Manuel Miranda Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Halle Bailey‘s “Part of Your World” is finally here!

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Prince Eric will not be forcing himself on Ariel through song in Disney’s upcoming live-action “The Little Mermaid,” directed by Rob Marshall. Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, who wrote the music for the 1989 animated movie, returned to work on the 2023 live-action remake and updated some of the song lyrics so they wouldn’t be outdated when it comes to consensual relationships. “There are some lyric changes in ‘Kiss the Girl’ because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel],” Menken recently told Vanity Fair. “We have some revisions in ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.”

Alan Menken, who composed Disney’s most recognizable scores and songs, really enjoyed collaborating with Lin-Manuel Miranda on the live-action version of The Little Mermaid.

Viewers of the BBC's Big Night of Musicals shared the same complaint on social media as they pleaded: "Please tell me m I'm wrong!" Following a triumphant show in Manchester last year, the stars from a range of different musicals all came back together under the same roof for another spectacular night of entertainment.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Vanessa Hudgens, the Asian American actor whose career kicked off in Disney’s “High School Musical” series, is set to shoot a travel documentary in the Philippines, the country of her mother’s birth. The untitled project will shoot in Palawan and Manila in March. Paul Soriano is attached as a director, producer and executive producer. Mark A. Victor of TEN17P will also serve as executive producer. No distributor, broadcaster or streaming platform has yet been disclosed. Soriano’s recent credits include directing the 2019 film “Mañanita” and Manny Pacquiao biopic “Kid Kulafu.”

“Scream 6” star Melissa Barrera shot to fame by starring in the musical “In The Heights,” but she’s actually thankful it didn’t do so hot at the box office.“I am a firm believer in manifesting things into existence, and ‘In the Heights’ was one of those things,” the 32-year-old Mexican actress told People. “That’s the show where I belong — the first time that I ever saw people that looked like me on a Broadway stage.”The movie was directed by John M.

Julia MacCary editor In the new “The Little Mermaid” trailer, Disney brings viewers “under the sea” to see the beloved characters’ world in all its stunning live-action and VFX glory. Directed by Rob Marshall, the live-action musical brings to life the 1989 animated film with Halle Bailey starring as Ariel. The soundtrack is created by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken (who wrote the score for the 1989 “Little Mermaid” film) and will feature classics from the original movie in addition to four original songs. “The Little Mermaid” features Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina, Jacob Tremblay voicing Flounder, Daveed Diggs voicing Sebastian and Awkwafina voicing Scuttle.

Katie Reul editor Disney has unveiled a new teaser for its live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” beckoning viewers to become part of Ariel’s world. The upcoming musical, directed by Rob Marshall, reimagines the original 1989 animated film with live actors. The new adaptation will once again see the mermaid Ariel fall for a human prince who lives above the water, spurring a devilish plot from the nefarious Ursula. Halle Bailey stars as Ariel, alongside Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Jacob Tremblay as the voice of Flounder and Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian. The trailer gives a first look at Ursula and Prince Eric.

Baby on the way! Marc Anthony and his wife, Nadia Ferreira, are expecting their first child together.

EXCLUSIVE: Alexandra Shipp is set to join the cast of Sony’s untitled R-rated comedy starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. Will Gluck is directing.

Filmmaker Rob Marshall has spent a long time thinking about “The Little Mermaid.” Nearly five years, to be exact. When speaking to the Oscar-winning director about the 20th anniversary of “Chicago” (and a new deluxe home video release), he offered an update on his live-action redo of the 1989 Disney animated film, due in theaters this May. “I’m very excited to be finishing up after four-and-a-half years,” Marshall said.

EXCLUSIVE: Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho is teaming with ZQ Entertainment to produce God’s Country — a new genre film starring Scream VI’s Melissa Barrera, which will mark the American directorial debut of Egor Abramenko (Sputnik).

Newlyweds! Marc Anthony and Nadia Ferreira got married on Saturday, January 28, less than one year after getting engaged.

EXCLUSIVE: Three-time Emmy winner Bradley Whitford has signed with Gersh for representation.

Before wrapping up his TCA panel today for his FXX series Dave, rapper comedian Dave Burd aka Lil Dicky revealed the guest stars for season 3.

Darren Aronofsky is getting a lot of buzz for his latest film The Whale and is now looking to create a musical based on Black Swan.

EXCLUSIVE: Lin-Manuel Miranda is set for a key guest-starring role on Disney+’s upcoming series Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

The new Kander & Ebb stage musical New York, New York, inspired by the 1977 Martin Scorsese film starring Liza Minnelli and ‎Robert De Niro, will begin performances Friday, March 24, 2023 and officially open Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.

