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Lea Michele, whose last major project was her smash hit 2022-2023 appearance in Broadway’s Funny Girl, is taking her talents on the road: The former Glee star announced today that she’ll embark on a spring and summer concert tour commencing Monday, May 5, in Durham, North Carolina.

After Durham, the eight-city tour, running through June, will make stops in Nashville, Orlando, Anaheim, Palm Desert, Washington D.C., Englewood, New Jersey, and Niagara Falls, Ontario

See below for the complete itinerary with dates and venues of the “Straight From Carnegie Hall Lea Michele Live” tour. Michele made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2023.

Michelle is expected to perform songs she performed on Glee, in Funny Girl, Les Misérables, Spring Awakening, other Broadway classics and “more.”

In her Instagram post announcing the tour, Michele wrote, “Taking time to spend with my family has been so lovely, and now I am ready to be back on stage!

Lea Michele is heading on the road this spring to perform a series of intimate concerts!

The beloved actress and singer will kick off the eight-city tour in May 2025, with shows set for Nashville, Orlando, Anaheim, Washington DC, and more.

“After spending the past few months at home with my family and celebrating the joy of becoming a mother of two, I’m so excited to get back on the stage and perform live,” Lea said in a statement. “It will be an amazing night revisiting my time on Glee, singing songs from Funny Girl, and telling stories along the way.”

Lea has confirmed that she will be performing songs from Broadway shows like Funny Girl, Spring Awakening, and Les Miserables, as well as hits from her time on Glee, songs from her studio albums, and surprise songs each night.

Fans who are subscribed to Lea‘s newsletter will have...

Lea Michele is going on tour.

The Glee star is making eight stops across the United States and Canada for a series of intimate concerts this spring. Promising to take attendees “on a musical journey through Michele’s extraordinary career,” Michele will perform fan-favorite hits from her Glee days, a range of Broadway tunes — including from Funny Girl — and songs selected from her own discography.

Tickets will go on sale Friday, March 14 at 10 a.m. local time, but fans subscribed to Michele’s newsletter will have a chance to scoop early presale tickets on Wednesday,...

Jane Lynch, the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG award-winning actress, will be feted at the upcoming Boulder International Film Festival with the fest’s Entertainer of the Year Award, Biff announced this morning. The beloved comedy veteran will be celebrated on the evening of Saturday, March 15, at 8:30 p.m., at the historic Boulder Theater, as part of the fest’s 21st annual edition.

Lynch will receive her honor immediately following an hourlong career-retrospective interview moderated by yours truly, which will cover her past screen projects, including Glee, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Best in Show and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, as well as her recent Emmy-nominated portrayal of Sazz Pataki on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building opposite Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez.

Past Biff honorees have included Javier Bardem, Tony Goldwyn, F. Murray Abraham, Shirley MacLaine, Martin Sheen, Laura Linney, Alan Arkin, Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, Lawrence Kasdan and Robbie Robertson.

Film historian Karina Longworth‘s “You Must Remember This” podcast has been beloved by cinephiles ever since it launched 11 years ago to explore “the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century.” The latest season, “The Old Man Is Still Alive,” is Longworth’s most enlightening and entertaining to date. A deep dive into the late-career transformations of Hollywood legends, including Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Otto Preminger, “The Old Man Is Still Alive” explores how veteran directors met the challenges of an evolving industry and changing tastes with varying degrees of artistic and commercial success.

The idea for the season began with a 2023 trip to the Cinémathèque Française, where Longworth saw Vincente Minnelli’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” for the first time. “I thought of myself as a big Minnelli fan, and I had not even known this movie existed,” Longworth told IndieWire. “I went...

It’s time to review the 2025 Oscar nominations! That’s because tonight is the 97th Academy Awards (learn how to watch here), and, my, have things in the Oscar race changed since this full list of noms was unveiled January 23. See the complete list of nominees for the 2025 Oscars below, and see our full list of Oscar predictions here.

“Emilia Pérez” seemed like the definitive Best Picture frontrunner at that time, cleaning up with 13 nominations. Now, following the implosion of Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón, and the growing outcry against the film in Mexico, its Oscar chances seem pretty much dead, except for likely Best Supporting Actress winner Zoe Saldaña and maybe Best International Feature. In her own final Oscar picks, Anne Thompson also has “El Mal” from the Jacques Audiard movie winning Best Original Song.

Mind you, “Emilia Pérez,” in scoring 13 noms, tied with multiple other films such as “Gone with the Wind,...

