August 21, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

‘Hadestown’ wins Best Musical during the 2019 Tony Awards; Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions(NEW YORK) — No surprise, really — you can add the Tony Awards to the list of ceremonies going virtual this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

What remains to be determined is when the 74th annual awards, which honor the best of Broadway, will air.

“Though unprecedented events cut the 2019-2020 Broadway season short, it was a year full of extraordinary work that deserves to be recognized,” said Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin and Heather Hitchens, president & CEO of the American Theatre Wing, in a statement posted to the official Tony Awards website. 

“We are thrilled not only to have found a way to properly celebrate our artists’ incredible achievements this season, but also to be able to uplift the entire theatre community and show the world what makes our Broadway family so special at this difficult time,” the statement continues.  “The show must go on, no matter what — and it will.”

The ceremony will take place sometime this fall, with the exact date and other details yet to be announced.

By Christopher Watson
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 21, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Freeform(NEW YORK) — You don’t get more timely than this. Love in the Time of Corona, a new scripted Freeform series about the search for love and connection during COVID-19-mandated social distancing, debuts this weekend with a special two-night event.

Real-life spouses Leslie Odom Jr. and Nicolette Robinson play married couple James and Sade in the limited series and shot their scenes in their own home while in quarantine. They say the show serves as a time capsule for 2020.

“When we first got asked to do it and we were talking about it, we were like, this is such a unique moment,” Robinson tells ABC Audio. “[H]opefully we’ll never have this same moment again. But while there is so much positive and negative at the same time happening, we were like, this is really worth remembering.”

Odom adds, “I think…our only responsibility really, after this is all said and done is to emerge, rearranged. To emerge, somehow changed. And so, yeah, then it becomes a mark on the timeline. [H]opefully it’s a time in our whole society when we can look at, you know, before COVID and after COVID: here’s how we changed for the better.”

Not only does the show depict the pandemic, but it also tackles racism and police brutality. Odom says portraying these issues in real time was cathartic.

“Nic and I, we’re artists and so that’s part of how we process our trauma,” he says. “So the best part about it for us was the fact that we got to make some work about it.” 

Love in the Time of Corona premieres in a two-night event, airing Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23 at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform.

By Andrea Tuccillo
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 21, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb(LOS ANGELES) — As kids grow older, they start becoming a little more independent and try new things, like making breakfast. For actress Kristen Bell, she didn’t realize how quickly things would go off the rails when her two daughters took a crack at meal prep.

Bell hoped that her seven and five-year-old daughters Lincoln and Delta would learn how to be a bit more self-sufficient by making their own meal.  Unfortunately, the girls only listened to their sweet tooth.

“Still trying to train them to make thier [sic] own breakfast,” The Frozen 2 star announced Thursday against an Instagram photo of two plates dusted with mini marshmallows, graham crackers and Oreo crumbs. “Haven’t nailed it YET…but I see the positives in this picture.”

Plowing ahead with her Chopped-like critique, Bell relayed, “They were definitely trying to get different colored foods in thier [sic] meal, and obviously wanted to make s’mores.”

The mom of two quickly amended, “They are not allowed to touch the stove so at least they are following one rule!”

While she could have left her announcement there, Bell had one final revelation to bestow upon her 14.5 million followers. “Also the blue plate is a DOG BOWL LID,” She deadpanned. “My kids are philistines.”

Unfortunately for the 40-year-old actress, her dreams of watching her children put together a healthy meal anytime soon were dashed by comedian Chelsea Handler, who explained why she shouldn’t exactly hold her breath.

“I just learned how to make my own breakfast a year ago,” the Chelsea Lately admitted.

Meanwhile, some of Bell’s other followers were pretty impressed by Lincoln and Delta’s official foray into meal prep as one fan praised, “Um, Oreo s’mores? What your children are is genius.”

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 21, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Don Arnold/WireImage (NEW YORK) –Russell Crowe’s Unhinged hits today — the first wide release in the U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and director Derrick Borte calls it an “adrenaline fueled thrill ride” he’s hoping will offer an escape from the everyday worries we’re all facing right now.

Borte tells ABC Audio his wish for the film is to bring people “back to the theater where we have such a long history of this communal type experience of sharing…what’s on this giant screen together and bringing people together in some way that is a huge part of all of our lives.”

As the first movie to open in the U.S. since the pandemic brought production to a halt in March, Borte is not as concerned about whether Unhinged will bring people into theaters, as he is about the theaters themselves being a safe place for them to gather.

“It brings with it a lot of pressure,” he explains, but really more about, you know, pressure to make sure that the people in charge are doing the right thing to make it a safe environment for people.

“Thankfully I’ve gotten to really see some of the things that they’re doing, from touchless entry and distancing and the lobbies and checkerboards seeding and spraying the theaters down with these disinfectants that they’re using elsewhere on planes and whatnot between screenings and wearing masks and in a theater,” he continues.  “So, I mean, my comfort level is I’m gonna be at the theater Friday night.” 

By George Costantino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 20, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Rich Fury/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Cut Throat City director RZA is breaking down some of the major influences behind his new coming-of-age drama.

Set in New Orleans, the new film follows four childhood friends who return home post Hurricane Katrina and decide to rob a bank after seeing their neighborhoods decimated and no real job opportunities. RZA tells ABC Audio that there’s a “definite connection” between his film and John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood.

“John Singleton was a good friend of mine,” RZA reveals. “John gave me some great advice on my second film called Love Beats Rhymes. I actually had a chance to hang with him for a few months and we was just doing film talking. I basically was doing a film class with him.”

“The way he did Boyz n the Hood is iconic, timeless,” he continues. “And I did want to have a piece of that pie in my movie. And you could feel it I think.”

While RZA says he’s “open to learn more,” and bring his own directing “elements” and “tricks” into his films, the Wu-Tang founder admits he doesn’t mind leaning on the greats either.

“You also [have] some F. Gary Gray energy in there. A little Set It Off,” he says.

“Hopefully you can feel some Spike Lee in there too,” RZA adds, before noting that he paid “tribute” to Lee by using one of his techniques in the film that included a “shot with the ring on a dolly.” 

RZA also acknowledges Academy Award winner, Quentin Tarantino, whom he says served as both teacher and mentor.

“Reservoir Dogs, that was a favorite of mines,” RZA says. “And I… put all these great filmmakers into me as a filmmaker and make my film.” 

Cut Throat City is available in limited release.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.