Lin-Manuel Miranda has Alexander Hamilton, and Kelsey Grammer said if he had the chance to portray an American history hero on the Broadway stage, it would be Benjamin Franklin because of his “bawdy history” and “naughtiness.”Grammer, who has a fondness for US history and years of experience performing for live audiences, expanded on his ideal “Hamilton” moment in an interview with Fox News Digital.  “Playing a character from that time—Franklin would be fun,” Grammer told Fox News Digital.

NY1.The playwright, who created hit musicals “In The Heights” and “Hamilton,” gave movie-goers a choice of films to screen over the weekend, offering either “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Black Panther,” and “Coco” — which ultimately won the vote.And making the event even more special, Miranda’s father, Luis Miranda Jr., came along to the screening.“Making sure that our neighborhood has a first-class theater that they can come for free is very, very important,” the composer’s father said.The venue recently got a major revamp thanks to Miranda, whose organization, Miranda Family Fund, donated a large sum of cash for a new screen and an HD projector, he told the outlet.“We always are trying to sell Washington Heights to the larger New York community, so this is an opportunity,” Miranda said.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor In the digital age, the traditional songbook — filled with lyrics and sheet music and maybe some pictures — can feel like a lost art, but it certainly is not to classical musicians, and particularly musical theater veterans. So even for Grammy, Emmy, Tony and Pulitzer winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, his first songbook, containing 27 songs from “Hamilton,” “Encanto,” “In the Heights” and more, was a big deal.Can’t believe there’s enough music for a collection, but here we are. I have a songbook. From In The Heights through Encanto. Wrote a foreword and everything. Overwhelmed and proud and grateful. Available now from @hal_leonard. -LMM pic.twitter.com/ydfREAs3Ym Such a big deal that Miranda’s songbook-release party in Manhattan last week was an extended-family gathering, attended by his parents, sister, nephews, friends, music teachers from several New York schools — and even Lin-Manuel’s former teachers — as well as city music programs serving underrepresented children, and fellows from the Miranda Family Fellowship Program, which aims to increase access to education and careers in the arts for emerging artists from underrepresented communities.

Katie Reul editor The action-packed final season of “His Dark Materials” will debut its first two episodes in a back-to-back broadcast on HBO Dec. 5, according to a teaser that premiered at New York Comic-Con. Season 3 will also be available for streaming on HBO Max. James McAvoy is making a significant resurgence in the series as Lord Asriel, who was absent from the screen for the majority of Season 2. The upcoming season largely focuses on Asriel rallying military forces to launch a holy crusade against the “Authority” — an antagonistic spiritual force that dictates his universe. “I’m gathering the greatest from every world to help me wage war,” Asriel reveals in the trailer.

new revival of the show that opened Thursday night on Broadway, absolutely ironclad — and able to stand up to pointless, auteurist, burdensome, woke concepts like the one on display at the American Airlines Theatre.Two hours and 40 minutes with one intermission. At the American Airlines Theatre, 227 W.

Katie Reul editor “Encanto” swept the 37th annual Imagen Awards, which was held Sunday at Downtown Los Angeles’ La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, but the Disney musical movie was closely matched by several wins from Hulu’s “Love, Victor.” Overall, “Encanto” creators took home the most awards of any nominated project and were recognized for Best Feature Film, Best Music Composition for Film or Television, Best Music Supervision for Film or Television and Best Director – Feature Film, which co-director Charise Castro Smith was not expecting. “I’m pretty sure my mom is never going to live down the fact that I won a best director award when nominated against Stephen Spielberg,” Castro Smith, who is also known for producing “The Haunting of Hill House,” joked with the audience during her acceptance speech. “That’s serious bragging rights for her Zumba class.”

Lin Manuel Miranda couldn’t be more excited over “The Little Mermaid.” The live-action adaptation of the Disney classic will be released next year, starring a talented cast led by Halle Bailey. In conversation with Variety, Miranda talked about how great the movie is and praised Bailey’s performance, all the while calling out the racist trolls that have targeted her after she was cast as Ariel. Lin Manuel Miranda working on musical project for the Queen’s Platinum JubileeLin-Manuel Miranda misses the Oscars because his wife has COVID-19A post shared by Lin-Manuel Miranda (@lin_manuel)Miranda spoke with the publication via Zoom, from San Diego, where he was speaking at L’Attitude, a conference that highlights Latino small businesses.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Lin-Manuel Miranda has a message to the trolls who have targeted their hate at Halle Bailey, star of the live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” — watch Brandy in “Cinderella.” “I’m old enough to remember that being a game changer for my generation,” Miranda told me during a Zoom chat from the L’Attitude conference in San Diego, where he was making an appearance with American Express to support Latino small business owners. “And Rob Marshall was the choreographer on that and is now the director of the movie. I’m really thrilled by that symmetry.” Besides, Miranda thinks the positivity and excitement around the new film far outweigh the negativity. Just take a look at the sneak peek of Bailey singing a snippet of “Part of Your World,” which racked up 104 million global views within days of its debut at the D23 Expo. “I’m not interested in giving them any oxygen because I know the lives that are going to be changed. Halle is perfect for the part,” said the Tony winner, who wrote four songs for the movie with composer Alan Menken. “She is going to blow them away. If that’s the thing that makes you mad, then stay mad. But examine your choices.”

