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EXCLUSIVE: The Wiz is getting ready for the road to Broadway with an award-winning design team, including Oscar-winning Black Panther production designer Hannah Beachler and Emmy-winning Watchmen costume designer Sharen Davis . The design team, which also includes lighting design by Ryan J. O’Gara ( Thoughts of a Colored Man ) and wig design by Academy Award-winning Mia Neal ( Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ), was announced today by producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, and Ambassador Theatre Group. As previously reported , the all-new production of the groundbreaking Broadway hit musical will launch a national tour in fall 2023 in Baltimore (where the original musical debuted in 1974), before arriving on Broadway for a limited engagement in spring 2024. Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), director Schele Williams ( The Notebook , revival of Disney’s Aida ), … [Read more...] about Oscar-Winning ‘Black Panther’ Production Designer & Emmy-Winning ‘Watchmen’ Costume Designer Join ‘The Wiz’ On Road To Broadway

EXCLUSIVE : Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ Milojo Productions are launching a new podcast hosted by the Live with Kelly and Ryan anchor and produced in collaboration with SiriusXM. Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa will feature conversations between Ripa and a celebrity guest. Depending on the subject matter, a specialist or expert could also join the episode to provide insight. “After 23 years of interviewing celebrities, authors, musicians and experts on live TV, the big takeaway is that the most compelling and unfiltered conversations happen off camera,” said Ripa. “I have dreamed of a platform where I can have these honest talks without all the fuss and filter of a camera. Now SiriusXM has made my dream a reality with a podcast featuring friends, both old and new, discussing a variety of topics we all face in life, while getting deep with some experts’ views and advice along the way. Not another podcast, this is off camera!” New episodes of Let’s Talk … [Read more...] about Kelly Ripa Launching New Podcast With SiriusXM

Banijay and North Road Entertainment are keen on to Love Island producer ITV Studios, according to Reuters. The report suggests private equity-backed studio firms have also looked at the production and sales arm of ITV, which could fetch as much as £3BN ($3.7BN). Reuters cites sources who claim UK network ITV is willing to selling a portion of ITV Studios but is keen to keep control of the business, which has production assets in the UK, Europe, U.S. and Australasia and owns shows such as Love Island , I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Life of Duty . Rumors ITV was open to some sort of sale first emerged in the FT in October last year, though sources within ITV have consistently played down the idea and it has at times appeared off the market. The news comes just a day after The North Road Company , which former Fox chief Peter Chernin launched last year, landed $150M from the Qatar Investment Authority “to support ongoing expansion. The … [Read more...] about Banijay and Peter Chernin’s North Road Eye ‘Love Island’ Maker ITV Studios – Report

EXCLUSIVE : Brillstein Entertainment Partners is exploring a sale of its venerable management/production company. Several are circling, but sources said Casey Wasserman has emerged as a front-runner to bring BEP into the fold alongside his formidable sports and music divisions. Like every possible deal, this one could fall apart and BEP principals could decide to stay independent. It would be the latest move in management after 3Arts made a deal with Lionsgate , and Anonymous Content, with investment from Laurene Powell Jobs, recently linked with Automatik . If this did happen, it would invoke the legacy and memory of some storied Hollywood figures. Start with Wasserman, the grandson of the legendary Lew Wasserman. He always has resisted the urge to get into mainstream Hollywood, and instead built a formidable management business specializing in sports and music, the latter most recently including the acquisition of Paradigm’s lucrative music touring businesses . His … [Read more...] about Brillstein Entertainment Partners Explores Sale; Casey Wasserman In Pole Position: The Dish

At the same time it is courting subscribers with its cheapest plan yet, the $7-a-month Basic with Ads, Netflix is adding upgrades to its top-end Premium tier. The streaming giant has incorporated spatial audio on Premium and also expanded the number of devices on which subscribers can download programming, from four to six. Concurrent streaming is still limited to four devices. The price of Premium is slated to remain at $19.99 a month even after the enhancements. Rishu Arora, Director of Product Management, announced the changes in a blog post. Spatial Audio, which is increasingly found on platforms like Apple Music, is now available on 700 titles, Aora wrote, including Stranger Things , The Watcher , Wednesday , and Knives Out: Glass Onion . While the company doesn’t break out subscriber numbers by tier, its Standard tier (a notch below Premium, at $15.49) is the most popular in the U.S. and Canada. Netflix regained momentum in its most recent quarter, … [Read more...] about Netflix $20-A-Month Premium Plan Adds Spatial Audio, Expands Number Of Devices For Downloading From 4 To 6

