News

Rob Marshall is in talks to direct a film adaptation of Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls,” the classic Broadway musical and 1955 film of the same name, for TriStar Pictures, according to an insider with knowledge of the project.

John Requa and Glenn Ficarra are in talks to write the screenplay with Marshall and John DeLuca. John Goldwyn, Marc Toberoff and Marc Platt are producing with Marshall and DeLuca.

Previously, the studio purchased the rights to the original short stories written by Damon Runyon that inspired the musical, to the Broadway musical book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and its music by Loesser, as well as the remake rights to the ’55 film “Guys and Dolls” as released by the Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Runyon originally wrote the short stories “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown,” “Pick the Winner” and “Blood Pressure” about a gambler and his relationship with a missionary girl.

This one has taken awhile, but maybe Lady Luck finally has turned for an updated movie musical of Guys and Dolls. TriStar Pictures has teamed Chicago helmer Rob Marshall to direct a new film adaptation of Frank Loesser’s box office smash hit musical. Marshall and John DeLuca will team with John Requa & Glenn Ficarra to write the script.

John Goldwyn, Marc Toberoff and Marc Platt are producing with Marshall and DeLuca. Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi are overseeing for the studio.

Based on stories by Damon Runyon about gamblers and gangsters in the 1920s and ’30s, Guys and Dolls premiered on Broadway in 1950, where it ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The show has had several Broadway and London revivals, as well as a 1955 film adaptation starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine. The 1992 revival starring Nathan Lane and Faith Prince...

Composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul just won their first Emmy Awards at Sunday night’s Creative Arts ceremony, making them the 20th and 21st people ever to achieve an Egot. They won in the Best Music and Lyrics category alongside Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for their catchy tune “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” from “Only Murders in the Building.” They were up against song nominees from “Girls5eva,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” and “True Detective: Night Country.” Enjoy watching our interview with Pasek, Paul, Shaiman and Wittman from earlier this summer.

The duo’s previous Egot wins began in 2016 when they, along with composer Justin Hurwitz, won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “La La Land.” They won the Tony in 2017 for their score from that year’s Best Musical champ, “Dear Evan Hansen.” In 2018 they won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album for that same show.

Neptune’s Daughter Image: MGM “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” has a well-deserved bad reputation. It’s a song about, as our Britt Hayes put it, “a woman being held hostage by some guy who may or may not have drugged her adult beverage.” But it didn’t simply spring, fully formed,...

Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalbán in Neptune’s DaughterImage: MGM

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” has a well-deserved bad reputation. It’s a song about, as our Britt Hayes put it, “a woman being held hostage by some guy who may or may not have drugged her adult beverage.” But it didn’t simply spring,...

Only 19 people have won the awards grand slam known as the Egot. They are (in chronological order of achievement) composer Richard Rodgers, actress Helen Hayes, actress Rita Moreno, actor John Gielgud, actress Audrey Hepburn, composer Marvin Hamlisch, orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, writer/director/composer Mel Brooks, director Mike Nichols, actress Whoopi Goldberg, producer Scott Rudin, composer Robert Lopez, singer and actor John Legend, composer Tim Rice, composer Andrew Lloyd

Webber, composer Alan Menken, actress/producer Jennifer Hudson, actress Viola Davis and composer Elton John.

There are a total of eight people who have won a combination of the Tony, Oscar and Grammy without an Emmy Award. The two living people are featured in this photo gallery because they could still achieve the Egot. They are composer Benj Pasek and composer Justin Paul.

The six deceased people are actor Henry Fonda, composer Oscar Hammerstein, composer Alan Jay Lerner, composer Frank Loesser, composer...

Nicole Scherzinger, Succession star Sarah Snook, Game of Thrones and Sherlock actor Mark Gatiss, a revival of the musical Sunset Boulevard and the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow were among the winners at the 2024 Olivier Awards, which celebrate achievements in London theater. The ceremony at Royal Albert Hall in the British capital was hosted by Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham.

The revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s Sunset Boulevard, which has starred Scherzinger as Norma Desmond and is set to come to Broadway this year, won the best musical revival award, the best actress honor for the former Pussycat Dolls singer and five other honors after also leading the nominations with 11.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel to the Netflix hit series, which has hinted at its Broadway ambitions, won the best new entertainment or comedy play award, as well as the Olivier for best set design.

Dear England,...

Daniel Mays remembers Michael Douglas and Timothy Van Patten, the respectively star and director of new Apple TV drama Franklin, bursting into song whenever he appeared on set.

It came about because during the Franklin shoot in Paris, director Nicholas Hytner asked Mays to star at London’s Bridge Theatre as good old reliable Nathan Detroit in an immersive production of the classic Broadway fable Guys & Dolls by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling.

Upon hearing this news, Douglas insisted, ”You’re doing it, Danny — no question about it.”

The adaption of Damon Runyon’s tales was Van Patten’s father’s favorite musical, “so then within the hour, more like a whole bloody second, every time I came on set, they kept playing ‘The Oldest Established [Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York], and Michael and Noah Jupe would join in.”

Even the French crew got in the swing of it.

In French or English?...

Sarah Snook, Sarah Jessica Parker, Andrew Scott and David Tennant were among the nominees for the 2024 Olivier Awards, which celebrate achievements in London theater.

Parker was nominated for best actress for her role in Plaza Suite, opposite her husband, Matthew Broderick, while Snook was nominated in the same category for her one-woman take on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Tennant was nominated for best actor for his role in Macbeth, in the same category as Andrew Scott, in a one-man version of Vanya.

Sunset Boulevard, which starred Nicole Scherzinger, who is also nominated, and is set to come to Broadway next year, received 11 nominations, while Dear England, a play by James Graham about an English football manager, received nine nominations. Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel to the television series, which has also hinted at its Broadway ambitions, is up for best new entertainment or comedy play.

The Olivier...

Stars including Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Snook, Andrew Scott and David Tennant will compete for Olivier Awards at the UK’s most prestigious theater ceremony next month.

The Sex and the City stars is up for Best Actress for her performance in Plaza Suite – her first Olivier – while Succession’s Snook has picked up a nod for her critically-acclaimed performance as 26 characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

In the Best Actor category, Scott’s performance in Vanya will come up against Tennant’s role in Macbeth, while the starry nominee list also includes Joseph Fiennes for Dear England, which is being made into a BBC series, Mark Gatiss for The Motive And The Cue and James Norton in A Little Life.

Other notable nominations include for singer Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard, where she has picked up a nod for Best Actress in a Musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s...

Sir Elton John just won his first Emmy Award on Monday night’s ceremony, making him the 19th person ever to achieve an Egot. His Disney+ program “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium” was nominated for Best Variety Special (Live) against “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” “The Oscars,” “Super Bowl Lvii Halftime Show” and “75th Annual Tony Awards.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member has also won two Oscars for Best Original Song (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from “The Lion King” in 1994; and I’m Gonna Love Me Again” from “Rocketman” in 2019). He won a Tony Award for the original score of “Aida” in 2000. And he’s a five-time Grammy Award winner for “That’s What Friends Are For” (1987), “Basque” (1992), “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1995), “Candle in the Wind” (1998) and “Aida” (2001).

SEEElton John songs: 25 greatest hits ranked worst to best

Only 18 people previously have won...

Despite appearances on television throughout the past five decades, Sir Elton John just received his first ever Emmy Awards nomination. His Disney+ program “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium” is nominated for Best Variety Special (Live). A win would elevate him into a legendary Egot champion, the 19th person to join that exclusive club.

Nominees in this category are “Super Bowl Lvii Halftime Show Starring Rihanna,” “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” “The Oscars” and “75th Annual Tony Awards.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member already has two Oscars for Best Original Song (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from “The Lion King” in 1994; and I’m Gonna Love Me Again” from “Rocketman” in 2019). He won a Tony Award for the original score of “Aida” in 2000. And he’s a five-time Grammy Award winner for “That’s What Friends Are For” (1987), “Basque” (1992), “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1995), “Candle...

Cynthia Weil, the celebrated songwriter who helped craft timeless hits like the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” the Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” and Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire,” died Thursday, June 1. She was 82.

