Thursday, December 18, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1618

Broadway: Larry David’s “Fish in the Dark” Drops by $400K A Week with Jason Alexander

Roger Friedman
-
0
Broadway: Larry David’s “Fish in the Dark” Drops by $400K A Week with Jason Alexander

I don’t get this: with Larry David out of his own “Fish in the Dark,” the comedy has dropped by $400,000 a week. It’s not like they replaced Larry with chopped liver. Jason Alexander, beloved from Seinfeld playing George– aka Larry David– takes his place with no trouble, I would guess. (I wouldn’t know since they don’t invite press.) What the heck? The show is doing heavy promoting of discounted tickets with Jason– aka Larry– in the role of Larry. Were people that fixated on seeing Larry David? Jason Alexander should be a draw.

Meanwhile, “It Shoulda Been You”– no Tony noms– must be playing to vacant houses. Last week they made $344,000 out of a potential $991K. Maybe they can rent out the other part of the theater for a wedding…

And “Finding Neverland” is steady as she goes. They make $1.1 million a week. No Tonys, nothing. Nothing but Matthew Morrison and Kelsey Grammer. The actors are signed for a year. As long as they are present, “Neverland” is assured a spot on Broadway.

Please everyone, go see “On the Town.” Such a great show. But the numbers are low. I doubt it can go into the fall. Don’t miss it.

Taylor Swift Vanquishes Apple Music and “1989” Returns to Top of iTunes Charts

Roger Friedman
-
0
Taylor Swift Vanquishes Apple Music and “1989” Returns to Top of iTunes Charts

Poor James Taylor. His first new album in 12 years was supposed to be number 1 this morning on iTunes. It had been number 1 for a day or so. But now…Taylor Swift’s “1989” has jumped back to that spot.

The reason? Taylor vanquished Apple Music last night. She posted a statement to Tumblr explaining why she wouldn’t allow her “1989” album to be streamed on the service. Apple Music had said it wasn’t going to pay artists for the 90 days that the service was free to subscribers. Taylor — the only contemporary artist who is selling right now– disagreed with the policy.

I was the first to post last night that Apple’s Eddy Cue stood down. He said later that he’d called Swift in Europe and talked the whole issue over with her. I don’t know Eddy Cue, and I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he was in trouble with Taylor Swift making public proclamations against Apple. That had to be shut down fast.

And now Taylor, who’s the hero of the day, is back at number 1. I’d like to hear some of the pillars of rock– McCartney, Jagger, Dylan, Springsteen, Bono–speak up about this sort of thing, too. They are rich beyond belief. It’s time to show some leadership.

Broadway Carole King Musical “Beautiful” Will Play Central Park for Free as August Concert

Roger Friedman
-
0
Broadway Carole King Musical “Beautiful” Will Play Central Park for Free as August Concert

Carole King played Central Park in 1973 for free. So why not do it again– sort of? The Carole King musical on Broadway– “Beautiful”– will do the same thing in August for free. As part of Central Park Summerstage, the cast of “Beautiful” will perform all the songs from the show on Monday, August 3rd for one night only. My guess is Carole might join them if she’s in town. She didn’t like the idea of “Beautiful” when it started, but once it was praised and won the Tony Award she embraced it. Also she gets a really nice royalty check. So it’s not “too late” to see “Beautiful” for free after all!

Janet Jackson Releases “No Sleeep” Single: Misspelled, One Verse, Trance-like

Roger Friedman
-
0

Janet Jackson’s new single “No Sleeep”: it’s misspelled, has one verse that comes in at around 2:40, and is meant to put you to sleep. I think it works. Interesting choice by Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam Harris. Couldn’t they write more verses? Did they have a lot of spare ‘e’s around? Anyway, the beat is nice. It reminds me of Patrice Rushen’s “Forget me Nots.”

