Deadline's Broadway critic revealed his picks for the best of 2022. Leopoldstadt topped his list, but other productions included Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like It Hot, Into the Woods, Hangmen, Ain't No Mo', A Strange Loop, Topdog/Underdog, The Piano Lesson and Take Me Out. Funny Girl and The Phantom of the Opera tied for best Broadway comeback. Some of the 2023 productions the critic said he's looking forward to are Life of Pi, Bad Cinderella, A Doll's House and Bob Fosse's Dancin'.
The Hollywood Reporter chose various superlatives for TV shows and episodes. For example, "Silenced" (from Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story) was chosen as the best episode of a bad TV show. A few of the other "awards" included Worst Argument for Superhero Sex (The Boys), Best Aging (House of the Dragon), Weirdest Handling of Off-Screen Adversity (Jeff Garlin's exit from The Goldbergs), Best Ships (Our Flag Means Death) and Least Heeded Warnings About Tech CEOs (Super Pumped, WeCrashed and The Dropout).
Gay City News listed its best and worst in queer cinema for 2022. Some of the best included Fire Island, Bros, Tar, The Inspection, You Won't Be Alone, They/Them, Dos Estaciones, Peter Van Kant, Neptune Frost and Benediction. My Policeman was dubbed the worst film, with Loving Highsmith as worst documentary and Ben Platt in People We Hate at the Wedding being the worst performance. The full article is at gaycitynews.com/the-year-in-queer-cinema-best-worst-2022/ .
The Advocate listed its top 12 songs by queer artists that were released in 2022. Some of them included Orville Peck's "C'mon Baby Cry," Elton John and Dua Lipa's "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)," Doechii's "Persuasive," Hayley Kiyoko's "For the Girls," Sam Smith and Kim Petras' "Unholy" and Dove Cameron's "Boyfriend." The entire list is at https://www.advocate.com/music/2022/12/24/12-best-songs-queer-artists-2022#media-gallery-media-2.
Self listed 14 LGBTQ+-affirming movies to tune into while recovering from the holidays. Among them are Anything's Possible, Fire Island, D.E.B.S., My Fake Boyfriend, Pariah, The Half of It and Everything Everywhere All At Once, among others. The full list is at https://www.self.com/story/lgbtq-affirming-movies-streaming.
Former President Barack Obama listed his favorite songs of 2022, Billboard noted. Just a few included SZA's "Shirt," Beyonce's "Break My Soul," Rosalia's "Saoko," Lizzo's "About Damn Time," Bad Bunny's "Titi Me Pregunto" and Plains' "Problem with It." Of the 25 songs he listed, 13 of the artists who created those tunes are nominated for the 2023 Grammy awards.
Rian Johnson, director of Netflix's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, talked with Screen Rant about not having lead detective Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig) and his partner together on screen, Out noted. "It certainly wasn't meant to skirt anything, but it wasn't driven by COVID in particular. It was just kind of the way the scene was written," Johnson said. "It's the delight of connecting up that moment, when you come back to it halfway through, with the moment from the beginning was kind of the idea of it. I felt like having Blanc be gay and have a partner just felt like a very natural thing coming out of the first movie."
The concert version of the Tony-nominated musical Ragtime—originally scheduled for April 27, 2020, to benefit the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund)—will now be held in 2023, although no official date has been announced, Playbill noted. Entertainment Community Fund Chairman and original Ragtime star Brian Stokes Mitchell provided an update: "Our hope is that we can bring this concert to life in 2023 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ragtime… We all want to produce the concert that you deserve and come together for a night that we'll never forget." The concert will be dedicated to the late Marin Mazzie, who received one of her three Tony nominations for her portrayal of Mother in the original 1998 production.
Trailblazing TV journalist Barbara Walters has died at age 93. Long before creating The View (which debuted in 1997), she began her national broadcast career in 1961 as a reporter, writer and panel member for NBC's Today show before being promoted to co-host in 1974, CNN noted. In 1976, Walters joined ABC News as the first female anchor on an evening news program.