Weil’s daughter, Jenn Mann, confirmed her death, though no cause was given. “My mother, Cynthia Weil, was the greatest mother, grandmother and wife our family could ever ask for,” Mann said. “She was my best friend, confidant, and my partner in crime and an idol and trailblazer for women in music.

Every year, there are some truly exceptional songs featured in motion pictures.

Disney and Bond films are almost always guaranteed nominations from the Academy in the Best Original Song category, often winning (as "No Time To Die" did last year).

However, there are plenty of songs that have stood the test of time that you may not even know were Oscar-nominated -- or even that they were originally from a film!

Plenty of nominated songs have gone on to outlast tthe films they came from.

Here's a list to remind you how random, enduring, and inclusive the Best Original Song category has been over the decades.

"9 to 5" - 9 to 5 (1980)

Dolly Parton's first Academy Award nomination was for her upbeat ode to the working woman from the film of the same name.

That year, Best Original Song was a tough category, with "Fame" from Fame taking the prize.

Though Parton lost the Oscar,...

Sir Elton John performed live in Los Angeles Sunday night on Disney+ for what he proclaims as one of his last times. The program “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium” will be eligible next September for Best Variety Special (Live) at the Emmys. With a television win, John would become one of the legendary Egot champions in an exclusive club.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member already has two Oscars for Best Original Song (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from “The Lion King” in 1994; and I’m Gonna Love Me Again” from “Rocketman” in 2019). He won a Tony Award for the original score of “Aida” in 2000. And he’s a five-time Grammy Award winner for “That’s What Friends Are For” (1987), “Basque” (1992), “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1995), “Candle in the Wind” (1998) and “Aida” (2001).

Seeegot alert! Viola Davis could now win a Grammy to become 18th...

Barbra Streisand’s fabled run of 1962 shows at the Greenwich Village nightclub, Bon Soir, will be released as a new live album, Live at Bon Soir, on Nov. 4 via Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings. To tease the release, Streisand shared a powerhouse rendition of the Arthur Hamilton-penned song, “Cry Me a River.”

Live at Bon Soir was recorded over three nights, Nov. 4 through Nov. 6, 1962: Streisand was just 20 years old, and she’d signed her first record deal with Columbia only a month earlier. The recordings were originally supposed to become Streisand’s debut album,...

Henry Fonda, actor (1905-82)

Grammy: Best Spoken Word Album, “Great Documents” (1977)

Oscar: Best Actor, “On Golden Pond” (1981)

Tony: Best Actor, “Mister Roberts” (1948); Best Actor, “Clarence Darrow” (1975)

Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist and producer (1895-1960)

Grammy: Best Original Cast Album, “The Sound of Music” (1960)

Oscar: Best Original Song, “The Last Time I Saw Paris” from “Lady Be Good” (1941); “It Might As Well Be Spring” from “State Fair” (1945)

Tony: Three awards for “South Pacific” (1950); Best Musical, “The King and I” (1952); Best Musical, “The Sound of Music” (1960)

Elton John

Grammy: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, “That’s What Friends Are For” (1986); Best Instrumental Composition, “Basque” (1991); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1994); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, “Candle in the Wind” (1997); Best Show Album, “Aida” (2000)

Oscar: Best Original Son, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from “The Lion King” (1994)

Tony: Best Score, “Aida” (2000)

John Legend, songwriter and...

Paul Sorvino, the celebrated character actor who could play mob kingpins, cops, presidential cabinet members, and even do Shakespeare, died Monday, July 25, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 83.

Sorvino’s wife, Dee Dee, confirmed his death, saying Sorvino died of natural causes. “Our hearts are broken, there will never be another Paul Sorvino, he was the love of my life, and one of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen and stage,” she said.

Sorvino’s daughter, Mira — who followed her father into acting and won a Best...

“A Strange Loop” won the much-coveted Tony Award for Best Musical at the 2022 Tony Awards on Sunday, June 12. The tuner from Michael R. Jackson claimed a total of two Tonys at the ceremony. In addition to its strong showing at Radio City Music Hall, “A Strange Loop” is now just the 7th Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner to also win the Tony for Best Musical.

