THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Out actor George Takei—who recently starred in the Broadway musical Allegiance—has been cast as Reciter in New York City's Classic Stage Company's upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Pacifiic Overtures, to be directed by Tony Award winner ( and 2016 Tony Award nominee ) John Doyle, a press release stated. In the musical ( which will start April 5, 2017 ), Commodore Matthew Perry sails to Japan in 1853 on a U.S mission to open up trade relations at any cost.

Nickelodeon has made history by introducing gay dads Harold and Howard in an episode of the program The Loud House, according to an LGBTQ Nation item that cites Gay Star News. The couple are the fathers of Clyde McBride, the best friend of Lincoln Loud. Howard is played by MadTV's Michael McDonald, and Harold is played by Wayne Brady of Whose Line Is It Anyway fame. Brady recently joined other stars from Broadway in a tribute recording dedicated to the victims of the Orlando massacre.

Logo has renewed RuPaul's Drag Race for a ninth season and gave the go-ahead for the new Kelly Ripa-produced show Fire Island, TheWrap noted. Drag Race scored its third Emmy nomination this year and has continued to see an exponential growth in its audience. Fire Island, which follows a a group of young New York City professionals who leave their stressful big city lives and escape to Fire Island Pines, is produced by Ripa and Mark Consuelos' Milojo Productions.

Dwayne Johnson is developing Muscle Beach, a scripted drama series project that USA Network has acquired, Deadline reported. The project from Johnson and Dany Garcia's Seven Bucks Productions and Flynn Picture Co. is set in a legendary bodybuilding gym in 1980s Venice Beach. Muscle Beach is different from Pump, the similarly themed series project Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Monday about his formative years at a Venice Beach gym in the 1970s. ( See the following item. )

Arnold Schwarzenegger's formative years—spent soaking up the sun in a Venice Beach gym and embarking upon the most successful competitive bodybuilding career in history—will inspire a TV series, Deadline noted. Pump, an eight-episode hourlong drama, will be produced by Schwarzenegger, among others, and they have just closed a deal with CBS Television Studios.

A new series of Forever stamps depicting Wonder Woman will be issued Oct. 7 in honor of the hero's 75th anniversary, USA Today reported. The sheet of 20 stamps depicts Wonder Woman's comics appearance over four eras: the Golden Age ( 1941—55 ), as realized by creator William Moulton Marston, in which she dons a star-spangled skirt; the Silver Age ( 1956—72 ), with her golden lasso of truth in hand; the Bronze Age ( 1973—86 ), holding her fist high and wearing her bullet-deflecting bracelets; and the Modern Age ( 1987—present ), in which she wields a hammer.

On Monday, Aug. 15, at 7 p.m. CT, MTV will premiere True Life: We Are Orlando, a special episode of the docuseries that follows survivors of the Orlando anti-LGBT shooting as they try to come to terms with the trauma they experienced in order to get their lives back on track, a press release stated. The individuals included in the episode will be Tony Marrero, who was shot four times during the attack; Patience Carter and Tiara Parker; and Joshua McGill, who tried to learn the fate of a victim whose wounds he tried to stop from bleeding.

Netflix began streaming gay comedy Eastsiders on July 1, On Top Magazine noted. The dark comedy takes a look at the lives of Cal ( played by Kit Williamson ) and Thom ( Van Hansis ), who are trying to make sense of their relationship after infidelity. Creator and star Williamson recently wrote on IndieWire.com, "I wish I could say that I predicted this, that it was all part of some master plan, but the truth is I had no idea a series could have as many lives as EastSiders has had." On Twitter, Williamson added that he was working on season three.

Out actor John Barrowman is working on getting Torchwood back on screen, Gay Star News reported. During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, the Doctor Who and Arrow star revealed he was in talks to get the series back. Torchwood's last series, titled Torchwood: Miracle Day, aired in 2011. However, the show has a huge cult following.

In an interview with The New York Times, Raul Castillo said that playing gay on the HBO dramedy Looking has helped his acting career, On Top Magazine noted. On the show, Castillo, 38, played a love interest for Jonathan Groff's character, a programmer who recently moved to San Francisco looking for love. Castillo told the Times that as one of the few straight cast members he always felt as if his job was at risk. "I learned a lot about gay male intimacy on the show," he said.

Caitlyn Jenner recently revealed that her Olympic gold medal is in her nail drawer, Page Six noted. "Actually I looked the other day and the medal was in my nail drawer, with all my nail colors and everything," she told H&M. Jenner, who took home the top prize for the decathlon during the 1976 summer games, also said that starting her family is actually her biggest achievement.

Model Austin Armacost has announced that he and his husband, Jake Lees, are splitting up, Gay Star News reported. Armacost, originally from Indiana, was featured in the 2015 series of Celebrity Big Brother on the UK's Channel 5; he is also known for briefly dating the fashion designer Marc Jacobs when younger and appearing on the Logo reality TV show The A-List. Writing exclusively for GuysLikeU, Armacost says, "We first met when we were 20, now, almost a decade later we have just become two different people with two different ideas of what we want from life."

