Who should present Glenn Close the Oscar?

by Cláudio Alves

Glenn Close and Deborah Kerr at the 66th Academy Awards. | © AMPAS

By this point, everyone and their mother has heard about the Honorary Oscar recipients for 2026. It’s been decided by the Academy to bestow these honors on Ridley Scott, Glenn Close, and pioneering Black American animator Floyd Norman. Producers Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon will also receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, with nobody getting a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for the first time since 2020. Much will be written about these artists, here and elsewhere, with plenty of time still to go until the 17th annual Governors Awards are held on November 15. However, to start things off, why not dispel some of the seriousness that comes as a package deal with such honorifics and enjoy a bit of silly speculation. Specifically, who should present Glenn Close with her long-awaited Oscar? 

Back in 1994, at the 66th Academy Awards, then five-time nominee Glenn Close had the privilege to deliver six-time nominee Deborah Kerr with the trophy she had earned since her Powell & Pressburger days. In actressexual and Oscar obsessive circles, this momentous occasion is seen with some irony, as it almost feels as if one perpetual Oscar loser passed her legacy to the next generation. Or should we call it a curse? If that’s the case, should Close keep with tradition and doom another thespian to a life without a competitive Oscar win? If that’s the case, the choice of presenter is clear…

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75th Annual Tony Awards in Review

by Nathaniel R

© Theo Wargo/Getty for Tony Awards Production

Ariana DeBose, fresh off her Oscar win, hosted the Tony Awards with enough theater kid energy to make Anne Hathaway blush. No reviews  will be able to claim (in good faith) that she didn't work her ass off to entertain the audience. She was "on" in every moment, pulling faces, doing little dance moves, singing, and engaging with the celebrity audience. She mentioned the 75th Anniversary several times but in truth the show's Diamond anniversary wasn't any different than any other Tony show; they've always mixed a couple "special" reunion-style performances with showcases for the current musicals (the ones that are still open that is). Even the Sondheim tribute -- which we expected to be epic -- was just one number long: Bernadette Peters singing "Children Will Listen" from Into the Woods. 

Best Speech, Ticket-Boosters, A New "EGOT" winner, and more after the jump...

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Tweetweek: Multiverse Madness and Patti Lupone Worship

Amusing and/or thought-provoking showbiz tweets curated for you so you don't have to waste time on twitter!

All movies should be rated R so that children can't go to them.

— Eric D. Snider (@EricDSnider) May 10, 2022

  More after the jump including Toni Collette, Top Gun Maverick, multiverse mania, and responses to that story about Patti LuPone ranting at a maskless theatergoer on Broadway after Stephen Sondheim's Company...  

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We're rejoicing over Broadway's Return

by Nathaniel R

Patti Lupone in "Company"

When Broadway was shut down on March 12th, 2020 the official story was "until April 12th, 2020". That one month time frame is hilariously optimistic in retrospect (and even raised some eyebrows at the time). Cut to mid May 2021 and Broadway is still closed but with notice that theaters can reopen at full capacity in September. 

But what gives with the Tony Awards? They announced a strange set of nominees after the Broadway closing culled from a very limited pool of shows since a lot hadn't yet opened (Broadway is typically busiest in the spring). Seven months later they still haven't uttered a peep about when those awards will take place. Aaron Tveit, the only nominee for Best Actor in a Musical, still doesn't know whether or not he won. All three of the current nominees in the marquee Tony category of Best Musical (i.e. the one that gets all the headlines and makes the box office difference) will be reopened by late October...

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Ryan Murphy's "Hollywood" Finale

by Cláudio Alves

Sometimes artists dig their own graves by badly promoting or describing their works. Ryan Murphy's Hollywood is, to me, a good example of that. First off, the title is too vague, promising a portrait of Hollywood history instead of the fantasy the series presents. "Dreamland" would be an infinitely better name, both as a descriptor of the content and a tie-in to the narrative's details.

Titles aside, another big problem surrounding Hollywood is how many have been calling it revisionist history. It's no such thing…

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