With over a century’s worth of cinematic witches, Ruth Gordon’s turn in Rosemary’s Baby as Minnie Castevet broke the mold. To be fair, the reveal that the disarming, matronly Manhattanite serves Satan comes as a late-game twist, but even then, Minnie doesn’t revert to an archetypical witch form. Minnie Castevet remains as effervescent, stylish, and unflappable as she is from the start, even as Rosemary’s Baby ends on its iconic shocking final shot.

That is by design, of course. The very notion that the Devil’s most loyal followers aren’t physical monsters or social outcasts but everyday people who sold their souls for money and status is the audacious foundation for Rosemary Woodhouse’s (Mia Farrow) harrowing plight, after all. While writer/director Roman Polanski, adapting Ira Levin’s bestselling novel, effectively lays the groundwork to ensure this reveal achieves its seismic intended impact, much...

Top Theatre Actors Jena Pandya and Ashley Day will play the iconic lovers Simran and Rog (Roger) in Come Fall in Love – The Ddlj Musical, the new musical comedy based on one of the biggest blockbuster films in the history of Indian cinema, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Ddlj).

Cultures collide, and West End meets Bollywood in this joyous, globe-trotting new rom-com starring Jena Pandya and Ashley Day, and adapted from India’s longest-running blockbuster movie –Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, also known as Ddlj. Ddlj is the longest-running title in Indian cinema, and it has been playing continuously in Mumbai since its release in 1995.

Meet Simran – a young British woman whose future is all set with an arranged marriage back in India – as she sets off around Europe for one last summer of freedom. But getting stranded with laid-back, party-loving Roger isn’t in the guidebook, and now the unlikely pair...

Even one of the biggest pop stars in the world was once upon a time just a theater kid.

Jennifer Lopez, who stars in the movie musical adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” that just premiered at Sundance, revealed in the IndieWire Studio presented by Dropbox that, unbeknownst to even some of her biggest fans, musical theater is where she got her start, and it’s where not just her true passion lies, but also where she says her true talent lies.

“I actually started in musical theater. Actually, my voice is more suited to musical theater than it has ever been to pop music,” Lopez told IndieWire in regards to how she prepared for her role in Bill Condon’s film. “I love making music, but that was where my heart started and where I actually learned to sing. People don’t know this about me, but they’ll see,...

As we wrap an epic day of coverage of the Oscar nominations, here are some final observations:

—It’s ironic that there will be no Best Song performances at this year’s 97th Academy Awards, because music-driven movies have rarely, if ever, made such an impact. This is the first time that three music-oriented/musical films have been nominated for Best Picture in the same year: Emilia Pérez (with its chart-topping 13 nominations), Wicked (with its 10), and the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (with eight). The last times that even two musicals faced off for Oscar’s biggest prize was in 1964 with My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins and in 1968 with winner Oliver! and Funny Girl.

—Emilia Pérez snared more noms than any foreign language film ever with 13, to lead all comers Thursday. It joins an impressive list of other 13-time Oscar nominees that includes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,...

Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang announced the 97th Oscars nominations today (January 23), live from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater via a global live stream.

Emilia Pérez sets the record for most nominations for a non-English language film at 13. Previous record holders, with 10 nominations each, were Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Roma (2018).

The Brutalist and Wicked saw 10 nominations each, while A Complete Unknown and Conclave each received eight nods. Best Picture nominations for Emilia Pérez and Wicked mark the first time two musicals have been nominated in the category since 1968 (Oliver! and Funny Girl were two of the five nominated films that year).

The breakdown of studio nominations is Netflix with 16, A24 with 14, Universal has 13, Focus Features with 12, Searchlight at 10 and Neon with 7.

Conan O’Brien will host the 97th Oscars® on March 2 at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live at 7 p.m. Et/4 p.m.

In my Oscar predictions piece on Wednesday, I warned about the possibility that this year’s list could be even more international than in recent years, partly because of the L.A. wildfires, which moved the Academy to extend the voting period twice and by nearly a week overall. It was indicative that voters in Los Angeles, where a lot of them live, might have been preoccupied. This said to me that the ever-growing international base of Oscar voters, not affected by the fires, might have more influence than ever on the nominations.

There is no question that happened.

Let’s start with Best Picture. Since Z in 1969, there have been 11 films simultaneously nominated for Best International Feature (formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film) and Best Picture. This year, for the first time, there are two: France’s Spanish-language Emilia Pérez and Brazil’s highly political I’m Still Here,...

Wicked‘s Cynthia Erivo and Emilia Pérez‘s Karla Sofía Gascón earned their widely predicted Best Actress Oscar nominations on Thursday. Their bids represent a rare double in Oscar history: This is the second time — and first in 60 years — that multiple musical performances are nominated in Best Actress.

