News

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” executive producer Randy Barbato, co-executive producer/judge Michelle Visage, and choreographer/judge Jamal Sims joined former “Drag Race” guest judge and superfan Leslie Jones Friday night for a special panel as part of the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” FYC Emmy Pool Party Extravaganza event.

Joined by Season 17 winner Onya Nurve and the top six queens Jewels Sparkles, Sam Star, Suzie Toot, Lana Ja’Rae and Lexi Love, the panel discussed drag inspirations, representation, and the importance of supportive family.

According to Sims, who has been serving as a guest judge and choreographer on “Drag Race” since 2014, the key to a successful queen is confidence.

“I literally don’t meet the queens until y’all see it on TV – we’re filming as we go,” Sims revealed. “But what I look for is confidence. The minute I see there’s confidence in somebody, I’m like ‘Oh, that one’s gonna go far.

This June, Jonathan Groff will have the rare chance to win Tony Awards in two consecutive years. If he repeats last year’s triumph for Merrily We Roll Along with one for this year’s Just In Time, he’ll join a very exclusive club of six Broadway greats: Laurie Metcalf, Judith Light, Stephen Spinella, Sandy Dennis, Gwen Verdon, and Shirley Booth.

For Groff, the two-in-a-row possibility, exciting enough, even has a hint more frisson: Just In Time, a biographical musical of Bobby Darin, marks a career first for the busy actor. “I’ve never been part of a project from its conception. Eight years ago this month, actually, Ted Chapin asked me to do a night of Bobby Darin music at the 92nd Street Y and I read this book called Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, written by Dodd Darin, the son of Bobby and Sandy,...

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report the passing of comedian and actress Ruth Buzzi at the age of 88, who passed away from complications of Alzheimer's disease at her home near Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday, May 1. The news was first announced on her official social media page. Known for her expressive face, Buzzi had a long career in entertainment, performing in variety shows like Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, which won her a Golden Globe and five Emmy nominations. She was a graduate of Pasadena Playhouse's theatre program and appeared on Broadway in the original production of Sweet Charity starring Gwen Verdon. A contemporary of comediennes such as Carol Burnett, she also appeared on many other shows in the 1960s and 70s, including The...

Ruth Buzzi, who shot to nationwide fame as one of the stars of the 1960s TV comedy variety series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in, died May 1 from complications from Alzheimer’s disease at her home near Mingus, Texas. She was 88.

Her death was announced on her official Facebook page by family. Buzzi had suffered a disabling stroke in 2022. She had been in hospice care for several years.

Born July 24, 1936, in Westerly, Rhode Island, Buzzi began performing in musical and comedy revues during her college years. She moved to New York City after graduating and quickly found work in Off Broadway musical revues and TV commercials.

After appearing on early ’60s TV shows such as The Garry Moore Show and CBS’ The Entertainers, Buzzi was cast in her one and only Broadway show in 1966 as part of the original cast, along with Gwen Verdon, of the now-classic musical Sweet Charity.

In 1967, Buzzi...

Ruth Buzzi, who was so hilarious as the lonely spinster Gladys Ormphby, the lady who swung her handbag as a lethal weapon, on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, has died. She was 88.

Buzzi died Thursday of complications from Alzheimer’s at her home near Fort Worth, Texas, her longtime rep, Mike Eisenstadt, told The Hollywood Reporter. In July 2022, her husband, actor Kent Perkins, revealed that she was “bedridden and incapacitated” after suffering a series of strokes.

Buzzi appeared in the original Broadway production of the musical comedy Sweet Charity, played Marlo Thomas’ pal Margie “Pete” Peterson on ABC’s That Girl, starred opposite Jim Nabors on a Saturday morning kids show, The Lost Saucer, and spent many years on Sesame Street.

Early on in her career, Buzzi had a comedy act with Dom DeLuise in which he played the incompetent magician Dominic the Great and she his assistant, Shakuntala.

Buzzi was...

Jonathan Groff is back on Broadway and the first photos from his new musical Just In Time have been released!

The beloved actor is currently playing the iconic singer Bobby Darin in a new musical, taking audience members into an intimate night club where the great American entertainer’s meteoric journey – from soaring highs to crushing lows – is brought to life.

Jonathan stars alongside Gracie Lawrence, Erika Henningsen, Emily Bergl, Michelle Pawk, and more in the new show, playing now at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City.

After winning the award for Best Actor in a Musical at last year’s Tony Awards, Jonathan has a chance at making Broadway history this year.

Keep reading to find out more…

If Jonathan picks up another win for Best Actor in a Musical for Just In Time, he’ll become the first actor to ever win back-to-back awards in the category.

Dying for Sex hopes to have life at the 2025 Emmys.

Gold Derby has confirmed that the FX limited series is submitting four different actors for consideration.

