Kandi Burruss & Todd Tucker Join Producing Team Of Broadway-Bound ‘The Wiz’ Revival

Rachel Seo Gavin Casalegno is entering his wrestling era. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” actor has joined director Ash Avildsen’s “Queen of the Ring,” his reps confirmed to Variety. “Queen of the Ring” follows the story of WWE Hall of Fame-inducted wrestler Mildred Burke, a world champion who broke glass ceilings throughout the course of her career from the 1930s through the 1950s. Casalegno will play the teenage version of Joe, Burke’s son. The cast also reportedly includes Emily Bett Richards (“Arrow”) and Josh Lucas (“Ford v Ferrari”) as Burke and her husband and business manager, Billy Wolfe. Marie Avgeropoulos (“The 100”) and WWE’s Charlotte Flair and Liv Morgan also star in the film. Avildsen (“Paradise City,” “American Satan”) will direct based on a script he penned. The film is inspired by Jeff Leen’s book of the same name.

Peacock has restored the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 15 after making some edits following backlash.

Recording artist Deborah Cox and Chicago-based actress and singer Melody A. Betts have joined the Broadway-bound cast of The Wiz, with Cox taking the role of Glinda and Betts cast as Aunt Em and Evillene.

Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford both have special guests by their side at the 2023 Tony Awards!

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Rusicals have been a “RuPaul’s Drag Race” institution since Season 6 and something audiences look forward to each season. Executive producer Tom Campbell credits fellow producers John Polley and Michael Seligman for coming up with this year’s “Wigloose: The Rusical.” Says Campbell, “They said ‘Wigloose,’ like ‘Footloose,’ and it writes itself.” The maxi challenge puts the queens’ performing skills to the test, through song, dance and acting, as they tell a musical story. Previous challenges have included “Moulin Ru: The Rusical,” Madonna, Cher and even Donald Trump’s presidency. The idea is that audiences already know the story of the Rusical and condense that into a production that’s less than 12 minutes long.

Wayne Brady is returning to Broadway!

K.J. Yossman Embattled daytime show “This Morning” is advertising for a new producer. The job, which pays £40,000 to £50,000 per year, is unrelated to the recent fall-out from the Phillip Schofield scandal. “It’s to replace someone who was promoted and has been live for some weeks,” says a source. ITV is looking for a producer who “thrives on the buzz” of live television and has an “abundance of ideas” to support anchor Holly Willoughby and guest hosts including Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, according to the job description, which is currently live on LinkedIn. “This Morning” was rocked by the resignation of Willoughby’s longtime co-host Phillip Schofield last month, following tension between the two anchors. Schofield subsequently revealed that he had had an affair with a young runner on the show, whom he’d known since the runner was a teenager.

Axios reported.Fox did not comment on the Wednesday report, and Carlson’s lawyer Bryan Freedman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A source familiar with the situation told Axios that Fox believes it has been working in good faith to reach an amicable agreement.Carlson was reportedly still under contract until 2025, to the tune of $10 million per year, when he was abruptly fired in late April.

Five-time Emmy winner and Grammy Award nominee Wayne Brady will play the title character in The Wiz revival when it lands on Broadway in spring 2024, producers announced today, with Doom Patrol’s Alan Mingo Jr. (Kinky Boots) taking the role during many of the production’s pre-Broadway tour dates.

Editor’s note: The following interviews were done outside of the FYC event series, as there was no panel or screening.

