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Broadway Rock Bottom Hail Mary Pass: Pamela Anderson Joining Limping Musical “Chicago”

Roger Friedman
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Broadway Rock Bottom Hail Mary Pass: Pamela Anderson Joining Limping Musical “Chicago”

Broadway needs to fill seats, but this is ridiculous.

The long running musical, “Chicago,” has always relied on stunt casting for its various roles. Sometimes it worked — like when Christie Brinkley joined the cast and wowed audiences. And sometimes it doesn’t.

Now comes Pamela Anderson, a Celebrity with no musical background other than she could hum to ex husband Tommy’s Motley Crue “songs.” Anderson, famous for being Julian Assange’s jail buddy and having made a sex tape years ago, will join “Chicago” playing Roxie Hart.

I know it sounds funny and kitschy but it’s also embarrassing to all the great ladies who’ve played Roxie over the last 25 or so years. Right now that would be the amazing Charlotte D’Amboise. Tony winner James Monroe Inglehart is playing Billy Flynn. They must be gobsmacked.

“Chicago” gets a bad rap because the producers, Fran and Barry Weissler, are hosts to large swaths of international audiences that may not be fluent in English. The last time I visited the show, when the great Valerie Simpson guest starred as the prison matron, I was pretty much the only American in any direction, let alone New Yorker.

But with the pandemic, tourists are scarce. We have no numbers on “Chiccago,” but it can’t be easy over there. Who exactly would be attending at this point? So they need to stunt cast. Pamela Anderson from “Baywatch” no doubt has a big following of some kind. If the international tourists return, they’ll know who she is immediately. Meantime, Bob Fosse is turning in his grave.

The fun begins April 12th and lasts 8 weeks.

“Mockingbird” National Tour Will Feature Original Oscar Nominated 1962 Film “Scout” Mary Badham in Cast

Roger Friedman
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“Mockingbird” National Tour Will Feature Original Oscar Nominated 1962 Film “Scout” Mary Badham in Cast

Mary Badham was 10 years old when she played Scout Finch in the 1962 movie, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Now, some 60 years later, Badham will hit the road with the national tour of “Mockingbird” playing Mrs. Dubose, one of the townspeople Atticus and Scout Finch have to deal with. That would make Badham 70 years old.

Back in 1962, Badham was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the “Mockingbird” film that starred Gregory Peck. She had a few TV roles then including “The Twilight Zone” and “Dr. Kildare.” Then she took several decades off presumably to live her life. She appeared in indie films in 2005 and 2019.

Badham will be joined on stage by Richard Thomas, of “The Waltons” fame, who’s playing Atticus, and a big cast of talented actors. But she’ll be the only one who knew and worked with Peck and the 1962 movie cast. The only other actor alive from that movie is Oscar winner Robert Duvall, who’s 91. Maybe he can go backstage and say hello.

Nigel Lythgoe Bounced from “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Manifest” Is Filming, RIP Mitchell Ryan, “General Hospital” Actress Leaves for School

Roger Friedman
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Nigel Lythgoe Bounced from “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Manifest” Is Filming, RIP Mitchell Ryan, “General Hospital” Actress Leaves for School

Nigel Lythgoe has been a judge and producer on “So You Think You Can Dance” since 2005. That’s around 220 episodes. But no more Lythgoe posted on Friday that the Fox show is kicking him to the curb.

Lythgoe wrote: “I am so thrilled that America’s young aspiring dance talent will get to work with some of our greatest creative choreographers. On a personally sad note, I have not been asked to be on the judging panel this season. I don’t know who will be saying “Cue Music” but I wish them well…”

Lythgoe is 72 years young, so basically he’s been Bergeroned. (Tom Bergeron was aged off “Dancing with the Stars” for age.) Watch him bounce back big time!

MANIFEST is filming in New York. Fans of the show went ballistic when NBC cancelled it during a cliffhanger. This was to make room for a Law & Order show that never, uh, manifested, called “For the Defense.” Netflix came to the rescue and picked up “Manifest” for two more seasons. If they’re filming now, maybe we’ll see what happened to all those people in the fall…

RIP TV actor Mitchell Ryan, who was so hilariously droll on “Dharma and Greg,” a regular on TV going back to the Fifties, and built a loyal following in soaps like “Dark Shadows” and “Santa Barbara.” He was third billed in Clint Eastwood’s “Magnum Force,” and several other big movies of the mid 70s including “Electric Glide in Blue.” Ryan was zn actor’s actor with a granite jawline and obviously a good sense of humor, he was the kind I wish SAG would feature on their Awards show, Ryan entertained us for 60s years. He died this week at age 88. RIP.

