Roseanne's Return. And Other Stories

Time for a link roundup so recent news doesn't entirely escape us...

movies
• AV Club Phantom Thread deleted scene -- an actual food fight between Cyril and Reynolds! Daniel and Lesley are clearly enjoying themselves
• IndieWire March Madness movie brackets. This A24 one is a nightmare. How to vote against so many great movies?
• THR Hugh Jackman's next two projects are The Front Runner and Bad Education (despite the familiar famously queer titles I'm disappointed to say that neither of those are adaptations of famous gay love stories or drag Almodovar movies.)

More after the jump including Cameron Diaz, Roseanne, Broadway movie adaptations, Ben Affleck, and more...

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They Found Someone: Stephanie J. Block to Play Cher

By Spencer Coile 

Renowned (and Tony nominated) for The Mystery of Edwin Drood and for "breaking down" in Falsettos,  and for playing Liza Minnelli in the Hugh Jackman musical The Boy From Oz, theater star Stephanie J. Block is about to add another iconic character to her repertoire: Cher. The Cher Show, which will be penned by Jersey Boys writer Rick Elice, will tell the story of pop singer and Academy Award winning actress throughout her career...

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Stage Door: Glenda Jackson in "Three Tall Women"

by Eric Blume

The Broadway revival of Edward Albee’s 1994 play Three Tall Women opens on Thursday. It stars Alison Pill, freshly Oscar nominated Laurie Metcalf, and two-time Oscar winner Glenda Jackson, who hasn’t been on an American stage in 32 years.  

Director Joe Mantello builds a stunning production.  Albee’s play, which won the Pulitzer Prize when it debuted off-Broadway in 1994, holds up beautifully, as all of his major plays do.  Albee writes in a theatrical, controlled, but go-for-broke language that soars in the way only the best theater can. Three Tall Women is a major play, like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Seascape and The Zoo Story and A Delicate Balance and The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia?.  It’s mind-boggling when you think of this man’s contribution to the theater, and the deep and compelling issues and emotions he tackled during his long career.

rehearsing Three Tall Women

Act One of Three Tall Women deals with a rich, dying old woman (Jackson), her caretaker (Metcalf), and her legal representative (Pill)... 

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Stage Door: "My Fair Lady" through the Years

by Nathaniel R

Tony season is (nearly) upon us so we're reviving the Stage Door column toward the end of March. But before we start reviewing shows, a history lesson.

Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Dolittle

My Fair Lady began its classic life in 1956 as a Broadway musical. No, that's not quite right. It began its life as George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which premiered way back in 1913, over a century ago! That play inspired the stage musical by Lerner & Loewe. On March 15th previews will begin for the latest Broadway revival. Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) headlines as Eliza Dolittle, with Harry Hadden-Paton as Professor Henry Higgins, two time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (♥︎) as Eliza's father, and showbiz legend Dame Diana Rigg (The Avengers, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Game of Thrones, etc...) as Higgins' mother. 

This will be the sixth major incarnation of the hit musical. Let's recap...

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Lesley Manville isn't done with awards shows just yet.

by Nathaniel R

Did you know that Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) is currently treading the boards in London? She's nominated for a Best Actress Olivier Award for playing Mary Tyrone in the Eugene O'Neill drama Long Day's Journey Into Night (a classic role which already scored an Oscar nod for Katharine Hepburn and a Tony for Jessica Lange). Her last performance is the day of the Oliviers (April 8th) after which she presumably gets a wee break before coming back to America in May. She and Jeremy Irons will do the same show again at BAM in Brooklyn for American audiences. 

Lesley's "Mary" is up against Imelda Staunton's "Martha" in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?! CLASH OF THE EPIC ROLES. If Imelda loses that contest to Lesley (they've both won Oliviers before) she still has another chance to win. She's double-nominated as she's also up for Best Actress in a Musical for Follies. Complete list of Olivier nominations here.