Counting just traditional musicals with non-diegetic music, the last time this happened was, naturally, during the heyday of musicals in the 1960s. Julie Andrews and Debbie Reynolds were nominated for their respective 1964 films, Mary Poppins and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, with the former winning. There could’ve been a third musical nominee that year had My Fair Lady‘s Audrey Hepburn made the cut.

Andrews’ victory has been seen as a bit of sweet revenge after producer Jack Warner cast Hepburn instead of Andrews, who originated the role of Eliza Doolittle on Broadway in the film adaptation of My Fair Lady. Not...

Lea Michele’s style has always stood out, and her fashion choices are no exception. Standing at 5ft 2 (157.5 cm), she often jokes about looking younger than her years, once saying, “I’m five foot three. I don’t look like a lot of other people, you know what I mean? I look like I’m 12.” She wears a shoe size 8 US (US).

Lea Michele dazzled at the Wicked New York Premiere on November 14, 2024, wearing a chic Max Mara Bora draped one-sleeve silk-satin gown paired with Roger Vivier Viv’ Podium pumps in patent leather (Credit: Janet Mayer / INSTARimages)

Despite her petite frame, she consistently turns heads with her impeccable taste in footwear, effortlessly combining elegance and comfort. From chic sandals to bold designer heels, Lea’s footwear choices never fail to elevate her look.

Lea Michele launches her album Christmas In The City at Barnes & Noble on 6th Avenue in...

A Complete Unknown North America Box Office: 3rd Monday Update ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

The Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton, and Elle Fanning starrer A Complete Unknown has not only been praised by the critics but is also performing well at the box office. As we write this article, it is beating the 1968 biographical musical film Funny Girl and 1984’s Amadeus. Keep scrolling for the deets.

The 1968 film by William Wyler was written by Isobel Lennart adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same name. It was loosely based on the life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her turbulent relationship with entrepreneur and gambler. The movie featured Barbra Streisand as Brice and Oman Sharif as Arnstein. The supporting cast included Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen, and Mae Questel.

Based on Box Office Mojo’s data, Barbra Streisand’s Funny Girl collected $52.22 million in its...

Update: Susan Lucci, Judy Gold, Tonya Pinkins and Jackie Hoffman are among the additional performers who will take part in Joy Behar’s upcoming Off Broadway comedic play My First Ex-Husband.

As previously announced, the play, directed by Randal Myler at the newly renovated Mmac Theater on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, will feature a rotating line-up of performers, with the cast of four changing each month. A Behar-led cast of Susie Essman, Tovah Feldshuh and Adrienne C. Moore will be first up, running from January 29 to February 23.

The second and third casts were announced today. They are:

From February 26 to March 23, the second cast will feature comedienne Judy Gold (HBO/Comedy Central), Emmy Award winner Susan Lucci (All My Children), Cathy Moriarty and Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins. From March 26 to April 20, the third cast will...

This claim, included in Universal’s thorough and impressive list of box office achievements for 2024, is technically true: “Domestically ‘Wicked‘ is now … the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all-time at the domestic office ahead of ‘Grease’ ($188.62M).”

Also technically true is that “The Grinch” is bigger than “Gone with the Wind,” “Sing” is bigger than “Jaws,” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is bigger than “The Godfather.” Also, the 1977 first “Star Wars” is only the third biggest success of that franchise.

Presenting grosses without adjusting skews the real picture of how they compare. It is a prime case of film history erasure, an all-too common occurrence these days. The somewhat (but not impossible in most cases) effort to sort out the true success of films through history starts with adjusting box office takes to current ticket prices. Normally, that is fairly simple, since we know the costs by year and can do the math.

Meryl Streep is the best of the best.

Her performance in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Diane Keaton ranked second for Annie Hall (1977), with Jodie Foster following in third for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972) and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent Gold Derby poll of cinema experts declared The Godfather (1972) as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all...

The performance by Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977). Following in third place is Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Rounding out the top five are Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent poll had The Godfather (1972) declared as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all time (view...

It's hard to think of a multi-hyphenate more iconic than Barbra Streisand, and with a career spanning over six decades, it's not shocking that Streisand has a high net worth. The singer-songwriter-actor-director-producer found success right out of the gate, winning a Grammy for her debut album, The Barbra Streisand Album. Streisand has the distinction of being awarded the first-ever Egot — meaning she's won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Her first Emmy was for her TV special, My Name is Barbra, her first Oscar for her lead role in Funny Girl, and her Tony for Star of the Decade.

Streisand was born in Brooklyn, New York to parents Diana Ida and Emanuel. A performer from a young age, Streisand got her start singing in nightclubs as a teenager before earning guest appearances on The Tonight Show. In her personal life, Streisand has had several high-profile romantic relationships. She was married...

