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Kennedy Center Cancels “Legally Blonde,” Andrew Lloyd Webber Shows Like “Cats” and “Phantom” Unlikely Given History

Roger Friedman
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Kennedy Center Cancels “Legally Blonde,” Andrew Lloyd Webber Shows Like “Cats” and “Phantom” Unlikely Given History

What a crazy load of BS yesterday from the Kennedy Center.

Another musical is canceled, this time it’s the musical “Legally Blonde.” It was supposed to run there in mid June.

The producer of the show is Jeffrey Finn. He also happens to be the Vice President and Executive Producer of Theater at the Kennedy Center, as well as the Artistic Director of Broadway Center Stage, the company that produces touring musicals.

So, got that? He canceled the show from both sides.

The fact is, no one wants to perform at the Kennedy Center anymore. Just because you own the rights to a show doesn’t mean you can get people to put it on.

Not even for money.

“Hamilton” pulled out of the Kennedy Center, and so have many performers. They won’t come back until the old regime is restored.

Donald Trump recently said he wants shows like “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera.” But that may be tricky since Andrew Lloyd Webber, who owns the shows he created, can’t stand Trump. Webber has a lot of money, he doesn’t the need the receipts from this Kennedy Center.

Sir Andrew told Trump to stop using his song, “Memory.” on the campaign trail. He once uninvited Trump from the premiere of “School of Rock” on Broadway. So it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing any of his shows produced under Donald Trump. They can always play at the nearby unencumbered National Theater.

CBS Sunday Morning Announces Report on the Troubled Kennedy Center — May Signal Network’s Break After 47 Years

Box Office: 26 Year Old Animated “Princess Mononoke,” Originally Released by Harvey Weinstein, Tops Chart

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: 26 Year Old Animated “Princess Mononoke,” Originally Released by Harvey Weinstein, Tops Chart

How’s the old box office doing?

“Snow White” was number 1 on Thursday night, with $1.8 million.

Nipping at its heels is 1999’s “Princess Mononoke,” with $1.2 million.

The 1999 (US release) Japanese animated film was directed by famed filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. It was distributed by Harvey Weinstein at Miramax in its heyday.

Now the princess, re-released by GKIDS, is number 2 by a mile at the Thursday box office. It did better than four other new films last night. And, at fewer theaters.

Sundance Film Festival Exit Creates a Cultural Cavity in Utah Just in Time as Fluoride Is Banned In Toothless State

Roger Friedman
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Sundance Film Festival Exit Creates a Cultural Cavity in Utah Just in Time as Fluoride Is Banned In Toothless State

The Sundance Film Festival is about to create social cavity.

The news comes just in time as Utah, where film festival goers have suffered colds and pneumonia for 43 years, has today banned fluoride in the drinking water.

Sundance will head to Boulder, Colorado in January 2027. The appeal of Colorado includes moving from a backward red state to a forward thinking blue one.

Not just that: it’s a heckuva lot warmer in Boulder — by 12 degrees, and less snowy than in Park City. Also, when they saw a movie is “jaw dropping,” it won’t be literal.

Sundance has been fighting with Park City for years. The ski village is unaffordable for most people attending the festival. It’s impossible to get to theater venues, especially when it’s snowing. Every street runs in the wrong direction. Buses are still trying to get to their next stop.

Park City is also 1,500 feet higher than Boulder, so adios to elevation sickness. And maybe in Boulder it will be possible to get a cell signal! You could call a dentist!

The fluoride thing is true, by the way, especially in Salt Lake City. You could curse about it, but they’d arrest you.

So goodbye, Park City, where almost every art gallery carries portraits of bears with fish in their mouths, where I lost my voice once and had pneumonia twice. So long to the Park City Marriott, which actually had rooms in the basement with no windows. It was all a lot of fun!

“Succession” Star Sarah Snook Nails Down Tony Award with Stunning Performance in Broadway’s “Dorian Gray”

Roger Friedman
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“Succession” Star Sarah Snook Nails Down Tony Award with Stunning Performance in Broadway’s “Dorian Gray”

“Succession” star Sarah Snook picked up a lot of awards for playing complex Shiv Roy on TV.

Sje immediately segued to the London stage and an Olivier award for playing 26 roles in the one woman version of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

Last night she opened on Broadway in “Dorian Gray” and cemented her chance to win a Tony Award for the same work.

