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PBS Great Performances has premiered a new episode of Stagebound, this time featuring Daniel Dae Kim, who returned to Broadway in the recent production of David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face. This new episode highlights Kim's experience as he took on the role of "Dhh," a fictionalized version of Hwang, in the first-ever Broadway production of the play. From day one of rehearsal to opening night, the show follows Kim through the pressure, purpose and power of bringing this deeply personal story to life. Check out the episode now. The official proshot of Yellow Face is available to watch on PBS. From first rehearsals and costume fittings to press appearances and standing ovations, each episode of Great Performances: Stagebound offers an intimate look at the real...

Between the releases of Snow White, Lilo & Stitch, and How to Train Your Dragon, the era of live-action remakes is officially upon us. Some have mastered the craft more than others, but when done properly, there are few feelings as gratifying as seeing an animated classic brought to life with respect and care in live-action. It was announced back in 2019 that a live-action remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the 1996 Disney classic starring Tom Hulce and Demi Moore was in the works. Despite Josh Gad being attached as a producer, updates on the project have been eerily silent for years now. Collider’s Michael Zimmerman recently had the chance to catch up with Stephen Schwartz, who worked as a song producer on the 1996 film and was initially announced to be returning for the remake along with Alan Menken. Sadly, to the dismay of fans, he admits he has no...

Netflix has lined up its next movie inspired by a Disney classic, and this one will have people ringing the bells! The bells! The streaming company has greenlit a feature retelling of Victor Hugo's French gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, which was loosely adapted into the 1996 animated musical of the same name from the House of Mouse. The new project, aptly titled Quasimodo after the book's protagonist, has cast Vincent Cassel, star of Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen, to play the role of the kind-hearted Notre Dame bell-ringer.

According to Deadline, Jean-François Richet, the filmmaker behind the 2023 action thriller Plane that recently landed on Netflix, is onboard to direct Quasimodo from a script written by Eric Besnard. The logline for the Netflix project (shared below) suggests that the film will offer a bold new take on the classic story, focused around the life of the man who inspired it,...

Of all the winners (and also-rans) in the 26 competitive categories at the 2025 Tony Awards, 25 results stand out in terms of historical context. So, what were this year’s most interesting facts, records, and milestones?

1. Cole Escola is the third nonbinary performer to win a Tony for acting, following historic victories by Alex Newell (Shucked) and J. Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot) in 2023. Escola is also the first individual to have won for starring in their own play since Harvey Fierstein (Sunday's Lifetime Achievement Award winner) for Torch Song Trilogy in 1983.

2. In 1973, Julie Harris won Best Actress in a Play for portraying Mary Todd Lincoln in James Prideaux's The Last of Mrs. Lincoln. This year, Escola won Best Actor in a Play for portraying Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!

3. The productions that received multiple Tony nominations, but went home empty-handed, were Boop!, Dead Outlaw, English, Floyd Collins, Good Night,...

The 2025 Tony Awards are being handed out Sunday night.

The first winners were announced during the Darren Criss- and Renée Elise Goldberry-hosted The Tony Awards: Act One preshow streaming on Paramount’s free streaming service Pluto TV from 3:40-5 p.m. Pt/6:40-8 p.m. Et. Criss is a first-time Tony nominee for his role in Maybe Happy Ending, and Goldsberry won a Tony for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a performance featuring members of the original Broadway cast on the 2025 awards show.

The main ceremony, hosted by Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner Cynthia Erivo, will run from 5-8 p.m. Pt/8-11 p.m. Et, live on CBS and Paramount+ with Showtime, from New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Musicals Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her and Maybe Happy Ending went into Sunday night...

Broadway’s history books might remember the 2024-2025 season as the year Hollywood stars – George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook – sent box office revenue (and ticket prices) soaring to record heights. Or maybe the year of Audra McDonald and Nicole Scherzinger. But I’ll remember this Broadway season as being just so very funny. Oh, Mary!, Eureka Day, Death Becomes Her, even the tender humor of Maybe Happy Ending, all supplied audiences with something in very short supply outside the theater this year: Laughter. That’s the best legacy of the 2024-2025 Broadway season.

With that in mind, and much gratitude, here are my predictions for this Sunday’s 78th Annual Tony Awards.

Best Play

Will win: Oh, Mary!

Should win: Oh, Mary!

Cole Escola, Conrad Ricamora, ‘Oh, Mary!’ Emilio Madrid

Before the big, superstar-driven megahits Good Night,...

Welcome to Tony Talk, a column in which Gold Derby contributors Sam Eckmann and David Buchanan offer Tony Awards analysis. In the final week of the 2024-2025 Broadway season, we debate our winner predictions for the biggest prizes and in the most hotly contested categories for one last time. The Tony Awards air Sunday on CBS and Paramount+.

