Liza Minnelli: Last News

annual Tribeca Festival, which opened Wednesday night and runs through June 16, will look a little different this year.For the first time, Tribeca will give awards to short films generated by artificial intelligence. It’s one of the entertainment industry’s first public embraces of the new technology, which many actors and writers fear will render them obsolete.

his 18-show residency at Broadway’s historic Palace Theatre, Ben Platt didn’t just conjure up the spirits of Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli and other legends of the newly renovated venue.The Tony-winning star of “Dear Evan Hansen” also channeled James Taylor on a beaming rendition of JT’s 1977 classic “Your Smiling Face.” And it’s ’70s singer-songwriters such as Taylor, Cat Stevens and Paul Simon (with and without Art Garfunkel) who are the touchstone troubadours from the first notes of Platt crooning “like a canary” on his third studio album “Honeymind,” out on Friday.But right after the airy acoustic guitar balladry of opener “Right Kind of Reckless,” you realize that we’re not in Kansas anymore. The LP’s second track, “All American Queen,” comes sashaying on out as the queer anthem we needed to kick off Pride Month in June.“He was born in the sticks, right in the middle of fall/He wants to be a cheerleader, runs away from the ball/He’s got a song in his heart and a collection of dolls/And there’s a pale shade of pink on his bedroom wall,” Platt sings on this shimmering sunshine-pop bop.

Ben Platt, you can invite Kacey Musgraves to share the stage anytime.The Tony-winning star of “Dear Evan Hansen” brought out the Grammy golden girl as his surprise guest on Tuesday’s opening night of his 18-show residency at Broadway’s historic Palace Theatre — which also served as the unveiling of the renovated venue.Platt — who will have a different special guest every show in the limited-engagement run through June 15 — said that Musgraves was “the very first person that popped into my mind [that] has got to do my opening” before he introduced the country-pop singer.“I admire her so much as an artist,” he continued. “Her songwriting has inspired me endlessly.

Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen have announced their unexpected split after two decades together.

Asphalte and Les Promesses Dangereuses.He debuted in the US in 1963 when he opened for comic, actor and filmmaker Woody Allen, at The Blue Angel in New York.Vignon went on to make multiple appearances on CBS variety shows in the US, where he also sang a duet with Liza Minnelli.Later in his career, Vignon appeared on teen sitcom Gilmore Girls, hospital drama Days Of Our Lives and detective series The Rockford Files.His voice can also be heard in 2001 Dreamworks animation, Shrek, as one of the Merrymen who live in Sherwood Forest and perform a song for the movie’s main characters.He also features as a narrator in the 2009 romcom starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 500 Days Of Summer.Alongside his impressive acting career, Vignon was known for being a successful singer. In a 1994 profile of him by the Los Angeles Times, he was described to have “fulfilled the American image of the romantic, singing Frenchman.”The profile continued: “Ironically, rather than compare his voice to such renowned Gallic crooners as Maurice Chevalier and Gilbert Bécaud, Vignon says that he has a Bobby Darin kind of voice, able to sing fast and passionate or gentle and slow.”In 1966, he married King Of Kings and How The West Was Won actor, Brigid Bazlen.

Jaden Thompson Jean-Paul Vignon, a French actor and vocalist who frequently lent his Gallic accent to Hollywood productions, died of liver cancer on March 22 in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 89. Among his notable work, Vignon lent his voice to Marc Webb’s romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer” as the French narrator.

The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that Wepper died at a hospice facility in Munich on Monday after a long illness that followed the life-threatening sepsis he suffered last year.

Fritz Wepper, a German actor with a prolific TV career in his native country but known to American audiences for his funny and heartfelt performance as a German Jew is Bob Fosse’s hit 1972 Oscar-winning musical film Cabaret, died Monday at a hospice facility in Munich. He was 82.

Meredith Woerner Deputy Editor, Variety.com If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Celebrating the release of his first solo album, “Honeymind,” Tony Award winner Ben Platt just announced a concert residency at Broadway’s Palace Theatre.

