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Back in the 1950s and ’60s, actors were regularly introduced as “star of stage, screen, and television,” but these days there are precious few film or TV stars willing to take that scary leap to the stage. One who has and has been amply awarded in all three venues is Colman Domingo, who began his stage career at Joseph Papp‘s New York Shakespeare Festival and moved eventually to Broadway, where he has earned two Tony Award nominations, for acting and producing.

Domingo then turned to television, guesting on multiple Law and Order episodes — a must for any New York actor’s résumé. Domingo then landed a successful series gig, with a seven-season stint on Fear the Walking Dead, which led to HBO’s hit Euphoria, for which he earned a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award as a guest actor.

SEE20 of your favorite TV stars seeking Oscar gold in 2025: Mikey Madison,...

Back in the 1950s and ’60s, it was common for an actor to be introduced as “star of stage, screen, and television!”, but these days, it can be said only rarely. Certainly, movie actors often alternate between TV and film, but precious few big stars are willing to take that scary leap to the stage. One who has and has been amply awarded in all three media is Colman Domingo, who began his stage career at Joseph Papp‘s New York Shakespeare Festival and moved eventually to Broadway where he has earned two Tony Award nominations, for acting and producing.

Domingo then turned to television, and like any Broadway actor, guest shots on multiple Law and Order episodes followed — a must for any New York actor’s resumé. Luckily, Domingo then landed a successful series gig, with a seven-season stint on Fear the Walking Dead, which then led to HBO’s hit,...

Denzel Washington is one of our most accomplished actors who has worked alongside other legendary A-listers, but, sadly, we missed out on seeing him reunite with one of them, Morgan Freeman, when he turned down Se7en in the '90s. Denzel Washington has earned his title in Hollywood as one of the best actors of his generation. Over four decades, Washington has shown his incredible range as an actor, and Denzel Washington's upcoming movies will be just as powerful. Still, even he has had some missed opportunities over the years.

A prominent project Washington turned down was David Fincher's 1995 classic thriller Se7en, which followed two detectives hunting a serial killer who commits murders based on the seven deadly sins. Washington ultimately declined because he thought the script was too dark and demonic. Although he later regretted his decision, 1995 was still an eventful year for Washington, with three films released: Crimson Tide,...

Denzel Washington is paying homage to the late actor James Earl Jones, who died this week at 93.

“He’s my hero,” Washington tells Variety. “My college theater career started because of ‘The Emperor Jones’ and ‘Othello’ with James Earl Jones.”

Jones starred in the stage adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s play “The Emperor Jones” in 1971 and played the titular “Othello” in Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival and later Off-Broadway production in 1964.

A larger-than-life titan in film, TV, and theater, Jones was most recognizable for his unmistakable baritone voice, which he used to portray the villainous Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” franchise and King Mufasa in the animated classic “The Lion King.”

Washington continues, “I wasn’t going to be as big as him. I wanted to sound like him. He was everything to me as a budding actor. He was who I wanted to be.”

In a 1998 interview,...

Hollywood is in mourning today as the iconic actor, James Earl Jones has passed away at the age of 93.

The actor with the most recognisable baritone rumbling voice had a career that spanned over 60 years. Making his debut on Broadway in 1958 at the Cort Theatre — renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in 2022, Jones went on to become best known for his role as Darth Vader in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. He also reprised his voice role of King Mufasa in Disney’s animated feature ‘The Lion King.’ Most recently, he revisited his role 2021’s ‘Coming 2 America.’ Reprising his role as King Jaffe Joffer from the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy ‘Coming to America.’

Also in news – Pinch of salt time – ‘The Goonies’ sequel finally greenlit?

Throughout his long list of 80 film credits, Jones’ notable movies include as a B-52 bombardier in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 Cold War satire ‘Dr. Strangelove’ in which...

James Earl Jones, the prolific film, TV and theater actor whose resonant, unmistakable baritone was most widely known as the voice of “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader, died Monday morning at his home in Dutchess County, N.Y., his rep confirmed to Variety. He was 93.