David Buchanan: We are now just days away from the Tony Awards, so it's time for us to offer our (nearly) final predictions! For such an incredible season on Broadway, it seems like a lot of the top categories have coalesced around one contender. I think we're both in agreement that Maybe Happy Ending is far and away the favorite for Best Musical. I know there has been growing support for Death Becomes Her in the past two weeks, but not enough to displace those beloved Helperbots, right?

Sam Eckmann: Yes, I'm...

In a recent viral video, a middle school bully is heard asking: “Where did that little ching chong go?”

The bully’s target is a five-year-old son of Chinese immigrants, seen and heard in the video trying to hide and asking to be saved.

Yes, kids can say nasty or mean things all the time, words and phrases they learn and pick up from somewhere, but this felt different. As I watched the video, I kept thinking, this kid is a mere “Yellowface” to the bully.

In Hollywood terms, Yellowface is to Asian people, particularly of East Asian descent, what Blackface is to Black people: an offensive practice of performance and mimicry. Examples abound, in varying degrees, from Jonathan Pryce, a white Welsh actor, wearing prosthetics to play a Eurasian character in the musical Miss Saigon, to the white British actor Tilda Swinton, who in the Marvel movie Doctor Strange...

With less than three weeks until the 78th annual Tony Awards, the Gold Derby odds have shown some movement, reflecting momentum shifts in the race based on industry buzz and following the announcement of the winners of the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards. Although there is little to no overlap between these awards bodies and the pool of Tony voters — these prizes are not precursors akin to the Oscars and their industry and guild prizes — they nevertheless contribute to the perceptions of the races that swirl among insiders.

Based on the predictions of more than 700 Gold Derby experts, editors, and users, here is where the top eight races stand. And be sure to scroll to down for a current tally of wins by show in all 26 categories. Our projected winners are denoted in gold.

Best Musical

1. Maybe Happy Ending — 31/20

2. Dead Outlaw — 9/2

3. Death Becomes Her — 9/2

4. Operation Mincemeat — 7/1

5. Buena Vista...

Last week, PBS aired the official pro-shot of the 2024 Broadway production of David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face as part of the Broadway Great Performances line-up. Now, viewers can go behind the curtain of the Tony-nominated production in a new video with Daniel Dae Kim, Francis Jue, Leigh Silverman, playwright David Henry Hwang, and more. "This will be my ninth Broadway production," Hwang says of Yellow Face. "However, if you think of a show with Asians, chances are they are Asians playing foreigners. This is the first play that I've ever had on Broadway with Asian American characters. And that's incredibly important to me." The full lineup for Great Performances' new Broadway programming also includes Next to Normal, Girl From the...

PBS’s “Great Performances” this Friday presents “Yellow Face,” a Tony Award-winning play by David Henry Hwang, directed by Leigh Silverman, tackling a subject that continues to spark debate in the entertainment world: race and representation on stage and screen. Starring Daniel Dae Kim, the play uses humor and sharp wit to examine thorny questions of […]

Great Performances: Yellow Face...

Lucy Liu, Stephanie Hsu and Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé are set to receive honors at The Asian American Foundation (Taaf) Heritage Summit and Awards Dinner.

The two-day gathering from May 21-22 celebrates the vibrancy, leadership and growing influence of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (Aanhpi) community. The Summit convenes voices from entertainment, business, public service and grassroots organizing for high-impact panels and discussions that shape the national dialogue on identity, inclusion and intergenerational change.

“I’m deeply honored to receive this award from The Asian American Foundation,” Liu said. “It stands as a tribute to Taaf’s vision of equity, representation, and lasting impact. I’m inspired every day by the strength and brilliance of the Asian American community, and I’m committed to helping amplify our voices as we shape a more just and empowered future together.”

Hsu said, “I am so honored to be...

Francis Jue has been the talk of the town in Asian American theater. Following his stunning performance as Henry Yuan Hwang — Chinese immigrant, banker, and father to the acclaimed playwright David Henry Hwang himself — Jue has been featured in the New York Times, scooped a Tony Award nomination, and has been well associated with the “Yellow Face” team of Daniel Dae Kim and David Henry Hwang himself. The San Francisco local will appear at this year’s CAAMFest in the recording of the Broadway play on May 11, 2025, which will later be screened nationwide on May 16, 9pm local, as a part of PBS’ “Great Performances” series.

Because of CAAMFest, we had the pleasure to speak to Jue — energetic, kind, and most of all, humble — about his involvement with the metaphysical play’s comedy of errors. Over the next half-hour or so, he grounded the conversation in crediting the community who brought him on stage,...

