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Rosamund Pike gives a scorching central performance in the world premiere of Inter Alia at the National Theatre, playwright Suzie Miller’s follow-up to Prima Facie, which won Tony and Olivier Award glory for Jodie Comer. Now, there’s a race to lure the Saltburn star into the West End.

Pike gives off heat as Jessica Parks, a fictional crown court judge who becomes embroiled in a potent issue of masculinity and motherhood that threatens both her family and professional life. The first night crowd in the National’s Lyttelton Theatre roared their approval when the actress took her solo bow, having dominated the stage for the duration of the 100-minute play directed by Justin Martin, who also directed Prima Facie in London and on Broadway.

Also involved are the judge’s husband and son, played by Jamie Glover (The Crown) and Jasper Talbot, a recent...

From her mesmerizing acting in Ted Lasso to a blink-and-you-will-miss cameo in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Hannah Waddingham has not been short of any spectacle on screens. The actress, soon to be 51, has taken on roles and responsibilities with an open heart and has proven to be an exceptional.

Furthermore, besides her massive hits over the years, the actress has also performed in theaters and co-hosted the famed Eurovision Song Contest in 2023. With such a vast profile and a positive aura, it’s no wonder that Waddingham has such a large following! The more we talk, the more we dig in. So, here are some unknown facts about Hannah Waddingham that you may find intriguing.

10. Hannah Waddingham Comes From a Family of Performers Hannah Waddingham in Ted Lasso | Credits: Apple TV+

Hannah Waddingham’s life has been nothing less than amazing. The actress comes from a family of performers.

At last year’s Tony Awards, Danya Taymor took Broadway’s biggest night by surprise with her victory for directing Best Musical winner The Outsiders. Only 18 Gold Derby users were predicting her to prevail, favoring instead Maria Friedman for Best Musical Revival winner Merrily We Roll Along and Michael Greif, a theater veteran looking for his first-ever Tony for musical Hell’s Kitchen.

Now on her second Tony nomination in as many years, Taymor looks to pull off another unexpected victory, this time for new play John Proctor Is the Villain. Even though Oh, Mary! helmer Sam Pinkleton is out front in Gold Derby’s odds, our users are not underestimating Taymor again, as she ranks second in the category with a contingent of backers. If she wins again this year, she would make Tony Awards history.

Watch our interview with Tony nominee Sadie Sink, ‘John Proctor is the Villain...

Director Jamie Lloyd is, to say the least, very busy these days. In four days his radical, magnificent Broadway reworking of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Blvd. will be competing for seven Tony Awards, including one for his direction, one each for his two stars Nicole Scherzinger and Tom Francis, and one for Best Musical Revival. Then there’s Evita, another Lloyd Webber classic getting the Jamie Lloyd treatment for a June 14 preview date at the London Palladium, with opening night on July 1. That one has Rachel Zegler as Eva Perón, Diego Andres Rodriguez as Che and James Olivas as Juan Perón.

And of course there’s Waiting for Godot, set for Broadway this fall at the Hudson Theatre. The stars? None other than Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, those old Bill and Ted buddies who just might have more in common with Beckett’s tragicomic tramps than you ever imagined.

The world will descend on New York on Sunday night, by way of the 78th Tony Awards. Shows set in the U.S., the U.K., Cuba, Italy, and Iran all make their way to the nominees circle. Not to mention a show from South Korea projected to win more Tonys than any other production, potentially the first one ever to premiere in Asia and win best musical.

And when I say “projected,” I mean that mathematically. Every year, I run a statistical model based on precursor awards, which categories a show is nominated in, blended critic predictions, and betting markets to project the odds that each nominee will emerge victorious in every category. After another wonderful year on Broadway, with 42 new shows opening and 29 of them receiving nominations, it’s time to get excited for the big night with a data-based forecast at who might triumph at Radio City...

Exclusive: Outlander star Sam Heughan will star as the murderous tyrant in Macbeth, marking his debut with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he tells Deadline that returning to the stage for the first time in 12 years “is the drug I’m looking for.”

The actor, who has cropped his locks for the role, says it’s “exciting” to be treading the boards again now that filming is compete on the eighth and final season of the time-traveling drama Outlander, in which he plays the the dashingly charming Jamie Fraser who finds true love with Claire, played by Caitríona Balfe.

During our conversation, Heughan suggested that Starz will show season 8 of Outlander “towards next year.” The prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood premieres on August 8, “so I feel it’d probably be out next year,” he reveals.

Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan in ‘Outlander’ (Starz)

Macbeth, to be directed by Daniel Raggett,...

On Sunday 13 April 2025, BBC Four broadcasts Willard White Remembers… Porgy and Bess!

Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Willard White Remembers… Porgy and Bess” promises to be a heartfelt journey into the world of opera. Airing soon on BBC Four, this episode features the esteemed opera singer Sir Willard White as he shares his personal memories of the first televised production of “Porgy and Bess.”