Michelle Williams, who plays Molly — a terminal cancer patient who leaves her husband to explore the full breadth and complexity of her sexual desires — will be submitted in Best Limited/Movie Actress. The five-time Oscar nominee won this category in 2019 for playing Gwen Verdon in Fosse/Verdon.

Jenny Slate, who plays Molly's best friend and caretaker, Nikki, will be submitted in Best Limited/Movie Supporting Actress. The Saturday Night Live alum who won a Critics Choice Award for Obvious Child (2014) would be a first-time Emmy nominee for her dramatic turn.

See 'She cast a spell on me': Michelle Williams on how her character's 'radical acceptance of her own body' drew her to 'Dying for Sex'

The men of Dying for Sex will...

Six years ago, Michelle Williams won the Best Limited/Movie Actress Emmy for her role as actress-dancer Gwen Verdon in FX's Fosse/Verdon (2019). Now, Williams could become the 15th actress to win at least two Emmys in this specific category, thanks to her role on FX's Dying for Sex.

Williams plays Molly Kochan, a terminal cancer patient whose tragic, often funny, and wild sexual journey is at the heart of the story. Kochan’s podcast, cohosted with her friend Nikki Boyer, serves as the foundation for the series, which dives deeply into themes of sex, desire, friendship, and death.

The last person to win double Emmys in Best Limited/Movie Actress was Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce (2011) and Mare of Easttown (2021). It took her 10 years to claim the bookend trophy, while Williams could accomplish the feat in just six years. Should Williams prevail, both actresses would also be undefeated in this race.

In my life, I have watched Michelle Williams play a character who dies in the series finale of a television show three times, but two have been particularly memorable. That doesn't seem like a lot, but considering the gravity and weight of these deaths, it's an emotional heaviness that stays with you.

The first time was obviously when her wonderfully misunderstood but tragically underrated character Jen Lindley died in the series finale of Dawson's Creek. I won't elaborate too much on my feelings about Jen's death, but just know that she deserved much better than going out as a plot device for Joey to finally make a decision between Dawson and Pacey.

Now, I've watched Williams play a character who dies in a show's series finale again, this time in the beautiful tragicomedy Dying for Sex on FX on Hulu. Williams previously won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of...

It's been a few years since five-time Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Michelle Williams has graced our screens, but she's finally back with an amazing new role in the FX on Hulu comedy-drama series Dying for Sex. Williams is one of my all-time favorite actresses, so I don't know about you, but I'm excited to watch her new show when it premieres in April 2025.

She last appeared in her Oscar-nominated role in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, which couldn't be more different from this limited series. In Dying for Sex, Williams plays Molly, who has been battling metastatic breast cancer and recently ended a nearly two-decade marriage. With the help of her friend Nikki (Jenny Slate), Molly embarks on a journey to explore her sexuality.

Check out the limited series' full synopsis shared by FX:

"After Molly (Michelle Williams) receives a diagnosis of Stage IV metastatic breast cancer,...

Six years after playing Gwen Verdon on the small screen, Michelle Williams will return to TV this spring for another inspired-by-real-life tale.

FX on Tuesday released the official trailer for Dying for Sex, starring Williams and Jenny Slate. The limited series will premiere Friday, April 4, on Hulu, with all eight episodes dropping at once. (Internationally, the series will stream exclusively on Disney+.)

More from TVLineGrosse Pointe Garden Society Shuffled to Fridays at NBC - When Does It Move?Snowfall Spinoff Receives Pilot Order at FX - Get DetailsHappy Gilmore Sequel Sets Netflix Release Date - Watch New Trailer

Inspired by the story of Molly Kochan,...

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Margaret Qualley is one of the most talented and brilliant young actresses working in Hollywood right now. Born to actress Andie MacDowell, the actress, model, and dancer trained as a ballet dancer in her youth. She made her acting debut in 2013 with Gia Coppola‘s film Palo Alto. She recently starred in the hit satirical body horror film The Substance alongside Demi Moore. So, if you also love Qualley’s performances, here are the 10 best movies and TV shows starring Margaret Qualley.

10. My Salinger Year (AMC+ & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – IFC Films

My Salinger Year is a drama film written and directed by Philippe Falardeau. Based on the memoir of the same name by Joanna Rakoff, the 2020 film follows Joanna Rakoff, an aspiring writer working for literary agent Phyllis Westberg, as she receives some impactful personal advice from reclusive author J.D. Salinger.

Helen Gallagher, who won Tony Awards for Pal Joey and No, No, Nanette before starring as Maeve Ryan in all 13 seasons of daytime soap Ryan’s Hope, died November 24. She was 98.

Playbill confirmed the news on social media.

Born on July 19, 1926, in New York City, Gallagher already was a singing, dancing and acting veteran of numerous Broadway shows when she was cast as Gladys Bumps in the Chicago-set 1952 musical Pal Joey. Starring opposite Harold Lang and Vivienne Segal, she won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

She went on to appear in such Golden Age Broadway musicals as The Pajama Game, Mame, Finian’s Rainbow and Sweet Charity, earning a second Featured Actress Tony nom for playing Mickie alongside Gwen Verdon and Ruth Buzzi. She also performed in revivals of such classics as Guys and Dolls and Brigadoon.