Concord, considered to be the world’s leading independent music company, has acquired Broadway Licensing Global and its imprints Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, and Stage Rights.

All of the imprints will now become part of Concord Theatricals. The acquisition does not include Stageworks or the Broadway On Demand streaming service.

Concord Theatricals was formed in 2018 and has since become one of the world’s most significant theatrical companies, comprising the catalogs of Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals, Tams-Witmark, Samuel French and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, in addition to dozens of new signings each year. The firm provides comprehensive services to creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and producing. In all, the company supports more than 125,000 artists and songwriters whose works are licensed, marketed, and performed globally.

Concord’s catalog includes 1.3 million songs, compositions, sound recordings, films, plays, and musicals.

Over the course of 25 years, Scott Ellis has been nominated at the Tony Awards for directing nine times, but has never emerged victorious. This year, he earned three more bids for producing: Best Play for English, Best Musical Revival for Pirates! The Penzance Musical, and Best Play Revival for Yellow Face. The latter in particular is the current frontrunner in that category. If it prevails, it would mark Ellis' first Tony win after 12 nominations.

As of now, Ellis is among several notable individuals who have earned multiple Tony bids, but never won. Others include director-choreographer Graciela Daniele (10 noms; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient), lighting designer Paul Gallo (eight noms), orchestrator Harold Wheeler (seven noms; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient), and choreographer Onna White (eight noms).

Ellis' nine prior directing nominations were for the following:

1994 for She Loves Me; lost to Nicholas Hytner for Carousel 1997 for Steel Pier; lost to Walter Bobbie for...

PBS has shared a clip from the upcoming Great Performances broadcast of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face, which ran on Broadway in 2024. In the new clip, David Henry Hwang (played by Daniel Dae Kim) shares a phone call with his father in the wake of the Miss Saigon casting controversy. Watch it now, ahead of the full live capture of the show airing on Friday, May 16, at 9 p.m. Et. The full lineup for Great Performances' new Broadway programming includes Next to Normal, Yellow Face, Girl From the North Country, and Kiss Me, Kate. Broadway’s Best from Great Performances premieres Fridays, May 9-30 at 9 p.m. on PBS. Watch a teaser here. The Roundabout Theatre Company’s production starred Daniel Dae Kim as an Asian American playwright...

PBS and Great Performances have shared a new teaser for Broadway's Best, a series that returns to the channel this month. Take a look at a preview of the 2025 lineup, which includes Next to Normal, Yellow Face, Girl From the North Country, and Kiss Me, Kate. Broadway’s Best from Great Performances premieres Fridays, May 9-30 at 9 p.m. on PBS. Broadway's Best begins with the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal starring Caissie Levy (Broadway’s “Frozen”) recorded during its West End transfer from London’s Donmar Warehouse, followed by Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Broadway comedy “Yellow Face” from Roundabout Theater Company starring Daniel Dae Kim. The lineup continues with Tony-winning musical Girl from the North Country featuring 20 reimagined songs by Bob Dylan, and finishes with <a...

Within hours of the announcement of the 78th annual Tony Awards nominations, hundred of Gold Derby users made their first predictions about which productions, performers, and creatives will win. Although there are five weeks until the 2025 ceremony, these predictions reflect how our users and industry insiders have processed the surprises and snubs from yesterday's nominations.

Below, we break down our earliest predictions of where the top eight races stand. Scroll to the bottom of the article for a current tally of wins by show in all 26 categories. Our predicted winners are denoted in gold.

Gold Derby's Tony odds are based on the combined forecasts of hundreds of people, including experts we’ve polled from major media outlets, editors who cover awards year-round for this website, and the mass of users who make up our biggest predictions bloc. Track the Tony predictions by exploring all of our charts and graphs, and...

Gold House has unveiled its annual A100 List - the definitive honor for the 100 most impactful Asian Pacific leaders across industries. This year's A100 honorees have shattered records and redefined standards across culture. In entertainment, Wicked, directed by Jon M. Chu with Bowen Yang and Michelle Yeoh, became the highest-grossing Broadway musical adaptation globally. For his work as a director, Chu has been named an "A1" in entertainment, an honor reserved for those selected as the most impactful in their respective categories. Other notable honors in entertainment include Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen for Maybe Happy Ending, David Henry Hwang and Daniel Dae Kim for Yellow Face, and Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Dave Derrick Jr. & Dana Ledoux Miller for Moana 2. The full A100 List and Selection Committee...

With today's announcement of the Tony Awards nominations, Daniel Dae Kim has made history as the first Aapi nominee in the Lead Actor in a Play category. Kim was recognized for his performance in the revival of Yellow Face, where he plays a satirical version of playwright David Henry Hwang. Kim's nomination is also part of a record-setting year for Asian representation at the Tonys.