After overcoming a profound stutter as a child, Jones established himself as one of the pioneering Black actors of his generation, amassing a bountiful and versatile career spanning over 60 years, from his debut on Broadway in 1958 at the Cort Theatre — renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in 2022 — to his most recent performance in 2021’s “Coming 2 America.” For that film, Jones reprised his role as King Jaffe Joffer from the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy “Coming to America” — one of several roles, along with Darth Vader, that Jones revisited, including the voice of King Mufasa in Disney’s animated feature “The Lion King” in 1994, the 1998 direct-to-video sequel and the 2019 remake,...

Francis Ford Coppola has done well at Cannes, winning the Palme d’Or twice, for “The Conversation” (1974) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979), another film mired in controversy during production that sailed into release as a critical and box office success ($85 million worldwide), nominated for eight Oscars and winning two. Now the winemaker is back in Cannes with controversial “Megalopolis,” a 2 hour, 18 minute movie which he debuted at a gala premiere Thursday night to the usual sustained standing ovation (measured between seven and 10 minutes). There were a few boos at the press screening. He had dreamed of making the overstuffed extravaganza for 40 years since he wrote early versions of it in the ‘80s, but finally spent $120 million of his own money to produce and direct it.

Coppola faced drama on the set. He replaced VFX and art department members over clashes in filmmaking methods. Adam Driver, who plays a Robert Moses-style builder who...

Ron Thompson, the unheralded actor who starred on Broadway for Charles Gordone in the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Place to Be Somebody and played father and son musicians for Ralph Bakshi in the animated cult classic American Pop, has died. He was 83.

Filmmaker Joe Black told The Hollywood Reporter that he found Thompson in his Van Nuys apartment on Saturday afternoon. The two had worked together in eight features, including Hate Horses (2017), Chicks, Man (2018) and Suffrage (2023), and Black visited him a couple times a week to help him out.

“For a man of his age, he was so full of life, he had such a presence,” Black said. He called Thompson “the Sam Jackson to my Tarantino.”

In 1969, Thompson originated off-Broadway the role of Shanty Mulligan in the Joseph Papp-produced No Place to Be Somebody, starring Ron O’Neal, then accompanied the drama to Broadway and on a tour around the country.

Ellen Holly, the first Black actor to have a leading role on a daytime soap opera, died peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. She was 92.

Photo by Ashley E. Jones

Holly joined ABC’s One Life to Live in 1968, in the role of Carla Benari, an actress of seemingly Italian heritage who found romance with Jim Craig, a white doctor (played by Robert Milli and then Nat Polen). It eventually came out that Carla Benari was actually Carla Gray, an African-American passing as white –and the daughter of Llanview Hospital housekeeping boss Sadie Gray...

Ellen Holly, whose long-running turn as Carla on ABC’s One Life to Live made her the first Black actress to gain stardom on a daytime soap opera, has died. She was 92.

Holly died in her sleep Wednesday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, publicist Cheryl L. Duncan announced.

A member of The Actors Studio who did Shakespeare for Joseph Papp and was mentored by the same woman who discovered Julie Harris and Kim Stanley, Holly appeared four times on Broadway, beginning with her acclaimed performance in 1956 as the female lead in Too Late the Phalarope.

She appeared in a handful of films as well, from Take a Giant Step (1959), starring Johnny Nash, Estelle Hemsley and Ruby Dee, to School Daze (1988), directed by Spike Lee.

Holly, however, did not work as often as her talents suggested she should have, because as a light-skinned African American, she had difficulty being hired...

Tonya Pinkins and Francois Battiste are among the cast announced today for the Public Theater’s upcoming production of A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s classic drama to be directed by Robert O’Hara (Tony nominated for his direction of Slave Play).

The production, which marks a Public Theater debut for Hansberry, reunites O’Hara with some of his cast from a 2019 Raisin In The Sun staging at the Williamstown Theater Festival, including Battiste, who will play Walter Lee Younger, and Mandi Masden, as Ruth Younger. Pinkins, a Tony winner for Jelly’s Last Jam, will play Walter Lee’s mother Lena Younger (played by S. Epatha Merkerson in the Williamstown staging).

The play begins performances at the Public’s Newman Theater Off Broadway with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The engagement officially opens on Wednesday, Oct. 19 and runs through Sunday,...