In 1970 she was cast as the original Lucille Early in Broadway’s No,...

Helen Gallagher, the spunky Broadway triple threat who received two Tony Awards and starred as the matriarch Maeve Ryan for all 13-plus years of the ABC soap opera Ryan’s Hope, has died. She was 98.

Gallagher died Sunday at a hospital in Manhattan, Edith Meeks, executive and artistic director at New York’s Herbert Berghof Studio, told The Washington Post. Gallagher taught a class in “Singing for the Musical Theater” there for years.

The radiant singer, dancer and actress received her first Tony in 1952 for her portrayal of showgirl Gladys Bumps in a revival of the Rodgers & Hart musical Pal Joey, then landed another in 1971 for her turn as flapper Lucille Early, another wise-cracking character, in a revival of Busby Berkeley’s No, No, Nanette.

“When Miss Gallagher sings the blues of a lovelorn wife with piece of chiffon and a chorus of properly epicene tailor’s dummies, she makes the...

It’s Musicals Week at IndieWire. With “Wicked” about to sparkle over theaters, we’re celebrating the best of the movie-musical genre.

Bob Fosse only directed five features — “Sweet Charity,” “Cabaret,” “Lenny,” “All That Jazz,” and “Star 80” — but among filmmakers and cinephiles, his legend looms large in proportion to the abundance of his output. David Fincher, for example, frequently references Fosse as an influence alongside and equal to far more prolific directors like Steven Spielberg, William Friedkin, and John Carpenter. In “A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies,” Fosse is one of only a few post-classical studio era auteurs (alongside Stanley Kubrick and Clint Eastwood) that Scorsese deems worthy of inclusion alongside old masters like Orson Welles and Sam Fuller.

By only making a handful of movies in between stints revolutionizing American musical theater on Broadway, Fosse maintained a consistency any director would envy — he’s five...

Prompted by the massive success of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, ABC released dozens of thrillers and horror movies under their Movie of the Week banner between 1969 and 1975. Starting in 1973, the network branched out into late-night programming intended to compete with talk show king Johnny Carson over on NBC, and the five feature-length telefilms collected as The Classic Ghosts by Kino Cult originally aired in that slot.

These telefilms were shot live on two-inch tape in a manner akin to daytime dramas, which does lead to the occasional flubbed line of dialogue. Furthering the comparison, two of the movies were directed by Lela Swift, who helmed over half of Dark Shadows’s approximately 1,200 episodes. Gloria Monty, who directed two others, went on to radically reshape the floundering soap General Hospital in the late ’70s. It’s notable that the creative team behind the telefilms were mostly women. Besides directors Swift and Monty,...

Dawsons Creek fans will only have to wait until November 15, 2024, to stream the 26-year-old series that put the CW on the map. Tubi will begin streaming the series, which ran for six seasons, from 1998 to 2003, for free on that date.

Taking place in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, Dawsons Creek, starred James Van Der Beek as Dawson Leery, Katie Holmes as his best friend, Joey Potter, Joshua Jackson as Pacey Witter, and Michelle Williams as Jen Lindley. It was created by Kevin Williamson and premiered on the WB network on January 20, 1998. In September 2006, the WB merged with Upn to become the CW.

Dawson's Creek became an icon of the late 1990s and early 2000s television landscape, along with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Charmed and 7th Heaven.

Related 10 Great Actors Who Had Their Breakthrough Roles on The CW

Several The CW hit shows such as The Vampire Diaries...

Airing as part of ABC’s Wide World of Mystery in 1973, five-part horror series The Classic Ghosts has been rescued from obscurity for a Blu-ray release on October 29.

Bloody Disgusting is teaming up with Kino Lorber to give away three copies of the Blu-ray set.

Click here to enter!

This contest is open to US residents only. One entry permitted per address. Three winners will be drawn on October 29.

Produced by broadcast pioneer Jacqueline Babbin, The Classic Ghosts has been preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

“The Haunting of Rosalind” (65 min) is directed by Lela Swift, based on a story by Henry James. Pamela Payton-Wright, Susan Sarandon, Beatrice Straight, and Frank Converse star.

“The Screaming Skull” (67 min) is directed by Gloria Monty, based on a story by Francis Marion Crawford. David McCallum, Vince Gardenia, and Carrie Nye star.

“The Deadly Visitor” (66 min) is directed by Lela Swift, based...

Late-night horror series The Classic Ghosts has rarely been seen since airing on ABC’s Wide World of Mystery in 1973, but that’s about to change.

The UCLA Film & Television Archive has preserved all five installments, coming to Blu-ray on October 29 via Kino Lorber’s Kino Cult line. Watch the exclusive trailer below.