UPDATE Lackawanna Blues has postponed its opening night by a week, to Thursday, Oct. 7, as the star of the solo performance Ruben Santiago-Hudson continues to recover from a back injury. The delay is the second for the show, following last week’s announcement of a two-day delay that would have set the opening for Sept. 30. PREVIOUS, Sept. 24 Lackawanna Blues , the solo Broadway show written, performed, and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, has canceled its performances for tonight and over the weekend due to an off-stage back injury suffered by the star. Santiago-Hudson is expected to return to the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Tuesday, though the canceled previews have bumped the play’s official opening from that night to Thursday, Sept. 30. The Manhattan Theatre Club production – the company’s first since the reopening of Broadway following the pandemic shutdown – features the Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star in an autobiographical telling of his upbringing … [Read more...] about Broadway’s ‘Lackawanna Blues’ Postpones Opening By A Week As Star Ruben Santiago-Hudson Recovers From Back Injury – Update

EXCLUSIVE: Red, White & Brass is the debut feature from director Damon Fepulea’i and we’ve got the first trailer for the Taika Waititi -exec produced inspiring underdog tale. Check it out above. Based on a true story, the film follows a community of passionate Tongans led by Maka, a superfan who will do whatever it takes to get tickets to the Tonga vs France 2011 Rugby World Cup game – even if that means promising to deliver a brass band for the pre-match entertainment. The only problem is, the band doesn’t exist and Maka has four weeks to create one. The cast includes John-Paul Foliaki ( Popstars) , Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi ( Panthers ), Ilaisaane Green ( Brutal Lives ), Onetoto Ikavuka, Mikey Falesiu ( Toke ), Lupeti Finau, Lotima Pome’e ( Under the Vines ) and Haanz Fa’avae-Jackson ( Savage ). Fepulea’i co-wrote the script with co-producer Halaifonua (Nua) Finau. The film hails from the producers behind such New Zealand-produced features … [Read more...] about ‘Red, White & Brass’: First Trailer For Piki Films’ Underdog Story From Exec Producers Taika Waititi, Carthew Neal & Ainsley Gardiner

EXCLUSIVE : Rialto Distribution has acquired Australia/New Zealand rights to mob thriller Bring Him To Me , which Myriad will be selling at the upcoming EFM . Directed by Luke Sparke ( Occupation ), Barry Pepper ( Saving Private Ryan ), Sam Neill ( Jurassic Park ), Rachel Griffiths ( Six Feet Under ) and Liam McIntyre ( The Flash ) star in the film whose script is inspired by the traumatic scene in Martin Scorsese’s Casino in which Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) unwittingly turns up for a meeting in a cornfield and things go south. Today, we can reveal first images for the movie, which is now in post-production. In the movie, under orders from a ruthless crime boss, a getaway driver must battle his conscience and drive a young and unsuspecting passenger to an uncertain fate. Script comes from Tom Evans. The film also introduces actor Jamie Costa, who made social waves in 2021 with a portrayal of Robin Williams in a proof-of-concept short film for a … [Read more...] about Rialto Boards Mob Thriller ‘Bring Him To Me’ Starring Barry Pepper, Sam Neill & Rachel Griffiths; First Images Revealed — EFM

EXCLUSIVE: Ron Ninio , executive producer of Showtime drama Your Honor , is lining up an espionage drama as his next series. Ninio has teamed with journalist and doc maker Amir Oren and Sharon Bar-Ziv ( Room 514 , Good Morning Son ) to create The Clinic , we can reveal. Your Honor exec Rob Golenberg is producing and Israeli network Reshet/Channel 13 is already attached. Ninio is “fast-tracking” the show’s development and wants it to be a co-production with an American partner. Based on real characters and events, The Clinic follows top New York surgeon Dr. Steven Neuman, who moonlights as an assassin. Having served in the Israeli Navy as a commando, he returns to the States to run a practice but when Mossad and the FBI catch a plot to overthrow the U.S. government, they send him to use his medical expertise to kill. “Dr. Steven Neuman has a constant conflict between his doctor’s oath to save peoples’ lives and his job at the Mossad, which in many … [Read more...] about ‘Your Honor’ Co-Creator Ron Ninio Sets Espionage Drama ‘The Clinic’ As Next Series

EXCLUSIVE : The Frasier sequel series for Paramount+ has rounded out its series regular cast by adding Toks Olagundoye ( The Neighbors ). From writers Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli, the multi-camera comedy is executive produced by Kelsey Grammer who is reprising his signature character, psychiatrist-turned-radio host Frasier Crane. The sequel sees Frasier (Grammer) off to a different city with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge, and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. Olagundoye will play Olivia, head of the psych department at an Ivy League university. She projects confidence, warmth, and professionalism—in other words, the opposite of how completely unglued she feels on the inside. Olivia must contend daily with her colleague (and Frasier’s old college buddy) Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst), who resents Olivia’s seniority over him. The two of them disagree on just about everything, but they both admire Frasier—and each hopes to use him to further their own … [Read more...] about ‘Frasier’: Toks Olagundoye Joins Paramount+ Sequel Series