Bd Wong was the first actor of Asian descent to score a Tony. Coincidentally, his 1988 win for Featured Actor in a Play came courtesy of another Hwang play, M. Butterfly. Since then, Iranian performer Arian Moayed has competed in the same category, with nominations for Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo (2011) and A Doll’s House (2023). Paul Chahidi was nominated in the same race in 2014 for Twelfth Night, then Michael Aronov won the featured prize in 2017 for Oslo.

Other past Asian nominees include Lea Salonga (Miss...

The 2025 Tony Awards nominations were unveiled Thursday morning, with the musicals Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her, and Maybe Happy Ending leading the way with 10 bids apiece in a loaded season on the boards.

There was plenty of expected good news for the likes of Audra McDonald (landing her record 11th nomination for Gypsy), Mia Farrow (scoring the first major peer-group awards nomination of her storied career for The Roommate), and fellow first-timers Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Boulevard), Sarah Snook (The Picture of Dorian Gray), and Sadie Sink (John Proctor Is the Villain), it wasn't all bows and bouquets for stage set.

But with 42 musicals, plays, and revivals eligible — six more productions than last season — and several legitimate contenders vying for limited slots, there were more than a few notable snubs to go along with a handful of surprises that defied the odds. Here's our breakdown of the biggies.

Get...

Musicals Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her and Maybe Happy Ending lead the 2025 Tony nominations with 10 nods each.

All are nominated for best musical, a category that also includes Dead Outlaw and Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical.

A number of starry names received their first Tony nomination, including George Clooney, for his role in Good Night and Good Luck; Nicole Scherzinger, for her role in Sunset Blvd.; Sarah Snook, for her role in The Picture of Dorian Gray; Bob Odenkirk, for his role in Glengarry Glen Ross; and Mia Farrow, for her role in The Roommate. Othello, one of the most expensive productions on Broadway, led by Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, was notably shut out of the nominations.

Audra McDonald received her 11th Tony Award nomination for her role as Rose in Gypsy on Broadway, becoming the most Tony-nominated performer in history. She had previously held the record...

“In 17 years, I think every single cell in your body has changed over at least once. I think that I changed more than the play did,” says Francis Jue in reference to the play Yellow Face. The actor first performed the role of Henry, a stage version of playwright David Henry Hwang’s father, off-Broadway in 2007. Nearly two decades later, Jue returned to the role in the Broadway revival to great acclaim. He recently joined Gold Derby to discuss the script’s continued relevance.

Henry is an immigrant from China and is obsessed with American ideals and culture. Yellow Face dives into the tricky world of identity politics and asks who has the right to the American dream. “When we first did it in 2007, people were wondering why he was still writing about identity? Weren't we past issues of racism? Obama was about to be president and isn't theater wonderful,...

The Center for Asian American Media (Caam) announces its slate of programs for CAAMFest 2025, taking place May 8-11 in San Francisco, with nearly 40 films from Asian America and beyond, as well as panel discussions and other events. This year’s programming provides a look at how the roots of Asian America have shaped this present moment, with themes including the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the creative and nurturing contributions of Asian American women.

“At a time when it feels particularly fraught to express stories from communities of color, Caam is doing what we’ve done for over 40 years—sharing films from Asian America to a wide array of audiences,” says Caam’s Director of Programs Don Young. “Watching these stories, in a theater full of friends and neighbors, is an opportunity to laugh and cry and ultimately to celebrate human experiences that transcend bounds.

Gold Derby's top news stories for April 2, 2025.

Watch the Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld trailer

Disney+ has released the trailer (watch below) and key art for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, Lucasfilm Animation's new anthology series of animated shorts. Created by Dave Filoni, chief creative officer of Lucasfilm, the show premieres May 4, aka the unofficial Star Wars holiday that sounds just like "may the force be with you." Tales of the Underworld is the next incarnation of 2022's Tales of the Jedi and 2024's Tales of the Empire, and this time focuses on the criminal underbelly of the Star Wars galaxy through the eyes of former assassin Asajj Ventress and outlaw Cad Bane.

Hans Zimmer to receive lifetime achievement honor

Two-time Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer is this year's career achievement honoree at the Banff World Media Festival. The trophy will be bestowed at the Rockie Awards in...

Six new Broadway productions opened in March, inaugurating the spring season and foreshadowing the 12 additional openings to come before Tony Awards nominations are announced. See below for a breakdown of how our official odds have changed since our last predictions update on March 6, as Gold Derby users, editors, and experts have been updating their predictions based on performances and critics reviews.

