Fame or Famine

We all know and love Julianne Hough, the champion of Dancing with the Stars twice over. You probably are also aware that she has dipped her toes in the waters of recording stardom, with a debut album with tracks like

That Song in my Head
Jimmy Ray McGee
Hide Your Matches

You can hear excerpts and learn more over at JulianneSings.com .
But Wait, There’s More!
Because I love you all so much, and because I visited my friends over at Fred Astaire Dance recently, I can share with you a coupon code that you can use for a free download at Julianne’s site. It …read more

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I know, you were all so stumped you weren’t able to figure out the clues to who said what, so here are the answers. Remember, the choices for celebrity quotes were: John Lithgow, Kristin Chenoweth, Brooke Shields, L. Ron Hubbard, and Gray Miller (well known B5Media Entertainment blogger, dontcha know).
Here are the quotes, and who said them:

“She’s a pro and I’d say to be herself,” John Lithgow, her co-star in All My Sons
“She’s going to be wonderful.” That would be John Lithgow again.
“We haven’t worked together yet but it’s going to be great.” Once again, Mr. Lithgow, beginning to sound …read more

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At the Tony Awards last night several A-List Broadway (and TV and Film) personalities if they had any advice for Katie Holmes in her upcoming role in the straight-play revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Rather than tell you about it, let’s play a match-up game: match which star said what to her.

“She’s a pro and I’d say to be herself,”
“She’s going to be wonderful.”
“We haven’t worked together yet but it’s going to be great.”
[She] “will be so happy. There is nothing like it. It’s the Olympics. It’s the college of theater,”
“Get a lot of sleep and stay healthy. …read more

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Since I’ve mentioned some of the U.K.’s counterparts to our favorite shows like Dancing with the Stars ( Strictly Come Dancing ) I thought it might be a good idea to go and see how they do things across the pond.
Who are you, and what have you done with Simon Cowell?
The easiest place to start is Britain’s Got Talent, the equivalent of American Idol. I even saw the biting and critical Simon Cowell there in the judges chair. But what’s this? Rather than looking disgusted, he looked engaged! Interested! He was actually the friendliest of all the judges for this …read more

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Just a quickie this morning – Director and artist Julie Taymor is going to be honored at Aspen Film on June 28th.
Extraordinary Vision
Taymor is definitely one of the shining lights in the art of theatre and film. While perhaps best known for Broadway’s The Lion King and the recent film Across the Universe, her work goes much further. Movies like Frida and Titus, or re-imaginings of The Magic Flute for the Metropolitan Opera and Beowulf for the Los Angeles Opera are just the tip of the iceberg.
Image details: DIFFA’s Dining By Design Gala Dinner served by picapp.com
Her training included a …read more

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I only know a few small facts about Sharon Osborne. I’ve heard some disturbing things about the way she managed her famous husband Ozzy’s record label; I’ve heard (but never watched) how entertaining she is on the reality show they did with their kids.
A Twisted Road to Dance
However, I’m going to probably be hearing and learning a lot more about her in the near future, as she is apparently in the running to be in the upcoming Dancing with the Stars – well, the UK counterpart, that is, Strictly Come Dancing. She was supposed to be in the U.S. version …read more

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Remember back in the day?
Back when entertainers were more than a pretty face (not that pretty faces don’t work hard, I wouldn’t say that)? But when there were people like Sammy Davis Jr., who could sing, dance, act, and do a mean stand up act, all at once. It’s been a while since we’ve had triple threats like that in stardom.
Usher: a Man of All Stages
While he came to fame as an R&B singer, Usher made the move to Broadway with a role in Chicago. You have to give credit to someone who reaches beyond their immediate skillset – it …read more

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It’s a banner day on Broadway, especially for some of the stories I’ve been tracking on this blog.
Stew Gets an Obie for Passing Strange
I wrote recently how musician and auteur Stew had garnered no fewer than seven Tony nominations – but there’s more out there than Tony. The Village Voice also gives out its own theatre award, the “Obie”, and Passing Strange has secured Best New Theatre Piece. I’m a little amused, though, because part of the prize is $1,000 – to be split between Stew, co-author Heidi Rodewald and director Annie Dorsen – which I think is just about …read more

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OK, there’s a reason I do a performing arts blog and not a celebrity blog.
I read things like this. No, don’t click it, I’ll save you the trouble: it’s an article about how Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes went to a show on Broadway. Just like thousands, millions of other people.
But the fact that Katie went means that there is more substance to the substantiated rumor that she is in the running for a role in All My Sons. Which is fine, I love the idea, it’s a “straight play”, and it would definitely get her known as more than …read more

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Laura Linney, shown here at curtain call, is part of an all-star cast in the revival of Les Liasons Dangereuse. She plays La Marquise de Merteuil, a scheming and conniving woman who plays with peoples affections and lives for her own amusements. Her opposite number in the play is Le Vicomte de Valmont, played by Ben Daniels, is equally a manipulator and cad, preying on the innocent and defiling and corrupting simply for the pleasure of seeing them fall.
Many movie goers would recognize the story from Dangerous Liaisons, starring Glen Close and John Malkovich , but many people would …read more

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