Ariana Grande in “Wicked,” Timothée Chalamet in “A Complete Unknown” and Angelina Jolie in “Maria”: What these performances have in common – besides a strong shot at Oscar nominations – is the man who coached each of their voices to their highest highs: esteemed Los Angeles vocal coach Eric Vetro.

Vetro has been down this award-winning yellow brick road before with singers and actors, particularly through musical biographies. Along with coaching Renée Zellweger to Oscar victory as Judy Garland in “Judy,” and Hugh Jackman to a Tony win as Peter Allen in “The Boy from Oz,” Vetro worked with Austin Butler on his Oscar-nominated turn as “Elvis” and Riley Keough on her Emmy-nommed role in “Daisy Jones & the Six.” Currently, Vetro is coaching Jeremy Allen White for his Bruce Springsteen “Nebraska”-era biopic “Deliver Me from Nowhere” and, beyond that, Kj Apa as Sublime singer Bradley Nowell in a still-unnamed film.

Katharine Hepburn is one of the most well-loved and celebrated actors of all time, both by fans and critics, and her long list of Oscars awards and nominations is proof of this fact. Hepburn was known for her vivacious personality both on and off-screen, as she often played very strong and independent women. This personality made her an icon, and it helped her to continue to push the boundaries in her career. It is no wonder that Katharine Hepburn's movies led her to become one of the most awarded performers.

Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1907, and she began acting in 1928 after becoming interested in acting during college. She began her career in the theater before transitioning to Hollywood, where she found greater success with her first film, A Bill of Divorcement. Hepburn's acting career spanned seven decades, and she starred in some of the most well-known movies from the golden age of Hollywood,...

Casting was announced for Broadway’s upcoming Just in Time starring Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin, with the Merrily We Roll Along Tony winner to be joined on stage in the new musical by Joe Barbara (A Bronx Tale The Musical), Michele Pawk (Wicked), Lance Roberts (The Music Man), Caesar Samayoa (Come From Away), Christine Cornish, Julia Grondin (Funny Girl), Valeria Yamin (Moulin Rouge!), John Treacy Egan (My Fair Lady), Tari Kelly (Mr. Saturday Night), Matt Magnusson, Khori Michelle Petinaud (Lempicka), and Larkin Reilly (Bad Cinderella).

Producers Tom Kirdahy, Robert Ahrens and John Frost announced the casting today. With a book by Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver, music supervision and arrangements by Andrew Resnick, choreography by Shannon Lewis and based on an original concept by Ted Chapin, Just In Time, developed and directed by Alex Timbers, will open Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre,...

Eight years before Barbra Streisand appeared in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, she dazzled audiences in William Wyler’s Funny Girl with an awe-inspiring performance of intense vulnerability and carefully modulated broad humor that announced to the world that she was, much like her character, Fanny Brice, born to be a star. Released in 1968, several years after the death knell of the classic musical had been rung, Funny Girl endures—unlike other bloated, big budget musicals of the era like Camelot, Hello Dolly!, and Oliver!—precisely because of the strength of Streisand’s magnetic performance.

Whether flailing around on roller skates across the stage or triumphantly belting out “Don’t Rain on My Parade” as she recklessly flees her starring gig at the Ziegfeld Follies to meet her lover, Nick (Omar Sharif), Streisand’s Fanny is a woman possessed with ungodly charisma and talent. It was Brice’s singularly sly,...

In the near-century history of the Oscars, there have only been three occasions where an actress has won the Best Actress award for portraying historical queens. Movies where a female monarch from history is put front-and-center have been a popular avenue explored again and again by Hollywood for decades.

Over the years, Hollywood films retold the stories of Catherine the Great, Cleopatra, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Victoria, and more numerous times. And though this is a trend that the industry has yet to abandon, the list of actresses to receive the highest honor for that performance is considerably short. Interestingly, there have only been three times in Oscar history that an actress has won the Best Actress award for portraying a famous queen.

Katharine Hepburn Won An Oscar In 1968 For Portraying Eleanor Of Aquitaine Katharine Hepburn Starred In The Lion In Winter

In one of the best movies of her career,...

[Editor’s note: For this article, The Hollywood Reporter only looked at the shortest and longest screen times in the lead acting categories. Best supporting actor and actress were not included.]