The drama prize at the Pulitzers was first handed out back in 1918, but the voters of that American institution tend to prefer plays rather than song and dance. In 104 years of this award, only 10 musicals have been awarded the Pulitzer: “Of Thee I Sing” (1932), “South Pacific” (1950), “Fiorello!” (1960), “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (1962), “A Chorus Line” (1976), “Sunday in the Park With George” (1985), “Rent” (1996), “Next to Normal” (2010), “Hamilton” (2016), and “A Strange Loop” (2020). The Pulitzers also gave a special award to “Oklahoma!” in 1944, but this...

Exclusive: The rollicking Broadway musical Guys & Dolls is to be revived at London’s The Bridge Theatre next year with 420 members of the audience able to “party” with the cast, as the show’s director Nicholas Hytner (The History Boys) told Deadline.

The immersive production is set to begin preview performances from February 27. Official opening night is March 9.

Hytner, a former artistic director of Britain’s National Theatre, said that he and his associates chose Guys & Dolls “because a hell of a lot of it happens in public space like Times Square, Broadway and Havana.”

Guys & Dolls, described as a Broadway fable, is based on tales penned by Damon Runyon, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows.

‘The Lehman Trilogy’ From Ideas To Sketches To Stage – A Photo Tour With Designer Es Devlin: Deadline Tony Watch Exclusive

“The audience will arrive...

For Seth MacFarlane, “blue” means less balladic. He’s announcing a new album on the way, “Blue Skies,” and says it marks a return to a more swinging style than the softer approach he employed on his last record.

Out May 20, the seventh album from the “Family Guy” creator and jazz cat will again see him working with a catalog of classics, and again see him working closely with arranger and conductor Andrew Cottee. Still, it’ll mark a turnaround from their previous release.

“I have long been a fan of Andrew Cottee’s supremely artful and buoyant orchestrations,” MacFarlane tells Variety. “So after our last collaboration, ‘Once in A While,’ a ballad-themed record, I really wanted to hear what he could do with an up-tempo album. As always, Andrew did not disappoint. His arrangements of these 14 songs, carefully selected by the two of us, are yet another shining example...

Robert Morse, the impish actor and singer who found early fame and success as the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and enjoyed a late-career second act as an eccentric elder statesman of advertising in AMC’s Mad Men, died yesterday. He was 90.

His death was confirmed by son Charlie to Los Angeles’ ABC affiliate Wednesday night, and was announced on Twitter this morning by Larry Karaszewski, a writer, producer and VP on the board of governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“My good pal Bobby Morse has passed away at age 90,” Karaszewski wrote. “A huge talent and a beautiful spirit. Sending love to his son Charlie & daughter Allyn. Had so much fun hanging with Bobby over the years – filming People v Oj & hosting so many screenings.”

Additional information on...

In an interview promoting her film, House of Gucci, Lady Gaga revealed that she wants to star on Broadway in a musical that she has written. She explained her love of musicals and how it comes from her admiration of Elton John and his work in musical theatre. Lady Gaga also went on to reveal her love of Stephen Sondheim, Frank Loesser, and more.

Stephen Sondheim, one of the giants of Broadway songwriting, died early Friday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 91.

Attorney F. Richard Pappas, announced the death, which he described as sudden. Sondheim celebrated Thanksgiving with friends just a day ago, Pappas said.

Sondheim’s catalog includes such works as “Company” (1970), “Follies” (1971), “A Little Night Music” (1973), “Pacific Overtures” (1976), “Sweeney Todd” (1979), “Merrily We Roll Along” (1981), “Sunday in the Park With George” (1984) and “Into the Woods” (1987).

Among his most memorable songs was “Send In the Clowns,” from “Night Music.”

He dominated Broadway and was considered the greatest composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century by many. He was one of the few major theater composers who handled words and music, including such legends as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Frank Loesser.

His successes as a lyricist were as impressive as his songwriting. He wrote the lyrics for “West Side Story...