Sir Willard White is known for his powerful voice and deep connection to the music he performs. In this episode, he reflects on the impact of the production, which was based on Trevor Nunn’s celebrated staging at Glyndebourne in 1986. Viewers can expect to hear fascinating stories about the challenges and triumphs faced during the production, as well as insights into the significance of George Gershwin’s opera.

The episode will not only highlight the artistic elements of “Porgy and Bess” but also showcase Sir...

“Willard White Remembers… Porgy and Bess” is set to air on BBC Four at 8:35 Pm on Sunday, April 13, 2025. This special program features the distinguished opera singer Sir Willard White as he reflects on his experiences with the iconic opera “Porgy and Bess.”

The show takes a nostalgic journey back to the first televised production of this beloved work, which was based on Trevor Nunn’s acclaimed 1986 staging at Glyndebourne. Sir Willard White shares personal stories and insights about the opera, its music, and the impact it has had on audiences around the world. His passion for the piece shines through as he discusses the challenges and triumphs of bringing such a complex and rich story to life.

Viewers can expect a blend of heartfelt memories and fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes. The program promises to be a celebration of George Gershwin’s classic, showcasing not only the beauty of the music...

The actor and director on why The Return took 30 years to make, their joy at persuading Juliette Binoche to join them – and the punishing regime that earned Fiennes his battle-scarred physique

Uberto Pasolini likes to say he has been thinking about adapting The Odyssey for 30 years – 20 years longer than it took Odysseus to win the Trojan war. A nephew of the director Luchino Visconti, the 67-year-old Italian film-maker has lived in London for 50 years. Pasolini, who won a Bafta for producing The Full Monty, first approached Ralph Fiennes to play Odysseus in 2011, after the actor had made his directorial debut with Coriolanus, believing Fiennes might also be able to direct the film.

They got as far as a location scout in Turkey, where Fiennes, then about to play Prospero in a Trevor Nunn production of The Tempest, practised his “Such stuff as dreams are made on” speech in an abandoned outdoor amphitheatre at dusk.

During the 1953 world premiere of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist masterpiece, Waiting for Godot, at Paris’ Théâtre de Babylone, the curtain came down about 40 minutes into the first act as audience members whistled and hooted derisively. While the critics were accepting of the play, it presold few tickets for the American debut tour three years later in Washington and Philadelphia, prompting a move to Miami’s Coconut Grove Playhouse for a two-week run starring Bert Lahr and Tom Ewell. Promoted as “the laugh sensation of two continents,” it was greeted by vacationers with bafflement and described as a play where nothing happens. The reaction was so predictable that cabbies waited outside the theater for early exiters. Not surprisingly, the New York engagement was canceled.

“Nothing happens, that’s the thing. It’ll be interesting to see, when we put this up in front of an audience for the first time, how they respond.

Update, with video: Patti LuPone, famously fired by Andrew Lloyd Webber from her role as Norma Desmond in the 1993 London production of Sunset Boulevard, is putting old grudges aside — kinda, sorta — and plans to see the new Jamie Lloyd-directed Broadway production on Wednesday.

In a deliciously on-point LuPone appearance on ABC’s The View today, the former Evita was in peak candid form in delivering a side-eye “compliment” about the hot new Broadway Sunset revival starring Nicole Scherzinger as Norma.

First, a little background. In 1993, LuPone created the role of Norma Desmond in the original London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, directed by Trevor Nunn. The project was a reteaming of LuPone and Lloyd Webber following their massive success with Evita, but history didn’t repeat itself: LuPone abruptly was fired by the composer, who subsequently hired Glenn Close to open the show in Los Angeles and eventually on Broadway.

Exclusive: Deadline can reveal that Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal will be joined by fast-rising West End actress Molly Osborne, who will play Desdemona opposite them, in the spring 2025 Broadway revival of Shakespeare’s Othello.

Upon seeing Osborne’s audition tape, Washington and others were so impressed that they are said to have expressed a keenness to cast her immediately.

Washington, soon to be seen in Gladiator 2 with Paul Mescal, will play the title character, while Gyllenhaal, currently starring in the Presumed Innocent series on Apple TV+, will take on the part of the manipulative Iago.

Othello producer Brian Anthony Moreland confirmed that both stars had seen Osborne’s reel, and pointedly reasoned that “obviously she wouldn’t be doing it if they hadn’t” seen it and approved her.

Moreland explained that he, director Kenny Leon and casting director Duncan Stewart of Arc Casting searched widely for an...

Late legend Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, famously known for his iconic music and dance moves, apparently had a hidden passion for acting. Not many would know, but the pop star showcased his acting abilities in projects like The Wiz and Ghosts. However, despite having a few onscreen appearances, Jackson had a penchant for a particular role.