Produced by broadcast pioneer Jacqueline Babbin, The Classic Ghosts was celebrated upon its debut for being made by a predominantly female crew, including trailblazing television directors Gloria Monty (General Hospital) and Lela Swift (Studio One).

Shot on videotape in the style of a soap opera, with expressive and colorful production design, The Classic Ghosts has an immediacy and otherworldliness akin to Dark Shadows — not surprising since two of the directors (Swift and Henry Kaplan) directed hundreds of episodes of the classic horror TV series.

The two-disc set includes interviews with Mark Quigley (John H. Mitchell Television...

How well do you know your “Rosemary’s Baby“? In Roman Polanski’s 1968 film and in Ira Levin’s novel published the year before, new Bramford tenant Rosemary Woodhouse meets a young woman in the basement laundry room, Terry Gionoffrio, who says the Castavets rescued her from drug addiction and homelessness. Smash cut to the next day, and her mangled corpse is found in a pool of her own blood outside the Bramford apartment complex, having jumped to her death.

“Apartment 7A,” the atmosphere-drenched, classed-up new film directed by talented “Relic” filmmaker Natalie Erika James, is a direct prequel to “Rosemary’s Baby” that focuses entirely on Terry’s story and the events that led to her suicide. It doesn’t blow open or reinvent the “Rosemary’s Baby” mythology, but it’s a decent primer to attract younger audiences back to the 1968 classic film. Terry is played by the ever superb “Ozark” triple Emmy winner Julia Garner,...

“Folie à deux” means a kind of shared madness — possibly two extreme hearts on similar wavelength or maybe a clash inside one disturbed person’s head. When Arthur Fleck aka Joker meets Harleen “Lee” Quinel aka Harley Quinn in director/co-writer Todd Phillips’ audacious and head-spinning follow-up to his billion-dollar-grossing 2019 origin story, Joker: Folie à Deux is maybe all of that.

The first trailer for this new film, which could be called a musical but really is so much more than that one hook, used the underlying theme of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” and perhaps that ultimately is what Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver are trying to say. This meeting of the minds between Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) and Lee (Lady Gaga) is indeed an odd love story in a world losing control.

An early inspiration for the filmmaker and his star,...

Homicide: Life On the Street is coming to streaming, according to David Simon, author of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, the book on which the show created by Paul Attanasio was based.

In a new post on social media, Simon said that NBC had cleared the music used on the series, and it would be coming to a streaming platform, with NBCUniversal’s Peacock the logical home.

“Word is that NBC has managed to finally secure the music rights necessary to sell Homicide: Life On The Streets to a streaming platform,” read the post shared by Simon on X, formerly known as Twitter.”

He continued, “Andre [Braugher], Richard [Belzer], Yaphet [Kotto], Ned [Beatty], and so many others who labored on that wonderful show on both sides of the camera will soon regain a full share of their legacy. Stay tuned for more details.”

Word is that NBC has managed to finally secure...

It’s always a good time to be in the Sarah Paulson business, but that’s especially true this year. The acclaimed performer recently scored her first-ever Tony Award nomination for her performance in “Appropriate” and she is widely predicted to land double Emmy Award nominations for her guest acting appearances in the FX comedy series “The Bear” and Prime Video drama series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” If that were to happen when the 2024 Emmy nominations are announced in July, Paulson would join a select few performers to receive concurrent guest-acting nominations since the categories were standardized in 1989.

So far, only 10 actors have received guest-acting nominations in the comedy and drama categories in the same year. The most recent example is Harriet Walter, who collected nominations last year for roles in “Succession” and “Ted Lasso.” Walter is the only person to have achieved this double-dip twice: She was a previous double nominee in 2022.

Before Walter,...

Jerry Herman’s musical “Hello, Dolly!” dominated the 18th Tony Awards which took place at the New York Hilton on May 24, 1964. “Hello, Dolly!” entered the ceremony with 11 nominations and walked out with ten awards including best musical, best actress for Carol Channing, original score for Herman and for Gower Champion’s choreography and direction.

Other musicals in contention for multiple awards that year were “High Spirits,” based on Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blithe Spirit,” “Funny Girl,” which transformed Barbra Streisand into a Broadway superstar, and “110 in the Shade,” based on the straight play “The Rainmaker.”

Bert Lahr, best known as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” won lead actor in a musical for “Foxy,” based on Ben Jonson’s “Volpone.” The musical was not a hit closed after 72 performances. Also nominated in the category was Bob Fosse for a short-lived revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey.

Alfred Louis Onorato, a former talent manager who co-founded the Casting Society of America, died April 21. He was 88.

