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Angelina Jolie takes on Sleeping Beauty while Terry Gilliam tackles Berlioz as the stars come out to confound our expectations in the coming year

Film

Angelina Jolie in Maleficent

Hollywood's most formidable leading lady is back after a relatively quiet spell, in a role playing on her scariness and seniority. This reinvented fairytale is a twist on The Sleeping Beauty, and Jolie is not playing the insipid dormant heroine with her crybaby attitude to finger-pricking but the evilly magnificent Maleficent, the sorceress who casts a spell on the demure young Princess Aurora. How did she get that way? Everything will depend on the script – but Jolie is always a great turn. Peter Bradshaw 30 May.

Natalie Portman in Jane Got a Gun

Natalie Portman is a Hollywood A-lister who first came to prominence in George Lucas's Star Wars prequel trilogy. She was compellingly vulnerable in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan,...

The Testament of Mary, the new play by Colm Toibin, starring award-winning stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw and directed by Deborah Warner, will end its run today, May 5, at the Walter Kerr Theatre 218 West 48 Street. The production, which began previews Tuesday, March 26 and opened on Monday, April 22, will have played 27 previews and 16 performances. Below, BroadwayWorld takes you back through the show's opening and run on the Great White Way...

The Testament of Mary, the new play by Colm Toibin, starring Fiona Shaw and directed by Deborah Warner, will end its run this Sunday, May 5 at the Walter Kerr Theatre 218 West 48 Street. The production, which began previews Tuesday, March 26 and opened on Monday, April 22, will have played 27 previews and 16 performances. Below, check out photos from insode the special pre-show event.

Award-winning stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw returned to Broadway on Monday night, April 22, for the opening of The Testament of Mary, by the acclaimed author Colm Toibin, directed by Deborah Warner. The production will run for a twelve-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 16, at the Walter Kerr Theatre. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was there to chat with with the whole gang and you can check out what they had to say on the special night below...

Opening Night is Monday, April 22 at 630pm for award-winning stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw's return to Broadway in The Testament of Mary, a new playby acclaimed author Colm Toibin, directed by Deborah Warner. The limited engagement began previews on Tuesday, March 26 at the Walter Kerr Theatre 219 West 48 Street. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at Shaw in action below...

Tags: Fiona ShawSuze OrmanJessica ChastainEmma StoneThe Glee ProjectSigourney WeaverIMDbAnna CampMelissa McCarthy

Good afternoon and happy Monday! (Here we go again.)

Happy birthdayRobin Wright, Patricia Arquette and Katee Sackoff!

Actress Katee Sackoff in Pasadena, CA.

Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images

Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Lion) doesn’t think the world is ready for a gay rapper. In an interview with The Guardian, Snoop said, "I don't have a problem with gay people. I got some gay homies. Yeah, for real. People who were gay used to get beat up. It was cool to beat up on gay people back then. But in the 90s and 2000s, gay is a way of life. Just regular people with jobs. Now they are accepted, not classified. They just went through the same things we went through as black. Frank Ocean ain't no rapper. He's a singer. It's acceptable in the singing world, but...

Another starry week begins on the Great White Way Alec Baldwin returns to the Broadway stage in the Daniel Sullivan-helmed Orphans slated to begin previews tomorrow, March 26. Fiona Shaw reunites with director Deborah Warner to present The Testament Of Mary which also begins previews tomorrow. Cicely Tyson, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Vanessa Williams lead Horton Foote's The Trip To Bountiful starting Saturday March 30. Not to be missed, the Scarlett Johansson-led Cat On A Hot Tin Roof ends its run on Saturday, March 30.

The Walter Kerr Theatre 219 West 48th Street will soon be home to Fiona Shaw in The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin, directed by Deborah Warner. The 12-week limited engagement begins previews Tuesday, March 26 at 8pm. Opening night is Monday, April 22 at 630pm. Tickets are also available at telecharge.com, testamentonbroadway.com or by calling 212-239-6200.Shaw and the creative team met the press yesterday and you can check out what they ha dto say about the new play below...

