Entertaining Posts

Monday, June 13, 2011

"The Book of Mormon" scoops Tony Awards

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:47am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Irreverent musical "The Book of Mormon," an affectionate spoof about Mormons from the creators of the TV show, "South Park," scooped the major honors at the Tony Awards held on Sunday, winning nine awards.

The hit show about two young present-day Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda won some of the night's top awards including best musical, original score, best book, best direction and best actress in a featured role in a musical at the awards for Broadway's best musicals and plays.

"We did this because we all secretly wanted to have a big, happy Mormon family and now we do," said co-creator Trey Parker on stage, before jokingly thanking their "co-writer," the late Joseph Smith Jr., who founded the Latter Day Saint movement, saying, "You did it Joseph, you got the Tony!"

The British import to Broadway, "War Horse," adapted by Nick Stafford from the 1982 novel of the same name, which uses puppets to tell the story of World War I and a soldier's quest to find his horse and bring him home, won a total of five awards, including best play.

Actress Frances McDormand won best actress in a leading role in a play for her turn as a tough single mother in the play, "Good People," and in accepting her first Tony predicted her current role would become "an American classic," before adding emphatically, "I love my job."

Mark Rylance beat out Al Pacino to win the top acting award in a play for his turn in "Jerusalem," and rather than giving a traditional speech, recited an excerpt from an obscure Midwestern poet -- as he did when he won a Tony in 2008.

The awards were handed out at New York's Beacon Theater in a live televised event hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris.

Other major winners included best play revival winner, "The Normal Heart," a semi-autobiographical play that focuses on the AIDS crisis, which premiered in 1985. It won three awards, including for actors Ellen Barkin and John Benjamin Hickey.

In accepting her Tony, Barkin, 57, said, "it's the proudest moment in my career. It has transformed me, not just as an actor but as a human being," while Hickey backstage called the revival "extraordinary" that "so many young, gay people and so many young, straight people are coming to see this play."

Its playwright Larry Kramer said on stage, "I could not have written it had not so many of us so needlessly died."

A revival of the musical, "Anything Goes," won three awards, led by best actress in a musical winner Sutton Foster, while John Larroquette won best featured role in a musical for "How to Success in Business Without Really Trying."

MORMON DOMINATION

But it was "The Book of Mormon" that dominated the night, winning nine of 14 nominations but falling short of beating the record of the Mel Brooks musical comedy, "The Producers," which won 12 Tony Awards after it opened in 2001.

"The Book of Mormon" also won for best lighting, scenery and sound design and orchestrations. Nikki M. James, who won a Tony for her role as a member of an African village, said backstage, "I knew when I read the script this was going to get a lot of attention."

The four Tony Awards won by Parker for "The Book of Mormon," -- which he co-created with Matt Stone from "South Park" and composer Robert Lopez -- tied the record for the most Tony awards in one night set by Joshua Logan for the original 1949 production of "South Pacific."

"I want to thank the 'South Park' fans. If it weren't for you guys, we wouldn't be here," Parker said on stage in sharing the award for best direction with Casey Nicholaw.

But the show's two lead actors lost the best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical to Norbert Leo Butz, who called his FBI agent role modeled on his own father in "Catch Me If You Can" his greatest role but "not easy."

The short-lived musical "The Scottsboro Boys" was shut out of the awards after receiving 12 nominations, as was "The Merchant of Venice" which starred Pacino.

The show featured sprinklings of jokes about the current beleaguered and injury-prone $65 million musical "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark," which was panned by critics in previews before being revamped with its official opening this week. It missed the deadline for this year's awards.

Rock star Bono, who wrote the show's music along with his bandmate, The Edge, joked on stage: "WE used to be famous for being in U2."

(Writing by Christine Kearney; Editing by David Lawder and Paul Simao)

"Spider-Man" producer Laura Ziskin dies of cancer

LOS ANGELES | Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:37am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Laura Ziskin, the Hollywood producer who helped turn "Pretty Woman" heroine Julia Roberts into a star and brought "Spider-Man" to the big screen, died on Sunday after a public battle with breast cancer. She was 61.

According to a statement from Sony Pictures, where her production company was based, Ziskin died at her Los Angeles home after fighting the disease for seven years.

In 2008 Ziskin, along with other entertainment notables including newswoman Katie Couric, co-founded Stand Up To Cancer, an advocacy group for cancer research. Later that year -- and again last September -- Ziskin produced all-star telethons that aired live on the major U.S. networks.

