Paul McCartney’s encore of “Hi Hi Hi” last night in Minneapolis I’m sure was meant to be a loving tribute– the two songs fit together musically. I think it was a coincidence that Prince is now revealed to have had a serious drug problem that killed him. Paul and the band do a great job on “Let’s Go Crazy.” The purple light and the Prince symbol are a nice touch.
EXCLUSIVE Woody Allen’s opening night in Cannes just got more star power. Justin Timberlake is coming.
The singer-actor-dancer-comedian is visiting to Cannes to promote his Dreamworks animated film “Trolls.” Timberlake wrote some music for the film. There’s going to be a presentation of clips from “Trolls” for press and distributors in the first couple of days of the festival.
Justin time (see how I did that?) Timberlake is dropping a new single tonight, his first new music since his “20/20” albums. By the time he hits the Palais red carpet on Wednesday he will have a hit they can play as he ascends the big staircase.
The “Trolls” hype will help to underscore the recent sale of Dreamworks Animation to Comcast. With the sale, there’s news that Jeffrey Katzenberg will leave the company. That’s too bad, since he’s the heart of it. Some of the great fun at Cannes in recent years has been with Katzenberg promoting “Kung Fu Panda” and Jerry Seinfeld’s “Bee Movie.” We will never forget Jeffrey propelling himself down a zip line across the Croisette from the Carlton Hotel to the Carlton Beach Club.
Ah, memories!
Susannah Melvoin, Wendy & Lisa et al have produced a tribute Prince with a new moving version of “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Just gorgeous.
For a minute there, Alicia Keys probably thought she had Friday to herself. Her single “In Common” is dropping, and she’s performing it on “Saturday Night Live.”
But now her own label, RCA, is also releasing a new song by Justin Timberlake. “Can’t Stop the Feeling” sounds like a disco song. Indeed, when Caitlyn was Bruce she/he/they starred in the Alan Carr disco movie of that name. It was one of the biggest flops in history.
JT’s record, however, is sure to be a hit. The fight for Number 1 is going to be vicious. Poor Drake, he thought his huge new “Views” album would be the big story this week. And it is– close to 1 million copies sold. So Poor Beyonce– “Lemonade” is already getting a little stale.
Cause it's me, you, you, me, me, you all night. pic.twitter.com/hFmEzeZXcO
— Timbaland (@Timbaland) May 3, 2016
So much good music in a short period. Lots of Grammy nominees. Of course the Album of the Year will be David Bowie’s “Blackstar.”
And soon to hit: Paul Simon’s “Stranger to Stranger.”
LOL. For a minute there, I wondered what was going on with Megyn Kelly. But this afternoon Fox announced Kelly has added transgender actress Laverne Cox to her May 17th special. Cox stars in Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black.”
That’s the special in which Kelly interviews (or may have already interviewed, some say) Donald Trump. Kelly will certainly be asking Cox about Trump, which should make the special very special indeed.
Other guests include Michael Douglas, certainly an avowed Clinton supporter and long time Hollywood liberal. This should be fun! Kelly has Bill Geddie, Barbara Walters’ long time producer from “The View,” putting the show together.
In real life, if there is such a thing anymore, Cox has a twin brother. I’ll bet Kelly gets him on there, too! If only all these people could sit on a couch together a la Joe Franklin!
The word out of Fox, by the way, is that Kelly has already taped most of Trump’s material in advance. Smart– he’s already in the piece and can’t back out now. I wonder how many Trump voters have watched “Orange is the New Black”?
Congrats to Janet Jackson. She’s pregnant and has announced it with a joyous GIF on Twitter. Is it her egg? Who cares? It’s her baby. May she have a happy and healthy one. (Or two.) she’s probably three months along, so due in six– so late October? And then she’ll get No Sleeeeeeeeep for a long time!
She even has videos to go along with it:
Bang bang ya gon gon get it… #DammnBaby pic.twitter.com/kOh0tUbfXK
— Janet Jackson (@JanetJackson) May 4, 2016
Watch 'em all go… #DammnBaby pic.twitter.com/tLhusGqwpk
— Janet Jackson (@JanetJackson) May 3, 2016
Here’s Alicia Keys’ new track “In Common.” It’s very different than her past work, and I like it. She’s singing this Saturday on “SNL.” I don’t know if there’s a sample (Alicia is sample-prone) but it sure sounds original. Cool.
Remember “The Bombing”? This was a Chinese movie starring Bruce Willis as the only American among an Asian cast. At some point, Mel Gibson invested money in it and became the Art Director.
Now sources tell me we may never see “The Bombing.” It’s a bomb, alright.
Willis, who worked hard on it, has to be completely dubbed into Chinese since the rest of the movie is in that language. No one speaks a word of English.
Can you imagine that film being released in the Western world?
Willis and Gibson didn’t cross paths, apparently. “Mel came to China after Bruce was done,” a source says. The director, Xiao Feng, was a novice. The company behind “The Bombing” is now making a Chinese re-do of Julia Roberts’ 1997 hit “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”
There are other problems, too. “It’s about the Chinese fighting back against the Japanese in World War II,” a source told me. “It’s not like a lot of people around the world care about that. And the Japanese won’t be seeing it.”
Sharp eyed observers will be looking to see if “The Bombing” turns up in the Cannes Film Market next week. But the word is it won’t.
No Tony nods, can’t stay open. It happens every year. “Disaster!” a funny musical parody by Seth Rudetsky, was not loved by the Tony committees. It will close on Sunday. “Disaster!” actually earned a nomination for Jennifer Simard as featured actress in a musical. I actually enjoyed this show. But it was not to be. “Disaster!” was going to close in July anyway to make way for “Motown-the Musical”‘s return. Oh well. It should have been off Broadway, and can have a life on the road.
What’s next? “Tuck Everlasting” is so awful, and it’s doing about 33% of its possible take at the box office. Not nominated for Best Musical or anything major, “Tuck” will be tucking it in soon.
How about “American Psycho”? They may last a little longer, but not much. Benjamin Walker not getting a nomination sort of seals their doom. But summer audiences may keep “Psycho” afloat through discounts.
A bigger question will be the fate of “Shuffle Along.” The main players (except for Brandon Victor Dixon) were not nominated. Brian Stokes Mitchell is getting a special Tony Award for 25 years’ good service (he is terrific even when the shows aren’t). Audra McDonald, Broadway’s Meryl Streep, wasn’t nominated. She’s leaving in a month– and it’s unlikely she’ll return in September with no awards buzz. “Shuffle Along” is going to need a lot of good will to keep going after it loses the Tony to “Hamilton” on June 12th.
Well, this morning comes confirmation of the mega rock concert I told you about first back on April 13th. My story was stolen four hours later by the LA Times, the Billboard. But it was right here on Showbiz411 first.
Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Who, Roger Waters and Neil Young will all play Coachella on the weekend of October 5-7, 2016. AEG Live and Goldenvoice are producing.
The shows are: the Stones and Dylan on October 7, McCartney opening for Neil Young on the 8th, and Roger Waters opening for The Who on the 9th. Originally, Waters told me The Who was going to be opening for him, so that changed. In fact. Dylan was supposed to open for the Stones in the original plan. I think the main players all asked to go on first rather than take the stage late, late at night.
Unless the Stones bring Lisa Fischer, there will likely be almost no black people on stage. There are no black headliners. I don’t get this. Why not ask Stevie Wonder, who’s certainly their absolute peer, to be in this event?
Ticket prices are as follows:
3 day passes
General admission – $399
Reserved floor – $699, $999, $1,599
Reserved grandstand – $999, $1599
Standing pit – $1,599
 Single day passes
General admission – $199