Tickets are now on sale at the Walter Kerr Theatre 219 West 48th Street for Fiona Shaw in The Testament Of Mary by Colm Toibin, directed by Deborah Warner. The 12-week limited engagement begins previews Tuesday, March 26 at 8pm. Opening night is Monday, April 22 at 630pm. Tickets are also available at telecharge.com, testamentonbroadway.com or by calling 212-239-6200.BroadwayWorld brings you photos of Shaw in rehearsal below...

Award-winning stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw will return to the New York stage this spring with The Testament of Mary, by the acclaimed author Colm Toibin, directed by Deborah Warner. The production will begin previews on Tuesday, March 26, and open on Monday, April 22 for a twelve-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 16 at the Walter Kerr Theatre 219 West 48 Street. The production will not only mark the New York theatrical debut for the multi-award winning novelist but will also be the first collaboration between Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner to premiere on this side of the Atlantic.The marquee just went up at the Walter Kerr Theatre and you can check out more photos of it below...

Award-winning stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw will return to the New York stage this spring with The Testament of Mary, by the acclaimed author Colm Toibin, directed by Deborah Warner. The production will begin previews on Tuesday, March 26, and open on Monday, April 22 for a twelve-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 16 at the Walter Kerr Theatre 219 West 48 Street. The production will not only mark the New York theatrical debut for the multi-award winning novelist but will also be the first collaboration between Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner to premiere on this side of the Atlantic.The marquee just went up at the Walter Kerr Theatre and you can check out photos of it below...

Fiona Shaw, who mesmerized Broadway in 2002 in an acclaimed production of "Medea," will return to the New York stage in Colm Tóibín's "The Testament of Mary." The production reunites Shaw and director Deborah Warner in their first collaboration to premiere in the U.S. It will begin previews on March 26 and open June 16 at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Also read: Bette Midler Returning to Broadway as Super Agent Sue Mengers Shaw will take on the title role in Tóibín's play, based on his provocative 2012 novel. It takes place in the...

New York – Fiona Shaw will return to Broadway for the first time since her Tony-nominated tour de force as Medea ten years ago, this time playing the mother of Jesus near the end of her life in The Testament of Mary. Produced by Scott Rudin, the project reunites Shaw with her Medea director Deborah Warner. Their long and distinguished creative association also spans the work of T.S. Eliot, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Brecht, Ibsen and Beckett, including critically lauded productions of The Wasteland, Electra, Titus Andronicus, The Good Person of Szechwan, Hedda Gabler, Mother Courage and Her Children, Happy

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Award-winning stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw will return to the New York stage this spring with The Testament of Mary, by the acclaimed author Colm Tibn, directed by Deborah Warner. The production will begin previews on Tuesday, March 26, and open on Monday, April 22 for a twelve-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 16 at the Walter Kerr Theatre 219 West 48 Street. The production will not only mark the New York theatrical debut for the multi-award winning novelist but will also be the first collaboration between Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner to premiere on this side of the Atlantic.

By forging a new mythology for Britain, Danny Boyle's Olympic opening ceremony earns our culture critic's pick for best art event of the year

Was it the paean to the NHS, or the gay Brookside kiss that did it? Was it Simon Rattle solemnly conducting Rowan Atkinson, or the nod to Ken Loach's films? Perhaps it was the procession of great British pop hits (Olympic gold for that ticked off)? It might have been the moment when Conservative MP Aiden Burley tweeted that the whole show was "multicultural crap".

But for me, the spellbinding thing about Danny Boyle's Olympic opening ceremony was the way it forged a new mythology for Britain: not the tired old stuff about cricket and spinsters bicycling to evensong, but something that was rich and strange, and embraced Shakespeare and Blake and children's books and Tim Berners-Lee and, yes, cricket. Plus the weather and suffragettes and Monty Python.