In addition to making movies, Ziskin also produced the Academy Awards broadcast twice, and served as president of Fox 2000 Pictures, a feature film division of 20th Century Fox.

She was perhaps best known for producing the three "Spider-Man" movies starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. The trilogy grossed $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office. The franchise is currently being overhauled with a new cast and a focus on the superhero's early years.

Among the films Ziskin championed at Fox 2000 was the searingly brutal drama "Fight Club," starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Following an advance screening that left other studio executives bewildered and angry, Ziskin boldly proclaimed it was brilliant, according to author Sharon Waxman's "Rebels on the Backlot."

Still she did blanch at one comical line -- "I want to have your abortion -- and begged director David Fincher to replace it. He reluctantly agreed, but the new line was even more grotesque and she begged him to revert to the old line. He refused, according to the book.

Ziskin, a Los Angeles native who started out as a personal assistant, started making features in the mid-1980s. She teamed with actress Sally Field to produce "Murphy's Romance," a 1985 comedy-drama for which James Garner received an Oscar nomination.

She hired hot young stars Kevin Costner for "No Way Out" (1987) and Dennis Quaid for "D.O.A." (1988), and helped transform Roberts into Hollywood's biggest sensation with "Pretty Woman," the 1990 smash which she executive produced.

Ziskin rescued legendary Hollywood scribe Buck Henry ("The Graduate") from a long dry spell by recruiting him to write the adaptation for "To Die For," a dark comedy directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Nicole Kidman.

By the time it was released in 1995, Ziskin was ensconced at Fox 2000 where she also oversaw such films as "Courage Under Fire," "One Fine Day," "Soul Food" and "The Thin Red Line."

In 2002, she became the first woman to produce the Oscar broadcast solo. The show, presented for the first time at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, also marked the first Oscarcast appearance of the Cirque du Soleil acrobatic troupe. She also produced the 2007 ceremony.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, and underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, a stem-cell transplant and radiation. The cancer returned in 2009, having spread to her liver and bones.

Sony Pictures said a memorial would be planned. Ziskin is survived by her husband Alvin Sargent, an Oscar-winning screenwriter ("Ordinary People," "Julia") who collaborated on the "Spider-Man" films; and a daughter from her first marriage.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)

(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog "Fan Fare" online at blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

Sunday, June 12, 2011

"The Book of Mormon" aims to sweep Tony Awards

NEW YORK | Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:41pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Satirical musical "The Book of Mormon" aimed to make history with the most-ever Tony Award wins on Sunday, heading into Broadway's biggest night with 14 nominations.

The Tony Awards, which honor Broadway's best musicals and plays, were being handed out at New York's Beacon Theater in a live televised event hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris, who opened the show with a musical number declaring that Broadway was "not just for gays anymore."

Crossing the red carpet were celebrities and nominees including Al Pacino, Kelsey Grammer and Chris Rock and actresses Vanessa Redgrave, Whoopi Goldberg and Ellen Barkin.

But this year's Tony winners were expected to feature fewer Hollywood names than last year.

"The Book of Mormon" aims to beat the record of the Mel Brooks musical comedy, "The Producers," which won 12 Tony Awards after it opened in 2001.

The satirical story about the Mormon religion from the creators of the cartoon comedy TV show "South Park" headed into the awards with the most nominations, including for best musical, best book, best original score and two nominees in the best actor in a leading role in a musical category.

Robert Lopez, who helped write the musical along with "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, said on the red carpet that Mormons who had so far attended the show, which is filled with plenty of jokes about the religion, had not been offended.

"If they are open minded, they have really, really liked it," he said. "We got a lot of it right. We captured the spirit."

"The Book of Mormon" is followed by "The Scottsboro Boys" with 12 nominations. The short-lived musical was based on a 1930s case in which nine black men were unjustly accused of attacking two white women on a train in Alabama.

Two musical revivals also featured a high number of nominations. "Anything Goes" has nine nominations, led by best actress nominee Sutton Foster, and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" had eight.

"The Merchant of Venice" is up for seven awards, while the play "War Horse," by Nick Stafford, is tipped to win best play.

Other nominees included Frances McDormand, Edie Falco and Billy Crudup.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney and Chris Michaud, editing by David Lawder)

Barry Manilow tackles fame in risky concept album

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES | Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:38pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Not bad for a decidedly unfashionable singer.

