLaughlin, Albert Lee, Doyle Bramhall II, Keb’ Mo’, Roger McGuinn, Robert Randolph, Jakob Dylan, Sierra Hull, Marcus King, Eric Gales, Sonny Landreth, Pedro Martins, James Bullard, Andy Fairweather Low, Samantha Fish, Ariel Posen, Ben Haggard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, the Bros. Landreth, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gustavo Satnaolalla, Danial Santiago and Bradley Walker.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (★★★★★). The big question looming over the head of every theater geek when the cast was announced: Is Josh Groban menacing enough to play Sweeney?It was a fair query. Sweeney Todd is about a British man wrongly punished for a crime he didn’t commit.

Two horses have died at Aintree ahead of today's Grand National.

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are close friends. Aside from working on multiple projects together, their families are close, with their kids calling each of them Uncle Matthew and Uncle Woody. In a new podcast, McConaughey revealed that their bond could be even more intimate, with there being a possibility that the two could be brothers.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” trailer nearly broke the internet when its official trailer dropped at the start of April, which might’ve come as a shock to the Oscar-nominated actor considering there was a time when she thought no Hollywood studio would touch the satirical comedy. In a recent interview with BAFTA (via IndieWire), Robbie revealed that her first reaction to reading Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s “Barbie” screenplay was disbelief over the movie being made. “The first time I read the ‘Barbie’ script, my reaction was, ‘Ah! This is so good. What a shame it will never see the light of day because they are never going to let us make this movie,’” Robbie said. “But they did.”

A classic mix-up! Hilary Duff‘s husband, Matthew Koma, continued his trolling streak after Hilary Swank announced she gave birth to twins.

They say that bad things come in threes, and that’s certainly true with me and minor facial ailments. A few times a year an unsightly combination of spots, mouth ulcers and eye styes will spring up on my face, an assortment of harmless but annoying lumps that seemingly appear from nowhere.

S Club 7 star Paul Cattermole, who has tragically passed away at the age of 46, had a seven year feud with former bandmate Hannah Spearritt after the pair dated for several years.The couple first dated back in 2001 and only ended their seven year feud earlier this year after secretly meeting for a coffee in January, where they agreed they would put their past behind them ahead of the S Club 7 reunion. Paul, 46, and Hannah, 41, were in a relationship for five years.They first went public in 2001 after keeping it a secret for six months.

first interview since the near-fatal incident, Renner recalled the horrifying ordeal and how he was hospitalized with 30 broken bones and a collapsed lung.The simulation, which was seen for the first time during his ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer, shows Renner operating the 1988 Pistenbully snowcat, as his nephew, Alex Fries, hooks a chain from the snowplow to a Ford Raptor they were attempting to move to the snow-cleared street.“I led in the snowcat with the truck behind it to finish off the last 20-30 yards of the driveway to get it onto the paved area,” Renner told Sawyer about his mission to clear all the snow from the driveway leading up to the house. Once parked on the street, Fries unhooked the truck from the snowcat, as Renner began to turn around on the icy sloped road.

Marlons Wayans is opening up about his grief.During an appearance on , the actor discusses his role in the acclaimed new film,, where he plays George Raveling, one of Michael Jordan's coaches at the 1984 Olympics, in the film about how Nike signed the superstar to a groundbreaking shoe deal.When asked how life informs his work, Marlon shares how his own pain motivates him to help heal others through laughter. «In my life right now, I have so much stuff that can be depressing. I lost my mom recently, I lost my dad three days ago.

Tori Spelling has a warning for fans after she developed a corneal ulcer on her left eye. On the most recent episode of her "9021OMG" podcast with "Beverly Hills 90210" co-star Jennie Garth, Spelling went into detail about how she developed the condition. "It's my fault.

Tori Spelling is sharing new details about her eye ulcer.

While it might not be the most anticipated film of 2023, there are a lot of folks interested in seeing what exactly is going on with the upcoming “Barbie” film. When you see the film is going to star Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, respectively, people are going to be happy, but not shocked.

Sticking to her roots. Lainey Wilson showed off her acting chops as musician Abby on Yellowstone season 5, but her acting debut isn’t enough for the country star to give up her one true passion.

Reese Witherspoon has officially filed for divorce from husband Jim Toth after 12 years of marriage.The actress and the agent announced their split in a joint statement shared to social media on March 24, two days before their wedding anniversary. «It is with a great deal of care and consideration that we have made the difficult decision to divorce,» the statement read in part. «We have enjoyed so many wonderful years together and are moving forward with deep love, kindness, and mutual respect for everything we have created together. Our biggest priority is our son and our entire family as we navigate this next chapter.»Additionally, a source tells ET, «Reese and Jim’s decision to get a divorce was really just an amicable and thoughtful choice on both parts.