On the younger end of things, a really talented teenish actress, Sydney Mikayla , is leaving her role on “General Hospital.” She’s at UCLA and wants to be there full time. This girl took off like a rocket on the soap, perhaps unintentionally. Now she’s going to wisely get her degree. Then she can act up a storm. But I’d be surprised if she didn’t pick up a couple of jobs along the way. Claire Danes and Jodie Foster are among the successful actors who’ve gone this route, It didn’t hurt them a bit!

Guillermo del Toro Wins 2 Lumiere Awards for “Nightmare Alley,” Calls It Film He’s Most Proud Of

Leah Sydney
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Guillermo del Toro Wins 2 Lumiere Awards for “Nightmare Alley,” Calls It Film He’s Most Proud Of

The Advanced Imaging Society recently held their 12th Annual Lumiere Awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Filled with respected artisans that do all aspects of film and television, from VR, music, High Frame Rate, HDR, 3D conversions, live action and animation, and more.

Jim Chabin, President of the AIS, jokingly called the room, ‘the geek Oscars.’ Three Oscar Nominated directors garnered awards for their films and their work. Guillermo del Toro for his “Nightmare Alley as well as receiving the inaugural Gene Kelly award. Adam McKay received the inaugural Voices for The Earth Award and Denis Villeneuve to receive the Harold Lloyd Award and the award for best live action feature.

Guillermo Del Toro, always his eloquent poetic self, told the esteemed crowd after accepting the Best Audio for theatrical for his much lauded “Nightmare Alley”: “We stopped the movie for 6 months because of Covid. On the last day of shooting the first time, Rooney Mara came in and said to me, don’t tell anyone but I’m pregnant. I said that’s fantastic. Then we re-started. And I can tell you when she crosses that door from the station to the toilet, she’s pregnant on one side and had the baby on the other.”

Equally eloquent Patricia Kelly pointed out of her late iconic husband Gene: “Some of you may not know that Gene wanted most to be remembered for being behind the camera as a director and choreographer. Especially for changing the look of dance on film. He was determined to find new ways to capture dance. He worked with color and light in the ballet for “American in Paris.” In “Singing in the Rain” he quite literally brought dancing into the streets and gave it a bold, new kinetic energy. Gene maintained a childlike sense of enchantment throughout his life. He loved poetry, fables, Irish ghost stories. He was a true visionary; pushing boundaries and always looking for the next horizon.

She then presented GDT with the award, calling him, “another great artist of vision.” Guillermo quipped, “When I heard about this award, I thought maybe someone had finally seen me dancing! Then I thought, no maybe it’s for something else!” He went on to pay respect to the brilliant Gene Kelly. “The fact is that Gene Kelly was a futurist. He was a man who was painfully aware of where the art form was and where it could be taken. He was a link to the perpetuity of the art. What he did with the camera, that the camera becomes the lyrics, the camera dances with the actors. Being part of a tradition and pushing it forward is something that I value a lot. We should preserve the past so we can change and recognize the future. We are not by any means gatekeepers. We are gate holders. So that the next generation can storm the castle and go through the door of the past.” He went on to say, “I couldn’t identify more with an artist then I do with Gene Kelly. He completely transformed the art that he touched. He made it even more cinematic if that was possible. He gave his all. He pushed it in every single aspect; sound design, composition, color, nothing was accidental as I try to do in my films. “

GDT  thanked everyone that worked with him on his current release,  “Nightmare Alley,” saying it’s made him the proudest of all his work. “It’s a movie that tries to take a genre and reclaims it for the future. The fact that we are honored by the AIS which understands that we all live in the crossroads of what is possible and what should be possible is very significant for me. “

VIP’s in the room were Film Executive/Producer Chris DeFaria, Film Producer William Santor, Jabez Olssen, editor for Best Documentary Award winner “The Beatles: Get Back” (who also just won an ACE Eddie Award for his work), Paloma Garcia-Lee and Kyle Allen from “West Side Story,” Oscar-nominated Oliver Tarney (Sound editor for No Time To Die), Squid Game executive producers/writers Alex Yee and Christian Linke, Prem Akkaraju, CEO of Wētā FX, and more!