With the long-delayed 74th Tony Awards set for Sept. 26 at the Winter Garden and streaming on Paramount + and a CBS special, let’s take a deep dive into Tony Awards history and look back at the first decade. Broadway was bristling with excitement post World War II. Young playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and William Inge breathed new life into the Great White Way. And new talents electrifying audiences included Marlon Brando, Julie Harris and Gwen Verdon. It was the perfect time for the creation of the Tony Awards in 1947. The Antoinette Perry Awards or Theatre Excellence were named after the legendary theater actress who was co-founder of the American Theatre Wing; she had died in 1946.

The first annual Tony Awards took place on April 6, 1947 at the Waldorf Astoria and was broadcast on radio on Wor and Mutual Network radio. There was no categories for best play or musical,...

Bill Condon, who helmed the musical Dreamgirls, is set to direct the Guys and Dolls remake for TriStar Pictures. The film will be based on the musical featuring music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, adapted from two short stories by Damon Runyon. The show first premiered on Broadway in 1950 and was later adapted into a 1955 movie starring […]

The post ‘Guys and Dolls’ Remake Coming From Modern Musical Veteran Bill Condon appeared first on /Film.

Academy Award winner Bill Condon will direct a film adaptation of “Guys and Dolls,” the classic Broadway musical and 1955 film of the same name, for TriStar Pictures, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.

John Goldwyn and Marc Toberoff are set to produce the new adaptation for TriStar. Execs Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi are overseeing for the studio.

In 2019, TriStar purchased the rights to the original short stories written by Damon Runyon that inspired the musical, as well as the Broadway musical book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and its music by Frank Loesser. The studio also bought the remake rights to the 1955 film “Guys and Dolls,” as released by the Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Runyon originally wrote the short stories “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown,” “Pick the Winner” and “Blood Pressure” about a gambler and his relationship with a missionary girl. The stories are the...

Bill Condon, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls” and Disney’s remake of “Beauty and the Beast,” is taking on another famed movie musical.

Condon has signed on to direct “Guys and Dolls,” an adaptation of Frank Loesser’s Broadway smash. TriStar Pictures, which operates under Sony, acquired rights in 2019 to Damon Runyon’s original short stories about gamblers and gangsters in the New York underworld, as well as the rights to the Broadway musical and Samuel Goldwyn’s 1995 film adaptation.

“Guys and Dolls” opened on Broadway in 1950, where it ran for 1,200 performances over three years. It scored five Tony Awards, including the prize for best musical, and has been revived several times since, including a 1992 version with Nathan Lane and Faith Prince. Five years after premiering on the Great White Way, “Guys and Dolls” was made into a successful film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine.

Exclusive: TriStar Pictures long-awaited new retelling of the musical smash hit Guys And Dolls looks to be moving closer to a reality as the studio has tapped Oscar-winner Bill Condon to direct the latest adaptation. Condon had been weighing several projects to take on as his next but over the last month, Guys And Dolls rose to the top of his list following a meeting with the studio on how excited they were to get the project off the ground. TriStar purchased remake rights to the original Damon Runyon short stories in March of 2019 about gamblers and gangsters that inspired the shows, as well as the rights to the Broadway musical with its book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and its music by Frank Loesser. At the same time, the studio also acquired remake rights to the previous 1955 film adaptation from the Samuel Goldwyn company. John Goldwyn and Marc Toberoff are producing.

Oscar-winning movie musical director Bill Condon has been tapped to direct TriStar’s Guys and Dolls remake.

Set in Depression-era New York, the story centers on a high roller and a small-time gambler as they try to lock down a date and a location for a floating craps game. A 1955 movie adaption featured Frank Loesser’s standards, including “Luck Be a Lady,” and starred Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, Vivian Blaine and Marlon Brando. Guys and Dolls premiered on Broadway in 1950 and won five Tony Awards including best musical. A 1992 revival, starring Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, was nominated for ...

Oscar-winning movie musical director Bill Condon has been tapped to direct TriStar’s Guys and Dolls remake.

Set in Depression-era New York, the story centers on a high roller and a small-time gambler as they try to lock down a date and a location for a floating craps game. A 1955 movie adaption featured Frank Loesser’s standards, including “Luck Be a Lady,” and starred Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, Vivian Blaine and Marlon Brando. Guys and Dolls premiered on Broadway in 1950 and won five Tony Awards including best musical. A 1992 revival, starring Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, was nominated for ...