From Batman to Spider-Man, Wireless to Green Man and Carousel to Götterdämmerung, the Observer's critics pick the season's highlights. What are you most looking forward to? Post your comments below

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July

1 Pop The Stone Roses

The third resurrection of the Roses has already swung from thrill to farce. Fans gibbered with joy at their surprise Warrington gig in May, but by Amsterdam Ian Brown and Reni were at loggerheads. This last of three homecoming gigs at Manchester's Heaton Park will not be uneventful.

3 Film The Amazing Spider-Man

Marvel Comics' flagship superhero, the red-and-blue clad "web-slinger" Spider-Man, gets a Hollywood reboot not 10 years after the character was last blockbuster-ised. Impressive Brit Andrew Garfield plays Spidey this time; Marc (500 Days of Summer) Webb directs. Early reviews: amazing.

4 Dance Dance Gb

English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet and National Dance Company Wales join forces in a high-velocity...

What has the Leveson inquiry revealed about Jeremy Hunt's taste in art? Did he get to Take That? And how big an N-Dubz fan is he?

On Monday, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted "With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come (Gratiano, Merchant of Venice)", a celebratory quote for Shakespeare's birthday. On Tuesday, "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" might have seemed more appropriate.

Perhaps surprisingly, only two of the emails released by the Leveson inquiry this week indicated that Hunt had an interest in the arts beyond the Murdochs' BSkyB takeover bid. One, from News Corp's public affairs executive Frédéric Michel to James Murdoch, reported grabbing the culture secretary "before he went in to see Swan Lake" to discuss the bid. In another, sent later that year, Michel plaintively asked Hunt's special adviser Adam Smith whether Ed Vaizey's refusal to meet News Corp while the...

Premiere of modern version at Berlin film festival includes Jon Snow 'news headlines'

As his cinematic version of Coriolanus premiered at the Berlin film festival Ralph Fiennes, regarded as one of Britain's finest classical and stage actors, finally joined the ranks of film directors, along with his sisters Martha and Sophie.

Despite the long gestation of his directorial debut, in which he also stars, he already has his sights on filming another Shakespeare play.

"We have talked a bit about it, though I don't know when it would be," he said. "It's Antony and Cleopatra: not only because it is a great love story, but also because it is written very cinematically. It cuts from Egypt, to Rome, to the ocean. In fact, if Shakespeare was alive today, I think he would write very easily for the cinema."

Eleven years ago, Fiennes played the early Roman military hero, whose...

Mike Leigh and Athol Fugard star in Hall's ambitious bid to restore Hampstead to its illustrious past

It's good to see Ed Hall installed at Hampstead and announcing a juicy opening season: it includes Hall directing Shelagh Stephenson's Enlightenment, Athol Fugard at the helm of his own play, The Train Driver, and Melly Still's Beasts and Beauties, a funny, magical piece that premiered at Bristol Old Vic a few years back (not to mention the return of Mike Leigh, who will direct his 1979 hit Ecstasy.

It's brave of Hall to take on the Hampstead challenge, a theatre that has already seen off Anthony Clark, and has never really recovered from the move from its leaky old premises to a spanking new theatre. The place might have keeled over entirely if it had not been for the Arts Council's determination not to see it fail.

There was a time when...

"Great LezBritian" is a fortnightly stroll through the very best of British lesbo-centric entertainment and culture. Plus there will be some jolly good interviews with the top ladies who are waving the flag for gay UK.

A couple of columns ago we wrote about the British women we wish were gay, which gave rise to much debate and informed us that our readers lust after and loathe Cheryl Cole in equal amounts. We decided that in this column we’d like to celebrate the British ladies we’re glad actually are gay or bisexual, which has been an unexpectedly tricky task.

Once again we sent out a Tweet asking you to suggest your favourite Britbians, and as the land that proffered Skins, Tipping the Velvet and Bad Girls, we were certain that Britain would have so many options that we’d be tossing second tier choices out of the list...