Today on Crew Call we talk with Jeff Goldblum, who’s up for his third career Emmy nomination this year for the second season of National Geographic and Disney+’s The World According to Jeff Goldblum which follows the actor across the nation as he muses on various human fascinations, i.e. magic, dogs, dance, fireworks, the list goes on. The World According to Jeff Goldblum is up for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special.

You can listen to our conversation below:

Sharing in his awe of life on the show are sundry folk from all walks of life. We see the Jurassic Park franchise actor gab it up, and in various instances, live life to the fullest by partaking in a stunt, i.e. walking on hot coals.

Goldblum calls the NatGeo execs who pitched him on the series “smart and generous” and said to them, “I’m not...

Click here to read the full article.

Mary Alice, the Tony- and Emmy-winning actress who starred in the original Broadway production of Fences, portrayed the mother of three singing daughters in Sparkle and appeared as The Oracle in The Matrix Revolutions, has died. She was 85.

Alice died Wednesday in her Manhattan apartment, an NYPD spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.

In 1990 films, Alice played Nurse Margaret opposite Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall; the family matriarch dealing with a disruptive guest (Danny Glover) in Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger; and a woman whose son was struck by a car in the South Bronx in Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities.

The onetime Chicago schoolteacher received back-to-back Emmy nominations in 1992 and ’93 — winning in the second year — for her supporting turn as Marguerite Peck, whose child is murdered, on the Atlanta-set NBC legal drama I’ll Fly Away,...

Click here to read the full article.

Taurean Blacque, who portrayed the streetwise Det. Neal Washington on all seven seasons of the acclaimed NBC cop show Hill Street Blues, died Thursday in Atlanta following a brief illness, his family announced. He was 82.

From 1989-90, Blacque played Henry Marshall opposite Vivica A. Fox and others as an original castmember on the NBC daytime soap opera Generations, the first serial to include — from the start — a Black family as part of the main storyline. His character owned ice cream parlors in Chicago.

In 1982, Blacque received a supporting actor Emmy nomination for his work as the toothpick-dependent Washington on Hill Street but lost out to co-star Michael Conrad. Amazingly, the other three nominees — Charles Haid, Michael Warren and Bruce Weitz — also came from the 1981-87 series, created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll.

Bochco and producer-director Gregory Hoblit chose Blacque to say “Previously...

James Rado, who along with his friend and writing partner Gerome Ragni created Broadway’s seminal Age of Aquarius musical Hair, died peacefully Tuesday evening of cardio respiratory arrest in New York City, surrounded by family. He was 90.

His death was announced by his longtime friend, publicist Merle Frimark.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Rado and Ragni, who died in 1991, wrote the book and lyrics to the landmark musical (full title: Hair – The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical), with music composed by Galt MacDermot, who died in 2018. In addition to its hugely influential insertion of a ’60s counterculture sensibility into Broadway’s mainstream, the musical contributed a score of songs that would become radio hits (often in cover versions) and stage musical standards: “Aquarius,” “Let The Sunshine In,” “Hair,” “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Easy To Be Hard,” among others.

In addition to co-creating the musical,...

When powerhouse vocalist-actor Meat Loaf eulogized composer-producer Jim Steinman last April in Rolling Stone, the singer – who died Thursday at age 74 – said of his “Bat Out of Hell” partner, “We belonged heart and soul to each other. We didn’t know each other. We were each other.”

Meat Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday) could not have stated the obvious better, as each man’s operatic, oversized talents were only matched by their level of grand theatricality, with thundering melodicism and melodramatic lyricism at the top of the list of their skill sets.

The best Meat Loaf songs – even those without Steinman’s tower-toppling compositions – come on in an epic, adrenalized rush. Even when singing a power ballad, Meat Loaf was loud and brazenly and heartbrokenly emotive. Here are some of the most dramatic and impactful of Meal Loaf’s musical moments:

Stoney & Meatloaf, “What You See is What You Get...

Theater, film and television writer-director Robert Allan Ackerman died Jan. 10. He was 77.

Nominated twice for Golden Globes and five times for Emmys, Ackerman also received numerous theater directing awards.