Taylor Swift on Slicing Apple Music : “I am elated and relieved…they listened to us”

Roger Friedman
-
0
Taylor Swift on Slicing Apple Music : “I am elated and relieved…they listened to us”

Taylor Swift just responded to her victory over Apple Music. I don’t think this is a pr stunt, as some have suggested. Apple really intended not to pay artists for 90 days for streaming. I don’t know why they created a situation where one artist, Taylor Swift, would bring them down. They didn’t listen to complaints from anyone else. But “1989” is selling after 8 months. Without it, they’d have been in a really sticky place to launch this week.

Taylor Swift Makes Apple Back Down: They Will Pay Artists During 3 Month Trial (exclusive)

Roger Friedman
-
0
Taylor Swift Makes Apple Back Down: They Will Pay Artists During 3 Month Trial (exclusive)

EXCLUSIVE Taylor Swift‘s letter to Apple worked. Eddy Cue has just Tweeted that Apple will pay artists during the 3 month Apple Music trial period. This is HUGE. Good work Taylor. Apple Music was telling all artists they would not be paid for streaming during the 3 months when new Apple Music subscribers get a free trial. Artists and labels were outraged. (I hear that this wasn’t going over with Apple’s biggest music partners, the Beatles and U2, by the way.) Now in just the last few minutes, Apple’s Eddy Cue has Tweeted back the news:

Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig Spoofed Lifetime on Lifetime: Funny and Dull at the Same Time

Roger Friedman
-
0
Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig Spoofed Lifetime on Lifetime: Funny and Dull at the Same Time

You knew that Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s “A Deadly Adoption” was a spoof. Lifetime TV let them make a parody of one of their god awful movies of the week. Why? For ratings? It was like a 90 minute “Saturday Night Live” sketch, alternately full and dull.

“ADA” is full of cliches, particularly those found on Lifetime. Sometimes it’s played very straight, other times the movie is a hoot. Imagine if you had enough money and time to make a parody of something no one cares about. That’s “A Deadly Adoption.”

Will plays Robert, a writer of self help books who’s given up heavy drinking. Robert and his wife Sarah have a cute little blonde daughter named Sully (for Capt. Sullenberger maybe?). They live in a sleepy lake town. Sarah has a food stand that she runs with a nice gay guy who’s her bestie. The couple wants a second child, but they can’t have one. So they try to adopt.

The reason they can’t have more kids is the linchpin here, and it’s hilarious: Sarah fell off a rotted pier and miscarried their baby. Robert holds this against her– she should have known the pier was no good. It’s right out of “Mary Hartman” or a Carol Burnett spoof. Yet they read these lines totally straightfaced. Sublime.

Into their lives comes a gorgeous young pregnant girl named Bridgette (the spelling is great). She says she lives in a shelter, but wears designer clothes and looks like a model. It will turn out later she slept with Robert when he was on a book tour and on a bender drinking because of the pier accident. He has totally forgotten her. She’s come for revenge.

What else do you need? Bridgette accidentally smashes a framed photo of the family when she first meets them. There’s sl-mo scenes, dialogue for 2 year olds, and long knowing looks from everyone. None of it makes sense. There’s so much exposition in the third half hour that Ferrell vanishes from the screen. When he saves Wiig from a perils-of-Pauline situation, it’s laugh out loud funny. And that’s nice because the thirty preceding minutes are incredibly dull.

Why was this done? I guess, why not? Will I return to Lifetime? Not in this one. But what the heck.

Soap Opera: “General Hospital” Adds 140K Viewers With Genie Francis’s First Week Back

Roger Friedman
-
0
Soap Opera: “General Hospital” Adds 140K Viewers With Genie Francis’s First Week Back

Soap opera ratings are always volatile, especially as seasons change. But last week, according to tvbythenumbers.com, “General Hospital” added 140,000 viewers up from the prior week.

The reason? The return of Genie Francis, who’s played Laura on the soap since she was a teenager. Francis has been gone for a couple of years this time. Now she’s back to help get Anthony Geary, who’s played Luke just as long, off the show for what’s supposed to be his “retirement.”

