Stage Door: Anika Noni Rose Brings Raw Sensuality to "Carmen Jones" Off Broadwa

Stage Door is our intermittent theater column in which we often feature plays and musicals with film connections. Please welcome guest contributor Erica Mann...

The moment Carmen Jones walks onto the stage of Classic Stage Company, it’s like time completely stops. It’s not just because the character is played by the incomparable Anika Noni Rose whose illustrious career has spanned stage (a Tony win for Caroline or Change), TV (Bates Motel, The Good Wife), and film (Dreamgirls, For Colored Girls, The Princess and the Frog). Her presence as the namesake is that powerful from the moment she sets foot into the spotlight.

Oscar Hammerstein II's adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen became a classic screen musical in 1954 starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte but has rarely been seen on the NY stage. CSC's production is the first major New York revival since the 1940s. Carmen Jones is the story of love, lust, betrayal and tragedy with the action moved to the 1940s in the American south. Corporal Joe, stationed at an army reserve and working in a parachute factory, falls in love with the stunning Carmen Jones. Aware of his feelings, Carmen convinces him to change his life trajectory in pursuit for a life in Chicago with her. Things change when those initial feelings become blurry and passion turns into jealousy...

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Lorrell loves Jimmy... it's true 🎵

Links: The Wife, Anika Noni Rose, Kiss the Boy

• Oscilloscope Musings Interesting piece about Zach Snyder's Suckerpunch and how it reflects various old movies, especially the musical Gold Diggers of 1933
• Cartoon Brew on the making of a new animated feature Big Fish & Begonia, now in select cities
• Deadline Jumanji (2017) broke a long held record just barely toppling Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) to become Sony's all time biggest domestic hit

lots more news and entertainment tidbits after the jump including Omar Sharif, Glenn Close, Melissa McCarthy, Anika Noni Rose and Keiynan Lonsdale...

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Review: "Everything, Everything"

by Chris Feil

It’s not summer without at least once piece of romantic counter-programming, and for the most part Everything, Everything is a cut above the last few years’ offerings. There is a surprising amount of imagination in this tale of teenage love, and more genuine feeling. Its sappier side is kept at a softer level throughout, more concerned with showing the intricacies of blossoming young love than pulling your emotional strings. The film is more organic and modest in its emotional beats, until it turns its back on its own strengths.

Newly eighteen Maddy (The Hunger Games’s Amandla Stenberg) has been homebound her whole life, suffering from SCID, a genetical disorder that makes her essentially allergic to the world at large...

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Ten Little Links

People Mag Julia Roberts named "World's Most Beautiful" for record fifth time in the magazine's annual list
i09 new Fahrenheit 451 movie adaptation coming. To star two Michaels, Shannon and Jordan
Tampa Bay Times a street in Florida renamed "Moonlight Way" - how wonderful!
Towleroad Stranger Things "Barb" actress Shannon Purser has come out as bisexual
Variety Chris Pratt admits he was taken off guard by the harsh criticism of Passengers
In Contention Fox Searchlight lines up multiple Oscar hopefuls a year after the Birth of a Nation debacle
Playbill Anika Noni Rose set to play a who, along with her daughters, becomes the center of a hacking media storm in Assassination Nation 
Tracking Board Will Smith circling the genie role in the live action remake of Disney's Aladdin musical
Playbill the Drama League Nominations for 2017  
Film School Rejects on Hollywood's fascination with de-aging its stars and why, storytelling wise, this is generally a bad idea 

Exit Videos
We're just under a year away from the debut of the superhero TV series Cloak & Dagger but they've released a trailer anyway. Seems kinda early!

We've already covered The Beguiled teaser but here's the full trailer (which is very similar in structure but with extra footage). Having seen the 1971 film I wasn't worried about spoilers but you absolutely shouldn't watch this if you haven't seen the original film. For my taste it's a little too revealing.