“Casting Society mourns the passing of Al Onorato, whose passion and dedication and love for casting was pivotal in co-founding our organization in 1982,” the org said in a statement. “Al helped build what CSA is today – a global organization with over 1200 members and a resource for the entertainment industry worldwide. We will miss Al’s talent, spirit and most of all, his friendship. We send our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”

Onorato was born in Jersey City, NJ. After graduating from Fairleigh Dickinson University, his first job was as a page at NBC Studios in New York City. A few years later, he followed his beloved Dodgers to L.A. where became involved in the industry. He worked for the major studios in casting for movies and TV, before he...

Al Onorato, co-founder of the Casting Society of America and a casting director on such series as “Bewitched,” “Police Story,” “Fame” and “The Patridge Family,” has died. He was 88.

Onorato died April 21 in Los Angeles, his nephew Chris Onorato announced.

Onorato founded the Casting Society of America (then known as the American Society of Casting Directors) with Mike Fenton and Joe Reich in 1982. He and Jerold Franks — his Onorato/Franks Independent Casting partner — won the CSA’s Artios Award for best casting for a comedy film for 1989’s “Bagdad Café.” At the 34th annual Artios Awards in 2019, Onorato received a lifetime achievement award from the organization.

“Casting Society mourns the passing of Al Onorato, whose passion and dedication and love for casting was pivotal in co-founding our organization in 1982 Al helped build what CSA is today — a global organization with over 1200 members and a resource for the entertainment industry worldwide,...

Al Onorato, who handled casting for such TV shows as Bewitched, The Partridge Family, Police Story and Fantasy Island and represented Mark Harmon, Kristin Chenoweth and others as a talent manager, has died. He was 88.

Onorato died April 21 in Los Angeles, his nephew Chris Onorato announced.

Onorato founded the Casting Society of America (then known as the American Society of Casting Directors) with Mike Fenton and Joe Reich in 1982, and he received a lifetime achievement award from the organization in 2019.

Onorato won the CSA’s Artios Award for best casting for a comedy film for Bagdad Café (1987), sharing it with Jerold Franks, his partner in Onorato/Franks Independent Casting.

Alfred Louis Onorato was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Nov. 10, 1935. He graduated from Hackensack High School and Fairleigh Dickinson University, then worked as a page at NBC Studios in New York City.

He was a vice president in charge...

The actors from the current revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Merrily We Roll Along” have skyrocketed in Gold Derby’s combined odds for the 2024 Tony Awards nominations. The prediction center displays commanding leads for Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe to win their respective categories. This is an understandable result considering this revival is the hottest ticket in town and this trio of performers has been ever-present in the media. But how often does a trio of actors from the same production pull off three separate acting victories at the Tony Awards?

It’s quite common for a musical to grab two acting trophies, but three awards is much rarer. To date, only 15 musical productions have earned three acting wins. The first time this feat occurred was at the 1956 ceremony, which was ironically the first time the Tony Awards ever announced a slate of nominees (previously...

Before he started filling up the nation's drug store book racks with tawdry tales of romance and suspense, Sidney Sheldon was one of Hollywood and Broadway's most prolific writers. He could write comedies, musicals, musical-comedies, mysteries, dramas, thrillers ... just about everything short of slasher flicks (though he probably would've knocked out one of those had they been a thing during his 1940s - '60s heyday). Clearly, he had an ear for what worked, and he wasn't just knocking out quickie programmers. He won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for the Cary Grant-Myrna Loy-Shirley Temple screwball hit "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer," and earned a Best Musical Tony for the Gwen Verdon-led Broadway smash "Redhead."

And when television came calling, rather than turn up his nose as many of his established film and theater colleagues did during the medium's early days, he enthusiastically picked up the phone.

Sheldon...

When Charlotte Stoudt was approached to take over as showrunner of Apple TV+’s hit “The Morning Show” in Season 3, she couldn’t resist the challenge. “I wasn’t sure I could do it, so I had to try,” she tells Variety, which will honor Stoudt with its showrunner award at the Scad TVfest in Atlanta on Feb. 9.

The latest season of “The Morning Show,” which aired last fall, continued to dial up the drama as Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) discovered that her brother was involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection — and covered it up, putting her life and career in jeopardy. Alex (Jennifer Aniston) started a relationship with billionaire Paul Marks (Jon Hamm), who was in line to acquire the Uba network in a deal orchestrated by CEO Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup).

As is “The Morning Show” formula, all of this was going on while real-life matters — including the overturning of Roe v.

Chita Rivera, the triple-threat Broadway legend who originated roles in classic musicals like West Side Story and Chicago, died on Jan. 30 of an unspecified illness, according to a statement by her daughter, Lisa Mordente. She was 91 years old.

Born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero to a Puerto Rican father and an Irish Catholic mother, Rivera started dancing when she was 11 years old, eventually enrolling in George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet when she was just 15. In the 1950s, she was cast in various roles in Broadway musicals like Guys and Dolls...