Guy Sandin—who competed as a diver for Puerto Rico in the 1996 Olympics as Ramon Sandin—married his partner, Michael Mauro, Outsports reported. By the way, There will be one same-sex couple competing at the Rio Olympics. Helen Richardson-Walsh and her wife Kate Richardson-Walsh both play on Great Britain's field-hockey team.

Former talk-show host Montel Williams is in a full-blown feud with Bill O'Reilly after walking off a taping of The O'Reilly Factor, Page Six noted. "We're supposed to have Montel Williams, but he walked out in a huff. The producer tells me he was mad about some gay thing," O'Reilly said during what would have been Williams' segment. The "gay thing" was an impassioned speech that Williams delivered at an LGBT-themed brunch. Williams said he expected to expound on his speech on The O'Reilly Factor but that the subject got bumped in favor of a poll on race relations.

Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth, most recently on Broadway in the revival of On the Twentieth Century, will be part of the cast of American Gods, the original Starz series from executive producers Neil Gaiman, Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, Playbill noted, citing Deadline. Chenoweth has been cast in the role of Easter in the forthcoming series, which is based on Neil Gaiman's novel, and will debut in 2017. American Gods, according to a previous report from BBC America, tells the story of a "conflict between traditional gods, with their focus on morality and community, and a new breed of deities devoted to modern concerns: money, celebrity, decadence and technology."

NBC has ordered 10 episodes of World of Dance, the dance competition series from Jennifer Lopez, according to TheWrap. The series, a partnership with the dance brand World of Dance, will pit dancers of all ages and across all genres against each other for a $1-million prize. "This will be a fierce talent-heavy dance competition that embraces the raw emotion and excitement that dance represents," Lopez said in a statement.

Out country-music singer Ty Herndon is set to headline a July 30 concert to benefit the Orlando victims, On Top Magazine noted. Herndon, who came out gay in 2014, is among the artists who appear on the song Hands, which pays tribute to the victims of the massacre. Last year, he hosted the Concert for Love & Acceptance, a groundbreaking LGBT-inclusive concert at CMA Fest in Nashville. The July 30 show will also feature upcoming country artists Sean Holcomb and Paige Keiner.

VH1 has announced the return of the show VH1 Divas after a four-year hiatus, according to a press release. The show will premiere Monday, Dec. 5, from Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. From Aretha, Whitney and Mariah to Adele, to name a few, VH1 Divas has honored musical giants from their career beginnings to their superstar status since its inception in 1998. For additional updates, go to DIVAS.VH1.com .

Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski—the darling of the 1998 Olympics at Nagano—is teaming with producer Michael Shamberg and writer Jonathan Igla ( Mad Men, Masters of Sex ) for a new drama series at Hulu offering a behind-the-scenes look at the intense world of figure skating, Deadline noted. The untitled series will center on a group of women and men in their teens and twenties who sacrifice normal lives to try to be Olympic champions.

Krit McClean, the model who ran around Times Square naked for more than an hour in early July, is demanding privacy, Page Six reported. McClean—who shut down traffic, danced and demanded to talk to Donald Trump, all while nude—wrote on Instagram, "Dear media: I ask you to please kindly stop involving my family members in your quest for information. And stop coming to my homes as well as calling in the depths of night." McClean, who has graced the covers of GQ and Harper's Bazaar, was charged with public lewdness, disorderly conduct and exposure, and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.

Lady Gaga and her fiance, Chicago Fire star Taylor Kinney, are taking a break, according to an AOL News item that cites TMZ. The duo, who dated for five years, reportedly parted ways last month and have been spending a ton of time solo. Gaga was recently spotted out in Malibu, California, without her engagement ring and she's currently in Mexico on vacation with the ring and Kinney. Kinney proposed to Gaga with a massive heart-shaped rock on Valentine's Day 2015.

Speaking of Gaga, she stopped by at a non-profit foster home for boys in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and gave an impromptu a capella performance of her 2011 hit song "Born This Way," LGBTQ Nation reported. The singer posted a clip to Twitter with an appeal for fans to donate to the organization.

The second annual Elsie Fest—a one-day outdoor music festival modeled on the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, but celebrating stars and songs from the stage and screen—will take place Sept. 5 in Brooklyn, according to Playbill. Among those slated to attend are Megan Hilty, Tituss Burgess, Darren Criss, Evan Rachel Wood and Cynthia Erivo. Elsie Fest was the brainchild of Criss, talent manager Ricky Rollins and Broadway producer/Jujamcyn Theaters president Jordan Roth.