A line-up of nearly 30 stars – from Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, Darren Criss, Kelsey Grammar and David Alan Grier to Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Henry and Phillipa Soo – will perform title songs from more than 20 musicals for a special livestreamed musical event next month benefiting The Actors Fund.

The event, called Show of Titles, will feature title songs of Broadway musicals spanning nine decades, from “Lady Be Good” to “The Light in the Piazza.” In addition to the above-mentioned performers, the line-up includes Annaleigh Ashford, Len Cariou, Santino Fontana, Isabelle Huppert, Norm Lewis, Rob McClure, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Melba Moore, Jessie Mueller, Eva Noblezada, Kelli O’Hara, Laura Osnes, Steven Pasquale, Michael Rupert, Ernie Sabella, Lea Salonga, Will Swenson, Aaron Tveit, Leslie Uggams, Vanessa Williams and Patrick Wilson.

Making special appearances will be Broadway Inspirational Voices, Candice Bergen, Danny Burstein, Bryan Cranston, Sheldon Harnick, John Kander, Angela Lansbury, John Lithgow, Lindsay Mendez, Phylicia Rashad,...

Who doesn’t love a festive holiday tradition? The Christmas tree has been trimmed, stockings have been hung, the elf is sitting on his shelf and, once again, people are debating whether “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is a song about rape. Every December, the Internet serves up a fresh batch of hot takes about Frank Loesser’s 1944 jazz standard, a classic recipe for clickbait controversy that’s guaranteed to draw a crowd. Dozens of articles are published each year.

Every so often an exceptionally fiery opinion — like that the...

The great actor Robert Picardo, a frequent Joe Dante collaborator and long time Star Trek hologram, joins Josh and Joe to discuss movies that compel him to sit and watch all the way through any time they just happen to be on.

Also… Josh and Bob discuss the best cheesesteak joints in Philly.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Howling (1981)

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

The Running Jumping and Standing Still Film (1959)

Swing Time (1936)

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Cabaret (1972)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

On The Waterfront (1954)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Innerspace (1987)

Ordinary People (1980)

Hollywood Boulevard (1976)

Rock ‘N’ Roll High School (1978)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Jaws (1975)

The Wiz (1978)

The Godfather Part III (1990)

Alien (1979)

Star Wars (1977)

Death Becomes Her (1992)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

I Knew It Was You (2009)

Touch Of Evil (1958)

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Day The Earth Stood Still...

Billy Goldenberg, the Emmy-winning composer and songwriter, died Monday night at his home in New York City. He was 84.

Goldenberg wrote the themes for such 1970s TV series as “Kojak,” “Harry O” and “Rhoda,” composed the pilot scores for “Night Gallery” and “Columbo,” and won Emmys for the TV-movie “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” and miniseries “The Lives of Benjamin Franklin,” “King” and “Rage of Angels.”

He expanded his 1975 “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” song score, with lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman, into the score of the 1978 Broadway musical “Ballroom,” directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett of “A Chorus Line” fame. It earned eight Tony nominations including Best Musical.

Reminiscing Wednesday about their collaboration on “Ballroom,” Alan Bergman told Variety: “Billy was one of the rare composers who was also a dramatist. Lots of people can write melodies, but you could tell Billy the situation, what the characters were feeling,...

We then close out the show at the opening night of director Des McAnuff's revival of the classic Frank Loesser musical Guys and Dolls. Des said, 'I wanted to go back to Damon Runyon's time. He wrote the Broadway stories between '29 and '37 so, we set it very loosely in '35, it's a mythic landscape anyway, and I asked Jo Loesser about this idea and she thought Frank would like it, so that was good enough for me.'...

James Taylor will take on the Great American Songbook on the singer’s upcoming album American Standard, due out February 28th. The LP is Taylor’s first since 2015’s Before This World and 19th overall.

“I’ve always had songs I grew up with that I remember really well, that were part of the family record collection — and I had a sense of how to approach, so it was a natural to put American Standard together,” Taylor said in a statement. “I know most of these songs from the original...