Michael Jackson in the music video of Beat it

Fascinated by the popular children’s character Peter Pan, Micheal Jackson had a deep-rooted desire to play the character. Recalling Jackson’s passion for playing Peter Pan, theater director Trevor Nunn recalled how the man who owned his own Neverland approached him about playing the particular role in his theater project.

Michael Jackson Approached Trevor Nunn to Play Peter Pan

Alongside his world-renowned musical career, Michael Jackson was equally interested in pursuing an acting profession. Thus, appearing in a few feature films, the...

The accusations against former producer Harvey Weinstein resulted in a series of similar cases in Hollywood, one of which was opened against two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, who was then earning praise for his work on the series House of Cards. Spacey was first accused of inappropriate behavior by actor Anthony Rapp, after which 15 other alleged victims came forward. Several cases were opened, and Spacey was tried in both the United States and the United Kingdom, but as it turned out, Spacey was cleared of all the charges made against him, which led to a series of reactions.

Namely, as you might have assumed, Kevin Spacey was blacklisted completely and his career was destroyed because of these proceedings. No one wanted to hire him and while he himself decided to withdraw from the public, the actor had vehemently denied the allegations, especially those of a criminal nature.

So, what actually happened there?...

After the controversial Channel 4 documentary against Kevin Spacey, a number of actors including Liam Neeson have come out in defense of the Oscar winner. Neeson called for the actor to be reinstated in the film industry, adding that he’s a man of character and a great actor. Fans are not happy with the Taken actor’s stand on the issue and took to X to express their discontent.

Spacey in a still from House of Cards | Netflix

Spacey was found not liable in the s*xual harassment lawsuit filed against him in New York. He was also acquitted of all charges in a separate case in London. However, the new documentary, Spacey Unmasked, included testimonies from 10 different men, who were not involved in the lawsuit, accusing the actor of s*xual harassment.

Liam Neeson’s Support For Kevin Spacey Doesn’t Sit Well With Fans Liam Neeson as...

Kevin Spacey is facing another sexual assault trial in the UK next year, but today the two-time Oscar winner saw some major star power in his corner.

Liam Neeson, Sharon Stone and Stephen Fry have come forward with unequivocal support for Spacey as the much-accused actor has been back in the spotlight via new Channel 4 docuseries with even more allegations of severe misconduct.

“I was deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against him,” Taken franchise star Neesom told the Telegraph today. “Kevin is a good man and a man of character. He’s sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of humour. He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera.

“Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly,” Neeson, no total stranger to controversy himself, concluded.

Basic Instinct star Stone told the UK broadsheet: “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work.

Exclusive: Jamie Lloyd, director of the history-making reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, reveals that his star Nicole Scherzinger initially “refused to consider” accepting his offer to play Norma Desmond in the show adapted from Billy Wilder’s 1950 classic.

“Nicole was not flattered,” he gasped, speaking to Breaking Baz backstage at the London theatre awards, held at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday night.

Lloyd says that the show’s “obviously associated with Glenn Close’s iconic performance and therefore people think about Norma Desmond being a much older woman.”

Mmm, that’s unlikely to amuse Glenn Close.

He tells me that Scherzinger, a one-time member of The Pussycat Dolls, called Norma Desmond a “has been” and stormed at Lloyd that she “still looks good under the bright lights.”

Lloyd encouraged her to study Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s book and lyrics and to listen to Lloyd Weber’s music.

This year’s Tonys will be held on June 16, so the American Theatre Wing will likely be announcing its Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in the near future. Who do you think should take home this prestigious trophy, which honors an individual’s body of work? It has gone to veteran stage performers, directors, choreographers, playwrights, songwriters, producers and designers. In some years we get multiple recipients.

Last year these honors went to actor Joel Grey and composer John Kander. The following living male Broadway vets have also received this award in the past and thus won’t be chosen again: Paul Gemignani, Alan Ayckbourn, Athol Fugard, Marshall W. Mason, Tommy Tune, James Earl Jones, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Harold Wheeler.

Here are 10 possibilities featured in our poll below, all accomplished men over the age of 65. Vote to let us know who you’d like to see honored. And take a...

BAFTA-nominated Irish actor Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy) has signed on to lead a stage adaptation of Bruce Robinson’s 1987 cult tragi-comedy Withnail and I at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre alongside actors Adonis Siddique and Malcolm Sinclair.

Directed by the double Olivier Award-winning Sean Foley, Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep, and designed by Alice Power, the show will premiere at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with performances from 3 May until 25 May 2024.

The adaption was written by Robinson. The original film was based on an unpublished novel by Robinson and was produced by Handmade Films, with Richard E Grant, Paul McGann, and Richard Griffiths leading. On stage, Sheehan will star as Withnail while Siddique is Marwood, and Malcolm Sinclair is Uncle Monty.