Longest Screen Times Vivien Leigh, Gone With the Wind (1939)

Movie Length 3 hrs 58 mins

Time Onscreen 2 hrs 23 mins

Percent of Run Time 60 Percent

Vivien Leigh holds the record for the longest performance to win an Oscar, though the work took a deep physical and mental toll on her. The film itself is also the longest to win best picture. At the 12th Academy Awards, Victor Fleming’s Gone With the Wind also won best supporting actress for Hattie McDaniel, who became the first African American to win an Oscar. Leigh was nominated alongside Bette Davis (Dark Victory), Irene Dunne (Love Affair), Greta Garbo (Ninotchka) and Greer Garson (Goodbye, Mr. Chips).

Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur (1959)

Movie Length 3 hrs 32 mins

Time Onscreen 2 hrs 1 min

Percent of Run Time 57.1 Percent...

As of recent years, there has been a correlation with musical performances being recognized in the Best Supporting Actress category at the Oscars, with eight nominated since 2002, and half emerging victorious. This year, we have potentially three actresses from two movie musicals competing for the five slots: Ariana Grande for Universal Pictures’ “Wicked,” and Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez for Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez.” Let’s take a look back at the many scenarios where song-and-dance performers were cited for Best Supporting Actress and what that could mean for this year’s contenders.

There have been a myriad of supporting actresses recognized for film musicals at the Oscars predominantly during the inception of the genre, which include Jean Hagen for “Singin’ In The Rain” (1952), Peggy Wood for “The Sound of Music” (1965), and Kay Medford for “Funny Girl” (1968). But the first victory came for Rita Moreno for “West Side Story” (1961), who...

Physical media culture is alive and thriving thanks to the home video tastemakers hailing everywhere from The Criterion Collection to Kino Lorber and the Warner Archive Collection. Each month, IndieWire highlights the best recent and upcoming Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K releases for cinephiles to own now — and to bring ballast and permanence to your moviegoing at a time when streaming windows on classic movies close just as soon as they open.

New in November are cult classics getting a proper home video life for the first time, including Christina Hornisher’s 1974 exploitation classic “Hollywood 90028,” about a cinematographer whose Tinseltown alienation leads him to commit a murder. Our Jim Hemphill deemed it “one of the greatest films ever made about how truly brutal Hollywood’s dream factory can be on those whose dreams don’t come true.”

Meanwhile, and we’re cheating a bit, a Vinegar Syndrome 4K Uhd of...

In Cult Of Criterion, The A.V. Club highlights a new release from The Criterion Collection each month, examining the films entering an increasingly accessible film canon.

Funny Girl might sound a bit conventional to focus on for a series that has “cult” in its title, but compared to the rest...

Cyndi Lauper has never been the type who does things the quiet way. Forty years after she blew up into an Eighties pop icon, she’s still making a great big noise. Lauper just began her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, rocking arenas around North America up to December, going out in style with opening acts including Aly and Aj, Amanda Shires, Elle King, Tones and I, Gayle, and Trixie Mattel. It’s a celebration of her eccentric musical journey, going back to her revolutionary feminist new wave manifesto She’s So Unusual,...

When Billy Crystal regularly hosted the Academy Awards, he liked to begin the show with a montage where he was inserted into the nominated films. The 2000 opening leaned more on Hollywood history, with Crystal appearing in vintage films like The Graduate and Psycho. There were still jokes about that year’s movies, though, like when a Charlie Chaplin homage included a title card where Crystal quoted the most famous line from The Sixth Sense: “I see dead people.” Crystal later had some more fun with the M. Night Shyamalan sensation with a song parody,...

Mimi Hines, the Canadian comedian and stage actress who succeeded Barbra Streisand in the Broadway production of “Funny Girl,” has died. She was 91.

Hines died of natural causes on Oct. 21 in her home in Los Vegas, according to her long-time attorney, Mark Sendroff.

Hines got her Hollywood break performing on “The Tonight Show” with her late husband Phil Ford. After she made the show’s then-host Jack Paar cry with her performance of “Till There Was You,” the pair was an instant hit. Hines and Ford went on to secure bookings on several other late-night programs and nab top billings at nightclubs around the country.

In 1965, Hines took over for Streisand in the original stage production of “Funny Girl” on Broadway, which she starred in for 18 months. Following “Funny Girl,” Hines starred in national productions of “I Do! I Do!,” “Prisoner of Second Avenue,” “Sugar Babies,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “Anything Goes,...

Mimi Hines, the delightful Canadian-born actress, singer and comedian who stepped in for Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in the original Broadway production of Funny Girl, has died. She was 91.

Hines died Monday of natural causes at her home in Las Vegas, her friend and attorney Mark Sendroff told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hines was married to late actor-comic Phil Ford from 1954 until their 1972 divorce, and as “Ford and Hines,” they had a thriving nightclub act that was featured on variety/talk programs like Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show.