Up

Purpose: Prior to opening, our users were only predicting a single nomination for this new American family drama for its Tony-winning featured actress Kara Young. Since the glowing critical response to playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' latest effort, it has surged with three additional expected bids for Best Play, featured actress Latanya Richardson Jackson, and director Phylicia Rashad. It certainly hasn’t hit its ceiling yet, either, as its lead actor Jon Michael Hill and featured actor Harry Lennix are both within striking distance in sixth place in their respective categories.

Welcome to Tony Talk, a column in which Gold Derby contributors David Buchanan and Sam Eckmann offer Tony Awards analysis. This week we take you inside the Hayes Theatre to discuss one of Broadway's latest offerings, Purpose.

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Sam Eckmann: Since we've both seen Purpose, the new drama from Tony-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, I think it's time we assess how it might fit into the race. The play follows an explosive evening for the influential Jasper family as they are snowed in during a birthday celebration. It also marks the Broadway directing debut of Phylicia Rashad. After claiming the Best Revival of a Play trophy for Appropriate last year, do you think Jacobs-Jenkins is on his way to a Best Play victory this year?

David Buchanan: I think it is absolutely possible that Purpose wins the top honor this year,...

David Henry Hwang was already a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his comedy Yellow Face back in 2007, but the acclaimed play only just landed on Broadway this season courtesy of Roundabout Theater Company. The plot borrows elements from Hwang’s life, namely his infamous protest around the casting of Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon, as well as his Broadway flop Face Value. Hwang met with Gold Derby to discuss this 2024 revival and reexamine the ways in which laughter can help guide audiences through sensitive subject matter.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Gold Derby: Yellow Face debuted 17 years ago Off-Broadway and the themes still feel relevant today. How do you think the culture has met this play now versus that original run?

David Henry Hwang: At the time it felt like these are themes that were important to me, and enough people responded to them, but they...

Since Gold Derby started taking predictions for the 2025 Tony Awards nominations, hundreds of users have made their preliminary picks. This season 21 musicals and musical revivals and 21 plays and play revivals will compete for only a handful of slots in each category. With five more productions than last season, this year is one of the most competitive in recent memory.

Below, we break down where the top eight races stand at the very start of the season. Scroll to the bottom of the article for a tally of nominations by show in 17 of the 26 categories based on our current combined odds.

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Best Musical

1. Death Becomes Her — 51/20

2. Maybe Happy Ending — 59/20

3. Operation Mincemeat — 9/2

4. Dead Outlaw — 8/1

5. Buena Vista Social Club — 14/1

Our earliest prognosticators feel strongest about the top three contenders in the race, including two of the biggest success stories from the fall — Death Becomes Her...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the best movies from Disney's Renaissance Era, and it is rumored to be Disney's next live-action remake. The movie is a musical-animated epic released on June 21, 1996, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Tom Hulce, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline, and Demi Moore all expertly lend their voice talents to the film, and it includes extremely catchy and memorable songs written by musical legends Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a marvel of its time; it is beautifully animated and has had a lasting impact on generations of viewers. However, even at a time when everything seems to be getting a reboot, Quasimodo the Hunchback has seemingly been left behind.

Disney seems less interested in moving forward with this project and instead continues to pursue other ideas. To name a few, a live-action portrayal of Lilo & Stitch is...

Gypsy, the much-anticipated musical revival starring Audra McDonald, was at standing room only during its first week of previews at the Majestic Theatre, grossing $770,349 for only three performances. At that rate, the production is sure to rank among the top grossing shows on Broadway in the coming weeks.

With an average ticket price of $160.19, Gypsy was at 100.8% of the venue’s capacity for the Broadway week ending November 24. Directed by George C. Wolfe, the revival of the Arthur Laurents-Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim classic officially opens December 19, with McDonald, Danny Burstein and Joy Woods leading the cast.

At the opposite end of the Broadway grosses spectrum last week was Tammy Faye, the critically panned Elton John-Jake Shears musical about televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. Posting a December 8 closing notice shortly after opening at the Palace on November 14, Tammy Faye took in just $317,913 last week, filling only 41% of the venue’s seats.

The Tony Awards Administration Committee met today to confirm the eligibility status of eleven Broadway productions for the 2024-2025 season. This was the first time this season that the Tony Awards Administration Committee met to decide the eligibility for the 78th Annual Tony Awards.

The productions discussed were: “Home,” “Oh, Mary!,” “Job,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” “The Roommate,” “The Hills of California,” “McNeal,” “Yellow Face,” “Thornton Wilder’s Our Town,” “Left on Tenth,” and “Romeo + Juliet.”

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The committee made the following determinations:

Tory Kittles will be considered eligible in Best Lead Actor in a Play for his performance in “Home.”

Cole Escola will be considered eligible for Best Lead Actor in a Play for their performance in “Oh, Mary!”

Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon will be considered eligible in Best Lead Actor/Actress in a Play for their respective roles in “Job.

M88 has signed actor, producer and photographer Lance Gross for representation.

Gross starred in the Fox TV series “Our Kind of People,” produced by Lee Daniels, opposite Yaya DaCosta, Morris Chestnut and Joe Morton. He also won four NAACP Image Awards for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his role on Tyler Perry’s long-running sitcom “House of Payne.” His TV credits include CBS’ “Hawaii 5-0” and “MacGyver”; Fox’s “Star”; USA Network’s “Royal Pains” and the Amazon limited series “Too Old To Die Young” from director Nicolas Winding Refn.

On film, Gross starred opposite Jurnee Smollett, Brandy and Vanessa Williams in Tyler Perry’s “Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor.” He also appeared in the remake of “Steel Magnolias” for Lifetime, opposite Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard, Phylicia Rashad and Jill Scott; and alongside America Ferrera, Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia in Fox Searchlight’s “Our Family Wedding.

Exclusive: 20th Television has closed a first-look deal with Daniel Dae Kim to develop and executive produce comedy, drama and limited series through his 3Ad production company for linear networks and streamers, with an emphasis on platforms across Disney Entertainment Television like ABC, Hulu and Disney+.

Kim’s breakthroughs as an actor and producer are all tied to Disney. His first starring TV role was on ABC’s 2004 drama Lost, produced by then-ABC Studios, which was recently folded into 20th Television. And 3Ad’s first series was ABC’s long-running medical procedural The Good Doctor. Heading development for 3Ad is John Cheng.

“With the recent 20th anniversary of the premiere of Lost, it seems only fitting to announce a return home to the place that changed my career,” Kim said. “All of us at 3Ad are thrilled to be starting this new chapter with Eric, Karey, Carolyn and the whole team at 20th Television.

David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face debuted Off Broadway 17 years ago, spinning a farcical tale about a real-life Broadway controversy that had taken place some 17 years before that. How it manages to be relevant, insightful and very funny as it makes its Broadway debut tonight, all these years later, is anyone’s guess, but it does.

We can start by thanking Hwang’s terrific play – cut by a half-hour since its overlong Off Broadway version – and crackerjack direction by Leigh Silverman. Perhaps most of all, the production’s appeal rests with a cast led by an excellent Daniel Dae Kim, the Lost and Avatar: The Last Airbender star making a seamless transition to the Broadway stage.

The plot is, on its surface – but only on its surface – one big inside joke for Broadway aficionados. Inspired by real events – with liberty taken – Yellow Face recounts an event that found Hwang embroiled...

David Henry Hwang’s playfully subversive comedy Yellow Face received an Obie Award and was shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize when it debuted off-Broadway at the Public Theater in 2007. Now it’s back—in a new Broadway revival directed by Leigh Silverman, the Tony-nominated director of Shaina Taub’s freewheeling musical Suffs. In what Hwang calls an “unreliable memoir,” the playwright—who won the Tony in 1988 for M. Butterfly—places a fictional version of himself, “Dhh,” at the center of the story.

The play takes audiences on a clever and humorous journey that blurs fact and fiction. It revisits historical events sparked by the 1990 controversy surrounding the yellow-face casting of a white actor, Jonathan Pryce, in the lead Eurasian role in the mega-musical Miss Saigon. The work also examines allegations made against his father, Henry Y. Hwang, and the increasing prejudice faced by Asian Americans in this country.

Broadway added a couple shows and a 7% bump in receipts last week, with a roster of recent arrivals like McNeal, Yellow Face and The Roommate drawing considerable interest.

Most shows saw an uptick in box office and solid business for the week ending September 15. McNeal, starring Robert Downey Jr. in his Broadway debut, sold out its five previews at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, grossing $954,624, while Yellow Face, the David Henry Hwang play starring Daniel Dae Kim at the Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre, filled 97% of seats at the venue, taking in $148,415 for three previews.

The Roommate, starring Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone, was a near sell-out at the Booth, with attendance at 97% of capacity for its opening week. The production took a $122,322 hit at the box office though, with both Saturday performances canceled due to Farrow’s Covid absence. Marsha Mason,...

Exclusive: Rising filmmaker Jay Pendarvis Jr. has signed with M88 for representation.

Pendarvis is coming off of his participation in the first cohort of The Antigravity Academy Screenwriters Camp, hosted by filmmaker and fellow M88 client Carlos López Estrada and former head of the Sundance Artist Community, Abiram Brizuela.

