Alex Newell—who made history as one of the first two out nonbinary Tony Award winners—was named Time's Breakthrough of the Year for 2023, The Advocate reported. Newell won the Tony this year as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for playing Lulu in Shucked, a show about a corn-reliant small town. Another nonbinary performer, J. Harrison Ghee, won the Tony as Best Lead Actor in a Musical for Some Like It Hot. Newell first gained fame by playing Unique Adams—one of the first transgender characters on a prime-time TV show—on Glee in 2012.
Openly gay Heartstopper star Joe Locke will make his Broadway debut when he joins the cast of the hit Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Locke will begin performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Jan. 31. Stranger Things' Gaten Matarazzo, who originated the revival's Tobias, left the show last month. Locke's arrival will come just ahead of the Feb. 9 debuts of Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster in the roles of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.
Filmmaker Jono Mitchell shares the evolution of a relationship between two seemingly opposite queer friends in Bad Together, his new film out on TVOD via Dekkoo Films, a press release noted. Over four years, Robbie (played by Andres Erickson) and Cameron (played by Queer Niro) learn to accept and love one another as well as themselves.
Raven-Symone announced that her brother, Blaize Pearman, died from colon cancer, according to EW.com. On Instagram, she stated, "Last month, I lost my brother Blaize. He was battling colon cancer for about two years and he is in a better place now. He is loved and missed and the emotions that have been weaving in and out of my body and mind and family have been a roller coaster. I love you Blaize." Pearman was the former Disney Channel star's only sibling.
Tony-winning director Michael Arden (Parade), producer Hunter Arnold (Purlie Victorious) and film distributor Roadside Attractions are reportedly working to transform former NYC club Limelight into a legitimate theater with a circular stage and 320 seats, according to Playbill, citing Forbes. Located at Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street, Limelight opened as a nightclub in 1983. The venue is a deconsecrated church, the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion. The club came under government scrutiny in the late '90s and early 2000s, as it was supposedly a center of the illicit drug trade. The venue has not operated as a nightclub since 2007; since then, it has mostly been a health club.
Indigo Girls and Amos Lee are co-headlining a string of major North American amphitheater dates in September 2024, per a press release. The tour will begin Sept. 15 at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, in Morrison, Colorado; and will end Sept. 27 at the Edgefield AMphitheater, in Troutdale, Oregon. Some of the other stops will include Sept. 21 at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Sept. 23 at LA's The Greek Theatre and Sept. 25 at San Francisco's The Masonic.
Out British actor and All of Us Strangers co-star Andrew Scott has lined up his next big role—and it's an iconic gay character, according to Out. Vanity Fair has the first look at the upcoming series Ripley, starring Andrew Scott as Patricia Highsmith's legendary gay grifter and murderer, Tom Ripley. Highsmith—also known for writing novels like The Price of Salt (adapted into Todd Hayne's acclaimed 2015 film Carol) and Strangers on a Train—wrote five books about Ripley, beginning with The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1955. For more, see Website Link Here .
Focus Features' Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black—starring Industry actor Marisa Abela as the late music icon—will premiere in U.S. theaters on May 10, 2024, Variety revealed. Fifty Shades of Grey filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the movie from a script by Matt Greenhalgh. The two previously collaborated on 2009's Nowhere Boy, a John Lennon biopic starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Sam's husband) as the young Beatle.
Out ran an article on seven of the biggest LGBTQ+ snubs regarding the Golden Globes nominations. They included Paul Mescal's performance in the film All of Us Strangers, Trace Lysette in Monica, the movie Nimona, out director Todd Haynes' direction of May December, openly gay director Andrew Haigh's directing of All of Us Strangers, and Jonathan Bailey and Jelani Alladin in Fellow Travelers.
Singer/actress Jennifer Lopez won her fifth Icon Award at Elle's 2023 Women In Hollywood Celebration, per Variety. "I don't have an Oscar. And I don't have a Golden Globe. And I don't have a Grammy or a SAG Award or a BAFTA or a Critics Choice or a Hollywood Film Award," she said at the Elle Women in Hollywood event. "But this is my fifth Icon Award," Lopez said. "Of all the things that I thought I would grow up to be when I was a little girl, the last thing you know I was gonna have on my list was icon." Elle's honorees also included Lily Gladstone, Greta Lee, America Ferrera, Jodie Foster and Eva Longoria. Oprah Winfrey honored The Color Purple stars Fantasia Barrino Taylor, Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson.