The Complete List of Winners:

The complete list of winners:

Best Documentary: The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)
Best Audio – Episodic: WandaVision (Disney+)
Best Use of AR: Expo Dubai Xplorer
Best Use of VR: Machu Picchu and the Spirit of the Condor (City Neon)
Best Original Song: Encanto/We Don’t Talk About Bruno (Disney Animation)
Governor’s Cinema Award: Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony / Marvel)
Best Use of High Dynamic Range – Live Action: Dune (Warner Bros.)
Best Use of High Dynamic Range – Episodic: Foundation (Apple TV+)
Best 2D to 3D Conversion: Shang Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings (Disney)
Best Musical Scene or Sequence: West Side Story, “The Dance at the Gym” (20th Century Studios)
Best Episodic – Animated: Arcane (Netflix)
Best Motion Picture – Musical: West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
Sir Charles Wheatstone Award: Epic Games’ Unreal Engine
Best Episodic – Live Action: Squid Game (Netflix)
Best Feature Film – Animated: Encanto (Disney)
Voices For The Earth Award: Adam McKay, Don’t Look Up
Gene Kelly Visionary Award: Guillermo del Toro
Best Audio – Theatrical: Nightmare Alley (Searchlight)
Harold Lloyd Award: Denis Villeneuve
Best Feature Film – Live Action: Dune (Warner Bros.)
Best Scene or Sequence in a Feature Film: No Time To Die (MGM/UA Releasing)

Sting Sings His Classic Song “Russians” to Raise Funds for the “Brave Ukrainians Fighting Against This Brutal Tyranny”

Roger Friedman
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Sting Sings His Classic Song “Russians” to Raise Funds for the “Brave Ukrainians Fighting Against This Brutal Tyranny”

Sting has released a video singing his classic, “Russians.” It’s all over social media. Sting (and Trudie Styler) is one of the most charitable and philanthropic of all musicians. Information is below on how to donate money or services.

Sting says:
“I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again. But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity. For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment – We, all of us, love our children. Stop the war.

Supplies shipped to this warehouse in Poland are delivered in coordination with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are guaranteed to go to people most in need.”

Wherehouse address:
Pol-Cel
Ramos Breska 63, 22-100 Chelm, Poland
Every box should be labeled “HELP UKRAINE” and indicate the contents: “Medicines,” “Clothes,” “Food,” “Humanitarian Aid.”
For more info, contact:
UK +44 1353 885152
USA +1 855 725 1152
helpukraine.center [link in bio]
Thanks to @szumowska.m for helping us connect to this organization.
Cello: @ramirobelgardt

“The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal Win Spirit Awards at Insufferable, Off Putting Show

Roger Friedman
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“The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal Win Spirit Awards at Insufferable, Off Putting Show

I say this as a fan of both Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally: they should never ever host an awards show again. Their work at the Spirit Awards today was not only not funny but it was humorless and sort of offensive. I think at one point Offerman actually insulted presenter Colman Domingo. Offerman did the show as a boor, for some reason. Was it a character choice?

Many of the female presenters and some winners were dressed for a night at Hyde or Studio 54. Then they complained about it being so cold in the tent on Santa Monica beach. To stay with that theme, Offerman wore no shirt under his suit. Neither did Taika Waititi, who presented an award to a TV show he produces, “Reservation Dogs.”

“Mass” is a very good movie, well directed and acted, but it’s a four-hander with two couples sitting at a table. It’s also a straight on drama. I’m not sure why it won the Robert Altman Award since it has no relationship to an Altman film whatsoever. The two Altman-esque movies this year were “Licorice Pizza” and “Don’t Look Up.” They were not nominated.

The acting awards didn’t go to Best Actor or Actress. It was Best Male or Female lead or supporting. Why? Who the f knows?