Barry Manilow earned a coveted spot as a trending topic on Twitter recently when he went on a daytime TV chat show to promote his first album of original material in 10 years. The honor is usually reserved for high-flying hotshots rather than golden-oldie types.

Alas, the Internet buzz did not reflect the momentous occasion. "Barry Manilow is performing, and I'm three seconds from blowing my head off," said one tweeter. Added another, "Barry Manilow is just plain scary looking."

But Manilow, whose eerily smooth faces belies his 67 years (he turns 68 on June 17), has heard it all before. After 40 years in the business as the butt of all sorts of jokes, there's nothing that can faze him.

"I'm surprised I'm still here, I really am, because they were really hard on me, from the late-night talk shows to the press," he said in an interview with Reuters hours after his appearance on "The Talk." "But the audiences, most of the times, were on my side. They were there for me."

But will his older-skewing female fans be there for his new album "15 Minutes," an ambitious follow-up to a series of covers albums that sent him to the upper reaches of the charts for the first time since his '70s heyday?

Set for release in the United States and Canada on Tuesday (and the UK on June 20), the rock-flavored project is inspired by the harsh media spotlight shone on young celebrities.

ANGRY MANILOW

The 16 songs detail the rise, fall and possible redemption of a youngster who seeks fame and fortune. Manilow wrote the music, working with lyricist Enoch Anderson. He released it on his own label.

"It's not pretty piano tinkling," he said. "It's got a lot of energy. Some of it is anger. I don't know whether they'll like that. But there's a lot of great melodies on it, so hopefully they'll connect with that."

The project took hold while Britney Spears was undergoing a public meltdown in 2007, shaving her head and later landing in a psych ward under the full gaze of the paparazzi.

"(We) both said, Is that the price of fame? Is this what's going on these days?," Manilow said.

"If you do it for the fame, you are asking for trouble," he added. "I did it for the music. I did it because I couldn't not do it. It saved my ass."

By the time Manilow scored his first No. 1 single with "Mandy" in early 1975, he was a 31-year-old veteran well versed in the cruel reality of showbiz. More hits quickly followed: "I Write the Songs," "Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You," "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

But by his admission he became a bit of a tyrant, and he had to try to be "a good guy again." He considers himself pretty secure these days.

So, no plastic surgery then? "Not a thing," he said with a straight face. "This is what my family looks like."

The fans -- a.k.a. the "fanilows" -- can't get enough. Manilow is seven years into a Las Vegas residency, jetting to the weekend engagements from his home in nearby Palm Springs where he maintains a strict fitness and dietary regimen.

He always knows exactly what is planned for the next five years. A recent stint at London's 02 Arena with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was taped for a live album that will come out in the winter. Then he plans to record a follow-up to his first jazz album, 1984's "2:00 A.M. Paradise Cafe."

By the end of this five-year plan he would be 73. "In my head I'm going on 35," he insisted with a smile that barely creased his face. "Five years from now I'll be 40. Hey!"

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog "Fan Fare" online at blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

Lady Gaga sings for gay rights in Pope's back yard

ROME | Sun Jun 12, 2011 3:37pm EDT

ROME (Reuters) - Pop queen Lady Gaga concluded a huge European gay rights march in Rome on Saturday night with a rousing call to governments to defend gay rights.

"Today and every day we fight for freedom. We fight for justice. We beckon for compassion, understanding and above all we want full equality now," she shouted to a crowd of several hundred thousand people at the Italian capital's ancient Circus Maximus.

"We have the same DNA. We were just 'born this way'," she said, using the title of her latest hit album.

Sporting dyed green hair and an outfit by the late fashion designer Gianni Versace, she said she was "angry" and singled out several governments in Europe and the Middle East she said discriminated against gays.

"I am aware that many countries and governments worldwide still restrict their citizens from reading about LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues and this is what means the most to me in my career. I want all of your stories to be heard by the world," she said.

She mentioned Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Lebanon.

"We stand here to demand an end to intolerance," she shouted before accompanying herself on a grand piano in acoustic renditions of some of her songs.

Rome officials had feared that she would launch a direct attack on Pope Benedict and the Vatican over their stand against homosexual acts but she did not mention either.

She merely said she was respectful of religion but that religions had to acknowledge and accept the diversity of people.

Her latest album, "Born This Way," rocketed to the top of the U.S. and British charts earlier this month.