The Wiz is returning to Broadway for the first time in 40 years later this month!
16.02.2024 - 17:14 / variety.com
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music These days it can be all too easy for rock fans to fall into despair. What was the last truly culture-shifting new rock band? The Strokes? The White Stripes? Alternative forms of rock have been thriving, but it’s been a grim two decades for traditional guitar-based rock, as even the powers-that-be behind Grammy nominations seemed to have trouble finding worthy nominees beyond the usual Queens-of-the-Foo-Kings suspects (although they have branched out in recent years).
However, there is thunder on the horizon. While not a new act, British-Irish quintet Idles are one of the most exciting rock bands to emerge in decades: a wild fusion of hardcore punk and experimental electronic skronk with a ferociously commanding frontman in Joe Talbot and two guitarists whose rancorous din shows inspiration from ‘80s indie icons Sonic Youth and Big Black, as well as a strong influence from hip-hop and electronic music.
They’re one of the most exciting live acts you’ll see anywhere — a show in New York earlier this month found one of the guitarists plunge deep into the audience on their second song — and the group branches out even further on their fifth album “Tangk,” combining slower, darkly ambient and/or rhythmic songs with the blistering roar their audience hungers for. (They were also rock nominees for two 2023 Grammys!) The album’s production — from guitarist Mark Bowen, hip-hop auteur Kenny Beats and Radiohead veteran Nigel Godrich — is suitably next-level, and finds the band going both harder (“Dancer”) and softer (“Grace”) than ever, a dichotomy that is reflected in an utterly awesome official Idles T-shirt that reads, hilariously although not entirely accurately, “Hard rock for softies.”
.The Wiz is returning to Broadway for the first time in 40 years later this month!
Rasmus Hojlund and Lisandro Martinez are at the Etihad Stadium as a show of support for Manchester United teammates.
In many ways, longtime International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees president Matthew Loeb is the personification of that Teddy Roosevelt adage of “speak softly, and carry a big stick” …well, maybe except for the speak softly part.
NCIS is a hit, as is the cast!
gentlemen, Guy Ritchie has made a TV show. The Netflix series “The Gentlemen,” like his 2019 movie of the same name, is one of the filmmaker’s first-ever small screen projects (his only other show was the 2000 British miniseries, “Lock, Stock…”)Premiering March 7 and created by Ritchie, 55, “The Gentlemen” series is a spinoff of the 2019 movie (starring Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell and Matthew McConaughey).
ANOHNI has announced her first shows with The Johnsons in 14 years – find all the details below.Following the release of 2023 album ‘My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross’ – her first in seven years – the artist will be reuniting with The Johnsons for a concert series in the UK and Europe which will include two nights in London.The first show will take place on June 13 at Epidaurus Festival Herodion in Athens, followed by dates in Madrid, Paris, Berlin and more.On July 1 and 2, she’ll stop at the Barbican for consecutive shows and finish up with another two at DR Koncerthaus in Copenhagen on July 12 and 13.General sale tickets will be available from 10am GMT on Friday (March 1). Alternatively, fans can sign up to pre-sale via ANOHNI’s website to purchase tickets from 9am GMT Wednesday (February 28).ANOHNI will be joined by a nine-piece band including Julia Kent (cello), Maxim Moston (violin), Doug Wieselman (multi-instrumentalist) and Jimmy Hogarth (guitarist/producer).The shows will see her draw from new material as well as songs from across her back catalogue.
With 7.35 million admissions at the box office, horror-comedy film Agak Laen has become the second biggest Indonesian box office hit of all time.
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Just 30 minutes after final voting for the Screen Actors Guild Awards wrapped up, I made a last-minute switch in my best actress prediction — from Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” to Emma Stone in “Poor Things.” Let this be a lesson: Second-guessing yourself is seldom a good idea. Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native American and Indigenous person to clinch an individual SAG Award for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman, in Martin Scorsese’s gripping crime saga.
EXCLUSIVE: An eclectic collection of upcoming projects ranging from Guy Ritchie‘s debut TV series to Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Famous Five to an Italian-language series for Netflix are tied together by one constant: Moonage Pictures.
