Sonia Friedman: Last News

Veteran theatre publicist Janine Shalom has died. She was 63.

The upcoming Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez will play its first performance at the Hudson Theatre on Tuesday, September 19, producers announced today.

Funny Girl, Broadway’s riches-to-rags-to-riches smash hit, will close on Sunday, Sept. 3, with stars Lea Michele, Ramin Marmloo, Jared Grimes and Tovah Feldshuh extending their planned runs to see the show through to its final date.

The full cast and creative team for the upcoming Kander & Ebb Broadway musical New York, New York were announced by producers today, with, among others, Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Stage Show) joining the previously announced stars Colton Ryan and Anna Uzele.

A newly recorded cast album for Broadway’s Funny Girl starring Lea Michele as Fanny Brice will be released digitally tomorrow – Friday, Nov. 18 at 12:01 a.m. ET. The surprise announcement was made by Michele herself during last night’s curtain call at the Broadway hit.

The new Kander & Ebb stage musical New York, New York, inspired by the 1977 Martin Scorsese film starring Liza Minnelli and ‎Robert De Niro, will begin performances Friday, March 24, 2023 and officially open Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.

The starry Off Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along featuring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez doesn’t begin previews for another two months, and already it’s gotten a two-week extension due to ticket demand.

EXCLUSIVE: Start spreading the news! A new musical loosely based on Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film New York, New York will begin performances on Broadway, theater to be announced, in March 2023. Opening night will be in April, with Tony and Olivier Award winner Susan Stroman on board to direct and choreograph.

The writing process has commenced for the fifth and final season of the Netflix hit Stranger Things.A tweet from the show's writer's room Tuesday revealed the title Stranger Things with the number five on a dry erase board in the background, with the caption, 'Day 1.'The show's creators and showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer said in a statement this past February that they were going to wrap up the series with its fifth season. The latest:The writing process has commenced for the fifth and final season of the Netflix hit Stranger Things'There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things: new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes,' the Duffer brothers said.

Script writing has begun on the final season of Stranger Things.

return to Broadway for the first time in over a decade this fall, starring alongside Danielle Brooks and John David Washington in a revival of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Piano Lesson. The show also marks the Broadway debut of director LaTanya Richardson Jackson, who will not only have the rare opportunity to direct her husband’s big return in the first revival of the show in three decades but will break ground as the first woman to ever direct an August Wilson play on Broadway.The show is a particularly special return for Jackson, who starred in the play’s 1987 debut as Boy Willie at age 39.

Stranger Things’ creators the Duffer bothers are making a new live action adaptation of Death Note for Netflix.Netflix previously released a live-action Death Note movie in 2017, directed by Adam Wingard and starring Nat Wolff.Now, Netflix have announced that the Duffer brothers will make a new live adaptation of the Manga story.While details of the project are sparse as yet, it will be a live-action television adaptation of the manga and anime classic.An all-new live-action television adaptation of the renowned Japanese manga and anime series Death Note.— Netflix (@netflix) July 6, 2022The brothers recently announced a new production company called Upside Down Pictures, which will create more film and television projects for Netflix.Some of those unveiled include a new original series from the creators of Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and an adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman in partnership with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Paramount TV.There are also plans for a new stage adaptation set in the Stranger Things universe and a live-action Stranger Things spin-off based on an original idea by the brothers.An original series from creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance).— Netflix (@netflix) July 6, 2022A series adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub‘s The Talisman to be created by Curtis Gwinn.— Netflix (@netflix) July 6, 2022A new stage play set within the world and mythology of Stranger Things, produced by prolific and multi award-winning producers Sonia Friedman, Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliot, The Reader), and Netflix.

Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have announced that a TV spin-off and stage play based on the Netflix series are officially in the works.Netflix announced on Wednesday (July 6) that the duo have formed Upside Down Pictures, a new production company where they’ll develop film and TV projects as part of their overall deal with the streaming service signed in 2019.Along with the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, there’s five other projects in development at the company. These include a live-action spin-off based on an original idea by the Duffer Brothers, which they recently described as being “1000 per cent different” to the main series.A stage play set within the world and mythology of Stranger Things is also in the works, directed and produced by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Reader) alongside producer Sonia Friedman (The Book Of Mormon, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child).The Duffer Brothers have formed Upside Down Pictures, a new production company through which they will develop film and television projects as part of their overall deal with Netflix.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Stranger Things” universe is expanding at Netflix, with the Duffer Brothers lining up multiple projects within the world they created for the series.Under their overall deal with Netflix, the Duffers — Matt and Ross — have established the production company Upside Down Pictures, bringing on Hilary Leavitt to run the company.Among the new projects they have in development, the Duffers are officially working on a “Stranger Things” spinoff series, though exact plot details remain under wraps. The show will be based on an original idea by the Duffers with Upside Down Pictures and 21 Laps producing.

Tom Stoppard’s Olivier Award-winning Leopoldstadt directed by Patrick Marber will play a limited Broadway engagement this fall, producers announced today.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Strong (Succession) has revealed to Deadline at the Cannes Film Festival that he’s determined to build time into his schedule so that he can perform on the London stage. “I missed an opportunity to do The Shining for Ivo van Hove, and so next time I have to be ready,” he declared.

When she was 23, Sonia Friedman was—to use her expression—thrown into a rehearsal room with Harold Pinter at London’s National Theatre. She was his deputy stage manager during production for the premiere of his one-act play Mountain Language starring theatrical royalty Michael Gambon and Eileen Atkins.

Danielle Brooks, John David Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson – the recent recipient of an honorary Oscar at the 2022 Governor’s Awards – have been cast to star in the upcoming revival of The Piano Lesson.The fourth play in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, The Piano Lesson follows a brother and sister pitted against one another in Pittsburgh’s Hill District during 1936 over the fate of a family heirloom — a piano carved with the faces of their ancestors.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterBen Stiller is in talks to star in Ivo van Hove’s upcoming stage adaptation of Stephen King’s horror classic “The Shining,” Variety has confirmed. The play is scheduled to open on the West End next year.Should Stiller’s deal close, he will play the lead role of Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who is hired as an off-season caretaker in a historic Colorado hotel.Stiller has performed on stage before, in 2011’s Broadway revival of John Guare’s “House of Blue Leaves” with Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Margaret Styne, the widow of Broadway composer Jule Styne who oversaw an estate and legacy that includes the much anticipated upcoming revival of Funny Girl, has died.

Broadway’s upcoming revival of Funny Girl, starring Beanie Feldstein, Jane Lynch, Ramin Karimloo and Jared Grimes has completed casting, with Peter Francis James, Ephie Aardema, Debra Cardon and Toni DiBuono among those joining the cast.