Chita Rivera, one of Broadway’s show-stopping legends and one of the most Tony Award-nominated performers in history, has died at the age of 91. Rivera’s death was announced by her daughter, Lisa Mordente, who says she died peacefully after a brief illness. Rivera is known for starring in some of the most beloved Broadway musicals since the 1950s. She became a star when she originated the role of Anita in first production of West Side Story in 1957. Rivera also originated the role of Velma Kelly in Chicago, which opened in 1975 with Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart. Rivera is a 10-time Tony nominee with two competitive Tony Award wins (for The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman). She also received a Tony lifetime achievement award in 2018 and was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2009. In 2002, she became the first Latina to be given a Kennedy Center Honor.

When she was growing up, Margaret Qualley — the actress known best for Maid and, most recently, Poor Things — was the type of kid who would break into little dances to entertain her family during TV commercial breaks. Now that she’s grown up, she still does it — just with a more selective audience. “I wouldn’t do it in front of everybody, but with [my husband]? Sure,” she tells Rolling Stone, laughing. “I’m like, ‘What do you think of this?’ — like a precocious child.”

That feeling of comfort and the need...

Exclusive: Michelle Williams is set to star in and produce Dying for Sex, a limited series for FX from writers Liz Meriwether (The Dropout) and Kim Rosenstock (Only Murders in the Building), director Leslye Headland (Acolyte) and 20th Television, where Meriwether, Rosenstock and Headland are under overall deals.

Based on the hit Wondery podcast, Dying for Sex is the story of a woman (Williams) diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer who leaves her husband of 15 years and begins to explore her sexuality. She gets the courage and support to go on this adventure from her best friend, who stays by her side all the way to the very end.

Meriwether and Rosenstock serve as showrunners and executive produce with Headland, Meriwether’s longtime collaborator Katherine Pope, Nikki Boyer, host and co-creator of the Dying for Sex podcast, and Wondery’s Jen Sargent, Marshall Lewy, Aaron Hart and Hernan Lopez.

The project...

Could Michelle Williams win a Grammy before an Oscar?

Fans who have listened to the audiobook of Britney Spears memoir “The Woman in Me” think it’s possible. Her all-in narration, which includes a segment where she quotes Spears’ ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake trying to sound like hip-hop royalty, just might speed Williams along in her path to an Egot — the acronym given the accomplishment of winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award.

Williams’ name was trending on X on Tuesday as the tell-all memoir from the pop star was released in book and audiobook formats.

“Give Michelle Williams her Oscar for narrating #TheWomanInMe” by entertainment editor Dana Abercrombie and “Five time academy award nominee michelle williams saying ‘fo-shiz fo-shiz what’s up homie!’ is art” by Australia-based journalist @joshcharles_21 were just a few of the more than 3,700 posts on X about the audiobook.

It won’t earn the five-time...

Britney Spears has tapped five-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams to narrate her upcoming memoir The Woman in Me.

Spears will read the introduction and Williams will read the remainder of the audiobook.

“This book has been a labor of love and all the emotions that come with it,” Spears said in a statement to People. “Reliving everything has been exciting, heart-wrenching, and emotional, to say the least. For those reasons, I will only be reading a small part of my audiobook.”

Spears adds, “I am so grateful to the amazing Michelle for reading the rest of it.”

In a statement, Williams expressed her support of Spears, saying “I stand with Britney.”

Simon & Schuster imprint Gallery Books will publish the memoir on October 24. In a press release, Gallery Books called it “a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope,” adding the book “illuminates the...

Hulu’s acclaimed “Only Murders in the Building,” currently vying for 11 Emmys, has gone all razzle dazzle in its third season. Make that rattle dazzle! Beleaguered Broadway director Oliver (Martin Short) was hoping for a comeback on the Great White Way with the mystery thriller “Death Rattle.” But when his leading man (Paul Rudd) is murdered, he decides to turn the straight play into a musical, “Death Rattle Dazzle!” And in the third episode, Meryl Streep’s nervous journeyman actress and Ashley Park’s leading lady performed the show-stopping ballad “Look for the Light” co-written by Sara Bareilles. One almost forgot the prime suspects in “Death Rattle Dazzle!” are the infant Pickwick triplets.

The 1959 multiple Tony winner “Redhead” also has a rather strange plot for a musical: a serial killer is stalking women in London in the 1880s during the time Jack the Ripper was terrorizing the city. Sounds like a real toe-tapper.

Jane Krakowski had one musical number in Season 1 of Apple TV+’s “Schmigadoon!” and she performed it from behind the wheel of a cramped convertible. It wasn’t much of a stage, but the Emmy nominee and musical theater veteran used every inch of the leather interior to sell her wistful yet seductive song, eventually wedging her high heel into the steering wheel to steady herself for the climatic high note.

The performance is proof that no number is too small for Krakowski. But series creator and Emmy-winning songwriter Cinco Paul wanted to give her more to do in Season 2, which puts the series’ central couple Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) on the seedy streets of Schmicago, inspired by 1960s and ’70s musicals like ”Chicago” and “Cabaret.”