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Award-winner and five-time Tony nominee Laura Benanti will be starring opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the Sony R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings from director Gene Stupnitsky.

The Little Mermaid has been unveiled.The teaser was premiered at Disney’s D23 Expo, which is currently taking place in Anaheim, California today (September 9).The Little Mermaid will see singer Halle Bailey of duo Chloe X Halle take on the lead role of Ariel. The one-minute-23-second-long teaser gives a first look at her in the part, featuring the actor swimming through the ocean with a shiny blue tail.Bailey also can be heard singing a part of ‘Part Of Your World’ in the teaser.

Henry is best known for his Tony-nominated leading roles in “Carousel,” “The Scottsboro Boys” and “Violet,” and for playing Aaron Burr in “Hamilton.” He played Roger Bart in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Tick, Tick, Boom” and Jerlamarel opposite Jason Momoa in Apple TV+’s “See.” He is currently appearing on Broadway in the Stephen Sondheim musical “Into The Woods.”Celebrated EGOT winner Moreno just wrapped production on feature films “Eighty for Brady” with Sally Field, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, and “Fast X,” where she plays Vin Diesel’s grandmother. Last year, she co-starred and was an executive producer on Steven Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story.” “Beauty and the Beast,” which was released on November 22, 1991, became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the 1992 Academy Awards, where it won Best Original Song for its self-titled theme song. “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration” is produced by Done+Dusted in association with Walt Disney Television Alternative and Electric Somewhere.

Disney’s Live-Action “The Little Mermaid” shows Halle Bailey’s Ariel singing “Part of Your World” in the teaser trailer.Bailey swims around the ocean floor to the piano notes of “Part of Your World” before she shoots up through a tunnel toward the surface of the water.We saw even more footage inside the room at D23 than what’s revealed in this teaser.As introduced by director Rob Marshall, who was last at the D23 Expo to show off “Mary Poppins Returns,” the sequence is very similar to the original film, with Ariel (Halle Bailey) browsing her collection of surface doodads. It’s incredibly moving and you could feel the room falling in love with Bailey as the song was progressing.

Wilson Chapman editor Get ready for Halle Bailey to be part of your world. The first footage of the highly anticipated “Little Mermaid” live-action remake has been unveiled at Disney’s D23 expo, revealing the acclaimed R&B star and actor in the iconic role of mermaid princess Ariel. Director Rob Marshall, of “Chicago” fame, celebrated the fact that this was a live action musical. Bringing up his Oscar-winning movie from the past “When we started this journey it was very important to honor the original” but also reimagine and “bring some depth” to the new film Marshall explained. The director also asked “Little Mermaid” longtime Disney alum and Alan Menken to link up with the award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda to come up with four new songs. “They’d never collaborated together before, and it’s magical…. We still retain the beauty of the original score by the late great Howard Ashman.”

K.J. Yossman Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has died, ending a historic 70-year reign. She was 96. The Queen died at Balmoral, her beloved palace in the Scottish Highlands, which was purchased by her great-great-grandfather Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1852. She was surrounded by her children and grand-children. Prince Charles, her eldest son, succeeds her. The Queen’s death comes just under 18 months and after that of her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9, 2021. 

EXCLUSIVE: Start spreading the news! A new musical loosely based on Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film New York, New York will begin performances on Broadway, theater to be announced, in March 2023. Opening night will be in April, with Tony and Olivier Award winner Susan Stroman on board to direct and choreograph.

Producers of the global theatrical hit Hamilton say they will donate all damages paid by Texas’ Door McAllen Church for two unlicensed and lyrically altered performances to the South Texas Equality Project, a coalition of LGBTQIA+ organizations.

refuted. The Texas house of worship that produced an unauthorized and highly religious version of the Broadway sensation “Hamilton” was ordered to pay an undisclosed amount in damages Tuesday after receiving a cease-and-desist letter.Pastor Roman Gutierrez also issued an apology, admitting that the Door McAllen Church did not receive permission from the producers or creators of the show to put on “Hamilton” — nor did they get Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blessing to alter the text, Entertainment Weekly reported.

The Texas church that staged two performances of a highly altered and “Christianized” version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton has apologized for the unauthorized productions and will pay unspecified damages.