Jay-Z To Re-Open New York’s Webster Hall With Rarities Show
Jay-Z will re-open New York’s Webster Hall with a rarities concert on Friday, April 26. His “B-Sides 2” show will be the first concert at the long-running East Village venue after an extensive renovation. The veteran MC played his first “B-Sides” concert at New York’s Terminal 5 in 2015 as an exclusive show for members of his Tidal streaming service.
A limited number of tickets will be made available for purchase to American Express Card Members beginning Thursday, April 18 at 10AM through 10PM ET. The general public on sale begins Friday, April 19 at 11AM ET and tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.
Other acts announced for the venues first run of shows include Patti Smith and Her Band, Broken Social Scene, MGMT, Empire of the Sun, Old Dominion, Sharon Van Etten, Built to Spill, Real Estate, Chromeo and Big Thief. The building, which has operated as a venue since 1886, has undergone several transformations over the past century. In the 1920s, Webster Hall notoriously held masquerade balls and was nicknamed the “Devil’s Playhouse.” RCA Records purchased Webster Hall in 1954 and renovated the venue to include a state-of-the-art acoustically treated ballroom. Notable artists who recorded in Webster Hall’s studio during this time included Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan (his recording debut), Harry Belafonte, Perry Como, Tony Bennett, and Julie Andrews.
Beginning in the 1980s, Webster Hall reemerged as “The Ritz,” hosting artists such as Eric Clapton with Keith Richards, U2, Tina Turner, The Beastie Boys, The Pretenders, Prince, Sting, Metallica, Aerosmith, KISS, B.B. King and Guns N’ Roses. In 2004, The Bowery Presents began booking Webster Hall with artists including LCD Soundsystem, The National, Modest Mouse, John Mayer and Keith Urban. BSE Global and The Bowery Presents, AEG Presents’ regional partner, acquired the operating rights and assets to Webster Hall in February 2017.
“When we were thinking about who would be the right choice to open this legendary venue, we knew it had to be a world-famous New York City icon,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of BSE Global. “No one fits that description better than JAY-Z, who will join an unparalleled list of celebrated performers who have played Webster Hall.”
“The Bowery Presents formed in 2004 when we booked Sonic Youth at Webster Hall,” said John Moore, founder and partner at The Bowery Presents. “We are thrilled to return to our roots, New York City’s oldest music venue, to begin this storied new chapter for artists and fans alike.”
“In renovating one of New York’s most historic and iconic venues, our goals were simple and straightforward; maintain the integrity of the space, modernize it to create an incredible concert experience for fans and performers, and book a dynamic mix of artists in music today,” said Jay Marciano, Chairman and CEO, AEG Presents. “Today’s announcement of JAY-Z to open Webster Hall, along with an eclectic line-up of artists throughout its opening month, achieves all of those goals positioning the venue to continue its success for decades to come.”
Source: Variety
Sterling K. Brown Joins ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Season 3
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” just got more marvelous.
“This Is Us” star Sterling K. Brown has signed on for an unspecified role in the third season of the critically-acclaimed Amazon comedy series. Brown made the announcement in a video posted on his official Twitter account Monday morning.
“I’m Eastward bound,” Brown said in the video, which can be viewed in full below. “I’m going to do a little TV show, maybe you’ve heard of it: ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.’ The Palladinos were kind enough to write a little something for your boy, and I said yes. So, stay tuned. I’m getting together with Midge and it’s going to be awesome.”
Brown won back-to-back Emmys in 2016 and 2017 for his starring roles in “American Crime Story: People v. OJ Simpson” and “This Is Us” respectively. He also had a role in the Oscar-winning Marvel film “Black Panther” and the recent new installment in the “Predator” franchise.
Brown is repped by Innovative Artists, JWS Entertainment, and Bloom Hergott.
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. It stars Rachel Brosnahan, Tony Shalhoub, Alex Borstein, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle, Kevin Pollak, and Caroline Aaron. The series won eight Emmy Awards for its first season, including best comedy series, best actress in a comedy series (Brosnahan), and best supporting actress in a comedy series (Borstein).
Billy Dee Williams Returns As Lando Calrissian In First Look At ‘The Rise of Skywalker’
The gambler, playboy and original owner of the Millennium Falcon, Lando Calrissian, is back.
Billy Dee Williams took the stage at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago on Friday, showing fans the first look at Lando in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
It’s been 36 years since Lando last graced the screen in “Return of the Jedi,” and fans have been wondering where he’s been since J.J. Abrams began his modern trilogy in 2015. When asked what it was like playing the character again after so much time had passed, Williams remarked that it was easy.
“How did I find Lando again? Lando never left me!” he said.
Williams is one of the last original actors whose character is still alive in the franchise. Considered one of the main characters, along with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa, only Carrie Fisher’s Leia is still alive for “The Rise of Skywalker.” Donald Glover took over for a brief stint in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” last year, showing Lando’s origin and how he met Han.