Sheehan made his acting debut in Aisling Walsh’s acclaimed feature Song For A Raggy Boy. Since then, his screen credits include Season of the Witch, Cherrybomb, Killing Bono, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,...

"All in the Family" might've been Norman Lear's finest half-hour as a sitcom producer, but I'm not sure he ever put a funnier show on the airwaves than "The Jeffersons." For 11 seasons, Sherman Hemsley's dry-cleaning magnate George Jefferson and Isabel Sanford's good-hearted Louise "Weezy" Jefferson led a stellar cast that delivered edgy-for-network-television laughs revolving around race, class, gender, and whatever happened to be grinding the hot-headed George's gears that particular week. It was the African-American answer to "All in the Family" (on which the characters of George and Weezy originated), and might actually be more shocking today for its fearless deployment of the n-word (particularly early in the series' run).

And if you're making a list of the most memorable theme songs in television history, "The Jeffersons" better be in the top five. Anyone who grew up watching the show in prime time or via syndication should...

Brian Cox says Succession creator Jesse Armstrong was a “gentleman” to salute him during his acceptance speech at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards.

The celebrated HBO drama won the top drama prize, and Armstrong praised the show’s cast, creatives and crew then lauded Cox, “who the show was revolved around whether he was in it or not.”

Later at the HBO | Max Emmy afterparty at San Vicente Bungalows, Cox tells me he was “touched” by Armstrong singling him out. “Jesse’s a gentleman in an industry where there aren’t many of those,” he says.

Cox adds that the entire team deserved the praise. ”All of them. The drama series win belongs to each and every one of them.”

The acclaimed actor says he knew Succession would become a “cultural landmark” from the time he read Armstrong’s first script. “I was in no doubt that it would become a benchmark.

Exclusive: Starring an electrifying Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard ends its limited run at London’s Savoy Theatre on January 6. However, Deadline can reveal in its 2024 West End look ahead that the singer will lead the Andrew Lloyd Webber show to Broadway in November, according to insiders connected with the production.

Scherzinger, who won the Evening Standard’s best musical performance prize for her show-stopping turn as Norma Desmond, has indicated to producers that she will commit to a six-month season in New York, we understand. The Es also recently named the show’s helmer Jamie Lloyd as Best Director [Disclosure: this writer is a member of the Es judging panel].

Nicole Scherzinger in ‘Sunset Boulevard’

Meanwhile, another Es winner, Jack Thorne’s glorious drama The Motive and the Cue, staged by Sam Mendes, has transferred from London’s National Theatre to the Noël Coward, and we can also reveal The Motive and the Cue is in the early stages of discussions for a run in NYC.

Indhu Rubasingham, an acclaimed theater practitioner, has broken the decades-long white male hold on the reins of power at the National Theatre by being appointed its artistic director, it was being revealed Wednesday in London.

She succeeds current director and chief executive Rufus Norris, who, by the time he departs in 2025, would have held the job for a decade over two terms.

Long tipped for the job, Rubasingham will assume Norris’s director title but will share chief executive duties jointly with present Nt executive director Kate Varah.

In a statement released via the Nt, Rubasingham said that her appointment was ”a huge honor — for me, this is the best job in the world.“ She added that the opportunity to play a role in the Nt’s history “is an incredible privilege and responsibility.”

She said she has witnessed firsthand “the commitment, collaboration, brilliance and pride of those who bring the magic to the building.

Brian Cox became a familiar face all over the world thanks to playing Logan Roy in the hit HBO series “Succession,” but there have been some consequences. The actor is a veteran with some 240 credits to his name, but it is “Succession” that made him a household name.

“I’ve lost my anonymity and I’ve realized that that was what was important to me. I haven’t ever experienced anything like this,” Cox told The Guardian. “I mean, you ask for success in your work, and you get it, and then you have to deal with the consequences. I’ve always valued my privacy, but that’s gone. I’ve been very lucky that I’ve had it for so long. You know, I’ve been doing this for over 60 years. And finally it’s over.”

Cox also turned down roles in “Game of Thrones” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.

Glenda Jackson, the British actress who hit the snooze bar on her acting career for a 23-year career in politics, died on Thursday, as per her representatives. During her peak years in the 1970s and 80s, she won two Oscars (and was nominated for two more) and two Emmy Awards. She was nominated for four Tony Awards, finally winning one in 2018 after a late-in-life career resurgence. She was 87 years old.

Jackson, whose father was a bricklayer and whose mother was a barmaid and domestic, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was told by the academy’s principal that, due to her looks, she would likely only find work as a character actress, and she shouldn’t depend on getting jobs after 40.

This proved to be the opposite of true. Her big break came when experimental theater director Peter Brook cast her in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s groundbreaking adaptation of “Marat/Sade.