John Nichols, who wrote more than a dozen novels including The Milagro Beanfield War and The Sterile Cuckoo — both of which were turned into films by top directors — died Wednesday in Taos, NM. He was 83.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Rita Hollingsworth, a longtime publicist for entertainment clients and non-profit organizations, died Nov. 16 in Los Angeles. She was 61.

Ellise Shafer Barbra Streisand is getting candid about her relationship with the late Judy Garland in her new memoir, saying their rumored rivalry was nonexistent. “People were looking for some sort of rivalry between us. And when they couldn’t find anything, they made it up,” Streisand writes in her tell-all book, “My Name Is Barbra,” via an excerpt from People magazine.

My Name Is Barbra arrived in stores on Tuesday, and it took up a lot of space. The memoir comes in at just under 1,000 pages, which makes it an intimidating read for anyone who doesn’t identify as a super fan of the EGOT winner.The book covers her decades in the spotlight, and she touches on many of the songs, shows, and movies that people still remember and love to this day. Ahead of the release of My Name Is Barbra, People shared several excerpts that should get any Streisand lover — and even those who don’t already identify as such — interested in the book.One short snippet published by the magazine shows the superstar speaking of her relationship with another gay icon — Judy Garland.The two singers and actors spent some time together during their time as stars, but they are perhaps best remembered for their performance of a medley of “Happy Days Are Here Again / Get Happy” on Garland’s TV variety show.If you haven’t that duet, check it out below, as it’s required viewing for all gay men.Here is the excerpt in full:“People were looking for some sort of rivalry between us.

Dragstrip 66 was a phenomenon in Los Angeles’ queer community — A beloved monthly event for the alternative gay nightlife scene.

At age 90, producer George Schlatter has a lifetime of memories to look back at. Producing the groundbreaking and iconic TV comedy show Laugh-in is just one facet. There’s also presidential inaugurations, countless TV specials with big-name talent, running the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethons, and hanging with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra among them.

the Broadway musical based on the Martin Scorsese movie, is on its last legs, sources told The Post.A person close to the production said the end of the poorly received nostalgia show at the St. James Theatre could come as soon as this month.

“Chita” (HarperOne). “Then [I] politely say, ‘I was the original Anita.’”Still, she admits she felt a “pang of resentment” when she saw Moreno on screen in a replica of the ruffled purple frock that Rivera made famous. “How dare she?” Rivera seethed.

Imagine a New York where construction workers tap dance on steel girders high above the city, sorta like that famous photograph you’ve seen a million times, and where kindly landladies who once played Carnegie Hall might tutor a young Holocaust refugee to a Julliard scholarship, and breezy jam sessions do away with generations of friction between races, genders and sexual identities. You’d go there, right?

Naveen Kumar If there is a megawatt star in “New York, New York,” the new musical from Broadway titans John Kander and the late Fred Ebb (with additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda), it’s right there in the title. Aside from the occasional f-bomb and pantomimed scurry of rats, the show that opened at Broadway’s St. James Theatre is a love letter to Manhattan so unabashed that its vibe might be best expressed in cityscape and heart-eye emojis. Cynical? These New Yorkers? Fuhgeddaboudit! Though inspired by the 1977 film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli, “New York, New York” is more accurately described as a musical-length rhapsody on the dreams crooned out in its title song, made famous by Frank Sinatra and naturally performed here as a big-band finale turned audience singalong. A crowded cast of characters has come to chase their dreams, and most of them want to be musicians. 

New York, New York,” opening Wednesday at the St. James Theatre, ends with the iconic title number that kicks off with the lyric “Start spreadin’ the news!”It’s an ear-worm everybody knows.

The Italian embassy got dressed up Monday night, April 3, to celebrate Signature Theatre’s 2023 Sondheim Award honoree, theater legend, and homegrown D.C. icon, Chita Rivera.