To no one's surprise, according to an end-of-the-year accounting by live tour publication Pollstar, Taylor Swift's tour has now grossed more than any tour by any other artist ever—topping $1 billion, Deadline noted. In eight months, Swift played 60 shows in 24 cities. During that time, Swift sold 4.3 million tickets, with an average ticket price of about $240. Her average per-show gross exceeded $17.3 million.
Pink was among the first to celebrate her home state of Pennsylvania after newly elected school board president Karen Smith made a rebellious statement on book bans, per PinkNews. Smith was chosen as the president of the Central Bucks school board earlier this month; she decided that—rather than being sworn in with her hand on the Bible—she would be sworn in with her hand on a stack of frequently banned books. She was sworn on books like Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Elie Wiesel's Night.
Trans actress Tommy Dorfman has been tapped to direct a film adaptation of Mariko Tamaki's graphic novel Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, according to Out, citing Deadline. The YA lesbian story follows Freddie as she struggles with a toxic relationship. "Mariko's script adaptation is just as groundbreaking as her deeply moving graphic novel," Dorfman told Deadline. "This film is like the lovechild of John Hughes and Jamie Babbett with a fresh and honest perspective on love and queer chosen family."
Legendary American rocker/poet Patti Smith was reportedly hospitalized in Bologna, Italy due to illness, forcing the cancellation of her show there, People noted. mith had a string of tour dates in Italy, starting with Ancona on Nov. 28 before heading to Bari, Naples and Modena over the past two weeks. Her next U.S. show dates were slated to take place on Dec. 27 in Chicago as well as Dec. 29 and 30 in Brooklyn, New York.
Apple TV+ unveiled a first-look at Palm Royale—the upcoming Palm Beach-set series stars Emmy and Oscar nominee Kristen Wiig leading a renowned ensemble cast, a press release stated. Oscar and Emmy winners Laura Dern and Allison Janney join Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, Leslie Bibb, Amber Chardae Robinson, Mindy Cohn, Julia Duffy and Kaia Gerber—and the show will feature special guest star turns by the legendary Bruce Dern and Carol Burnett. Palm Royale' makes its global debut on Apple TV+, premiering the first three episodes on March 20, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through May 8.
Openly gay actor David Hyde Pierce has opened up about not joining the Frasier reboot on Paramount+, Deadline noted. "I never really wanted to go back," Hyde Pierce (who played Niles on the original show) told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not like I said, 'Oh, I don't ever want to do that again.' I loved every moment. It was that I wanted to do other things." Kelsey Grammer has returned to portray the titular character who has returned to Boston (from Seattle), where his grown son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), is a firefighter.
Legendary drag queen and DJ Lady Bunny has unveiled her new barbed Christmas show, Lady Bunny: A Very Blue X-Mas, Out noted. "Christmas is a good pocket for me to be in because everybody knows those songs. If you're parodying a song that you know never took off, like say, something on a Sharon Needles album, then nobody knows what the parody is," she told The Advocate Channel. Lady Bunny: A Very Blue X-Mas will end in NYC on Dec. 15 and then move on to LA (Dec. 20), Palm Springs (Dec. 21), San Francisco (Dec. 23) and Fort Lauderdale (Dec. 30).
The episode of HBO's drag-queen reality show We're Here that stirred passions in southern Utah won an Emmy Award for its costumes, The Salt Lake Tribune noted. We're Here follows three drag queens to cities across America. In the episode, former "RuPaul's Drag Race" contestants Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O'Hara and Shangela came to town and recruited local members of the LGBTQ+ community to perform in a drag show; locals told their stories; and there was a lot of love and support. But in St. George, the show met opposition led by city council member Michelle Tanner, who unsuccessfully tried to get the show's permits for a downtown drag show on public property revoked. We're Here will receive its Emmy on Jan. 7, the second of two nights of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o will head the competition jury at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, which will run Feb. 15-25, Deadline noted. The daughter of Kenyan parents, Nyong'o was born in Mexico City and grew up in Kenya. She then studied Film and Theatre Studies at Hampshire College (USA) and initially worked on various film productions in the United States. After further studies at the Yale School of Drama, she began her acting career and is best known for her breakout performance in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, for which she picked up the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
Former Saturday Night Live star Cecily Strong reportedly backed out of playing Rep. Elise Stefanik on the show recently because she was "uncomfortable" with the heavily criticized cold-open sketch, the New York Post noted. Strong appeared as a guest in the dress rehearsal ahead of the live show, then changed her mind "last minute" about playing Stefanik in the sketch, which mocked last week's congressional hearings on antisemitism on college campuses; newcomer Chloe Troast replaced Strong on air. Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt was among those criticizing the sketch, saying on X, "The skit was atrocious—the sentiment even more appalling," according to The Hill.