How many people watched this excruciating exercise on IFC? Six? Seven? We’ll find out on Tuesday. What I learned about IFC is that they don’t know how to switch between national and local commercials without messing up. Um, we learned to do this at Emerson College even if we weren’t interested. And that was a few decades ago.

BEST FEATURE

The Lost Daughter directed by Maggie Gylenhaal

BEST ACTOR

Simon Rex, “Red Rocket”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Edu Grau, Passing

BEST DIRECTOR
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Taylour Paige, Zola

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Drive My Car (Japan)
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

BEST FIRST FEATURE
7 Days
Director: Roshan Sethi
Producers: Liz Cardenas, Mel Eslyn

BEST EDITING
Joi McMillon, Zola

 

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal.

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Troy Kotsur, Coda

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Ruth Negga, Passing,

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Edu Grau, Passing

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Summer of Soul, directed by Questlove

 

Pop Fizz: Dua Lipa Sued for Plagiarizing Hit Song “Levitating” By Two Different Songwriters with Strong Claims

Roger Friedman
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Pop Fizz: Dua Lipa Sued for Plagiarizing Hit Song “Levitating” By Two Different Songwriters with Strong Claims

All good things must come to an end.

For a while we thought Dua Lipa was a real songwriter. Why did we kid ourselves into believing this? It turns out she’s taken a page from Mariah “I wrote that song” Carey.

Lipa is being sued by not one but two different groups of songwriters who claim she stole parts of their songs to construct her hit, “Levitating.”

The newest suit is from songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused Lipa of copying their 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and 1980 song “Don Diablo.” They said the opening melody to “Levitating” was a “duplicate” of the melody to their songs. The news came from the Hollywood Reporter.

“Defendants have levitated away plaintiffs’ intellectual property,” lawyers for Brown and Linzer wrote in their complaint. “Plaintiffs bring suit so that defendants cannot wiggle out of their willful infringement.”

If you listen to the Brown-Linzer song below and compare it to “Levitating,” you’ll either crack up laughing or roll your eyes. They are the same.

The second suit is from a Florida reggae band named Artikal Sound System which claims the British pop star had copied a little-known 2017 track called “Live Your Life.”

“Levitating” is a Frankenstein, created in a lab by smart producers who thought they’d get away with it. But lifting other songs and hoping no one will notice is a time honored tradition in pop music. Mariah Carey did it many times and paid off several settlements over various songs. Chris Martin lifted “Viva La Vida,” his biggest Coldplay hit, from Joe Satriani. And Robin Thicke has never recovered from repurposing Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” for “Blurred Lines.”

And let’s not get started on Ed Sheeran. He’s still “Thinking Out Loud” about Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” and getting the “Shape of You” from TLC.

See you in court, Dua Lipa.

 

Hooray! Sounds Like Judi Dench is Coming to the Oscars This Year! Watch Her Cute Video with Grandson

Roger Friedman
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Hooray! Sounds Like Judi Dench is Coming to the Oscars This Year! Watch Her Cute Video with Grandson

(EXCLUSIVE) It sounds like Judi Dench is making the trip to the Oscars. Now, you’re going to watch!

Dame Judi, nominated for Best Supporting Actress in “Belfast,” is featured in a TikTok video posted by her grandson Sam Williams. He’s reading lyrics to her from new pop songs and asks her to figure out the next line. It’s very cute, and Judi is just as charming as ever.

When they get to a line from a song “come out to LA, come out to LA.” Dame Judi responds: “Well be coming out to LA very soon, and then we’re coming right back.”

Talk about dropping the lede!

This a coup for the Oscars, which are having problems right now. Dench won the Best Supporting Actress statue in 1999 for “Shakespeare in Love.” She’s had many nominations since then but never makes the trip across the pond. They’d better give her the keys to Hollywood!

Boycotting the Russian Tea Room? Don’t Bother, The Real One Closed in 1995, This One’s Just a Theme Park

Roger Friedman
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Boycotting the Russian Tea Room? Don’t Bother, The Real One Closed in 1995, This One’s Just a Theme Park

I’m seeing a lot of stories about people boycotting the Russian Tea Room because of the Ukrainian war.

Really, don’t bother. The real Russian Tea Room on West 57th St. closed in 1995. The one that’s there now is a theme park, a facsimile, fake chews.

I know. I was there for last Saturday lunch at the end of that year.