The Antigravity Academy Screenwriters Camp is an intensive and highly selective program which picks filmmakers from a wide range of backgrounds to get direct feedback and mentoring from successful entertainment professionals. Upon completion, fellows emerge with a new draft of their screenplay, a first-look deal for production financing from Unapologetic Projects, and Antigravity’s support to bring the projects to market. Pendarvis’s first feature-length project, Brother’s Keeper, was developed during the program and will be produced by Antigravity Academy.

Pendarvis previously helmed 1-15-41, which received the Programmer’s Award for Best Short Documentary at the 2023 Virginia Film Festival.

A new Broadway season has begun, and there are currently nine productions of plays set to open this fall. Could we see any of them contend at next year’s Tony Awards? Below, find the plot of each play as well as the awards histories of its author, cast and creative team, plus the opening and (where applicable) closing dates.

“The Roommate” (opens September 12; closes December 15)

In this new play by Jen Silverman, Sharon has never had a roommate before. But after her divorce she needs a housemate to pay the bills. That’s when Robyn arrives. The story follows an unexpected, life-changing friendship that’s both funny and deeply moving between two very different middle-aged women as they navigate the complexities of identity, morality and the dream of reinvention.

The production stars Golden Globe winner Mia Farrow and three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone. It is directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien.

Exclusive: More than 50 of Broadway’s biggest names, including actors, directors, producers, writers and others, are organizing to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election.

The volunteer coalition Broadway for Harris will work to to elect Harris, Walz and down ballot Democratic candidates this November. The organization plans to increase voter participation in key swing districts, produce fundraising events featuring the talents of the Broadway community and “work together toward a brighter, more hopeful, more equitable future for the country under the historic leadership of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”

Among those who have signed on to the initial organizing committee are Adrienne Warren, Alex Edelman, Audra McDonald, Billy Porter, George C. Wolfe, Idina Menzel, Jeremy O. Harris, Lachanze, Lin-Manuel Miranda, John Leguizamo, Sara Bareilles, Sarah Paulson, Shaina Taub and Tony Kushner. (See the full list as of August 19 below.)

Related: Democratic National Convention: What To Expect...

A new musical inspired, in part, by the Higgs boson and the discovery of the so-called God Particle is heading to Broadway, with David Henry Hwang and Suffs director Leigh Silverman as part of the creative team.

The musical Particle Fever is in the early stage of development. A production timeline and casting details have not been disclosed.

Based on the 2013 documentary film of the same name, Particle Fever will feature a book by Hwang with music and lyrics by Bear McCreary and composer/lyricist Zoe Sarnak. Director Silverman was Tony-nominated this year for Suffs and will direct this season’s Yellow Face, also Hwang.

Producers Megan Kingery and Annie Roney made today’s announcement.

“Theater artists, like scientists, are called to probe the biggest, most confounding questions in the universe,” said producers Kingery and Roney in a statement.

New Amsterdam star Ryan Eggold and Tony Award-nominated Kevin Del Aguila will join the previously announced Daniel Dae Kim on Broadway this fall in David Henry Hwang’s much anticipated Yellow Face.

Eggold will be making his Broadway debut.

Complete casting for the production was announced today by the Roundabout Theatre Company, and also includes Francis Jue, Marinda Anderson, Greg Keller and Shannon Tyo.

Yellow Face, directed by Leigh Silverman, will begin previews on Friday, September 13, 2024, at Roundabout’s at Todd Haimes Theatre, with opening night on Friday, October 1, 2024, 227 West 42nd Street) on Broadway. The limited engagement runs through Sunday, November 24.

The synopsis: Inspired by real events, the playwright’s fictionalized doppelgänger protests yellowface casting in Miss Saigon, only to mistakenly cast a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play. This Obie Award-winning and Pulitzer finalist play is a laugh-out-loud farce about the complexities of race.

Kim,...

With “Dancing with the Stars” set to come back for a 33rd season this fall, there’s a long list of celebrities who deserve to compete. Three of my past suggestions actually did end up cast on the show: Frankie Muniz (who placed third in season 25), Kel Mitchell (who placed second on season 28), and Jamie Lynn Spears (who was the second to be eliminated last season). Below is a list of male celebs I think the show should consider to vie for the next Mirror Ball Trophy. Do you agree with my picks? Check them out below, then vote in our poll at the bottom of this post to let us know which you’d most like to see on “DWTS.” And let us know in the comments what other stars you would like to see when the show comes back in September.

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Caleb Carr, whose bestselling 1994 novel The Alienist made the author a household name who saw the book adapted into a 10-episode limited series on TNT, died of cancer Thursday at his home in Cherry Plains, New York. He was 68.

His death was announced by his brother Ethan Carr to The New York Times.

