Composer Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Naman Ramachandran “My Neighbor Totoro,” a stage adaptation of Miyazaki Hayao‘s beloved 1988 Studio Ghibli film, is transferring to the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London’s West End in early 2025. The production is a collaboration between multi-award-winning composer Joe Hisaishi, who executive produces, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Improbable and Nippon TV. Adapted by Tom Morton-Smith (“Oppenheimer”), it opened at London’s Barbican in 2022 and broke the venue’s box office record for most tickets sold in a single day.

Ben Croll In 2020, director Hsin-Chien Huang won the NewImages Festival‘s top prize for “Bodyless,” a dreamlike exploration of his own childhood growing up under Taiwanese martial law. That year’s jury was led by French music producer and composer Jean-Michel Jarre – and sometime over the course of the festival the two men hit it off.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Howard Ashman’s body of work will be celebrated at ASCAP’s Musical Theatre Fest. The conversation, titled “Part of Our World: Celebrating the Life & Lyrics of Howard Ashman,” will feature interviews and performances from “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast, “Aladdin” and more selections across the composer’s career.

Selena Kuznikov Director Joshua Erkman’s feature debut, “A Desert,” has been acquired by Yellow Veil Pictures ahead of its Tribeca Film Festival premiere in June. The film stars Kai Lennox (“God’s Country,” “Green Room”), David Yow (“I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore”) and Sarah Lind (“A Wounded Fawn”).

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor When Andy Grush and Taylor Stewart, better known as The Newton Brothers, took on the job of scoring Disney+’s “X-Men ‘97,” they knew they would have a mighty task ahead of them – they’d have to find a way to put their stamp on the iconic synth-heavy theme song from the original 1992 animated series, while still keeping the familiar melody. As fans of composer Ron Wasserman’s original theme, they first asked themselves what they would want to see and hear. They knew they didn’t want to do something super modern.

A post shared by Sussan Deyhim (@sussandeyhim)Born in Buffalo, New York in 1949, Horowitz studied electronic music in Paris and the ney (a traiditional flute) in Morocco during the 1970s. After releasing a series of albums featuring the ney in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Horowitz would go on to discover two important creative partners: future wife Deyhim, and Jon Hassell.Hassell and Horowitz toured together and created records such as ‘Power Spot’, whilst Horowitz released his official debut album ‘Eros in Arabia’ in 1981 under the pen name Drahcir Ztiworoh, receiving critical acclaim.From there, Horowitz went on to collaborate with musicians such as David Byrne and Brian Eno, and also worked with Ryuichi Sakamoto on the soundtrack for romance film The Sheltering Sky (1990).

Alex Ritman Jessie Buckley has lent her voice to “Three Hares,” the hand-drawn animated short film from BAFTA-winning filmmaker Paloma Baez (“The House,” “Poles Apart”). The ecologically-focused film — which has now completed production — was directed and adapted by Baeza from an original story by Hanya Yanagihara, the author of “The People in the Trees,” “A Little Life,” “To Paradise,” and editor-in-chief of T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Katcy Stephan Tim Meadows (“Mean Girls,” “Bob’s Burgers”) and Stephanie Beatriz (“Encanto,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) have been cast in key voice roles for the upcoming animated comedy/sci-fi feature film “Harry and the Mutant Mid-Century Furniture,” directed by Michael Skolnick (“The Gliksmans”). Mack Williams (“Archer,” “The Get Down”) of Pig Apple and Michael Bitton (“Gran Turismo,” “The Wheel of Time”) of 14th Street Music have also signed on as Animation Director and Composer, respectively.

Bargain Hunt's beloved auctioneer, Philip Serrell, recently shared a chilling incident involving his daughter Clementine, who found herself in a harrowing ordeal with car thieves.The Worcestershire-based auctioneer shared details of the incident on social media. According to Philip, Clementine caught two individuals attempting to steal her car after they had stolen her car keys. Despite the alarming situation, Clementine remained composed, prompting her father to joke about the thieves' reaction to being confronted by his petite daughter.

Katcy Stephan Editor, composer, director and producer John Ottman is teaming with film and music industry executive David Franco to develop a dramatic biopic based on the life of world-renowned Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. The project, written by Kevin Lund and TJ Scott, has had been long-gestating, beginning 20 years ago when Ron Howard was set to direct. After many unsuccessful attempts, including with members of the famous Italian filmmaking De Laurentiis family in 2008, the project needed a new vision.

Bassist Tony Kanal has embarked on a new career as a TV composer. But he had to put that aside for a special date tonight at Coachella with his friends in No Doubt.

and her 15-year-old daughter are the uncontested winners of the award for coolest mother-daughter bonding activity. Last summer, Jolie revealed that she had hired Vivienne to on her latest producing project, a musical adaptation of S.E.

Jon Burlingame Dan Wallin, the music scoring engineer who recorded such classic film scores as “Spartacus,” “Bullitt,” “The Wild Bunch” and “Out of Africa,” died early Wednesday in Hawaii. He was 97.

Jon Burlingame Hailed by no less than the New York Times as “the hottest artist on the classical music planet,” Chinese pianist Lang Lang has expanded traditional performance boundaries beyond the usual Bach, Mozart and Chopin to include Disney songs and contemporary film music. On April 10, he will become one of a handful of classical pianists to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Among them: Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin and Ignace Paderewski.) This recognition acknowledges Lang Lang’s connection to movies and his commitment to bringing classical music to younger audiences everywhere.

Paul Bettany is set to star opposite Will Sharpe in Sky‘s limited series about composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

A Grand Designs dream home was met with a nightmare end, suffering £200,000 worth of damage when it collapsed inwardly, an incident dismissed as "lunacy" by the Channel 4 show's host Kevin McCloud.