Ackerman started out directing at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre. In the 1980s his theater productions included Martin Sherman’s Tony nominated “Bent,” starring Richard Gere and David Dukes; John Byrne’s “Slab Boys,” starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Val Kilmer and William Mastrosimone’s “Extremities” starring Susan Sarandon. He went on to direct Peter Allen in “Legs Diamond” and Al Pacino in Oscar Wilde’s “Salome.”

When reached for comment, Al Pacino said, “I love Bob. I loved being around him, his aurora, his steady peace. To work with him was joyous. He understood the language of theater art and communicated it with such ease. His gift was intangible and there’s no way of understanding how he created.

Robert Downey Sr., director of the countercultural satire “Putney Swope” and the father of actor Robert Downey Jr., died Wednesday in New York. He was 85.

Downey Jr. posted about his father on Instagram, writing “Last night, dad passed peacefully in his sleep after years of enduring the ravages of Parkinson’s…he was a true maverick filmmaker.”

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Downey Sr. also acted, and directed several other films that gained a cult following. But 1969’s “Putney Swope” was given a mainstream release and thus exposed his work to a wider audience, which was shocked (even appalled) by much of what they saw at the time. The devastating satire of Madison Avenue follows what happens when an African American activist is given a free hand at an ad agency.

“Putney Swope” made New York Magazine’s list of 10 top films of the year.

Clarence Williams III, an actor known for portraying Linc Hayes on “The Mod Squad” and Prince’s father in “Purple Rain,” died on June 4. He was 81.

Williams’ management confirmed his death to Variety, citing the cause as colon cancer.

Williams broke through in 1968 as one of the stars of the counterculture cop show “The Mod Squad,” also starring then-unknown actors Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole. He was a mainstay of the series until its end in 1973, and went on to have a career in film, television and theater spanning four decades.

Williams portrayed Prince’s father in 1984’s “Purple Rain” and had a recurring role as FBI Agent Roger Hardy on beloved TV show “Twin Peaks.” He also had a long-running collaboration with director John Frankenheimer, playing Bobby Shy in 1986’s “52 Pick-Up,” Chaka in 1994’s “Against the Wall,” Archie in the 1997 TV movie “George Wallace” and Merlin in 2000’s “Reindeer Games.

James Earl Jones, who turns 90 on Jan. 17, has one of the most famous voices of all time — not just as Darth Vader and Mufasa, but as the voice of CNN and hundreds of other programs. But the distinguished actor and narrator almost didn’t find his voice at all.

Born in Mississippi, Jones went to live with his grandparents in Michigan at the age of 5. The disorienting move left him nearly speechless for years, due to severe stuttering. Finally in high school, a teacher helped him discover his powerful bass through reading poetry — kicking off one of the great oratorical careers of all time.

After moving to New York to study at the American Theatre Wing, one of his first mentions in Variety came in the review of the 1957 play “The Congo” from New York’s Equity Library Theater company. “James Earl Jones plays the preacher. He has a good voice,...

Elsa Raven, a character actress whose memorable turns were highlighted by her role as the “Save The Clock Tower” lady in the original Back to the Future, died Tuesday at home in Los Angeles. Her death was confirmed by her agent, David Shaul.

Raven, whose real name was Elsa Rabinowitz, was born September 21, 1929, in Charleston, Sc, the fourth child of Louis and Rosalie Rabinowitz. She started her acting career on stage in New York City, where she also assisted Joseph Papp in bringing the Free Shakespeare Festival to Central Park.

Her career included many character actress roles. Beyond Back to the Future, she also played the realtor who sold the house in The Amityville Horror, John Malkovich’s landlady in In the Line of Fire, Gertrude Stein in The Moderns and the mother who lost her son in Fearless.

Ming Cho Lee, an innovative and influential scenic designer whose career of more than 60 years included unforgettable creations for Broadway, Off Broadway, regional theater, opera and dance, died Oct. 23. He was 90.

A cornerstone of the Yale School of Drama for 48 years beginning in 1969, Lee taught and mentored generations of students who would take their own places on Broadway. According to the school, Lee taught and mentored more than 300 designers by the time he retired in 2017.