Carr was born on August 2, 1955, into a New York City family haunted by violence and abuse: His father was Lucien Carr, a Beat Generation journalist convicted of manslaughter for the 1944 killing of what today would be deemed a sexual predator. The fatal stabbing, which made headlines and history not least because Lucien’s friend and Columbia University classmate Jack Kerouac helped dispose of the knife, was depicted in the 2013 film Kill Your Darlings starring Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan.

Caleb Carr would later say that the incident, along his own childhood abuse at the hands of his father,...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is among the many Disney animated classics set to be remade as a live-action feature by the studio. Roy Conli, who was a producer on the animated version, recently voiced his thoughts on the live-action remake following a lack of updates on the project since its initial 2019 announcement.

Speaking with Screen Rant to promote the Disneynature documentary, Tiger, Conli shared that he doesn't know if a live-action Hunchback of Notre Dame remake is actually in development at Disney. "I too have heard rumor of that. I don't have any solid information on that," he said, which will likely come as a disappointment to fans hoping for a more concrete update. "But I do think it's interesting. I would love to. I think that could be a stunning one. I think that's Alan Menken's most beautiful score. I absolutely adore that score." Conli also stated that Disney's 2002 animated movie,...

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the dates for its 2024-25 season, with David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face starring Daniel Dae Kim kicking off the company’s Broadway line-up with an October 1 opening night.

The previously announced Broadway productions also include English by Sanaz Toossi, opening January 23, 2025; and The Pirates of Penzance, reimagined with a New Orleans setting and starring Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce, opening April 24, 2025.

All the company’s Broadway productions will play at the Todd Haimes Theatre.

Roundabout’s Off Broadway offerings next season will include The Counter, by Meghan Kennedy and directed by David Cromer, opening October 9; and Bess Wohl’s Liberation, directed by Whitney White, opening February 20, 2025. Both Off Broadway shows will be staged at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.

Mother’s Day weekend 2019 marked a turning point in the young life of Madhuri Shekar.

It all started two years before with a phone call from a woman named Kate Navin, then head of theater for Audible. Navin said she’d recently been armed with money to develop original works from emerging play- wrights, and she was calling to offer Shekar, just a year out of Juilliard, the chance to write. The only catch: Shekar’s play would have to be crafted as an audio-only production.

Shekar’s answer to this challenge was “Evil Eye,” a 100-minute potboiler that revolves around daily telephone conversations between a mother in India and a daughter in Los Angeles. The finished play was released on Audible in May 2019. For Shekar, the impact on her career was immediate. Within weeks, she was negotiating a deal with Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Blumhouse for the movie version...

The Roundabout Theatre Company tonight renamed its Broadway venue – a 104-year-old building that began as the Selwyn and most recently went by the prosaic American Airlines Theatre – to honor its late artistic director Todd Haimes.

The 42nd Street venue officially became the Todd Haimes Theatre in a dedication ceremony tonight. The name change was announced last June, and becomes official just in time to welcome its first tenant: The revival of John Patrick Shanley’s Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Doubt: A Parable, directed by Scott Ellis and starring Tyne Daly and Liev Schreiber, begins previews this Friday ahead of a February 29 opening night.

The venue’s name change was made to honor, in the words of the company, the “extraordinary dedication to the institution [Haimes] called home, and his enormous contributions to Roundabout and the entire theatre community.”

Haimes, the Roundabout’s artistic director and chief executive for nearly 40 years,...

The Obie Awards, the venerable honors for outstanding Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway productions, is doing away with its annual ceremony and will instead use the funds to provide winners with grants ranging from $1,000-$5,000.

Heather Hitchens, the president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, which presents the Obies, called the grants a new path forward for the awards, saying the move “genuinely reflects the ethos of the Awards as well as the Off & Off Off Broadway movements – which is to continuously evolve and meet the moment.”

Select winners of this year’s 67th Obie Awards will be announced Saturday on New York’s Spectrum News NY1 as a special presentation of the channel’s On Stage program hosted by Frank Dilella. The special airs at 7:30 p.m./Et.

“The grants and our relationship with Spectrum News NY1 will provide meaningful support, and more effective, nationwide promotion for these incredible artists,...

When "Cheers" returned to NBC's airwaves for its third season, viewers were desperate to see how bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) had handled their breakup at the conclusion of the previous season's finale. Had they moved on or possibly reconciled?

The answer was a little more complicated than perhaps many fans expected.

Recovering alcoholic Sam was back on the sauce and carousing with self-destructive abandon. Diane was, as ever, Diane, but she couldn't bear to see Sam in such a rough way. She didn't want to get back together with him, certainly not while he was scraping rock bottom, but she still cared about her ex. She needed to see him in at least a semi-functional state. She needed to get him help. And she believed she knew just the man who could throw him a lifeline.

That man, of course, was psychiatrist Frasier Crane.