Jackson won Academy Awards for ’Women In Love’ and ’A Touch Of Class’.

UK actress Glenda Jackson, known for her Oscar-winning performances in Women In Love and A Touch Of Class, has died aged 87.

Jackson, who was also a former Labour MP, ”died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side,” according to her agent Lionel Larner.

Born in Birkenhead, UK, Jackson’s acting career began in theatre in the late 1950’s before she made her big screen debut with an uncredited role in Lindsay Anderson’s This Sporting Life...

Eve Hewson has joined the cast of 'Hedda'.The 31-year-old actress is set to feature alongside Tessa Thompson in the movie that is being directed by Nia DaCosta.The film is billed as an epic reimagining of Henrik Ibsen's 1891 stage play 'Hedda Gabler'.The play dramatises the experiences of Hedda, the daughter of a general, who is trapped in a marriage and a house that she does not want. It was initially met with negative reviews but has since gone on to great acclaim.'Hedda Gabler' has been adapted for both the big and small screen in the past as Ingrid Bergman featured in a BBC television production in 1962 while Sir Trevor Nunn's 1975 film version 'Hedda' earned Glenda Jackson an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the character.Tessa will play the title role in the flick but it has not yet been revealed who Eve – the daughter...

The 76th annual Tony Awards have already made history. For the first time, two of the acting nominees identify as non-binary: Harrison Ghee who is contending for lead actor in musical for “Some Like It Hot” and Alex Newell, vying for featured actor in a musical for “Shucked.” Their nominations have been warmly embraced. But 40 years ago, a history-making acceptance led to death threats.

At the 37th annual Tony Awards on June 5, 1983, producer John Glines thanked his lover when he accepted the best play honor for Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy,” a three-act drama set in New York in the 1970s and early 80s starring Fierstein as a gay, drag queen and torch singer. “He expressed gratitude to an assortment of people , ‘lastly but most importantly, to the one person who believed and followed the dream from the beginning, who never said ‘You’re crazy; it can’t be...

Actor Hugh Jackman, aka Marvel's 'Wolverine' is the star of a restored live recording of the original 1998 stage musical "Oklahoma!", a 'dark-themed' production presented by the National Theatre in London at the Olivier Theatre, directed by Trevor Nunn, choreographed by Susan Stroman and orchestrated by William David Brohn, now scheduled for a limited, theatrical re-release July 16 and 19, 2023 in over 800 theaters worldwide:

"....Oklahoma! the musical was based on "Green Grow the Lilacs", a 1931 play by Lynn Riggs. The music was composed by Richard Rodgers. The lyrics were written by Oscar Hammerstein. 

"In Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906., the cowboy 'Curly McLain' (Jackman) is in love with farm girl 'Laurey Williams.'  But Laurey makes her choice, and 'Jud Fry', a farm hand, is also in love with Laurey.

And Curly will have none of it..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Tessa Thompson will lead the cast of 'Hedda'.The 39-year-old actress is to play Hedda Gabler, a character considered to be one of the greatest dramatic roles in theatre history, in the new movie from director Nia DaCosta.The film is billed as an epic reimagining of Henrik Ibsen's 1891 stage play 'Hedda Gabler' and reunites Thompson and DaCosta after they worked together on the 2018 feature 'Little Woods'.The play dramatises the experiences of Hedda, the daughter of a general, who is trapped in a marriage and a house that she does not want. It was initially met with negative reviews but has since gone on to great acclaim.Thompson is to produce the film via her own Viva Maude label with DaCosta and Gabrielle Nadig also working on the movie.'Hedda Gabler' has been adapted for both the big and small screen in the past as Ingrid Bergman...

Sound the reunion klaxon! The Little Woods team of star Tessa Thompson and Nia DaCosta are re-teaming for a new film. And it's a heady one — or rather a Heddy one? — as Thompson will take the lead in DaCosta's Hedda.

As adapted by DaCosta, The Hollywood Reporter has heard that the film will be an epic and visceral reimagination of Henrik Ibsen’s famed 1891 stage play. Hedda Gabler dramatizes the experiences of the title character, Hedda, the daughter of a general, who is trapped in a marriage and a house that she does not want. While it premiered to negative reviews, it has gone on to great acclaim, and the lead role is considered one of the greatest for a woman in theater.

It has also been successful in other mediums: Ingrid Bergman starred a BBC TV production in 1962, while Trevor Nunn’s 1975 film — also entitled Hedda — earned Glenda Jackson...

Fresh from her appearance in box office boxing smash hit Creed III ($265 million and counting), Tessa Thompson has been cast as a character considered one of the greatest dramatic roles in theater history.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Thompson is set to play Hedda Gabler in Nia DaCosta’s upcoming film Hedda for MGM’s Orion Pictures and Plan B.