Faith Stewart Gordon, the widow of Sidney Kaye, ran the RTR for decades after his death. But she sold it in 1995 to Warner LeRoy, the owner at different times of Maxwell’s Plum and Tavern on the Green.

This is where everyone gets the story wrong. LeRoy demolished the original building. He sold everything in it at auction. Everything. I actually walked through the space when it was down to studs. All the samovars and paintings, dishes, place settings, all of it was gone.

LeRoy built a new, bigger, and artless structure in its place. He reopened the restaurant in 1999 and it was a dismal failure. Even with the large glass bear filled with fish on the second floor, the no one came. The magic was gone. They closed again in 2002. Golf Magazine took over the building. Eventually investors came in and installed whatever is there now.

The real Russian Tea Room was a magnet for celebrities, especially at lunch time. As Elaine’s was the place where the A list checked in at night, the RTR was for lunch. (Dinner was mostly for the Carengie Hall crowd.) I met so many famous people in the Russian Tea Room it’s hard to remember. This was largely because Ona Desouza, who was the matire’d, liked me, and vice versa. She was Oprah before there was Oprah. Ona stood at the host podium and sized everyone up, sending tourists to the back of the room and making sure the stars had their blintzes.

Sydney Pollack did film the famous scene there with Dustin Hoffman for “Tootsie” and Woody Allen filmed there for “Manhattan.” I had lunch there in 1983 with Tony Randall. I was working for Ballantine Books as a publicist and had to promote something called “The Odd Couple Trivia Book.” I needed Tony’s help. I wrote to him and his response was, let’s meet at the Russian Tea Room. His famous press agent, John Springer, came, too. It was the most exciting lunch I’d had to that point, and still ranks in the top 5. I have no idea what we ate. Every single movie or theater producer, actor, musician stopped at the table. And after that, Ona let me sit in the front of the room for the next 12 years.

No one involved with the RTR was Russian. Not even the waiters who, trust me, maybe served Russian dressing but weren’t ‘rushin” anywhere. So boycotting it won’t do anyone any good. I returned there a few years ago under protest, for a movie premiere party. The whole place looked like a cheap replica, something shiny made in Hong Kong with green felt on the bottom and a gold sticker. The only thing about I like now is that the front of the building is made to look like the old place. But when you push open those revolving doors the old rush of excitement is long gone.

The only upside? They don’t have outdoor dining.

UPDATED “The Batman” Brings Moviegoers Back to Theaters with $255 Mil Worldwide Opening Weekend

Roger Friedman
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UPDATED “The Batman” Brings Moviegoers Back to Theaters with $255 Mil Worldwide Opening Weekend

Three hours too long for a movie? Nonsense!

And just like that, “The Batman” taught moviegoers to get their snacks in order and plan bathroom breaks.

The Warner Bros. epic scored a massive opening weekend with $134 million in the US, total worldwide $255 million. POW! Will there more of these Matt Reeves movies? You can bet that Riddler and Joker are already plotting the next script.

Otherwise, the box office was quiet. Channing Tatum’s “Dog” is still hunting, with another $6 million in the till. But everything else was laid waste by Bruce Wayne and friends.

Gitesh Pandya, box office expert, writes on Twitter: “Fans spent $38M on seeing #TheBatman on premium scrns this wknd in North America. $15M came from IMAX while $23M came from all other premium format scrns. That’s 30% of the #boxoffice gross coming from those willing to pay for the best big-screen experience”

According to Exhibitor Relations, here were the top selling theaters for “The Batman”:

1. AMC BURBANK LA
2. AMC LINCOLN SQUARE NY
3. AMC EMPIRE NY
4. REGAL IRVINE SPECTRUM LA
5. AMC ORANGE LA
6. TCL CHINESE HOLLYWOOD
7. AMC BOSTON COMMON
8. AMC CITYWALK LA
9. AMC GARDEN STATE NY
10. AMC GROVE LA

THE BATMAN: TOP IMAX LOCATIONS

1. TCL CHINESE HOLLYWOOD ($156k)

2. AMC LINCOLN SQUARE NY ($140k)

3. AMC CITYWALK LA ($83k)

4. AMC BOSTON COMMON ($82k)

5. AMC KIPS BAY NY ($75k)

 

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