It is Krakowski’s favorite musical era, but she was in the dark as to who she’d play in Paul...

Margaret Qualley is ready for her Broadway debut.

The “Sanctuary” actress told IndieWire during a recent interview that she would “love to” star in a play or musical after bringing playwright Micah Bloomberg’s script to the screen. Qualley also earned an Emmy nomination for her turn as dancer and choreographer Ann Reinking in limited series “Fosse/Verdon” about Broadway legend Bob Fosse and actress Gwen Verdon.

“I love doing it, I just have never done it [on Broadway],” Qualley said. “I actually would really love to.”

Qualley is set to star in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers biopic, “Fred & Ginger,” alongside Jamie Bell. The film is written by Arash Amel and to be directed by Jonathan Entwistle, set to track Astaire and Rogers’ career spanning 10 movies together from 1933 to 1949. “La La Land” music producer Marius de Vries will work alongside Tony-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (“Mj the Musical”) and Grammy-winning songwriters...

“George and Tammy” is just outside Gold Derby’s Best Limited Series top five, but considering Emmy voters find shows about turbulent real-life celebrity marriages nearly as irresistible as “The White Lotus,” we might be underestimating this six-part dramatization of country singers George Jones (Michael Shannon) and Tammy Wynette’s (Jessica Chastain) thirty-year romantic and artistic relationship.

In 2019, FX’s “Fosse/Verdon” scored nominations for Limited Series, Actress (eventual winner Michelle Williams), Actor (Sam Rockwell), Supporting Actress (Margaret Qualley) and its writing and directing. Positive reviews and high placement in the odds that year made the inclusion of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon’s connubial saga all but obvious. Qualley’s nomination, however, came as something of a shock. The actress was down in 18th place but outgunned Emma Thompson (“King Lear”), Sally Field (“Maniac”) and Eliza Scanlen (“Sharp Objects”).

See Jessica Chastain predicted to follow her ‘George and Tammy’ SAG...

Cherry Jones could score three Emmy nominations this year for her supporting turn on the Apple TV+ limited series “Five Days at Memorial” and her guest appearances on “Poker Face” and “Succession.” It’s those double guest bids, though, that would put her in rarefied air as the three-time Emmy winner would become the 11th person to earn drama and comedy guest acting nominations in the same year.

Since the guest categories as we know them were standardized in 1989, 10 people have pulled off this feat. Jack Gilford was the first, getting shortlisted that very year for “The Golden Girls” and “thirtysomething.” In 1991, Colleen Dewhurst won comedy guest actress for “Murphy Brown” and was nominated in drama for “Road to Avonlea.” Gwen Verdon snagged noms in 1993 for her guest spots on “Dream On” and “Homicide: Life on the Street,” while Marlee Matlin followed in 1994 with bids for “Seinfeld” and “Picket Fences.

Jane Krakowski made her Broadway debut at 18 as Dinah in Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega-musical Starlight Express. Since then, she has appeared in numerous Broadway and West End musicals. She has won both a Tony and an Olivier award.

Krakowski got her start on television playing Elaine on Ally McBeal, but she is probably best known for her portrayal of Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock, which makes up four of her five Emmy nominations (the fifth being for her role as Jacqueline in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt).

Krakowski returns to the small screen as Bobby Flanagan, the fast-talking, hot-shot lawyer of Schmicago in Schmigadoon! Season 2.

We caught up with her at a recent press day to find out how she tackled her show-stopping number "Bells and Whistles," as well as her dream roles and hopes for the future.

This interview contains mild spoilers for Schmigadoon! Season 2 Episode 3. Go watch it!

At the conclusion of Apple TV +’s delightful 2021 musical comedy “Schmigadoon!,” Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) realized they loved each other and returned to the real world. The second season finds them blissfully married, but boredom soon sets in. And to add insult to injury, they can’t get pregnant. The two decide they need a boost, so they decide to return to the cotton-candy colored tuneful world of Schmigadoon.

But what they find this time around is Schmicago, a much darker town they can’t leave until they find their happy ending. Happy endings, though, are few and far between in the city that never sleeps. And it certainly looks like the two won’t find one anytime soon after Josh is soon arrested for murdering a showgirl.

Schmicago is Fosse-fied with more than a few jazz hands reflecting the adult musicals of the 1960s and 1970s including “Chicago,...

It was the battle of the Stephens at the 27th annual Tony Awards telecast March 25, 1973 on ABC from the Imperial Theatre. In one corner was Stephen Sondheim’s glorious and exquisite romantic musical “A Little Night Music” based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 comedy “Smiles of a Summer Night.” And in the other corner, 25-year-old Stephen Schwartz’s hip, cool, Fosse Fosse Fosse musical “Pippin.”