Clint Ramos, a Tony-winning costume and set designer, remembered Lee by noting, “Because you were — we are.”

Jeremy O. Harris, author of Broadway’s Slave Play, tweeted about Lee, “one of the great gifts of my 3 years at Yale was watching you do Saturday crits at a full 88 years of age. Even after seeing 100s of thousands of design ideas in your life you treated these new ones with passion and reverence for the form.

Joel Grey approached Larry Kramer after seeing a preview performance of “The Normal Heart” at New York’s Public Theater in 1985.

“I was devastated and said to him, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if anything changes in the future or if there’s another production, please call me,’” Grey recalled in an interview on Wednesday shortly after learning about the writer and AIDS activist’s death.

About two days later, producer Joseph Papp called Grey and asked him if he wanted to join the show. It was bittersweet because he would be replacing Brad Davis, who had become too sick with AIDS-related illnesses to continue, as Ned.

Friends suggested that Grey seek a doctor’s advice about taking the job because it involved kissing other men. “Someone said you better call UCLA and ask a doctor there if you are putting yourself in harm’s way.

Film, television, and stage actor Jerry Stiller died of natural causes, as according to his son Ben Stiller. He was 92.

“I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes,” Ben announced on Twitter. “He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.”

Stiller is known for his TV roles as Frank Costanza on Seinfeld and Arthur Spooner on The King of Queens, and multiple films including, The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three, John Waters’ Hairspray, his son’s Zoolander, and Richard Lester’s adaptation of Terrence McNally’s play, The Ritz, which Jerry also acted in on Broadway.

But he might be best remembered for being part of the comedy team Stiller & Meara, which he performed with his wife, Anne Meara. The pair met in 1953 at a New York casting call,...

Val Kilmer crafted the persona of a serious, brooding (often labeled “difficult”) actor in such films as “Heat” and “Tombstone,” so it’s interesting to remember that his film debut was in the goofy spy spoof “Top Secret!” in 1984, followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. Kilmer would go on to show his comedy chops in films including “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” but there has long been an air of mystery around him, perhaps because he hasn’t been giving big interviews lately. That makes the publication of his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry,” all the more cause for celebration. In his autobiography, from Simon & Schuster, Kilmer is brutally frank about his career, his loves and battle with throat cancer.

Early Years, Famous Faces

Kilmer spent his formative years in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles, which feels much further from Hollywood than distance would suggest. “We...

Bernard Gersten, a pioneering force in New York City’s nonprofit theater movement, died today at his home in Manhattan of pancreatic cancer. He was 97.

His death was announced by daughter Jenny Gersten.

“Lincoln Center Theater mourns our cherished Bernard Gersten who died this morning peacefully in his sleep at the astounding age of 97,” the theater company said in a statement. “Bernie’s intelligence, innate sense of goodness, bravery, wisdom, generosity, elegance and wit, and most important, deep knowledge and love of the theater, made him a giant in our...

Tony Sokol Jan 28, 2020

National Lampoon finds corporate sponsors for its Downfall Festival in Lemmings: 21st Century.

National Lampoon flayed the peace and love generation when a million Lemmings showed up to off themselves at a free concert. The National Lampoon franchise, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, will send a new wave over the cliff. The iconic comedy brand is rebooting their legendary Off-Broadway Show with Lemmings: 21st Century.

Lemmings was a take-off of Woodstock, promising three days of peace, love and death. John Belushi was the master of ceremonies, bassist, and suicidal cheerleader for the “Woodshuck" festival. The new original musical picks up where the original left off by spoofing the corporate festival culture which has taken over musical gatherings ever since. Lemmings: 21st Century takes on modern Millennial fests like Coachella, Burning Man, Bonnaroo, and Fyre. Their fictional music gathering is called the "Downfall Festival," and it is...

The Public Theater Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis Executive Director, Patrick Willingham announced complete casting today for the New York premiere of The Vagrant Trilogy, a Public Theater commission, written by Emerging Writers Group Alumna Mona Mansour. Directed by Mark Wing-Davey, The Vagrant Trilogy begins performances in the LuEsther Hall on Tuesday, March 17 with a Joseph Papp Free Preview performance, and will run through Sunday, April 26 with an official press opening on Wednesday, April 1.