In her Broadway debut, Hines starred in Funny Girl from December 1965 through its final performance in July 1967. When she got the gig, she told The New York Times — who described her as a “mischievous sprite” — that she was not nervous.

“It’s always easier to follow a good actress than a bad one,” she said. “Miss Streisand is wonderful. [And] there is...

Mimi Hines, who along with her comedy and musical partner (and husband) Phil Ford was a staple of late-night talk shows and variety shows of the 1960s before making a name for herself on Broadway as the replacement for Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, died peacefully of natural causes on Monday, October 21, at her home in Las Vegas. She was 91.

Her death was announced by her longtime attorney Mark Sendroff.

Born July 17, 1933, in Canada, the singer and comedian Hines met Ford in 1952 at the Last Chance Saloon in Anchorage, Ak, and began performing as a duo. They were invited to appear on The Tonight Show on August 28, 1958, where Hines’ performed of the Meredith Willson song “Till There Was You.” Legend has it that the performance brought host Jack Paar to tears, and soon the duo Ford and Hines were an in-demand booking, with appearances on The Garry Moore Show, The Hollywood Palace,...

Diana Baffa-Brill, a dancer and choreographer who assisted the legendary Mame choreographer Onna White and later re-staged scores of productions of that classic musical, died in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 13, following a long illness. She was 81.

Her death was announced by her family.

With television appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show as part of the Bob DeVoy Trio and on The Jackie Gleason Show as a June Taylor Dancer, Baffa-Brill made her Broadway debut at 18 in 1961 (as Diana Baffa) in 13 Daughters, returning to Broadway in Do I Hear a Waltz? and La Grosse Valise (both 1965).

The following year would bring her longest-lasting association, when in 1966 she became both a performer and the dance captain in Broadway’s Mame starring Angela Lansbury, choreographed by White.

Seventeen years later, in 1983, she would return to Broadway with Lansbury in a Mame revival, this time serving to recreate White’s original choreography.

Jonathan Groff is hilariously reacting to the rumors that his best friend Lea Michele doesn’t know how to read.

The Tony-winning actor appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the Tactful Pettiness podcast with hosts Cody Rigsby and Andrew Chappelle. They decided to ask him if they rumors about Lea being illiterate are true or not!

Keep reading to find out more…

“I have seen her read! Oh my god, do you really think she can’t read? How does that even get started?!” Jonathan replied.

The hosts then asked if Jonathan had seen Lea reading music off the music stand in rehearsals and he replied, “That’s a great example. No, she did not come in off book!”

“Oh my god, that’s so funny. Let it be known. We’re dispelling the rumor. That’s so funny,” he added.

Lea got in on the joke...

For Richard Kind, joining “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4 in the role of West Tower resident Vince Fish didn’t take too much convincing.

“They offered it to me. They said, ‘We’ll give you money if you play the part.’ I said, ‘Good, that’s good enough for me’,” the veteran actor of TV, film and theater told TheWrap in an interview when asked what drew him to the role. “If a show that’s produced by Dan Fogelman and John Hoffman, starring Marty Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez says they want you to work with them. You drop everything and you do it. I don’t care if they had me on the toilet reading the Yellow Pages. You do it. I am drawn to these creative people and I trust them because their talent cannot be contained to a page. They’re just spectacular.”

Kind...

Ready for a cozy, romantic comedy series? “Nobody Wants This” may be the warm blanket you asked for.

The Netflix series created by Erin Foster follows the unlikely love story between an outspoken, sex podcaster (Kristen Bell) and an upstanding Rabbi (Adam Brody).

Bell and Brody’s tangible chemistry drives the 10-episode rom-com home, making you wish you had more to binge. Breakout sibling performances from Justine Lupe (“Succession”) and Timothy Simons (“Veep”) round out the cast of this lighthearted, will-they-won’t-they romance.

Keep reading for a complete guide to the “Nobody Wants This” cast.

Kristen Bell as Joanne in episode 101 of “Nobody Wants This.” (Credit: Hopper Stone/Netflix) Kristen Bell as Joanne

Joanne is an outspoken sex podcaster, who doesn’t believe in God. She gets taken by surprise when she’s seated next to a Rabbi (Brody) at a dinner party, who starts to change her mind. Their unlikely love story begins there.

Barbra Streisand’s life and legacy is being captured on the big screen like never before.

Frank Marshall, a fellow Egot winner like Streisand, is set to direct a documentary about the “A Star Is Born” and “Funny Girl” icon. The yet-untitled feature will include never-before-seen videos, audio recordings, and personal keepsakes from Streisand’s archives.