“A Little Night Music,” which featured song memorable tunes as “Send in the Clowns” and “A Weekend in the Country,” waltzed into the ceremony hosted by Rex Harrison and Celeste Holm and co-hosted by Sandy Duncan and Jerry Orbach with 12 nominations including best musical, best original score, best book for Hugh Wheeler, best direction of a musical for Harold Prince, best performance by a leading actress in a musical for Glynis Johns, leading actor in a musical for Len Cariou, featured actress in a musical for...

By this fall Jessica Chastain could be three-quarters of the way to Egot. She won an Oscar last year for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” She’s a Tony contender for her Broadway role in “A Doll’s House.” And she has a good chance of winning the Emmy for Best Movie/Limited Actress for playing country legend Tammy Wynette in “George and Tammy.”

“George and Tammy” is a Showtime limited series that explores the lives and careers of country music supercouple Tammy Wynette and George Jones (played by Michael Shannon). The performance earned Chastain a Golden Globe nomination for Best TV Movie/Limited Actress, which she lost to reigning Emmy champ Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”). But then Chastain pulled off an upset by beating Seyfried at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The SAG Awards are presented by industry peers just like the Emmys are, so that was a significant result.

Hot off her 2022 Best Film Actress SAG Award victory for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Jessica Chastain is now in the running for the organization’s Best TV Movie/Miniseries Actress prize as the star of Showtime’s “George and Tammy.” This would be her third SAG Award win in as many categories, as she achieved her first one as an ensemble member of the 2011 film “The Help.” It would also make her only the fourth person to ever pull off back-to-back solo SAG Award wins for two different performances.

The special consecutive champions club Chastain is looking to join was formed in 2000 by Angelina Jolie, who was honored that year for her supporting turn in the film “Girl, Interrupted” immediately after her TV movie performance in “Gia” was lauded by the acting guild. She has since been followed by Renée Zellweger and Viola Davis.

Chastain would, of course, be...

Michelle Williams’ performance in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans has received mixed reviews, but a clip from the 1994 Oscars shows that she nailed her role as Mitzi Fabelman. The Fabelmans is a semi-autobiographical film based on the young life of Spielberg, with all the Fabelmans being based on him and his family. The character of Mitzi was based on his own mother, the late Leah Adler, who is shown on camera during Spielberg’s 1994 Academy Award speech for Best Directing. Despite criticism of Williams’ performance, her portrayal of Mitzi Fabelman is actually much closer to that of real-life Leah Adler than some might have believed.

The Fabelmans centers around young Sammy Fabelman throughout his adolescence, with viewers able to watch him grow into both a young man and a talented filmmaker. Both literally and figuratively, the film is shown through Spielberg’s eyes. While Sammy and most of the other...

Steven Spielberg was inspired by his own life for The Fabelmans and the casting of the film was personal.

Michelle Williams plays Mitzi Fabelman, a character inspired by Spielberg’s mother. The director said that Williams earned the role after he watched her on the FX series Fosse/Verdon.

“She has a secret energy that poured from her when she played Gwen Verdon,” the filmmaker told The New York Times. “That went a long way into making her my first choice to play Mitzi.”

Williams was captivated by the script saying, “I couldn’t believe it when I started turning pages in this script. My husband was in the room with me, and I kept saying, ‘It’s just getting better.’ Very often when you have a script, you have a great scene and you think, ‘Oh, that’s going to be splashy.’ And this was just page after page of that,...

A lead role in a new Steven Spielberg movie is always going to be a coveted job in Hollywood. But the casting process for his latest work, “The Fabelmans,” was a particularly high stakes affair, given that the legendary director was looking for actors to embody his own family in the most personal film of his career.

A new story in the New York Times sheds light on the events that led Spielberg to cast Michelle Williams as Mitzi Fabelman, a thinly-veiled version of his mother. The three-time Oscar winner, who previously praised Williams’ work in “Blue Valentine,” said that he was initially inspired to give her the part after watching her in the FX miniseries “Fosse/Verdon.”

“She has a secret energy that poured from her when she played Gwen Verdon,” Spielberg said. “That went a long way into making her my first choice to play Mitzi.”

Williams says that...

Sam Fabelman (Gabriel Labelle) may be the protagonist of "The Fabelmans," but his parents Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and Burt (Paul Dano) are just as important. The movie is a roman à clef of director Steven Spielberg's childhood, with Sam representing Steven himself while Williams and Dano's characters are his own late parents, Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg.

What's most surprising about "The Fabelmans" is that it's one of Spielberg's less sentimental films. The script (written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner) is free of self-aggrandizement and even with the names changed, it's emotionally honest. Critic Roger Ebert called movies "machines that generate empathy" and watching "The Fabelmans," you feel Spielberg is telling this story so he can better understand his parents and what drove them apart.

Casting your own parents probably isn't an easy task; you know them intimately but they're also larger than life. Still, Michelle Williams rose to...