The Public Theater Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis Executive Director, Patrick Willingham announced complete casting today for the world premiere of the new playCOAL Country, written byJessica BlankandErik Jensenwith original music bySteve Earle.Directed byJessica Blank, this riveting new work will begin performances in the Anspacher Theater with a Joseph Papp Free Preview performance on Tuesday, February 18.Coal COUNTRYwill run through Sunday, March 29, with an official press opening on Tuesday, March 3.

Robert “Bob” Ullman, a longtime Broadway and Off Broadway press agent whose career spanned Ethel Merman, A Chorus Line, Curse of the Starving Class and many others, died of cardiac arrest on July 31 in Bayshore, Long Island, New York. He was 97.

His death was announced by longtime friend (and former Broadway press agent) Rev. Joshua Ellis.

Among the many Broadway productions on which Ullman worked were Ethel Merman and Mary Martin: Together on Broadway, A Chorus Line (from workshop to Public Theater to Broadway), Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Visit, Lauren Bacall in Cactus Flower, The Dining Room, Driving Miss Daisy, Sunday in the Park with George, and over 150 additional Broadway and off-Broadway plays and musicals.

Actors and theater greats with whom Ullman worked include Tallulah Bankhead, Luise Rainer, James Dean, Dame Edith Evans, Geraldine Page, Phil Silvers, Bert Lahr, Rosemary Harris, James Earl Jones, Sam Waterston, Colleen Dewhurst,...

Since 1962, over five million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte Theater. Conceived by founder Joseph Papp as a way to make great theater accessible to all, The Public's Free Shakespeare in the Park continues to be the bedrock of the Company's mission to increase access and engage the community.

The Public Theater Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis Executive Director, Patrick Willingham announced complete casting today for the world premiere ofSOCRATES, written by acclaimed actor, director, and writerTim Blake Nelson. Directed by Tony Award winnerDoug Hughesand anchoring theOnassis Festival 2019 Democracy is Coming,SOCRATESwill begin previews on Tuesday, April 2, with a Joseph Papp Free Preview performance on Wednesday, April 3 in The Public's Martinson Hall. This powerful new play runs through Sunday, May 19, with an official press opening on Tuesday, April 16.

The Public Theater Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis Executive Director, Patrick Willingham announced the line-up today for the 2019 Free Shakespeare in the Park season, continuing a 57-year tradition of free theater in Central Park. Since 1962, over five million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte Theater. Conceived by founder Joseph Papp as a way to make great theater accessible to all, The Public's Free Shakespeare in the Park continues to be the bedrock of the Company's mission to increase access and engage the community.

After years of planning, the Anthology Film Archives first opened its doors in New York City towards the end of 1970. That opening came with great interest and fascination of how the world’s first “museum of film” was going to operate like no other theater before it.

Articles on the Anthology’s grand opening ran in both the New York Times and New York magazine in late November. Plus, the Anthology itself ran a full page ad in the Times with the screening calendar of its first four days. Through that printed material, those early days can be pretty well reconstructed.

The Anthology itself says that it opened its doors on November 30, 1970; but, according to an article in the Times the previous day by film critic Vincent Canby, that opening was an invitation-only event at which work by George Méliès, Joseph Cornell, Jerome Hill and Harry Smith was screened. Jonas Mekas...

NBC has set the counterculture classic Hair Live! as its live musical presentation next spring. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who have executive produced all of the network’s live musicals since The Sound of Music revived the genre in 2013, will do so again.

Hair Live! will be produced by Universal Television, MGM Television, and Zadan/Meron Productions. NBC has not officially ended its holiday musical tradition, though the network shifted its live musical events to spring for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 season. It aired Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. starring John Legend, Sara Bareilles and Alice Cooper, on Easter Sunday last month.

The logline: The story of a group of politically active hippies living a bohemian life in New York while fighting against and resisting the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friends Berger and Sheila, and their “tribe” are coming of age in the world of the sexual revolution...