Abrams added several new cast members to “Episode IX,” including Naomi Ackie, who was revealed to play the mysterious Jannah. At the panel, host Stephen Colbert grilled Ackie on if she plays Lando’s daughter, but she danced around the question, saying the notorious playboy could have children all around the galaxy.
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” hits theaters on Dec. 20.
Source: Variety
DJ Quik Joins Terry Crews And Ludacris Film ‘John Henry’ As Composer, Executive Producer
Hip-hop artist and producer DJ Quik is the latest star to become involved in the forthcoming indie movie “John Henry” with Terry Crews and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. The rapper will produce an original soundtrack for the feature film and also serve as executive producer.
The film, from first-time movie director Will Forbes, is a modern adaption of an African-American folklore of the same name and follows John Henry (Crews) after he abandons a crime-riddled life for a peaceful one in Los Angeles. But when he crosses paths with two immigrant kids who are running from the leader of his former gang, he’s forced to confront the violence of his past life in hopes of saving them.
“When I got the opportunity to score and create music for the legend of John Henry, I had to do it. It’s a story we all grew up on, and when I found out they set it in my hometown of Compton, it was a wrap,” DJQuik said in a statement.
Defiant Studios’ Eric Fleischman is producing along with Maurice Fadida and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones. Matthew Antoun will executive produce alongside Quik. The thriller also stars Jamila Velazquez (“Empire”), Kimberly Hebert Gregory (“Better Call Saul”), J.J. Soria (“The Oath”) and Ken Foree. iWood Studios financed the picture, which is now in post-production.
Quik, who has made cameos in shows such as “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Entourage,” is managed by Gary Ousdahl and Jamie Adler of Foundation.
Source: Variety
Mindy Kaling, Priyanka Chopra Get New Wedding Comedy For Universal!
A spirited auction has ended with Universal winning the rights to an untitled comedy pitched around town by Mindy Kaling, Priyanka Chopra and Dan Goor. Kaling will write with Goor and she will potentially direct. Its a two-hander star vehicle for Kaling and Priyanka Chopra that takes place in America and India. The deal was closed before the WGA-ATA talks broke down this evening.
We heard that numerous suitors chased this one, including Legendary, Sony, Netflix and Amazon Studios, latter of which made the splashy Sundance Film Festival deal for Late Night, the comedy that Kaling scripted and stars in with Emma Thompson.
Kaling has an option to direct this film. She will write it with Dan Goor, who is co-creator and exec producer of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He is producing with Kaling’s Kaling International, Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures, 3Arts’ Howard Klein and Goor. Klein produced Late Night and was an EP on The Office.
It revolves around a big wedding in India and the ensuing culture clashes. Today it was being called Crazy Rich Asians meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
This becomes the second hot auction this year for a Kaling-scripted project after Amazon Studios paid $13 million — a record for a U.S. rights deal at Sundance — for Late Night, which Amazon has dated for June 7 release. Kaling and Matt Warburton are separately turning Four Weddings and a Funeral into a TV series for MGM Television and Hulu. Kaling last starred in Ocean’s Eight and exec produced The Mindy Project. Chopra’s breakout turn came in the ABC series Quantico and she recently appeared in A Kid Like Jake and Isn’t It Romantic.
Heather Morris and Nina Anand Aujla will be the exec producers.
CAA, 3 Arts and Ziffren Brittenham rep Kaling, Chopra is repped by WME, her manager Anjula Acharia and Grubman Shire; Goor is UTA and Ziffren Brittenham.
Source: Deadline
Lena Waithe’s New Comedy Series Titled ‘Twenties’ Gets BET Series Order
Lena Waithe’s Twenties is moving forward — at a different network.
The comedy, originally developed at WarnerMedia-owned TBS as a pilot, has been ordered to series at Viacom’s BET. Twenties extends Waithe’s relationship with BET, for whom she exec produces the recently renewed reboot of Boomerang.
Twenties was created and written by Waithe was she was in her early 20s. The eight-episode, half-hour series follows the adventures of a queer black girl, Hattie, and her two straight best friends, Marie and Nia, who spend most of their days talking ishand chasing their dreams. The comedy, based on Waithe’s YouTube series of the same name, explores friendship, finding love and messing everything up along the way. (Watch the first YouTube installment below.)
The series will be exec produced by Waithe, co-showrunner Susan Fales-Hill (A Different World), Rishi Rajani and Waithe’s manager, Andrew Coles. The series is produced via Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions banner.
“BET Networks is thrilled to partner once again with the creative visionary Lena Waithe on both Boomerang and Twenties, as she is without a doubt a leading relevant voice of our generation and a disruptor in her own right,” said Connie Orlando, head of programming at BET Networks. “BET is committed to the elevation of inclusive and authentic storytelling that viewers continue to expect from the brand.”
The deal for Twenties arrives as Waithe has become an in-demand voice thanks to her Emmy win for writing the “Thanksgiving” episode of Netflix’s Master of None, which followed her character’s coming out over multiple years. With the win, Waithe became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing. Waithe’s Showtime drama The Chi, which she created, recently launched its second season on the premium cable network.