“General Hospital” also picked up 20,000 viewers age 18-49 last week. They’ve been struggling in that category recently with eight straight weeks of low numbers. They’re way off from one year ago in that regard.

Since I’m writing about soaps here, I will tell you that last week I had my own soap moment. At the party for Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet’s movie “A Little Chaos,” I had the honor of meeting the lovely actress Beverly Penberthy. She played Pat Randolph, a central character on the NBC soap “Another World” from 1968 to 1982. She was one of the real outstanding talents of the New York-Procter & Gamble soaps, understated and restrained, never a scene chewer, and a steady force in the days when I was doing homework. She was joined at the party by her real life daughter, Elizabeth, and her Elizabeth’s husband.

It turns out Beverly– who doesn’t look much different now– acted in the first ever play Alan Rickman directed in the U.S. It was called “Desperately Yours,” and was produced at the Colonnade Theater (now where Blue Man Group resides) in 1980, when Beverly was at the height of her long run on “Another World.” She and Rickman have remained close ever since then. Small world!

Of course we talked about the soap in depth since I had a lot of questions about all the actors and the characters– they all seemed very real back then. Beverly is still quite friendly with a few who remain above ground (“Another World” had a back mortality rate) including Susan Sullivan, who played Lenore Curtin before going on to prime time. (She’s on “Castle” now after long runs on “Dharma and Greg” and “Falcon Crest.”)

It was just swell to meet the Penberthy’s although Elizabeth did have to caution me a few times that her name is not Marianne (Pat’s TV daughter) and that everything that happened on the show was fiction. I’m still getting over that.

Charlie Sheen Calls Denise Richards “A Heretic Washed Up Piglet Shame Pile” on Twitter

Roger Friedman
-
0
Charlie Sheen Calls Denise Richards “A Heretic Washed Up Piglet Shame Pile” on Twitter

Charlie Sheen, the most reprehensible of all the celebrities rewarded by the public and not in jail, doesn’t seem to realize that one day his children will read everything he’s said and done. Today, Charlie– celebrating Father’s Day– posted this on Twitter. My guess is Denise Richards, his ex wife and mother of his two small daughters, didn’t let him see his kids today.  Meanwhile, Charlie does celebrate in the same Tweet, Brooke Mueller, mother of his two sons, with whom he’s warred continuously when she wasn’t in rehab. Martin and Janet Sheen must live on mood lifters. I don’t know how they do it.

Taylor Swift Leverages Her Pop Power Status and Tells Apple Off In Open Letter

Roger Friedman
-
0
Taylor Swift Leverages Her Pop Power Status and Tells Apple Off In Open Letter

Taylor Swift is getting to be a perfect person. After boycotting Spotify, she’s now doing the same to Apple Music. She won’t let her multi  million selling “1989” album be streamed on Apple Music’s service. This is a BIG freaking deal. She’s taking on the biggest power in music. But she can do it. She’s getting good advice and making excellent decisions. Because– “1989” is still selling like crazy. And it’s going to win the Grammy Award next year.

Read her statement:

I write this to explain why I’ll be holding back my album, 1989, from the new streaming service, Apple Music. I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of my best partners in selling music and creating ways for me to connect with my fans. I respect the company and the truly ingenious minds that have created a legacy based on innovation and pushing the right boundaries.

I’m sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months. I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.

This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.

These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much. We simply do not respect this particular call.

I realize that Apple is working towards a goal of paid streaming. I think that is beautiful progress. We know how astronomically successful Apple has been and we know that this incredible company has the money to pay artists, writers and producers for the 3 month trial period… even if it is free for the fans trying it out.

Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing. I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done. I hope that soon I can join them in the progression towards a streaming model that seems fair to those who create this music. I think this could be the platform that gets it right.

But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.

Taylor

1...1,6171,6181,619...2,323Page 1,618 of 2,323

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com