NBC is entering the Age of Aquarius. The broadcaster announced Thursday it’s set the 1967 Broadway hit “Hair” as its next live musical.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron — who have executive produced each of the Peacock’s song-fueled telecasts from “The Sound of Music” to the recent John Legend-led “Jesus Christ Superstar Live” — will lead the rock opera, which is slated to air in Spring 2019 and tape in front of a live audience.

“I’m overjoyed that James Rado and Galt MacDermot are trusting us with their masterpiece ‘Hair,’ one of the most original shows ever conceived for Broadway with one of the greatest scores,” said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment in a statement Thursday.

“These songs are part of the vocabulary of popular music, and this rebellious story of young people protesting and standing up for what they believe in is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

“Hair” will be NBC’s next live musical, the broadcaster announced Thursday.

The announcement comes on the heels of the critically-acclaimed NBC live staging of “Jesus Christ Superstar” on Easter Sunday. “Hair Live” is currently slated to air in spring 2019. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who have executive produced each of NBC’s live musicals since “The Sound of Music,” will executive produce the telecast.

“Hair” tells the story of a group of politically active hippies living a bohemian life in New York while fighting against and resisting the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friends Berger and Sheila, and their “tribe” are coming of age in the world of the sexual revolution while struggling with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society. Claude must decide whether to resist the draft as his friends have done, or succumb to the pressures of conservative America to serve in Vietnam,...

Earle Hyman, a classically trained actor of steady grace, imposing presence and consummate skill, died Friday at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, NJ. He was 91. Hyman’s career on and off-Broadway spanned more than six decades and a multiplicity of Shakespearean roles at Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival. But it was as Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s sympatico dad Russell on NBC’s The Cosby Show that Hyman reached his widest audience, earning him an Emmy…...

Mary Goldberg, an award-winning casting director who collaborated on plays with Joseph Papp and on films with Milos Forman, Ridley Scott and Mike Nichols, has died. She was 72.

Goldberg died Thursday at her home in Ojai, Calif., after a short battle with lung cancer, publicist Tamara Trione announced.

In 1985, the Casting Society of America presented Goldberg with an award for outstanding feature film casting at the inaugural Artios Awards ceremony for her work on Forman's Amadeus (1984), winner of eight Academy Awards, including best picture. She earlier teamed with Forman on Ragtime (1981), James Cagney's final movie.

Goldberg...

In a recent interview with News Chief, Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis explains that he has a different economic philosophy from the Public's founder Joe Papp. The non-profit has a 10 stake in mega-hit Hamilton, though only a small portion goes into the theatre's operating budget. Noting that the Hamilton revenue 'won't be around forever,'he explains that only 250,000 goes into the Public's operating budget an the rest is placed in cash reserves for 'artistic programs, acquisition of space, raising payments for artists.'...

Christopher Walken: "When people talk about art, I get nervous." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Jason Bateman's impish The Family Fang, screenplay by Rabbit Hole playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, adapted from Kevin Wilson's novel, stars Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Maryann Plunkett with Jason Butler Harner, Kathryn Hahn, Marin Ireland and Michael Chernus (memorable in Noah Baumbach's While We're Young and James Strouse's People Places Things).

When I ran into Vincent Lindon at Félix in SoHo and told him I had just talked with Christopher Walken at the Tribeca Film Festival, he asked "has he stayed in touch with Robert De Niro?" since they made Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter. Meeting Jeff Goldblum, a Key Largo Humphrey Bogart, Joe Papp, Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book, playing a cat lover in Barry Sonnenfeld's Nine Lives with Kevin Spacey and Lil Bub of Lil Bub and Friendz fame...

When Meryl Streep's boyfriend John Cazale died of cancer in 1978, the actress was devastated. But, as it sometimes does, love and light came out of the tragedy - in this case, quite quickly. Streep's two-year romance with Cazale, a talented actor who starred in five Best Picture nominees in just six years, is detailed in Michael Schulman's upcoming biography Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, published April 26 by HarperCollins. Meeting first during an audition for New York City's famed Shakespeare in the Park, Streep and The Godfather star's connection was obvious to their castmates and director Joe Papp. Schulman...