“Twenties has been a project I’ve been dreaming about for as long as I can remember. I think a lot of people were interested, but didn’t see the vision,” Waithe said in a nod to how the comedy moved from TBS to BET. “I’m so grateful Scott Mills and Connie Orlando did. I couldn’t be more excited to deepen my relationship with BET. I know audiences have been waiting a long time for this one.”
Twenties joins a BET roster that includes recently renewed American Soul, which with Boomerang were the first two new shows to be ordered by Mills after he was tapped to take over the cabler from Debra Lee in December 2017. His goal has been to increase originals by 21 percent with new scripted series and movies, while also leveraging relationships with prominent African-American writers and producers as well as Viacom’s corporate siblings. BET’s originals also include the upcoming series finale movie of Being Mary Jane, TV Land and Paramount Network transplant First Wives Club, In Contempt and Peachtree Place, among others.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Marlon Wayans Lands In Sofia Coppola’s Apple-A24 Movie Titled ‘On The Rocks’!
Marlon Wayans has joined Bill Murray and Rashida Jones in Apple-A24’s first movie On the Rocks from Oscar-winning director Sofia Coppola.
As previously announced, On the Rocks follows a young mother (Jones) who reconnects with her larger than life playboy father (Murray) on an adventure through New York. The film will lense in New York and reps Murray and Coppola’s reteam following Lost in Translation, which Coppola took a screenwriting Academy Award for, and the 2015 Netflix holiday special A Very Murray Christmas. Coppola is producing with Youree Henley. Mitch Glazer and Roman Coppola are also executive producing.
Actor and comedian Wayans is the co-creator and star of the Warner Bros. TV sketch series The Wayans Bros and his own comedy NBC comedy series Marlon. He’s the star and co-creator of the Scary Movie franchise and has starred in such movies as the Coen Brothers’ The Ladykillers, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, White Chicks (which he also co-wrote), Littleman (also co-wrote), the Netflix original movie Naked and he’s also starring in and co-wrote his next Netflix movie Sextuplets. Wayans also worked with his brothers as a writer and star on the hit Fox comedy sketch series In Living Color.
He is repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, UTA and Larry Kopeikin at Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.
Source: Deadline
WATCH: New Trailer Released Of ‘The Addams Family’!
IN THEATERS THIS HALLOWEEN.
Get ready to snap your fingers! The Addams Family is back on the big screen in the first animated comedy about the kookiest family on the block. Funny, outlandish, and completely iconic, the Addams Family redefines what it means to be a good neighbor.
Directed By: Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll with Bette Midler and Allison Janney
WATCH: Official New Trailer Of The New Comedy ‘Stuber’ Starring Kumail Nanjiani And Dave Bautista
When a mild-mannered Uber driver named Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) picks up a passenger (Dave Bautista) who turns out to be a cop hot on the trail of a brutal killer, he’s thrust into a harrowing ordeal where he desperately tries to hold onto his wits, his life and his five-star rating. Directed by Michael Dowse, this action-comedy from 20th Century Fox also stars Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Jimmy Tatro, Mira Sorvino and Karen Gillan.
Stuber is in Theaters July 12, 2019
Directed by: Michael Dowse
Written by: Tripper Clancy
Produced by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley
Ken Jeong Lands In New Warner Bros.’ Film Titled ‘Scoob’!
Crazy Rich Asiansstar and stand-up comedian Ken Jeong and Dope actress Kiersey Clemons are joining the Mystery Inc. gang in Warner Bros.’ animated Scooby-Doo movie Scoob from director Tony Cervone.
Jeong will voice Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, a robot dog with infinite mechanical robotic parts. He had his own Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning show from 1976-1977 assisting superhero Blue Falcon. Originally the series was broadcast as a half-hour segment of The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour. The robo dog and the Mystery team gang of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma would often team up in cracking cases.
Clemons will voice Dee Dee Sykes, who was one of Captain Caveman’s “Teen Angels” and the smartest one of the group, much like Velma in the Mystery Inc. gang.
Both Jeong and Clemons join the already announced cast of Zac Efron (Fred), Amanda Seyfried (Daphne), Gina Rodriguez (Velma), Will Forte (Shaggy), Tracy Morgan (Captain Caveman), and Frank Welker (Scooby-Doo).
Jeong was most recently seen in his Netflix Comedy Standup Special You Complete Me, Ho, starred in The Hangover franchise and Fox TV’s The Masked Singer. as well as the hit Fox celebrity singing competition THE MASKED SINGER. He is currently working on the CBS pilot The Emperor of Malibu. Jeong is repped by ICM Partners, Aligned Entertainment and Stone Genow.
Clemons credits include Neighbors 2, Disney’s upcoming Lady and the Tramp as Darling, Jonas Cuaron’s upcoming Z, as well as TBS’ Angie Tribeca. She is repped by UTA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.
