‘Topdog/Underdog’ Broadway Review: Corey Hawkins & Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Deal A Winner

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has taken North American rights on Tarik Saleh’s Cairo Conspiracy, which formerly was known as Boy from Heaven. Sweden’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, where Saleh won the Best Screenplay prize. Samuel Goldwyn is planning an early-2023 release.

It’s impressive to see the sheer volume and quality of genre projects with which actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Trial of The Chicago 7”) has been involved in such a short period. Some of them include Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman” soft-reboot, Michael Bay’s heist thriller “Ambulance,” playing a new incarnation of Morpheus in Lana Wachowski’s “The Matrix Resurrections,” a major villain in the two “Aquaman” movies from director James Wan, and earning an Emmy award for his performance on the HBO series “Watchmen.” Well, the rising star has nabbed another significant role in a comic book project.

UPDATE: Last season’s Tony-winning Broadway production of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out proved so popular that producers made the unusual decision to bring the show back, its cast largely in tact, for some extra innings. Take Me Out begins a 14-week Broadway run today, playing through January 29, 2023. The original cast remains except for one: Bill Heck will replace Patrick J. Adams in the role of Kippy Sunderstrom.

Mammals,” starring James Corden and Sally Hawkins. All six episodes will drop Nov. 11. Directed by Stephanie Laing and written by Jez Butterworth, “Mammals” follows Jamie (Corden), a chef who discovers shocking secrets about his pregnant wife, Amandine (Melia Kreiling). Jamie searches for answers with the help of his brother-in-law Jeff (Colin Morgan), but stumbles upon cracks in Jeff’s marriage to Jamie’s sister Lue (Hawkins) along the way. The series is produced by Street Hassle, in association with Vertigo Films and Fulwell 73. Watch the teaser below.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cinemed, the Mediterranean Cinema Film Festival, is partnering up with Lebanese film org Aflamuna / Beirut DC to launch a new co-production and co-financing initiative aimed at high-profile projects from the Arab world. The new program, which is also backed by France’s National Film Board and is part of the festival’s industry showcase Cinemed Meetings, will present seven projects involving 22 Arab countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Liban, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Syria, among others. All selected projects are currently in development and are being brought by filmmakers who have previously directed at least one short film.

opened Thursday night on Broadway, is mostly in tune.  The August Wilson play’s greatest asset is its young leads John David Washington and Danielle Brooks, both of whom are already widely admired, but display an altogether new and enticing range of skills. 2 hours and 45 minutes, with one intermission. At the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W.

There’s abundant magic still in The Piano Lesson, August Wilson’s grand, 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning tale of a Black family torn between legacy and ambition, the past and the future, and, it’s not an overstatement to note, between life and death.

The African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) will present AAFCA Salutes Broadway on Monday, October 17th at the Lamb’s Club in the heart of New York’s theater district.

William Earl “Death of a Salesman” actor Wendell Pierce, “The Piano Lesson” director LaTanya Richardson Jackson and “Till” star John Douglas Thompson are among the honorees set for the inaugural Salute to Broadway presented by the African American Film Critics Association. The event is set for Oct. 17 at The Lambs Club in the heart of Midtown’s theater district. “It’s no secret that some of our greatest actors have come from the stage or have tested their chops on it,” said Gil Robertson, co-founder of AAFCA. “Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis are just a handful of our beloved icons for which this was true, with Tony winners Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Audra McDonald, Adrienne Warren and Myles Frost among those continuing that legacy. As a reliable pipeline for outstanding Black talent in front of the camera as well as behind it, Hollywood has benefited greatly from this esteemed training ground and AAFCA Salutes Broadway celebrates that rich heritage.”

Japanese director Naomi Kawase will preside over the international jury of the 44th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, running November 13 to 22.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor How is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play like a Marvel superhero? Ask Suzan-Lori Parks, the acclaimed writer whose 2001 outing “Topdog/Underdog” was her first show to arrive on Broadway after she’d spent years turning heads downtown with smaller-scale work. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Caroline, Or Change.” Whereas Caroline was stalwartly cold, Clarke’s Linda is an amiable “Stand By Your Man” type. She never recoils when Willy shouts at her, and in her dewy eyes he can do no wrong. At times, her constant devotion bowls you over; at others, it is one-note.And Khris Davis is Biff, the favorite son who moved out West against Willy’s wishes and can’t live up to his father’s lofty dreams.

Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller’s classic tragedy of the American Dream gone sour, is revitalized and given room to encompass the Black experience in director Miranda Cromwell’s intriguing production opening at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway tonight. Boasting flat-out terrific performances – Wendell Pierce as Willie Loman and the amazing Sharon D Clarke as his wife Linda – this Death of a Salesman doesn’t so much reinvent Miller’s masterpiece as open its doors to perspectives that enrich the material.

Naman Ramachandran Priyanka Chopra Jonas (“The White Tiger”), Richie Mehta (“Delhi Crime”) and Anurag Kashyap (“Sacred Games”) are among the luminaries who are part of Awedacious Originals’ slate. Awedacious is a production company led by Apoorva Bakshi, one of the producers of Mehta’s International Emmy-winning Netflix series “Delhi Crime,” and Monisha Thyagarajan, who served as associate producer on the show.

Near the start of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway revival of the musical 1776, a cast made entirely of actors who identify as female, transgender and nonbinary, with multiple representations of race and ethnicity, step into the gold-buckled shoes, literally, of the men who would come to be called the founding fathers. We can only imagine how things might turn out differently, both for the musical and in some alternate real-life universe.