Humbert Allen Astredo, a stage actor who played opposite James Earl Jones, Frank Langella and Elizabeth Taylor but is best remembered by generations of scared kids as the evil, devil-bearded warlock of Dark Shadows, died February 19 at the age of 86. No cause of death was listed in the paid death notice published today in The New York Times. After performing for Joe Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park and in various Off Broadway productions, Astredo joined Shadows in…...

David Hasselhoff and Bo Derek are braving the storm with Ian Ziering and Tara Reid in The Asylum and Syfy's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Featured in our latest round-up, the third installment in the tongue-in-cheek franchise has received a summer release date. We also have a casting update for the second season of Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, as well as a Friday the 13th 35th Anniversary T-shirt from Fright Rags.

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!: The third Sharknado film will splash onto the Syfy channel on Wednesday, July 22nd at 9:00pm Est:

Press Release (via TV by the Numbers) - New York – March 18, 2015 – Syfy and The Asylum today announced that the official title of the latest installment in the global pop culture sensation is Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! The two-hour original movie will devour the planet on Wednesday,...

The Public Theater announced the line-up today for the 2015 Free Shakespeare in the Park season, continuing a 53-year tradition of free theater in Central Park. Since 1962, over five million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte Theater. Conceived by founder Joe Papp as a way to make great theater accessible to all, The Public's free Shakespeare in the Park continues to be the bedrock of the Company's mission to increase access and engage the community. This summer, free Shakespeare in the Park will feature Shakespeare's late romances with The Tempest May 27-July 5, directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, and Cymbeline July 27-August 23, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan.

Today in 1981, Joe Papp's revival of THe Pirates of Penzance opened at the Uris Theatre, where it ran for 787 performances. The Pirates of Penzance is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences and critics. Pirates was the fifth Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and introduced the much-parodied Major-General's Song.

Update 11:25 With exclusive interviews and information:

It’s been nearly four decades since tyro producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan were working for Joseph Papp when he moved A Chorus Line from the Public Theater to Broadway. That singular sensation revived an industry gasping for breath; the show went on to a make millions for everyone involved, including the Shubert Organization, in whose namesake theater A Chorus Line ran for 6,137 performances.

Storyline Entertainment, the Meron/Zadan partnership, went on to become enormously successful on the opposite coast, producing feature or TV films of Annie, Chicago, Hairspray and, in stunning defiance of prognostications, The Sound Of Music Live for NBCUniversal. Now in the final weeks of prepping the follow-up, Peter Pan Live, which will be broadcast December 4 with a cast led by Allison Williams and Christopher Walken, Meron and Zadan have signed a three year development and production deal with...

Broadway's Shubert Organization has signed a three-year development deal with the producers of the 2015 Oscars, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The duo will be tasked with making original plays, musicals and even revivals. Zadan and Meron are veteran television producers, having successfully produced the Academy Awards telecasts in 2013 and 2015, but they've gone on record saying their heart lies with the stage. See photos: 26 Best & Worst Moments of Oscars 2014 “We started our careers learning from the legendary Joseph Papp,” Zadan and Meron said in a statement obtained by TheWrap. “Since then, we've searched for a home that is...

Stuart Vaughan, a theater director who shared Joseph Papp’s passion for Shakespeare and staged several of the New York Shakespeare Festival’s inaugural productions with such stars (and future stars) as Al Pacino, Colleen Dewhurst, Elizabeth McGovern and Martin Sheen, died of cancer June 10 at home in High Bridge, NJ, the New York Times reported today. He was 88. His partnership with Papp went back to the Shakespeare Festival’s first productions at an outdoor amphitheater on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In 1956 Papp hired him to stage Julius Caesar and The Taming Of The Shrew. The latter production resulted in Dewhurst’s […]...

Sun-drenched Messina or Sun Belt capital Atlanta — take your pick: The battle of the sexes rages as New York’s summer season gets underway, courtesy of the Bard, in Italy, and last year’s prodigiously talented Pulitzer winner, Ayad Akhtar, in the second. Shakespeare in The Park, the continuing gift of the Public Theater to people either willing to wait hours on line or shell out tax-deductible dollars to the House That Joe Papp Built, launches with director Jack O’Brien’s visually sumptuous and often rollicking – and unabashedly American — staging of Much Ado About Nothing. I use the words visually […]...