Written and directed by Nia DaCosta — coming off both the success of 2021’s Candyman and her upcoming MCU debut The Marvels (the first trailer for which recently landed) — the feature is billed as an epic and visceral reimagination of Henrik Ibsen’s famed 1891 stage play, and reunites the filmmaker with Thompson after she starred in the director’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut feature Little Woods.

Producers on Hedda are Plan B, DaCosta, Gabrielle Nadig (who produced Little Woods) and Thompson, who produces via her own Viva Maude label, launched in...

Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham lifted up her arms and proudly showed off the bruises she received, not on the soccer field at AFC Richmond, but doing “kick-ass” stunts on David Leitch’s action movie The Fall Guy.

The bruises “are a badge of honor” she boasts.

“You should see the other guy,” she jokes.

Related Story Jason Sudeikis Says ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3 “Is The End Of This Story We Wanted To Tell,” Addresses Potential Spinoffs Related Story 'Ted Lasso's Brendan Hunt & Brett Goldstein Talk The Show's Future; Pitch Spinoff Ideas Related Story 'Prehistoric Planet' Renewed For Season 2 At Apple TV+

Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Everything, Everywhere All at Once Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu, The Fall Guy is one of several gigs the British actress has lined up now that the upcoming third season of the popular Apple TV+ show will be its last.

Exclusive: Three decades ago Michael Ball (Les Miserables) had teeny-bopper groupies waiting for him at the stage door — in London and on Broadway — thanks to a heartthrob role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Aspects of Love. It didn’t hurt that Ball got to belt out “Love Changes Everything,” which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ball will star in a new production of the musical, and will sing that song again.

Aspects of Love is set to open in May at London’s Lyric Theatre, owned by Nimax Theatres, a company controlled by Nica Burns and producer Max Weitzenhoffer. Burns will produce.

Ball is the first to acknowledge that he no longer can play the youthful Alex Dillingham, the part he created in the original production in 1989 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. During a recent reception at that very same theater, Ball told Deadline...

Exclusive: Giles Terera (Death of England: Face to Face), winner of an Olivier Award for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the London transfer of Broadway hit Hamilton, will star in a history-making production of Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, with Rosy McEwen, who won acclaim in the second season of The Alienist, as Desdemona.

The play will be directed at the UK’s National Theatre by Clint Dyer, marking the first time the play has been directed by a Black man at a major British venue. American-born Shakespearean scholar Dr. Jami Rogers hailed the outcome as “a major milestone in the history of British Shakespeare.”

Rogers told Deadline: “This means that the white lens through which the play has almost always been viewed will be challenged.”

The play, about a man who rose from slavery to become a respected Black military leader and ambassador who marries a powerful Venetian senator’s white daughter,...

Ian McKellen’s Broadway credits include starring opposite Patrick Stewart in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land and Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot, and with Helen Mirren in Conor McPherson’s adaptation of August Strindberg's Dance Of Death

Oren Jacoby’s fabulous tribute On Broadway features Helen Mirren, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Tony Kushner, August Wilson, Christine Baranski, Hal Prince, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Tommy Tune, David Henry Hwang, Trevor Nunn, Julie Taymor, Jack O’Brien, Viola Davis, and George C Wolfe (director of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Best Costumes Oscar win Ann Roth) sharing their thoughts on the impact of Broadway. Stephen Sondheim, James Earl Jones, Sam Shepard, Bob Fosse, David Byrne, Michael Bennett, Adam Driver, Neil Simon, Michael Mayer, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C Reilly, and Ethan Hawke, Patricia Schoenfeld’s role, and the importance of theatre came up during our conversation.

London-based film sales and financing house Embankment Films has closed a major international deal for “Joyride,” starring Olivia Colman, who is Oscar nominated for Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” another of Embankment’s titles. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has bought “Joyride” for the world, excluding North America and U.K.

The deal comes as Embankment – led by Tim Haslam and Hugo Grumbar – amps up its pre-sales slate, with the recent addition of Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern to the cast of Zeller’s “The Son,” which sees Zeller reuniting with “The Father” co-writer Christopher Hampton, and news that Helen Mirren will play Israel’s legendary Prime Minister Golda Meir in “Golda,” directed by Oscar winner Guy Nattiv, and produced by BAFTA winner Michael Kuhn (“Florence Foster Jenkins”).

“Joyride” is a feel-good, foul-mouthed fairy-tale centering on two lovable rogues. Joy, played by Colman, is pissed off. She’s got a baby...

Arthur P. Siccardi, a longtime Broadway production supervisor whose five-decade career included work on such notable original and revival stagings as Sweeney Todd, Whose Life is it Anyway?, Sunday in the Park with George, Gypsy, The Heidi Chronicles and Sunset Boulevard, to name a few, died December 23 of complications from pneumonia. He was 89.

His death was announced by his son Drew Siccardi.