Alex Gibney (“In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon”) is producing, with the film hailing from Sony Music Vision in partnership with Columbia Records, Jigsaw Productions, and The Kennedy/Marshall Company.

The official description reads: “Utilizing this treasure trove of archival materials alongside contemporary verité, the documentary will provide an in depth look of Streisand’s star studded past and her current artistic endeavors.” The film will also “offer an intimate and comprehensive exploration of every facet of the iconic multi-hyphenate who, in a career spanning six decades, has excelled in every area of entertainment.

Barbra Streisand is getting into the music documentary game.

The singer, actress, director, producer and Egot winner has started production on a multipart documentary about her life and career directed by Frank Marshall and produced by Alex Gibney, the project’s creative team announced Thursday. The project aims to be an “intimate and comprehensive exploration of every facet of the iconic multi-hyphenate” with access to the Streisand’s own archival materials as well as footage of her work on current projects, the announcement stated.

The film will follow Streisand from her Brooklyn upbringing through her early career in New York nightclubs and acclaimed performance in the original Broadway musical Funny Girl, which later was adapted into the 1968 William Wyler film starring Streisand. Following her Oscar-winning turn as Fanny Brice in that film, Streisand starred in Hello, Dolly!, The Owl and the Pussycat, What’s Up, Doc? and A Star Is Born...

Move over Natalie Portman — there’s a new “Swan” coming to movie theaters this November.

The Paris Opera’s production of “Swan Lake” will come to movie theaters across the world on November 10 — but will screen in IMAX theaters November 8, because this is the first ballet ever filmed for IMAX.

The goal is to bring audiences as close to the dancers as possible as they navigate the classic ballet (this production uses the Rudolf Nureyev choreography). According to press notes, filming took four days, including two days without an audience, allowing the cameras to join the dancers onstage at the Paris Opera in an additional pas de deux. And for true balletomanes, this “Swan Lake” also uses next-generation IMAX precision sound.

Directed by Isabelle Julien, the “Swan Lake” cast includes Sae Eun Park as Odette/Odile, Paul Marque as Prince Siegfried, Pablo Legasa as Rothbart, and Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.

Gemma Arterton returns as ambitious comedienne Sophie Straw in the second season of Funny Woman. Adapted from Nick Hornby’s novel Funny Girl, the new season follows Sophie as she navigates the challenges of fame and the gender biases of 1960s Britain.

When we first met Sophie in season one, she had just made the journey from her hometown of Blackpool to London, hoping to break into comedy alongside her idol Lucille Ball. Through pluck and talent, she managed to find success but also glimpsed the prejudice facing women in the industry. Now, Sophie has become a star, with her groundbreaking sitcom Barbara and Jim a hit on the BBC. But this new season shows she still has battles ahead in her quest to make comedy truly equal.

Sophie aims to use her growing influence to lift up other female comics and take on problematic attitudes in both her work and the world around her.

More than 50 years later, Glenn Close is recalling the piece of wisdom from a screen legend that got her interested in acting.

The Academy Award nominee recently described her “huge respect” for Katharine Hepburn and revealed how the late actress inspired her to take up the profession while she was attending Virginia’s College of William & Mary.

“The thing I’ve always loved about Hepburn is she seemed to really know who she was,” Close recently told People.

She recalled seeing Hepburn appear on an The Dick Cavett Show in 1973 while painting scenery for her school’s theater.

“I remember she said, ‘No regrets, no regrets.’ Fabulous,” she recounted. “She was so phenomenal, so herself. So the next day I went to the head of the [theater] department and I said, ‘Please nominate me for a series of auditions.’ And from that, I got my first job that fall.

Katharine Hepburn...

The Criterion Collection, known for releasing classic and influential films in high quality formats, has revealed several new movie titles coming in November 2024. The lineup showcases a diverse range of films from different eras and genres. Notable releases include upgraded versions of two iconic Japanese films from the 1950s as well as Oscar-winning American movies. Art house releases sitting lesser-known but important works are also part of the fall slate.

Leading the list are new 4K transfers of Akira Kurosawa’s epic “Seven Samurai” from 1954 and Ishirō Honda’s original “Godzilla” movie. These films helped establish their genres and are considered highly influential internationally. For the first time, “Godzilla” will be a stand-alone release rather than part of a box set.

Also debuting is Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 film “Paper Moon” starring 10-year old Tatum O’Neal. Her performance opposite her father Ryan O’Neal won her an Academy Award for best supporting actress,...

Blu-ray collectors, rejoice. The Criterion Collection unveiled its November 2024 slate of releases this week, and the month looks like an embarrassment of riches for cinephiles looking to expand their physical media collections. The boutique distributor will be rolling out six new titles, several of which have long been coveted by Criterion fans: “Funny Girl,” “Paper Moon,” “Demon Pond,” and “Scarface,” along with new 4K editions of “Godzilla” and “Seven Samurai.”

