TV Musicals: Schmigadoon (Apple TV+) & Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+)

By Christopher James

TV is embracing the musical. Just this week, two new musical series premiered on different streaming services - season two of Schmigadoon (now tackling 60s/70s darker musicals) on Apple TV+ and Grease: The Rise of the Pink Ladies on Paramount+. Both series use previous musical IP as a launching pad for new stories, one a parody and one an “origin story.” While the level of success varies between the shows (hell, sometimes it varies episode-to-episode), it is wonderful to see new musicals with original songs streaming on our TVs in the same week...

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All-Star Free Virtual Sondheim Concert This Sunday!

by Nathaniel R

Meryl & Bernadette both played "The Witch" in productions of Into the Woods. But which songs will they sing at this concert?

Please place this in the "silver linings" bin of the horrific coronavirus pandemic. There will be a virtual concert this Sunday April 26th at 8 PM EST celebrating Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday. You will NOT believe the performer's list. It's jaw-dropping in its starpower...

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Let Them All Link

• Salon The Marvelous Mrs Maisel's Emmy campaign disrupts Los Angeles with 1959-era prices 
• The Atlantic's "friendship files" talks to three thirtysomething women who all cosplay Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow 
• Slate comparing the starpower of 2019's Little Women to the starpower (back in the day) of the 1994 cast - Saoirse vs Winona and more. Really fun article but the part on Sarandon and Dern is a major misread of the mid-90s. Sarandon was at the very peak of her fame in 1994, headlining a sleeper blockbuster (The Client) and building yet more momentum to win her inevitable Oscar win the following year. She should have bested Dern (who we loooove, don't get us wrong).

 After the jump The Godfather, Faye Dunaway's trouble, Steven Soderbergh's secret movie, Mulan trouble, Kristin Chenoweth's breakout and more...

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50 Kristins for Kristin's 50th

by Jorge Molina

Today, Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winner (that’s right, she only needs an Oscar to EGOT; get on it, Hollywood) and human ray of sunshine Kristin Chenoweth turns 50 years old. To honor her career, her legacy, and that impossibly high pitch matched only by her charisma, let’s take a look at 50 roles and appearances that she has gifted the world in almost three decades of work, in no particular order:

1) Her Broadway debut in an adaptation of Moliére’s Scapin as Hyacinth in 1996. 

2 & 3) Her two most iconic Broadway roles: A featured Tony-winning turn as Sally in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1999, and the Best Actress Tony-nominated performance as Glinda, the Good Witch in the world phenomenon that was Wicked in 2003.

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RPDR All Stars 3: E4 - Notes on a Shangela Scandal(a)

by Chris Feil

“Shady Thorgy is so shady, she causes drama even after she ______”. Sis, it’s the Snatch Game!

The lead up to this week’s episode was quite understated compared to the hype machine of previous Snatch Games, perhaps a sign that the fanbase has wisely lowered their expectations. But it’s not any celebrity impersonation that made this an episode to remember. What’s the best thing Drag Race could hope for when its fan favorite challenge continues to experience such diminishing returns each season? A mountain full of drama to distract from another underwhelming end result!

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