Greg Evans Associate Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThe Phantom of the Opera might not have left the London theater scene for good after all, assures composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.Responding to a newspaper column written by Phantom producer Cameron Mackintosh stating that both the London and UK touring productions are “permanently shut down” due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Webber tweeted early this morning, “As far as I’m concerned Phantom will reopen as soon as is

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThe Directors Guild of America today announced that the 73rd Annual DGA Awards will take place on Saturday, April 10, 2021.The announcement puts the DGAs a couple weeks before the Academy Awards, which are set for April 25.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticRevel, the New York City moped rental rideshare company that drew unwelcome attention with the recent accident death of a CBS local news reporter, is shutting down indefinitely.In a tweet this morning, Revel announced, “New York riders – starting today, NYC service will be shut down until further notice.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticJimmy Fallon called him “the king of New York,” and Set Meyers said he was “as great a TV host as we’re ever likely to see,” as the late night hosts paid tribute to Regis Philbin.Philbin, who died July 24 of natural causes at 88, was described by Meyers of NBC’s Late Night as the same person both on and off the screen.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticCharlie Balducci, whose 2001 wedding day outburst at a slow-moving limo driver became the most notorious moment of MTV’s reality series True Life: I’m Getting Married, died Saturday in Staten Island, New York, according to family.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticRoyana Black, an actress who made her Broadway debut at age 10 in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and, five years later, took the title role in the 1988 sitcom Raising Miranda, died July 14 in Los Angeles of acute myeloid leukemia. She was 47.Her death was announced by her family.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticGoogle employees will work from home at least until next July due to the coronavirus pandemic, a decision that makes the search engine company the first major U.S. corporation to commit to the year-long stay-at-home plan.According to a report in today’s Wall Street Journal, Google’s plan affects nearly all of the company’s 200,000 full-time and contract employees across Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticSaturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost calls the week in 2015 when then-presidential candidate Donald Trump hosted the show “surreal,” and in retrospect not such a great idea.Interviewed by Andrea Mitchell on her MSNBC show today, Jost said he wrote about the episode in his new memoir A Very Punchable Face (a reference to his own mug) to give readers a sense of what SNL‘s Trump Week was like behind the scenes.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticActors’ Equity Association is calling the pending expiration of federal pandemic unemployment benefits “inexcusable” and says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “dithers” as theater workers “stare down an uncertain future.”“Equity members want to go back to work, but the industry has been shut down since March because in most states, it is still not safe for mass gatherings,” said Kate Shindle, Equity President.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticHarry Clein, a veteran film publicist who wrote the original press notes for Star Wars and helped develop the innovative internet campaign for The Blair Witch Project, died June 18 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder in Atlanta. He was 82.His death was announced by spokesperson Mark Pogachefsky.Clein, along with Bruce Feldman, cofounded the Clein + Feldman agency in 1981.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticA stage musical adaptation of the 2016 Oscar-nominated hit film Hidden Figures is in the works at Disney, with plans to assemble a creative team of Black artists, Disney Theatrical Productions confirms.The project has been in development, quietly, for a few years, but came to light this week with a mention in a New York Times report on Black theater artists.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticA new organization called Black Theatre Coalition has launched its inaugural program to increase work opportunities for Black theater professionals by at least 500% within the next 10 years.And the group has hit the ground running, announcing a partnership with the producers of Broadway’s upcoming revival of Steven Sondheim’s Company to initiate 10 paid apprenticeships for young Black men and woman.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticWhile Congress debates how much (or how little) to parse out to the entertainment industry in the next COVID-19 relief package, a group of Broadway insiders is making clear just how wide and varied the $14.7 billion Broadway ecosystem really is.In what is meant to be an evolving effort, The Broadway Community Project is an interactive online diagram – an industrywide family tree of sorts – displaying the more than 170 roles that represent more than

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticA recording of the late Nick Cordero’s one-man show will be released by Broadway Records on September 17, marking what would have been the actor’s 42nd birthday.Broadway Records and Cordero’s wife Amanda Kloots announced the release today of Live Your Life, a live recording of the Broadway actor’s April 2019 show at New York’s Feinstein’s/54 Below cabaret.“Nick would be absolutely thrilled to hear this news,” Kloots wrote on Instagram.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticTheatrical stage union IATSE has issued a 27-page set of safety guidelines for the still-to-be-determined reopening of Broadway and other live performance venues, with recommendations including the employment of COVID-19 “compliance officers,” paid sick leave and diagnostic testing of workers.The guideline document, which IATSE says was reviewed by medical experts in occupational health and safety, includes a roster of guiding principles and recommended