Let's face it: while "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is one of the catchiest classic Christmas songs around, the lyrics have not aged well. In fact, the tune has sparked multiple controversies in recent years due to its questionable lyrics, which have led many to wonder if they describe an instance of date rape. But now, thanks to The Voice judges Kelly Clarkson and John Legend, a new edition of the song will be sufficiently less creepy.

Per Vanity Fair's new cover story featuring Legend, the more-woke take on the holiday song will debut as a standalone single closer to the holidays. Legend is penning the new lyrics along with Insecure's Natasha Rothwell, and it will reportedly be "every bit as fun and swinging as the original." Legend even gave the magazine a taste of the new lyrics:

"What will my friends think . . ." sings Clarkson.

"I think they should rejoice," Legend responds.

Libi Staiger, who starred as show business legend Sophie Tucker in a 1963 Broadway musical and as one of two bickering sisters in Denny's commercials, died Wednesday in Austin, her daughter announced. She was 91.

Staiger made her Broadway debut in 1954 in the chorus of the original production of Wonderful Town, with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Leonard Bernstein and direction by George Abbott. (She also served as assistant stage manager to stage manager Hal Prince.)

She starred as Cleo in a revival of the Frank Loesser musical comedy The Most Happy Fella in 1959,...

Jo Sullivan Loesser, a Broadway actress who scored a Tony nomination for her performance in 1956’s The Most Happy Fella, married the show’s composer Frank Loesser in 1959 and after his death 10 years later devoted herself to the promotion of his acclaimed and popular canon, died Sunday of heart failure at her New York City home. She was 91.

Her death was announced by her family through publicist David Gersten.

Born and raised in Mounds City, Il, Sullivan began her professional career as a contestant on the early TV competition Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout Show (her rendition of “Italian Street Song” from Naughty Marietta lost out to a harmonica duo called The Polka Dots).

Soon, though, she was singing in a small Manhattan nightclub when she was chosen to understudy the lead role of Laurey in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma!, which by then was winding down its run.

She...

David Crow Mar 26, 2019

Guys and Dolls, which originally starred Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando, is getting a new musical remake.

Luck might be a lady tonight, but success any day of the week is in IP for modern Hollywood. And that goes for musicals too. With Steven Spielberg himself mounting a remake of West Side Story, it shouldn’t be too surprising that TriStar is looking to refit its pinstriped suits for a Guys and Dolls remake.

The studio, which is part of Sony Pictures, announced it has acquired the rights to the Frank Loesser musical in addition to the original Damon Runyon short stories that inspired it. Both served as the basis for the previous 1955 musical, produced by Samuel Goldwyn Pictures and MGM.

The musical tells the story of a small-time gambler who butts heads and then teams up with a high-rolling gangster during the height of the Great Depression.

TriStar Pictures has acquired the remake rights to “Guys and Dolls,” the classic Broadway musical and 1955 film of the same name, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap.

The studio has purchased the rights to the original short stories written by Damon Runyon that inspired the musical, to the Broadway musical book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and its music by Frank Loesser, and the remake rights to the 1955 film “Guys and Dolls” as released by the Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Runyon originally wrote the short stories “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown,” “Pick the Winner” and “Blood Pressure” about a gambler and his relationship with a missionary girl. The stories are the loose basis of the plot of “Guys and Dolls,” which is the story of a New York gambler who is challenged in a bet that he can woo a cold missionary girl away with him on a trip to Havana,...

“Guys and Dolls,” the venerable Broadway musical, is set to return to the big screen.

TriStar Pictures has purchased remake rights to the original Damon Runyon short stories about gamblers and gangsters that inspired the shows, as well as the rights to the Broadway musical with its book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and its music by Frank Loesser. The studio has also acquired remake rights to the previous 1955 film adaptation from the Samuel Goldwyn company. That version of “Guys and Dolls” starred Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine, and was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay.

Movie musicals have been robust box office performers in recent years. Hit adaptations of stage shows include “Hairspray,” “Chicago,” and “Les Miserables,” and original musicals such as “The Greatest Showman” and “La La Land” have also been successes. In the case of “Guys and Dolls,...

