1. If all goes according to plan, Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook will unveil the new iPhone 5 today at an event in California. Rumor is that the device has new voice command technology that will allow users to “make appointments in their calendars, send text messages or e-mails, and surf the Web.” [via Bloomberg]
2. Are you as excited by the teaser for Beyoncé’s new Funny Face-inspired music video for “Countdown” as we are? The dance sequence that shows off that baby bump is out of control!
3. Thanks to a money dispute currently brewing between Fox and the show’s six principal voice actors — studio execs are asking them to take a whopping 45 percent pay cut — this could be the final season of The Simpsons. Says an inside source: “Fox is taking the position that unless they can cut the production costs really drastically, they’ll pull the plug on new shows.” [via The Daily Beast]
4. Billy Elliot, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical based on the 2000 film, will close in January after over three years of performances. The reason? A recent decline in ticket sales due to competition from shows like The Book of Mormon and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. [via ArtsBeat]
5. Because we know you’re curious, here are the first three chapters of Playground, 50 Cent’s semi-autobiographical YA novel about a bully named Butterball.
Bonus Buzz: The 10 Best Minor Arrested Development Characters Of All Time
So a confession: One of my guilty pleasures is Broadway musicals. So much so that I will stomach the misery of Times Square and the not-so-cheap TKTS booth to see a show when I can. However, the new year marked a dim start for the Great White Way with more than a dozen plays and musicals closing by the end of January. (Knowing that Harvey is no longer on stage belting “Timeless to Me” as Edna Turnblad is a dark reality I must face every day.) And shows that were opening didn’t seem that promising — American Idol reject Constantine starring in a show based on songs you can play on Guitar Hero? Not exactly Les Mis material. Read More »
Theater folk are no doubt freaking out this morning, as they’re want to do around early May every year: It’s Tony Nominations Day! The best way to get a good first impression of what’s going here is by nomination count. Check out our numeric breakdown/running commentary after the jump. Spoiler alert: Those three dancing brats from Billy Elliot managed to smoke everyone else’s ass. Read More »
Hear that sound? It’s the noise of us rubbing our hands together in anticipation of this week’s installment of cultural Missed Connections. Why do we love rounding these up for you so much? Obviously there’s the voyeuristic thrill of intercepting a plaintive, Hail Mary of a message that’s actually intended for someone else. It’s like having a misfired note land on your desk back in middle school. And then there’s the tiny part of us that likes to think that one day, maybe we’ll actually end up helping on our readers find love. Remember Mystery Subway Girl? That story gave us chills. Even if it didn’t end well.
Enough talk. After the jump, proof that if you’re a lonely lady about town, you might want ditch the singles bar and scoop up some tickets to see Billy Elliot.
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We just came across a post on the New York Times Arts Beat blog that explained that due to a ruling by the Tonys committee, the three boys who rotate the role of Billy Elliot “would be considered jointly for a single nomination for leading actor in a musical.” They are not eligible as individuals.
Our reaction? Well, that just doesn’t seem fair. There’s no way David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish — aka the three Billys — deliver the exact same performances, even if they are treated as equals by the producers and the creative team. Note: if they win all three will get their own statue.
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“Often enough, the three boys sharing the role will have only recently received the news themselves, as the schedule is constantly being rejiggered based on their health and readiness. However nervous this makes them — and just before curtain they are sometimes nearly hyperventilating — onstage they give startlingly confident, and different, performances: one suave and beamish; one brooding and heartbroken; one blisteringly angry, dancing as if his limbs were bats cracking baseballs out of the park.” [NYM]