In an interview with The New York Times, openly gay British actor Jonathan Bailey discussed his career, personal life, mainstream success with Bridgerton and new role in the West End play Cock, Out noted. Nicki van Gelder—Bailey's agent since he was 15—discussed the positive impact his coming out has had on younger actors.
Mariah Carey helped singer Darlene Love sell out several concerts after raving about her on Instagram, Page Six noted. Earlier this month, Spotify asked Carey why she decided to include Love's classic song, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on her holiday album. Carey then gave a huge shout-out to Love, who's 81. Love performed the classic holiday tune for many years on the Late Show with David Letterman, and that host said that her annual performance was his favorite part of Christmas, even calling her the "Christmas Queen."
In an interview with The Sunday Times of London, shared during Hanukkah, actress/The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg suggested Jews are divided about whether they are a race, religion or both, according to USA Today. "My best friend said, 'Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we're probably not a race,'" she said. However, in a statement to Deadline, Goldberg indicated that, in the interview, she was simply recounting what she said earlier this year, not "doubling down on hurtful comments." She also said, "I believe that the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then that I upset, hurt and angered people."
Talking with Vulture, actress/producer Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls; TV's Party of Five) weighed in on Candace Cameron Bure's comments about the network, EW noted. Chabert, a fixture on the cable network who has starred in 20+ Hallmark films, defended the channel after Bure asserted that Hallmark—which in recent years has affirmed a commitment to diversity and inclusion in its programming, including LGBTQ+ stories—is "a completely different network than when I started" due to a change in leadership.
Singer and former Smiths front man Morrissey announced on his website, Morrissey Central, that he'd parted ways with his management and record label, Out noted. Later, he announced in a post titled "Miley Is A Punk Rocker" that "Miley Cyrus now wants to be taken off the song 'I Am Veronica' for which she volunteered backing vocals almost two years ago." The song was to be part of Morrissey's album Bonfire of Teenagers; however, the future of that already-finished album—set to be released by Capitol Records in February 2023—is uncertain. Known for his staunch veganism as well as racist and xenophobic comments, Morrissey's behavior has gotten increasingly bizarre in recent years, according to Out.
Jennifer Lopez, who played Selena Quintanilla on the big screen 25 years ago, stepped out for a family shopping trip in a gray graphic T-shirt featuring the late Tejano singer's image, Page Six noted. The outing occurred just hours after releasing a Christmas newsletter revealing that she'd been gifted some Selena merch by the star's sister.
Julia Holcomb—a woman who claims to have had an illicit relationship with Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler in the '70s (when she was a minor)—has filed a lawsuit against him, accusing Tyler of sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, Yahoo! reported. The lawsuit was filed following California legislation that temporarily waived statutes of limitations for childhood sexual-abuse allegations. Holcomb further alleges that she was pregnant with Tyler's son in 1975, when she was 17, but got an abortion after Tyler insisted she terminate the pregnancy following an apartment fire.
A jury found rapper Tory Lanez guilty on all charges for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020, Page Six noted. Lanez was found guilty of one felony count each of assault with a semi-automatic firearm (personal use of a firearm) and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; he was also convicted of an additional felony count of discharging a firearm with gross negligence. TMZ stated Lanez is now facing 22 years in prison and that there's a "strong likelihood" he will be deported back to Canada, where he was born. Fans of Lanez have started a petition to appeal the decision, TMZ noted.
Andy Cohen claimed James Corden ripped off his Watch What Happens Live set—which features his iconic bar—for The Late Late Show With James Corden, Page Six noted. "I think there has been a traditional idea of what a late-night talk show is, and I would argue that 'Watch What Happens Live' redefined what the late-night talk show is," Cohen told restaurateur Bruce Bozzi on a recent episode of his "Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi" iHeartMedia podcast. "[WWHL] was the first bar on late night; [then] James Corden got a bar." Cohen also complained about feeling left out among the other late-night TV hosts. "I don't feel totally part of the [late-night television] group and I have been on late-night TV for 13 years," he said.