The new Netflix series The Gentlemen from Guy Ritchie has an official full-length trailer and character posters!
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Oscar nominee America Ferrera has been cast in her next role outside of Barbie World. Ferrera has signed on to star in Oscar nominee Paul Greengrass’ upcoming drama “The Lost Bus” alongside Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey, Variety has learned exclusively.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Chan Marshall — a.k.a Cat Power — is one of the most distinctive singers of her generation, emerging from the indie-rock scene of the early ‘90s to become a unique artist fusing a multitude of styles that range from rock to folk to low-key soul, in a long string of albums that alternate between originals and covers. Raised in Georgia, Charlyn Marshall (Chan is a childhood nickname that is pronounced “Shawn”) relocated to New York in the early ‘90s and was adopted by the city’s indie-rock community, releasing a string of increasingly strong albums.
Warning: Spoilers ahead A new study has revealed the films which have left British viewers the most confused by their endings, with one director’s output dominating the list.Conducted by the group BonusFinder, the list has been compiled by aggregating the total number of UK-based Google searches related to explaining the endings of films, with Martin Scorsese’s 2010 psychological thriller Shutter Island coming out on top.In the film, Leonardo DiCaprio plays the US Marshall Teddy Daniels, who travels to a hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient. However, as the film progresses, it is revealed that Daniels is in fact a hallucinatory persona and that “Teddy” is in fact Andrew Laeddis, another US Marshall who had been imprisoned at the facility for murdering his wife after she had killed their three children.The film ends on a philosophical note, as DiCaprio’s character appears to simulate another psychological relapse in order to bring about a lobotomy procedure, as living with the knowledge of his reality has become too much to bear.Not taking the top spot, but with four different entries in the top ten are the films of Christopher Nolan.
Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas is still going strong with boyfriend Matthew Lawrence and we have new photos from their recent beach vacation.
Ellise Shafer Martin Scorsese was lauded with the Berlin Film Festival‘s honorary Golden Bear on Tuesday night, celebrating a lifetime of achievement in cinema. As he accepted the award, Scorsese — whose most recent film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is currently up for 10 Oscars — reflected on his career thus far and even teased a return to the festival “in a couple years.” Scorsese was introduced by German director Wim Wenders, who is also Oscar-nominated for his latest feature, “Perfect Days.” Wenders told a hilarious story, complete with a photo slideshow, about one of his earliest interactions with Scorsese at the Telluride Film Festival in 1978, where he came upon the director and his then-girlfriend Isabella Rossellini on the side of the road with a flat tire.
Naman Ramachandran Streamer Lionsgate Play has teamed with Grameenphone, a leading telecom services provider in Bangladesh, to expand its presence in the country. Grameenphone, part of Norway’s Telenor Group, has some 82 million subscribers, to whom it offers a bouquet of streaming services.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety is premiering the trailer (below) for feature documentary “Transition,” which follows Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon, a trans man, as he embeds with a Taliban unit as they retake control of Afghanistan. The film, directed by Monica Villamizar and Bryon, will be released in the U.S. on March 26 by Gravitas Ventures.
The Traitors star Amanda Lovett has landed a part on the BBC show Pilgrimage, alongside Spencer Matthews and Christine McGuinness. Pilgrimage is returning for its sixth series, which sees its stars take a on challenging journey as they traverse North Wales.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Just two days after Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons was sued for rape by a former Def Jam executive, he was hit on Thursday with another lawsuit for a former employee, Drew Dixon, who has leveled claims of sexual assault against him in the past. She is suing Simmons for defamation for calling her a “liar” after she made those statements, according to court documents filed Thursday and obtained by Variety; the lawsuit was first reported by Rolling Stone. Dixon, who worked as a Def Jam A&R executive from 1993 until 1995, filed suit in New York on Thursday and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
John Cleese, 84, and Eric Idle, 80, has taken another turn — with Cleese calling for a ceasefire (of sorts).The spat started over the weekend, when Idle went on a rant on X about still needing to work at his age — and took potshots at “Python” trouper Terry Gilliam and his daughter, Holly, who manages the “Python” brand.“We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously,” Idle wrote. “But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough.