Pop Culture

UPDATE, Friday The musical Paradise Square became the latest Broadway production hit by Covid, with last night’s performance canceled due to Covid cases detected within the company. “Out of an abundance of caution due to Covid cases in the company, this evening’s performance of Paradise Square (Thursday April 7) has been cancelled,” the production tweeted last

Will Smith will not be allowed to attend any Academy events for 10 years after slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage at the ceremony. The board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organises the Oscars, announced the decision after meeting to discuss possible sanctions following the star’s outburst at the event.

EXCLUSIVE: Ben Holtzman, Sammy Lopez and Fiona Howe Rudin announced today the launch of P3 Productions, describing the new venture as an artist-driven producing team dedicated to building productions from the ground level to uplift new voices and communities. “We’re thrilled to combine our passion for the entertainment industry and drive as creative producers with the

The first Pakistani artist ever to win a Grammy award has said the recognition makes her truly feel part of the music industry and that she hopes to inspire change. In an exclusive interview with Sky News following her win, Arooj Aftab said she hopes the “patriarchy” and “nonsense” around Pakistani female artists will start

Kimberly Akimbo, Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady were among the Off Broadway productions receiving multiple nominations for this year’s Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off Broadway, announced today. Among the innovations in this year’s 37th Annual Lortel Awards are the first non-gendered performance categories, and the first-ever Lortel for Outstanding

British rock band Pink Floyd will release their first song since the 1990s in support of the people of Ukraine. The track, called Hey Hey Rise Up, marks the first original music the band have recorded together as a collective since 1994’s The Division Bell. It features vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnuk, from the

UPDATED with latest: There was a glut of great TV, movies and music to celebrate in 2021, but 2022 isn’t allowing much room for celebration. Many awards events were canceled, moved or modified as New York and Los Angeles smashed daily Covid records due to Omicron. The winter months were challenging for red carpet and

Britney Spears has called on US judges to deny a request for her to pay more than $660,000 (£507,000) for fees accrued by her mother during the legal fight over the singer’s conservatorship. As the family’s “sole breadwinner”, the star has “continuously and generously” supported Lynne Spears financially for years, her lawyers argue – and

Rae Allen, the Tony Award-winning actress known for roles in Damn Yankees, A League of Their Own and The Sopranos, died early Wednesday morning peacefully in her sleep. She was 95. Allen was described by many who knew her as “a force of nature” and she had a career to match. Born Rae Julia Theresa

Ed Sheeran has released a video statement following a judge’s ruling that his huge 2017 hit Shape Of You did not copy another artist’s work – saying that “baseless” copyright claims are “damaging” to the industry. Sheeran and two of his co-writers – Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steve McCutcheon, known as Steve Mac

Broadway’s spring season kicked into higher gear last week, with the arrival of seven previewing productions (with more to come over the next few weeks). Business overall remained robust, with the 31 shows grossing a total of $28,818,836. The figure marks a 7% increase over the previous week, a jump due in no small part

Ed Sheeran has won his High Court copyright trial against two songwriters who claimed he ripped off part of one of their songs for his huge 2017 hit Shape Of You. Sheeran and two of his co-writers – Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steve McCutcheon, known as Steve Mac – had been accused of

UPDATE, with Public Theater/SUFFS info: A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer-winning musical, has canceled its first Broadway preview, originally set for Wednesday, due to cases of Covid detected within the company. Previews now are expected to begin Thursday, April 7, at the Lyceum Theatre with understudies in some roles. The show becomes the second

From British TV’s first female same-sex kiss before the watershed to the naughtiness injected into morning viewing with The Big Breakfast, not to mention Big Brother starting an era of reality TV, Channel 4 has always done things differently. Launching 40 years ago with Richard Whiteley introducing the now long-running afternoon favourite Countdown, this was

If the last week in our entertainments has shown us anything, it’s that even the most ordered, traditional of ceremonies can be disrupted by an unkind explosion of id, with ramifications splashing like crocodile tears on even the most unexpected of our heroes. Take Me Out, Richard Greenberg’s 2002 play that charts the ramifications when

Britney Spears has announced she is writing a new tell-all memoir, saying the process has been “healing and therapeutic”. The pop star, who was freed from a controversial 13-year conservatorship arrangement in November 2020, says the experience has confronted her with memories of her early life, and experiences under the court order. It comes after

Additional casting for the upcoming Broadway premiere of KPOP, the new musical about the global K-pop phenomenon, was announced by producers today, with Julia Abueva, Will Brill, Major Curda, Joomin Hwang, Jinwoo Jung, Jiho Kang, Amy Keum, James Kho, Bo Hyung Kim, Eddy Lee, Jully Lee, Min Young Lee, Timothy H. Lee, Abraham Lim, Kate

June Brown, the actress who played Dot Cotton in EastEnders, has died at the age of 95, the BBC has announced. She died at her home in Surrey on Sunday with her family by her side. Image: Brown was awarded an MBE for services to Drama and Charity in 2008 An EastEnders spokeswoman said: “We

Paradise Square makes quite the reach. A musical about the build-up to New York’s horrific Draft Riots of 1863 reaches to the past to tell us about the present. It reaches across cultures to tell us about assimilation and appropriation. It reaches across styles of music and dance to celebrate diversity and commonality. It reaches

The Ukrainian president has urged musicians to “tell our story”, addressing the Grammy Awards in a video speech on a night that also saw Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins commemorated, and Silk Sonic, Jon Batiste and Olivia Rodrigo take home major awards. Introducing a special musical tribute to his people, Volodymyr Zelenskyy referenced the sounds