Happy Days creator Garry Marshall has died at age 81, TheWrap noted. The brother of Penny Marshall had directed, produced and starred in films and TV shows since the late '50s. Garry's other TV shows included Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and The Odd Couple while some of his movies were The Princess Diaries, Pretty Woman and Beaches.

Marni Nixon, a singer and actress who gained a special kind of fame by dubbing the singing voices of other actresses in famous movie musicals, died in New York at age 86, according to Playbill. Nixon dubbed "I Feel Pretty" in West Side Story ( 1961 ) as well as the notes from Deborah Kerr in The King and I ( 1956 ), among other items. Nixon rarely got to sing on screen as herself, but she did play a small role as a nun in The Sound of Music, singing a few lines of "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"

At San Diego's Comic-Con, it was announced that Rihanna has been tapped to play Marion Crane in the fifth and final season of A&E's hit Psycho prequel series Bates Motel, Deadline noted. ( Janet Leigh played ill-fated character in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic. ) It was also stated that

Members of Wendy Williams' talk-show crew surprised her on her 52nd birthday with a sapphire-and-diamond brooch that belonged to the late Joan Rivers, Page Six noted. Williams recounted falling in love with the bauble when Joan's daughter, Melissa, was on the show in June to preview her mother's belongings that were to be auctioned off by Christie's later that month. A Christie's rep declined to comment on the final selling price of the brooch, but it was expected to go for $3,500 to $4,500.

Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones exposed the hateful comments she received on Twitter, Page Six noted. Jones shared messages that compared her to gorillas, apes and monkeys, among other insults. Jones left the social-media platform with one last message. "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart," she said. "All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the s—t I got today… wrong." However, she has returned, telling Seth Meyers on his talk show, "I didn't leave. I just signed out because I wanted to deal with what was going on."

R&B singer Brandy is suing her record company, claiming their arrangement is like "slavery," according to Page Six. The singer says that Chameleon Entertainment has failed to adequately fund her albums and is asking her to give away income from concerts and acting. "Brandy Norwood's story is Kesha Redux, but without the sex," the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says. In response, Chameleon Entertainment CEO Breyon Prescott has now taken a major swipe at the songstress by saying the label took a gamble by "signing an artist that hasn't had a chart single success since the early 2000s."

Hillary Clinton's personal hairdresser John Barrett is in a legal battle with high-end department store Saks Fifth Avenue, which is suing the swank Bergdorf Goodman-based stylist's company for $11 million for breach of contract, Page Six noted. In a suit filed in April, Saks accused Barrett's salon of backing out of a deal it had signed last September to open 15 newly renovated and designed shops in its stores nationwide, to operate exclusively with them, and cover costs and expenses for the next decade.

Jennifer Hudson has been cast as Adam Sandler's next love interest, TheWrap noted. The Oscar winner will star opposite Sandler in Netflix's romantic comedy Sandy Wexler. Sandler's third movie with Netflix follows Sandy Wexler ( Sandler ), a talent manager working in Los Angeles in the 1990s, who represents a group of eccentric clients. His devotion is put to the test when he falls in love with his newest client, Courtney Clarke ( Hudson ), a talented singer who he discovers at an amusement park.

Marvel Studios has announced that Oscar winner Brie Larson ( Room ) will play the new Captain Marvel, TheWrap noted. Rumors that Larson was in very early talks for the role—Air Force pilot Carol Danvers, who is blessed with half-alien DNA—first surfaced in June. Captain Marvel is expected to be released March 8, 2019.

In its 179 years, luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. has never used a celebrity in any of its campaigns. However, MTV noted, profits ( or a reported lack thereof ) has hastened changes, as the company hired former creative director of Vogue Grace Coddington to shake up the campaign—and she did, picking Elle Fanning, Lupita Nyong'o, Natalie Westling and Christy Turlington to star as the faces of Tiffany's fall campaign.

Nicollette Sheridan has filed for divorce six months after secretly tying the knot, Page Six noted. According to court docs obtained by TMZ, the former Desperate Housewives co-star and Aaron Phypers pulled the plug on their quickie marriage after five months and separated a month later. Sheridan also requested the judge deny Phypers any claims for spousal support. The couple, who wed in December 2015, did not have any children.

Variety reported that MTV's Teen Wolf will end after season six, it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con. The LGBTQ-friendly cult hit will conclude its run with its 100th episode, which will also serve as the series finale, airing in 2017. The action-packed panel had Tyler Posey, Holland Rosen and others as well as cast members Ian Bohen ( Peter Hale ) and J.R. Bourne ( Chris Argent ) charge onstage dressed as Beacon Hills' newest villains, The Ghost Riders, before MTV offered a preview of upcoming scripted dramedy Sweet/Vicious, a series about sexual assault, consent and revenge on college campuses that will premiere alongside Teen Wolf in November 2016.

Starz has ordered two additional seasons of the 50 Cent-backed series Power, TheWrap reported. It's the first multi-season pick-up for the series that stars Omari Hardwick.