Born in Englewood, NJ, and raised in Fort Lee, Siccardi began his professional life as a minor league baseball pitcher for the Johnson City Cardinals from 1951-53. An employment offer to work as a show carpenter on the original national tour of Gypsy led to what would be his life’s work.

Siccardi established Arthur Siccardi Theatrical Services in 1975 at the suggestion of Michael Bennett, and he’d go on to work with such notable directors as Mike Nichols, Jerome Robbins, Tommy Tune, Gower Champion, Trevor Nunn and Michael Blakemore.

Vanessa Redgrave has called on businesses and entrepreneurs to come to the aid of the U.K.’s arts sector, which is facing major financial challenges due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The Oscar winner and BAFTA Fellow was joined by Maxine Peake (Black Mirror, Peterloo), comic and campaigner Lenny Henry and theater director Trevor Nunn at a public appeal to save arts jobs held outside London’s National Theatre on Tuesday night.

“We theater and arts people must campaign to raise funds from private enterprise to add to any government funds, so that we can help to restore all ...

Vanessa Redgrave has called on businesses and entrepreneurs to come to the aid of the U.K.’s arts sector, which is facing major financial challenges due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The Oscar winner and BAFTA Fellow was joined by Maxine Peake (Black Mirror, Peterloo), comic and campaigner Lenny Henry and theater director Trevor Nunn at a public appeal to save arts jobs held outside London’s National Theatre on Tuesday night.

“We theater and arts people must campaign to raise funds from private enterprise to add to any government funds, so that we can help to restore all ...

This year’s edition of the UK theater world’s Olivier Awards, which had been set for April 5 at Royal Albert Hall in London, has been canceled. Organizer the Society of London Theatre made the call Tuesday as the UK government ramped up its restrictions in the fight against coronavirus.

“Following the government’s new advice on social distancing yesterday, and the subsequent closing of many theatres and public venues, we no longer feel that it is feasible to host the ceremony that we had planned to deliver,” Solt said in a statement today. It said all tickets would be refunded.

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Organizers said they are working through plans “on how to properly honour and announce this year’s winners,...

James McAvoy, Andrew Scott, Wendell Pierce and Toby Jones are going head-to-head for best actor in this year’s Olivier Awards, while Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Hayley Atwell, Juliet Stevenson and Sharon D Clarke have been nominated for best actress.

New musical & Juliet has nabbed nine nominations, Trevor Nunn’s Fiddler on the Roof has secured eight and Dear Evan Hansen has scored seven.

The UK awards, which celebrates the best theatre in London, will take place at the Royal Albert Hall on April 5.

Here’s the full list of play and musical nominations:

Best New Play

A Very Expensive Poison at The Old Vic

The Doctor at Almeida Theatre

Leopoldstadt at Wyndham’s Theatre

The Ocean at the End of the Lane at National Theatre – Dorfman

Best New Musical

& Juliet at Shaftesbury Theatre

Amelie The Musical at The Other Palace

Dear Evan Hansen at Noel Coward Theatre

Waitress at Adelphi Theatre...

Exclusive: MGM has set Dee Rees to write and direct a feature film adaptation of George Gershwin’s acclaimed Porgy and Bess. Irwin Winkler and Charles Winkler will produce. The film rights were granted to MGM by the Gershwin Estate, which worked closely with Winkler and Rees to secure them.

Originally written as an opera and adapted from the 1925 DuBose Heyward novel by composer George Gershwin with libretto by Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin, Porgy and Bess is a tale set in the slums of Charleston, Sc. There in Catfish Row, a disabled beggar named Porgy tries to rescue Bess from her violent lover Crown, and drug dealer Sportin’ Life. It first reached Broadway in 1935, and was turned into a 1959 film that Otto Preminger directed with Sidney Poitier playing Porgy, Dorothy Dandridge as Bess, Brock Peters as Crown, Sammy Davis Jr as Sportin’ Life, and a cast that included Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll.

At the box office, 2019 ended much as 2020 began: Studios are in crisis mode as they try to figure out how to get moviegoers into theaters. This is how Universal came to back two disastrous movies like the $95 million “Cats,” Tom Hooper’s movie version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical blockbuster, and the $175 million “Dolittle,” Stephen Gaghan’s adaptation of the children’s book classic “Dr. Dolittle.”

It’s easy to armchair quarterback. What were they thinking? What was it about these two costly projects that propelled them forward? Didn’t the risks seem obvious?

Here are the reasons why smart people at studios come to back such boneheaded movies.

1. They have global slates to fill.

This is the primary impetus for someone like Donna Langley, a veteran executive who champions edgy movies like “Get Out,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “Fifty Shades of Gray,” and “Queen & Slim,” to push forward...