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticFox News’ Geraldo Rivera says President Donald Trump was “brave” to offer well wishes to accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. And Rivera didn’t stop there, saying the pre-trial detention of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged procurer of underage girls is just “woke politics.”In a soon-to-trend tweet this morning, Rivera wrote, “When asked @realDonaldTrump said he wished #GhislaineMaxwellArrested well.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticAlcon Entertainment’s Grace Del Val has joined Bad Robot as the company’s Head of Business Affairs, and will oversee business and legal affairs across the company’s film, television, games, live and music divisions.The hire was announced by Brian Weinstein, Bad Robot’s President and COO, to whom Del Val will report.“Grace brings unique expertise and insights and the perfect set of experiences to Bad Robot,” said said Weinstein.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThe Wendy Williams Show will return to the air September 21, Williams announced on social media today.“I’m sooo excited to bring you silly, funny, glamour and hopefully brighten your day during these crazy times that we’re all living in…even if for just an hour,” Williams wrote about the 12th season of her syndicated daytime program.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticCreative Artists Agency today announced the promotion of Praveen Pandian to Head of Television Literary department.“Praveen is an exceptional agent with a tremendous work ethic and great taste,” said Joe Cohen, CAA Board Member and Head of Scripted Television.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticA new work by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage will join Second Stage Theater’s Broadway line-up for 2021, joining the company’s postponed revival of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out starring Patrick J. Adams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams.The newly announced, as-yet-untitled production of Nottage’s new play will be directed by Kate Whoriskey, who directed the playwright’s Pultizer-winning Ruined and Sweat.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticMacGyver star Lucas Till says in a new interview that the toxic on-set environment created by former executive producer Peter M.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticA reporter for New York’s CBS affiliate CBS2 was killed Saturday after falling from one of the rented mopeds that have become increasingly popular in a city still reluctant to use traditional mass transit.Nina Kapur, 26, was a passenger on a Revel scooter being driven by a 26-year-old man who was not seriously injured, New York police said Monday. The accident occurred around 5:30 p.m.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticUp characters Russell and Dug the dog are out — and so are the Actors’ Equity members who played them — in a revamped version of a bird show attraction at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom.As the union and Walt Disney World in Orlando enter into discussions about a grievance filed by Equity over the resort’s COVID-19 safety protocols, Disney has quietly revised what was previously known as ‘Up! A Great Bird Adventure’ into an actor-less ‘Feathered

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThe Los Angeles County Department of Public Health today confirmed 37 new deaths and 2,770 new cases of COVID-19. To date, the department has identified 153,041 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 4,084 deaths.Of the 37 deaths, 25 people were over the age of 65, nine people who died were between 41 and 65 years old and two people who died were between the ages 18 and 40.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticZachary Quinto and Khary Payton will lend their voices to the cast of Amazon Studios’ Invincible, the animated series based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book superhero.“Sweet news today!,” Kirkman tweeted about the new additions.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThe 2020 American Music Awards will air Sunday, Nov. 22 on ABC, but details including whether the show will be an in-person or virtual event, and who will host, are to be determined.Additional details regarding the production will be announced at a later date.The broadcast date was announced today by ABC and dick clark productions.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticPhyllis Somerville, an actress whose character work spanned decades as well as television (The Big C, NYPD Blue), film (Little Children, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and the stage (Broadway’s To Kill A Mockingbird), died of natural causes at her home in New York City on July 16.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThe Los Angeles production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton won’t be arriving at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre until next April, more than a year after its originally scheduled premiere.After repeated postponements due to the COVID-19 shutdown, producers have officially scotched the latest start-up target of September, canceling all performances currently on sale between September 8, 2020 through February 28, 2021.The new plan is to begin performances

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThough pandemic isolation has made Colin Jost appreciate more than ever the routine of working at Saturday Night Live‘s 30 Rock studio, the Weekend Update co-host still isn’t sure if the upcoming season will be his last.Appearing – remotely – on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show, Jost couldn’t give a definite answer when Stern asked point blank if he’d be leaving the long-running NBC sketch comedy series after this season.“I’ve been talking to Che about it

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticActor Idris Elba weighed in on the removal of old movies and TV shows deemed racist or sexist, saying he’d opt for keeping the shows but with warnings or even a ratings system.“I’m very much a believer in freedom of speech,” Elba said in an interview with Radio Times magazine. “But the thing about freedom of speech is that it’s not suitable for everybody.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticEXCLUSIVE: Bestselling horror novelist Paul Tremblay, whose A Head Full Of Ghosts is set for a film adaptation directed by Scott Cooper, has signed a three-book deal with the William Morrow imprint of HarperCollins.The publisher has acquired US and Canadian rights to three new books by the writer, the first of which will be The Pallbearer’s Club, set for publication in summer of 2022.The novel is described as a horror story about a less-than-successful

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticEntourage actor Kevin Connolly is denying an accusation of rape made by a costume designer on his feature directorial debut Gardener of Eden.The Daily Beast reported today that the film’s assistant costume designer Gracie Cox alleges that Connolly raped her at the film’s wrap party in 2005.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticNick Cannon, the actor and TV host fired by CBSViacom yesterday for making anti-Semitic comments on a podcast, is demanding ownership of his MTV and VH1 series Wild ‘N Out, alleging, in part, that the company “swindled” the show away from him.In a nearly 1,500-word Facebook message posted this morning, Cannon writes, “I created a billion-dollar brand that expanded across a multitiered empire that is still Viacom’s biggest digital brand, touring

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticThe cause of Naya Rivera’s death is an accidental drowning, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office has found.In the report released today, the Office confirmed the body found yesterday in Lake Piru near Los Angeles is that of the Glee actress. The identification was made by dental records.The report also indicates that there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol playing a role in the drowning, although toxicology tests will be conducted.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticQueer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Jai Rodriguez will host the Daytime Emmy Awards livestream ceremony honoring Digital Dramas this Sunday and The Real‘s Loni Love will host the ceremony for Children’s, Lifestyle & Animation programming the following Sunday.The host announcements were made today by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. NATAS also said today that the 41st Sports Emmy Awards will livestream on Tuesday, August 11, at 8 p.m.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticGrand Central Publishing has acquired actor Andrew McCarthy’s memoir Brat: An ‘80s Story, set for publication in Spring 2021.“For years people have asked me, on a near daily basis, ‘What was it like back in the day?’,” McCarthy said in a statement. “Routinely, I’d offer up any number of stock responses.