Music-tech company SoundExchange recently inducted several acts into its hall of fame, per press releases. Inductees included four-time Grammy-winning singer Marc Anthony, diamond-certified Grammy-winning band Imagine Dragons, legendary hard rock band Metallica and multi-platinum singer-songwriter Prince Royce. In addition, Gloria Estefan was awarded the SoundExchange Music Fairness Award for her advocacy for artists and creators and for supporting the American Music Fairness Act.
Nicki Minaj officially announced the dates and venues on her worldwide outing for "Nicki Minaj Presents: Pink Friday 2 World Tour," a press release noted. She is slated to tour March 1 (in Oakland, California) to June 7 (Berlin), with stops in other cities such as Phoenix, Atlanta, Toronto, Chicago, London and Paris. Minaj has become "the first Woman to score 100 Billboard Hot 100 Hits" with 133 total entries to date (the most among female hip-hop acts). See NickiMinajOfficial.com.
STARZ announced that its crime drama Hightown will premiere for a third and final season on Friday, Jan. 26, per a press release. The series focuses on Jackie Quinones (played by Monica Raymund) as she battles to overcome her addiction and unravels the intricacies of the drug/crime underworld of Cape Cod. Amaury Nolasco, Imani Lewis and James Badge Dale are among the co-stars.
Fashion designer Nanette Lepore has sent a letter to the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees announcing that she is returning her honorary degree as well over the hiring of U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson as president, WKBN reported. Actor Ed O'Neill (Modern Family; Married with Children) has also returned his honorary degree, for the same reason. Five alumni who graduated from YSU between 2014 and 2017 previously wrote a letter opposing the selection of Johnson; the missive stated, in part, that Johnson opposed same-sex marriage, supported a travel ban from majority-Muslim countries and questioned the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
Ryan Gosling doesn't know if there will be a Barbie sequel, although he has ideas for Ken, People noted, citing Variety. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere near that. We really know nothing," Gosling said during a panel conversation. adding, "Can it be a husky Ken? Can I play Husky Ken, like Sandwich Ken? Can I play that Ken next time?" Barbie lead Margot Robbie recently spoke about the potential for a Barbie sequel during her Variety Actors on Actors conversation with Cillian Murphy, and refused to rule out the possibility of a sequel entirely.
Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris continue fueling romance rumors as they were seen at Art Basel in Miami Beach, per Page Six. In addition to the snap, W magazine reported that the rumored couple arrived at the contemporary art fair "arm in arm." The news came weeks after they were seen on what appeared to be a double date at the theater with Stacy London and her girlfriend, Cat Yezbak.
Jane Wiedlin—a guitarist for the chart-topping all-female rock band the Go-Go's—accused radio DJ/former nightclub impresario Rodney Bingenheimer of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager in the 1970s, EW.com noted, citing Rolling Stone. Wiedlin went public with her allegations in an in-depth Rolling Stone report that revealed that four other women accused Bingenheimer of similar misconduct. Wiedlin previously described the encounter in the 2016 book Under the Big Black Sun, by John Doe of the punk band X, but she did not name her alleged assailant.
Controversial rocker Kid Rock has decided to support Bud Light again, despite previously shooting cans of the beer after the company worked with trans TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney, PinkNews noted. In an interview with ex-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, the musician revealed that he's over his outrage and ready to endorse the beer again. Rock said, "At the end of the day, when you step back and look at it, like, yeah, they deserved a black eye and they got one. They made a mistake. So, do I want to hold their head under water and drown them because they made a mistake? No, I think they got the message."
On the latest episode of her podcast, Let's Be Clear, Shannen Doherty welcomed her former Charmed co-star Holly Marie Combs to talk about their time together on the '90s WB series, EW.com noted. At one point, Doherty alleged that co-star Alyssa Milano and her mother attempted to separate Combs from Doherty, claiming that Milano and her mom were not allowing anyone to visit Combs, who was in the hospital. Over the years, there have been persistent rumors of a backstage feud.