The Broadway-bound revival of The Wiz, which will launch a national tour in Baltimore this fall, has cast Kyle Ramar Freeman (A Strange Loop) as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson (Apple+’s Sharper) as the Tinman, and former The Voice contestant Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN keeps feeding the mouths that bite it. As Warner Bros. Discovery has orchestrated massive changes and cuts to the popular news giant, a stream of producers, anchors and executives have left — some of their own volition, and many of them not. But no matter the case, a growing number of these now-former CNN die-hards are being scooped up by rivals including MSNBC, ABC News and CBS News. CBS News on Wednesday announced it had lined up Lisa Ling as a contributor. The veteran journalist spent eight years at CNN leading viewers through interesting issues as host of the documentary series, This Is Life,” which was cancelled amid a cutback of original programming that uses outside partners. ABC News on Wednesday announced that Brooke Bower, who had been managing editor of CNN Politics, was joining as executive producer of the Sunday politics show “This Week.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Momento Film, the leading Swedish banner founded by David Herdies (“Winter Buoy”) and Michael Krotkiewski (“Bellum — The Daemon Of War”), is boasting a slate of projects including the documentaries “Leaving Jesus” and “The Underdog,” as well as Simón Mesa Soto’s “A Poet.” While at Cannes, the banner also started teasing one of its biggest project so far, “The Swedish Torpedo,” Frida Kempff (“Winter Buoy”)’s period film inspired by the life of Sally Bauer, the first Scandinavian to swim across the English Channel in 1939. “The Swedish Torpedo” will start shooting in August with a topnotch cast led by Josefin Neldén (“Border,” “438 Days”), Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (“Royal Affair,” “Borgen”), as well as Lisa Carlehed (“The Emigrants”).

Thania Garcia Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar have released a new collaboration “The Hillbillies,” produced by Evil Giane, alongside a music video directed by Neal Farmer. Tyler, the Creator makes a cameo in the montage, flashing a Camp Flog Gnaw 2023 button in front of Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium — confirming the carnival’s long-awaited return. “The Hillbillies” samples Bon Iver’s “PDLIF” and is the latest joint effort from cousins Lamar and Keem, who previously worked together on tracks such as “N95,” “Die Hard,” “Range Brothers,” “Savior,” “Nile,” and the Grammy award-winning “Family Ties,” among others. According to Keem’s tweet announcing the collab, the single also makes reference to Drake’s “Sticky” off his 2022 album “Honestly, Nevermind.”

Amid racist backlash toward Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid”, Halle Bailey just received some love from singer and actress, Stephanie Mills, who originated Dorothy in The Wiz on Broadway.

Arctic Monkeys have teamed up with The Big Issue for the official programme of their first UK stadium tour, which begins tonight (May 29).In support of new album ‘The Car’, the band will play 15 dates across the UK and Ireland over the next month, including two hometown gigs at Sheffield’s Hillsborough Park and three at London’s Emirates Stadium.Ahead of the tour beginning at Bristol’s Ashton Gate tonight, the band have confirmed that they have teamed up with The Big Issue for the official programme for the tour, with all proceeds going to the homelessness charity.An announcement from the publication reads: “The 36 page programme with a long lasting and collectible heavy cover, features brand-new never before seen images of the band on the road plus an in-depth interview with the band’s beating heart, drummer Matt Helders.”Discussing the band’s wish to support the publication’s work, Helders told The Big Issue: “The obvious reason is the good work you do… but it’s not just that. It is good journalism as well as being a good cause.”Priced at £10, programmes are available online here as well as at all the UK gigs.The 36 page programme with a long lasting and collectible heavy cover, features brand-new never before seen images of the band on the road plus an in-depth interview with the band’s beating heart, drummer Matt Helders.

Stephanie Mills is opening up about her experience playing Dorothy in the Broadway musical The Wiz and all the “hate mail” she received for playing a character that a white woman played before. Mills compares the negativity that Halle Bailey is now experiencing as the star of the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

EXCLUSIVE: Euphoria‘s Hunter Schafer has closed a deal to star opposite Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway and Emmy winner Michaela Coel in Mother Mary, the pop music epic marking writer-director David Lowery’s third film for A24 following his acclaimed efforts The Green Knight and A Ghost Story.

The Piano Lesson, which earned a Tony nomination for Best Revival of a Play and Best Featured Actor (Samuel L. Jackson).Casting for “The Wiz” will be announced at a further date.

Blake Shelton might be leaving behind, but the connections he made there carry on.The country singer announced on Thursday that he's teaming up with former producer and four-time Emmy Award-winning showrunner Lee Metzger to launch Lucky Horseshoe Productions.The pair has already collaborated on, an unscripted USA series where Shelton — along with Nikki Garcia and  host Carson Daly  -- opens up his famous Ole Red bar in Nashville to play fun drinking games with his famous friends. Now, they'll begin a new chapter of projects following Shelton's departure from after 23 seasons. «I'm excited to partner with my longtime friend and creative rainmaker Lee Metzger,» said Shelton in a press release about the new partnership.