Trust me, you’ve never seen anything like this uninterrupted (no intermission) two hour star turn. Snook is magnificent. The whole Australian production –adapted and directed by Kip Williams — is otherworldly. Very little compares to it for its ingenuity — maybe “Hamilton” as a whole.

But what Snook does with these 26 characters — most of them live, but some on video — stunning. I’m sorry to use so may superlatives, but she is nothing less than dazzling. This is a Broadway debut for the ages. It’s actually hard to believe Snook doesn’t pass out in her dressing room when it’s over. But she does 7 to 8 performances a week, matinees included. It’s as if she’s Wonder Woman, Lady Gaga, and Caitlin Clark all at once.

More info in the morning. But you should know when Snook appeared at the after party, she was her usual friendly self, no affectations. She is not a diva. If she wanted to be, no one would blame her.

Look out Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, and so on. Blanchett’s film company optioned the play for her star in a film version. Only Snook should carry over to the big screen, I’m afraid. The comparisons will never end.

Also, pretty remarkable that “Succession” has yielded an Oscar and Emmy for Kieran Culkin, an Oscar nomination and other awards for Jeremy Strong, Brian Cox aiming for a Tony next year, and certainly big things to come for Matthew MacFadyen.

More on “Dorian Gray” Later today…

Warner Bros. Bets Big on Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” (Trailer)

Roger Friedman
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Warner Bros. Bets Big on Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” (Trailer)

Warner Bros. is betting big time on a huge fall release.

Paul Thomas Anderson directs Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn in “One Battle After Another.”

This is PTA’s biggest gamble since “Boogie Nights.” So far, it looks pretty exciting.

“One Battle After Another” is based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel, “Vineland.” PTA has already adapted another Pynchon book, “Inherent Vice,” which we like to call “Incoherent Vice.”

But this one has a good feeling. And we need this hit for the fall season. Cross fingers we’ll see it at the Toronto Film Festival.

Rockin’ Doc About Ron Delsener Gets Distributor, Release Date: Most Famous, Colorful Concert Promoter in Music Biz History

Roger Friedman
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Rockin’ Doc About Ron Delsener Gets Distributor, Release Date: Most Famous, Colorful Concert Promoter in Music Biz History

Ron Delsener is a name people in the New York tri-state area know even better than that of the mayor.

Ron is the most famous and colorful rock concert promoter of all time. In the 60s, 70s, 80s, we didn’t see a major show put on ny anyone other than “Ron Delsener Presents.”

Now Jake Sumner has made a rockin’ doc about Ron’s legendary history in the music business. Abramorama has just picked up “Ron Delsener Presents,” produced by Radical Media, and will release it May 31st to the Quad Theater in New York, and then across the country.

This wholly enjoyable film and the obsessive raconteur includes interviews with no less than Jon Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffett, Cher, Art Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Lenny Kaye, Lorne Michaels, Bette Midler, Gene Simmons, Paul Simon, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt and many more.

The lithe, spry now 85 year old Ron is still hitting shows all over town, staying out late and partying with the stars. A couple of years ago, I was in the packed Bowery Ballroom to see the Pretenders, and there was Ron (with Capitol Theater own Peter Shapiro, more than 30 years younger) descending the rickety staircase from the VIP mezzanine!

Sumner says: “Ron’s personal story tracks the tale of live music from a cottage industry, to the dominant cultural force and global business it is today. He is probably one of the only living sources of the live music business’s entirety, or at least a version of it.”

From The Beatles at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, to bringing David Bowie to Carnegie Hall and Patti Smith to the Palladium, to somehow convincing Simon and Garfunkel to come back together to play the biggest concert ever in Central Park, Ron was behind it all.

Attention NY rock fans: Ron will be part of Q&A’s at the Quad during opening week. I’ll probably go to all of them! Get your tickets now!

Review: Presenting Legendary Concert Promoter Ron Delsener in A Terrific Doc Headed to Hamptons Film Festival

On Stephen Colbert Show, Seth Rogen Names 20th Century Fox Exec Who Conceded His Job Is Trying to “Ruin Movies” (Watch)

Roger Friedman
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On Stephen Colbert Show, Seth Rogen Names 20th Century Fox Exec Who Conceded His Job Is Trying to “Ruin Movies” (Watch)

Seth Rogen is starring in a show called “The Studio.” I guess it’s a satire about Hollywood studios.