At the box office, 2019 ended much as 2020 began: Studios are in crisis mode as they try to figure out how to get moviegoers into theaters. This is how Universal came to back two disastrous movies like the $95 million “Cats,” Tom Hooper’s movie version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical blockbuster, and the $175 million “Dolittle,” Stephen Gaghan’s adaptation of the children’s book classic “Dr. Dolittle.”

It’s easy to armchair quarterback. What were they thinking? What was it about these two costly projects that propelled them forward? Didn’t the risks seem obvious?

Here are the reasons why smart people at studios come to back such boneheaded movies.

1. They have global slates to fill.

This is the primary impetus for someone like Donna Langley, a veteran executive who champions edgy movies like “Get Out,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “Fifty Shades of Gray,” and “Queen & Slim,” to push forward...

When Andrew Lloyd Webber and Taylor Swift had the opportunity to write a song together for “Cats,” they, well, pounced on it.

“We wrote 90 percent of it pretty much over an afternoon,” Lloyd Webber tells Variety about his and Swift’s fast-combusting collaboration on “Beautiful Ghosts,” the one brand new song written for the forthcoming movie adaptation of the 1981 stage musical.

They didn’t actually meet up with the intention of writing a new song… at least, not ostensibly. Swift had gone over to Lloyd Webber’s last December during filming to rehearse her performance of a song she sings in the film, “Macavity the Mystery Cat,” in her supporting role as Bombalurina. But at some point in the afternoon the fact that Lloyd Webber had written the instrumental basis of a new song came up. He played it on the piano, she began improvising lyrics and topline vocal elements,...

Stars: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Hughes, Nina Sosanya, Laurence Spellman, Nicola Sloane, Tereza Srbova, Freddie Gaminara, Raj Swamy | Written by Lindsay Shapero | Directed by Trevor Nunn

Red Joan, directed by Trevor Nunn, is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jennie Rooney and is loosely based off the life of Melita Norwood. An elderly British woman who in the early 2000s was outed in secret documents by British Intelligence, alleging that Norwood provided detailed plans to the Ussr communist regime about Britain’s developing secret nuclear program, throughout her time working as a secretary at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. Nunn’s film follows the truly bizarre story of a young woman emotionally manipulated and internally conflicted on her political beliefs and the direction her heart wants to take.

It is a shame with what noticeably offbeat material Nunn has at his hands,...

‘Toy Story 4’ (Photo credit: Disney/Pixar).

The fourth installment in the Disney/Pixar Toy Story franchise has smashed the opening weekend record for an animated title worldwide, ending a run of sequels and reboots which audiences showed they did not want or need.

Directed by Josh Cooley, Toy Story 4 grabbed $244.5 million, beating Incredibles 2‘s $235.8 million, although the $120.9 million domestic debut was only the fourth biggest for the genre, trailing Incredibles 2 ($182 million), Finding Dory ($135 million) and Shrek the Third ($121 million).

It was a buoyant weekend in Oz as Toy Story 4 and Universal/Illumination’s The Secret Life of Pets sequel drew kids and families and fans of Indian cinema turned out for Kabir Singh and Shadaa.

However Child’s Play, the remake of the 1988 horror movie about a ghastly voodoo doll named Chucky, found few takers for Roadshow. Among the specialty releases, Sony’s Never Look Away...

Jessie Buckley is having what is popularly known as A Moment, that cultural curiosity when an actor seems to appear from nowhere to star in all of the most interesting projects, all at once. In HBO’s “Chernobyl”, her performance as Lyudmilla Ignatenko, the pregnant housewife who must bear witness to the horrific radiation poisoning of her fireman husband, keeps being singled out for praise. Soon, those kudos will have to compete with the ones she received at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival premiere of “Wild Rose,” with Buckley in the title role of convict-turned-songbird Rose-Lynn Harlan.

In truth, none of this — not the acting, nor the singing, or even the outsized acclaim — is new. The Killarney-born actress-musician shot out of the gate at age 18 when she came in second on BBC talent show “I’d Do Anything” (belting out the Judy Garland ballad “The Man That Got Away”). “Jessie...

Jessie Buckley is having what is popularly known as A Moment, that cultural curiosity when an actor seems to appear from nowhere to star in all of the most interesting projects, all at once. In HBO’s “Chernobyl”, her performance as Lyudmilla Ignatenko, the pregnant housewife who must bear witness to the horrific radiation poisoning of her fireman husband, keeps being singled out for praise. Soon, those kudos will have to compete with the ones she received at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival premiere of “Wild Rose,” with Buckley in the title role of convict-turned-songbird Rose-Lynn Harlan.

In truth, none of this — not the acting, nor the singing, or even the outsized acclaim — is new. The Killarney-born actress-musician shot out of the gate at age 18 when she came in second on BBC talent show “I’d Do Anything” (belting out the Judy Garland ballad “The Man That Got Away”). “Jessie...