William Wyler’s 1968 film adaptation of the musical “Funny Girl” marked Barbara Streisand’s big screen debut, turning the actress into one of Hollywood’s biggest stars overnight and earning her an Oscar for Best Actress on her first nomination. The film quickly became a cultural phenomenon and has remained one of the most popular (and quoted) movie musicals of all time.

Peter Bogdanovich’s “Paper Moon” is widely regarded as one of the greatest showcases for a child actor in film history.

Every month, the boutique cinephile DVD/Blu-Ray Label the Criterion Collection adds many new cineaste gems to its ever-growing closet, and November 2024 is no different. Four new titles were announced this week, and two classic releases received 4 K upgrades.

New Criterion titles include director William Wyler’s acclaimed 1968 musical “Funny Girl” starring Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif, Peter Bogdanovich’s classic black and white road comedy-drama starring Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal (the latter won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and became the youngest competitive winner in the history of the Academy Awards at that time), Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar Best-Picture winning “The Shape of Water,” with Sally Hawkins and Michael Shannon, and Howard Hawks’ classic 1932 gangster picture “Scarface,” featuring Paul Muni.

Continue reading Criterion’s November Titles Include ‘The Shape Of Water,’ ‘Paper Moon’ & More at The Playlist.

Marking perhaps their biggest 4K month yet, the Criterion Collection’s November lineup runs between some of the company’s oldest titles, flagship newer(ish) releases, and a contemporary auteur’s career peak. The inevitable (but welcome!) follow-up to Janus’ theatrical rerelease is a big upgrade for Seven Samurai, Criterion’s second-ever DVD release––hopefully this portends Grand Illusion someday soon. Likewise, Godzilla grows from format to format as if an irradiated lizard.

Two movies somehow not in the Criterion Collection despite every neuron telling me otherwise, Howard Hawks’ Scarface gets 2,160 pixels, nearly equal to the number of bullets sprayed from Tony Camonte’s Tommy gun; and Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon. Onto movies in color: William Wyler’s Funny Girl should only look dazzling in such resolution, while The Shape of Water means you now need two hands to count the number of Guillermo del Toro films given Criterion’s anointment.

The seed for In & Out, according to screenwriter Paul Rudnick, was planted during the 1994 Academy Awards when Tom Hanks, accepting the best actor Oscar for Philadelphia, thanked his high school drama teacher, who was gay. What if, Rudnick wondered, that teacher lived in a small Indiana town and wasn’t gay—or, more to the point, what if that teacher was gay and just didn’t realize it yet?

The comic tone of Frank Oz’s film recalls the 1993 episode of Seinfeld titled “The Outing,” in which Jerry is falsely labeled as gay in a college newspaper. That episode’s refrain, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that”—offered by the central characters as both a badge of liberal awareness and a declaration of their skittishness concerning the subject of gay sex—works as a comedic complement to the prestige orientation of something like Philadelphia. After all, the subject...

Hangtime International Pictures is making its first major plays since launching at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

The transatlantic production company, which was founded by Frank Murray and Frida Torresblanco, has snapped up “She Will” producer Jessica Malik as its new head of development as well as inking a strategic partnership with Rebel Park Productions, the production company Malik founded in 2017 alongside Gemma Arterton and Jessica Parker.

Malik joins Hangtime effective immediately, reporting to Murray. She will be based out of the company’s London office where she’ll oversee development of high-end, specialist and mainstream content across film, television and documentaries.

The first projects co-produced by Hangtime and Rebel Park are in advanced development and set to be announced in the near future. The partnership spans film and television.

At Rebel Park, which was launched in 2017 with the aim of boosting female filmmakers and producing female-led stories, Malik...

Left on Tenth, the new play by Delia Ephron starring Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher, will begin Broadway performances at the James Earl Jones Theatre on Thursday, September 26, with an opening night set for Wednesday, October 23.

As previously announced, the play, based on Ephron’s best-selling memoir, will be directed by Susan Stroman (The Producers) and produced by Daryl Roth. The production will also feature Peter Francis James (Funny Girl) and Kate MacCluggage (The 39 Steps).

Says Stroman in a statement, “Working on Left on Tenth has been a thrilling journey, collaborating with the incomparable Delia Ephron and bringing her story to life with the extraordinary talents of Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher. It’s an experience that seamlessly blends the magic of her storytelling with the brilliance of these actors.”

The synopsis: “Left on Tenth is a romantic comedy about second chances in life and love. When she least expects it,...