The Zone Of Interest filmmaker Jonathan Glazer has reinforced his support for the virtual Cinema For Gaza campaign auction, pledging a new personalized gift to the fundraiser alongside first-time donors Spike Lee, Olivia Colman, and Paul Mescal. 

Naked Attraction host Anna Richardson was momentarily lost for words during what has been dubbed as the show's "dirtiest" episode to date.

Surprise! Elizabeth Reaser is now married!

Ellise Shafer “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer has donated signed posters to the Cinema for Gaza auction, which has collected gifts from major names in the U.K. entertainment industry to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. Before the fundraiser officially began on Tuesday, Glazer and “Zone of Interest” producer James Wilson donated seven “Zone of Interest” posters and a selection of posters from his 2014 film “Under the Skin.” The posters will be signed by Glazer, Wilson and composer Mica Levi, who scored both films.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The Tony-winning Broadway icon Bernadette Peters has long been considered one of the foremost performers of composer Stephen Sondheim‘s work. But as Peters revealed in the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety‘s theater podcast, it wasn’t quite love at first sight when she initially performed his tunes. It was more like love at second sight.

Ellise Shafer “The Killing” star Sofie Gråbøl will serve as the president of this year’s Canneseries competition jury, it was announced on Tuesday. The Danish actor kickstarted her career with the 1986 film “Barndommens gade” (“The Streets of My Childhood”) and is known for her TV roles including “The Killing,” “Nikolaj og Julie” and “Taxa.” Joining Gråbøl on the jury are “Madame Hollywood” director, screenwriter and producer Olivier Abbou; “Four Daughters” composer Amine Bouhafa; “City of God” actor Alice Braga; “Blancanieves” actor Macarena García; and “Samber” actor Alix Poisson.

Jon Burlingame Mike Post has written the music for more classic TV series than anyone else: “The Rockford Files,” “Hill Street Blues,” “The Greatest American Hero,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “The A-Team,” “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order” and many others over the past 50 years. But for his new album, “Message from the Mountains & Echoes of the Delta,” he has left his day job behind, creating two original suites for bluegrass and blues bands with orchestra.

Selena Kuznikov Co-composers Rachel Portman and Jon Ehrlich have only met in person once, and collaborated across the globe while scoring Hulu’s “We Were the Lucky Ones.” Despite this, both Portman and Ehrlich said that working across continents was one of the best parts of the process. Erhlich said: “She would work on something, and then I would wake up in the morning and go to the studio and unwrap a gift. Then by the end of my day, I was handing it off to her, and she could kind of pick up where I left off.

The news that Kate Middleton had been diagnosed with cancer and had begun preventative chemotherapy for her condition shocked the nation.

New roles in the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic have been announced!

Naman Ramachandran Its raining Ram Charan projects in India. A few days after “RRR” star Ram Charan‘s 16th film was unveiled. Now, the team has been revealed for his 17th.

Solo Leveling has become one of the breakout anime shows of the year, but when will the run of episodes come to an end?Based on the Korean web novel by Chugong, the series takes place in a realm of gifted hunters and monsters. In this world, weak hunter Sung Jinwoo is given extraordinary strength through a mysterious programme, which kickstarts a journey across the various dungeons to discover the true source of his power.The anime adaptation debuted in January this year, after having first been announced at Anime Expo 2022.

Henry Cavill, Henry Golding, and Eiza Gonzalez are kicking off the press tour for their new movie!

The untitled reteam between filmmaker Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan is hitting theaters on March 7, 2025.

Jack Dunn Warner Bros. has released the second trailer for George Miller’s “Furiosa”, the post-apocalyptic prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road.” The film stars Anya-Taylor Joy as wasteland warrior princess Imperator Furiosa, a role originally plated by Charlize Theron in the 2015 series reboot. The film follows a young Furiosa as she is ripped from her refuge in the Green Place of Many Mothers and, for the first time, forced to face the insanity of the desolate world beyond.

Jon Burlingame FX’s acclaimed miniseries “Shōgun,” now nearing its halfway point, sports a score quite unlike Maurice Jarre’s music for the 1980 original adaptation. While utilizing authentic Japanese instruments, the music takes a very modern approach that applies today’s technology and advanced sonic manipulation in ways that were impossible four decades ago.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent German director Volker Schlöndorff, who won the Cannes’ Palme d’Or and an Oscar for his 1979 drama “The Tin Drum,” is set to direct a film about how Antonio Vivaldi — the 18th-century Italian composer of “The Four Seasons” — formed what is touted as the world’s first all-female orchestra. Schlöndorff’s still-untitled depiction of this lesser-known aspect of Vivaldi’s career is based on a book by German writer Peter Schneider, which has been adapted for the big screen by Italian scribe Francesco Piccolo (“My Brilliant Friend”) along with the director.

Naman Ramachandran Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy-winning composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) is set to release 16 new compositions with the Dubai-based Firdaus Orchestra. Firdaus Orchestra is an all-woman ensemble of 50 musicians from 23 Arab countries, mentored by the composer.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker and composer Sanjay Leela Bhansali has launched music label Bhansali Music with the soundtrack of Netflix series “Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.” The first song from the album, traditional composition “Sakal Ban,” with lyrics by Amir Khusro and sung by Raja Hasan, will be released on Saturday. Via the label, the filmmaker will collaborate with musicians and artists to produce compositions for his films and shows and also independent albums.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor As a proud Brooklynite, composer Tamar-kali will often walk around her neighborhood and see a mural of America’s first Black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. Other times, she’ll take a walk around the Shirley Chisholm State Park and be reminded of an incredible legacy. Chisholm’s story is the subject of “Shirley,” a new film produced by and starring Regina King, directed by John Ridley and coming to Netflix on March 22.