It’s on Apple TV, the black hole of streaming.

Last night, Rogen was on Stephen Colbert to promote the show. (It may already been on Apple, I don’t know.)

Rogen told Colbert that a line his character, a movie exec, says in “The Studio” comes from real life.

The line is: “I got into this job because I love movies. And now my job is to ruin them.”

Rogen told Colbert this was a line a real exec said to him early in his career.

Then he named the exec: Steve Asbell, current president of 20th Century Fox. Asbell has been with Fox since 2002.

Rogen said Asbell is a “lovely guy, and he’s very conflicted about what he has to do.”

Let’s hope for Rogen’s sake, Asbell has a good sense of humor.

As for “The Studio,” the best Hollywood satire was Robert Altman’s “The Player.” The jury is out if the new show can hold a candle to the classic movie. I also love “Episodes,” maybe now on Paramount Plus, with Matt LeBlanc.

“White Lotus” Ratings Down Almost 10% on HBO with Crazy Incest Episode

Roger Friedman
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“White Lotus” Ratings Down Almost 10% on HBO with Crazy Incest Episode

Whoops!

Sunday’s crazy incest episode of The White Lotus actually fell in the ratings by almost 10%.

Sunday’s linear ratings were 740,000 vs the previous week’s 828,000.

HBO says the total was 4.2 million including streaming on Max and all platforms.

What made viewers turn off? Possibly the three way sex scene thst included the Ratliff brothers. It’s unclear. But as social media posts rolled westward, some viewers may have gone elsewhere.

The linear number is certainly a shock. I thought it would hit 1 million.

Still, Emmy noms are coming for Parker Posey and a few others this summer.

Stay tuned…

Johnny Depp Performs at Star Studded Patti Smith Tribute, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe, Susannah Hoffs, Too! (See Video)

Roger Friedman
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Johnny Depp Performs at Star Studded Patti Smith Tribute, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe, Susannah Hoffs, Too! (See Video)

UPDATED Johnny Depp was the surprise performer tonight at Michael Dorf’s Carnegie Hall tribute to Patti Smith.

The star studded show went crazy when no less than Bruce Springsteen appeared and sang “Because the Night,” the 1978 hit he and Patti wrote together.

The annual show raises money for music related charities.

Other performers included Michael Stipe, Susannah Hoffs, Glen Hansard, Maggie Rogers, and Ben Harper among others.

Reading Patti’s poetry were Scarlett Johansson, Michael Shannon, Jim Jarmusch, and Sean Penn.

It was a jubilant night that ended with Patti and Lenny Kaye rocking out with the A list house band that included Charlie Sexton, Tony Shanahan, and Patti’s son, Jackson.

All the performances were terrific but Angel Olsen (who I don’t know) killed it on “Easter,” any early Patti Smith song and title of her second album (the one with “Because the Night”).

Another standout was Maggie Rogers, on “Frederick.” I know Rogers has a big following, but she needs that breakthrough hit now. Sensational, same as Alison Mosshart.

Patti Smith brings a message of peace, love, and resistance to all her music and poetry. She’s defiant and encouraging at the same time, reassuring that the world can change for the better.

“Avengers: Doomsday” Will Star Robert Downey Jr and Cast of Thousands Including Ant Man, Capt America, Bucky, Thor, and More!

Roger Friedman
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“Avengers: Doomsday” Will Star Robert Downey Jr and Cast of Thousands Including Ant Man, Capt America, Bucky, Thor, and More!

Marvel-Disney is pulling out all the stops for “Avengers: Doomsday.” The film arrives May 1, 2026.

They’ve announced just minutes ago that everyone they know will be in the film including a cast of thousands.

Robert Downey, Jr plays the title character since his Tony Stark from the other “Avengers” movies is dead.

None of his old friends will recognize him.

Returning directors are Joe and Anthony Russo, whose $320 Million “The Electric Slate,” is a gi-normous bomb.

How much will this one cost? More than all the others put together!

The cast includes:
Paul Rudd
Chris Hemsworth
Anthony Mackie
Sebastian Stan
Vanessa Kirby
Letitia Wright
Wyatt Russell
Tenoch Huerta Mejía
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Pedro Pascal
Hayley Atwell

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