The stage is set for Guys and Dolls to make a big-screen return.

A new adaptation of the classic Broadway musical is in the works at TriStar, which has acquired the rights to the original Damon Runyon short stories and the musical with music by Frank Loesser, as well as the remake rights to the 1955 film adaptation from the Samuel Goldwyn company.

Set in Depression-era New York, the story centers on a high roller and a small-time gambler as they try to lock down a date and a location for a floating craps game. The 1955 movie, which featured ...

The stage is set for Guys and Dolls to make a big-screen return.

A new adaptation of the classic Broadway musical is in the works at TriStar, which has acquired the rights to the original Damon Runyon short stories and the musical with music by Frank Loesser, as well as the remake rights to the 1955 film adaptation from the Samuel Goldwyn company.

Set in Depression-era New York, the story centers on a high roller and a small-time gambler as they try to lock down a date and a location for a floating craps game. The 1955 movie, which featured ...

The Mustang Focus Features Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net by: Harvey Karten Director: Laure De Clermont-Tonnerre Screenwriter: Laure De Clermont-Tonnerre, Mona Fastvold, Brock Norman Brock Cast: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Mitchell, Bruce Dern, Gideon Adlon, Connie Britton Screened at: Digital Arts, NYC, 2/4/19 Opens: March 15, 2019 In Frank Loesser’s musical “Guys and Dolls,” Nicely sings […]

The post The Mustang Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Songwriter Norman Gimbel, whose works won him an Oscar, Grammy and admission to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, has died. He passed on Dec. 19 at his home in Montecito, Calif. at age 91, according to a tribute posted by Bmi. Gimbel’s lyrics to Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly and Jim Croce’s I Got A Name were just some of the highlights of a catalog that reads like a compilation of 20th century hits. His lyrics graced the English language version of The Girl from Ipanema and the TV themes to Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley; he earned an Academy Award with David Shire for Jennifer Warnes’s It Goes Like It Goes; he was the Best Original Song winner for 1979’s Sally Field starrer Norma Rae; and shared the Grammy Song of the Year with longtime writing collaborator Charles Fox in 1973 for Killing Me Softly.Gimbel and...

Norman Gimbel, an Oscar and Grammy-winning composer whose lyrics graced hit songs such as Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name,” died at the age of 91 on December 19 at his longtime home in Montecito, Calif.

His death was confirmed by Bmi, which paid tribute on its website, noting: “Bmi was greatly saddened to learn of the passing of renowned songwriter Norman Gimbel, a truly prolific and gifted writer who will be greatly missed by his many friends and fans here.”

The Brooklyn native wrote the words to both “The Girl from Ipanema” and the “Happy Days” theme, earning an Academy Award with David Shire for Jennifer Warnes’ “It Goes Like It Goes,” the Best Original Song winner for 1979’s “Norma Rae,” which also garnered Sally Field her first of two Best Actress Oscars.

With his longtime writing collaborator Charles Fox,...

Even the holiday season won’t prevent the Smith family from getting super honest with one another.

On Saturday, Will Smith, 50, posted a YouTube clip of his family celebrating Christmas at home — including 47-year-old wife Jada Pinkett Smith‘s decorations, which he describes as “too much,” and footage of the actor forcing his kids to “get into the Christmas spirit whether you like it or not.” In the home video, the father of three also debates the lyrics of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with his daughter, Willow.

The enduring classic has raised eyebrows in recent years because of lines like,...

The lyrics of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" just got a questionable makeover.

Over the last few years, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" has gone from being that cutesy duet you probably first heard in Elf to a song banned by radio stations over the holidays. The tune, which was written by Frank Loesser and popularized in the 1949 film Neptune's Daughter, has left fans feeling more and more uncomfortable due to its suggestive lyrics, which have led many to wonder if they describe an instance of date rape.

In a scene where a male character is trying to keep a woman from leaving, she sings "My answer is no," before he responds that she can't possibly leave because of the heavy snow. "What's the sense of hurting my pride?" he asks as she tries to leave again, before she eventually exclaims, "Say, what's in this drink?" It's that line in particular that...