Cheers greet the reopening of three mega-hit Broadway shows
Kristin Chenoweth, Julie Taymor and Lin-Manuel Miranda welcomed back boisterous audiences to โWicked,โ โThe Lion Kingโ and โHamiltonโ for the first time since the start of the pandemic, marking Tuesday as the unofficial return of Broadway.
The Latest: Billie Eilish wins record of the year at Grammys
Billie Eilish arrives at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday, March 14, 2021. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)NEW YORK โ The Latest on the Grammy Awards (all times local):8:45 p.m.Billie Eillish has won the Grammy Award for record of the year for the second straight year. Beyoncรฉ broke the record with her victory Sunday night for best R&B performance for โBlack Parade,โ surpassing the 27 Grammys won by Alison Krauss. DaBaby says he โfeels like itโs going to touch everybody.โAdโ Marcela Isaza at the Grammy Awards (@misaza)___3:15 p.m.Brandi Carlile is excited to perform at Sundayโs Grammy Awards, even if there isnโt an audience. โJojo Rabbitโ and the โJokerโ soundtrack also won Grammys in the segment of the show that awarded music created for visual media.
DPAC brings the magic of Disney Broadway to Frontyard Festival
ORLANDO, Fla. โ The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is bringing Disney Broadway to its popular Frontyard Festival later this month. AdAll four performers have been to Central Florida before while performing at Walt Disney Worldโs Epcot International Festival of the Arts. The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts began hosting the socially distanced Front Yard Festival in December 2020 to support the entertainment industry in Central Florida. The event features 380 metal pods spread out in the front yard of the Dr. Phillips Center. AdCurrently, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts has several shows planned for the festival through May.
Barry Jenkins to direct 'Lion King' follow-up
NEW YORK โ The Walt Disney Co. will make a follow-up to the 2019 live-action โThe Lion King,โ with Barry Jenkins, the director of the Oscar-winning โMoonlightโ and the James Baldwin adaptation โIf Beale Street Could Talk,โ set to direct. The new โLion Kingโ grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide, so a sequel was perhaps always likely. Less expected was a โLion Kingโ with Jenkins directing. The film, Disney said, will explore the mythology of โThe Lion King,โ including Mufasa's origin story. Disney didn't announce any further plot details or casting on the new โLion Kingโ project, which was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
Arbitrator rules in favor of Disney workers
ORLANDO, Fla. โ An arbitrator has ordered Walt Disney World to reinstate three performers who were dismissed when they refused to wear soiled spandex unitards as part of their costumes for "The Lion King" show. The arbitrator ruled Monday that Disney violated language in a collective bargaining agreement guaranteeing that all costumes be clean and dry before performers use them. Disney said the workers carried out an unauthorized work stoppage when they refused to put on the wet unitards last June, forcing the cancellation of a show. The workers said their clean unitards became wet and sullied while hanging from a rack where sweaty costumes were pushed up against them. The clean-costume provision was added to the agreement more than a decade ago after incidents of rashes, scabies and other infections.