Entertainment category, Page 141
Pittsburgh to pay tribute to August Wilson during Black History Month
Pittsburgh officials said Monday that the city will celebrate Black History Month in February by paying tribute to August Wilson, an acclaimed playwright who was born in the city’s Hill District. The city’s Office of Special Events is partnering with the University of Pittsburgh Library System, which has acquired Wilson’s...
Trevor Noah returns as Grammy host with comfort, nervousness
LOS ANGELES — Trevor Noah feels more comfortable hosting the Grammy Awards for a third-straight year, but the former “The Daily Show” host still has some nervousness about leading the ceremony with big-time acts like Beyoncé, Adele and Harry Styles looking on. “The nerves come in because you’re standing in...
Michael Jackson’s nephew to star in King of Pop biopicVideo
NEW YORK — Michael Jackson’s 26-year-old nephew, Jaafar Jackson, will play the King of Pop in the planned biopic “Michael” to be directed by Antoine Fuqua. Lionsgate announced Jackson’s casting Monday for the film being produced by Oscar-winning “Bohemian Rhapsody” producer Graham King. Jackson is the second-youngest son of Jermaine...
With ‘1619,’ ‘Summer of Soul’ and ‘The Plot,’ Disney’s diverse storytelling brand is making waves
LOS ANGELES — When Oscar winner Mahershala Ali and his producing partners made the rounds last year, pitching an adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s bestselling novel “The Plot,” it sparked a bidding war. The buzzy thriller about a failed author who engages in an “act of literary theft,” forever changing...
France buys new masterpiece for Orsay museum with LVMH gift
PARIS — France has acquired a stunning Impressionist masterpiece for its national collection of art treasures, with a donation from luxury goods giant LVMH paying the nearly $47 million for “Boating Party” by 19th-century French artist Gustave Caillebotte. The oil on canvas shows an oarsman in a top hat rowing...
Review: Making of ‘The Way We Were’ is a rich, gossipy tale
“The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen” by Robert Hofler (Citadel) Most people seem to like their screen romances a little on the sad side. When the American Film Institute listed its top romantic movies, the first four...
Lisa Marie Presley lost 40-50 pounds, took opioids before death, report says
Lisa Marie Presley was taking opioids and weight loss medication before her death this month, according to a report. The only child of Elvis Presley lost between 40 and 50 pounds over a six-week stretch ahead of the Golden Globe Awards, TMZ reported Monday, citing family sources. Presley, who was...
Lisa Loring, original Wednesday Addams actress, dies at 64Video
Lisa Loring, the former child star who portrayed Wednesday on the original “The Addams Family” series, has died, a friend announced. She was 64. The actress “suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure” and was on life support for three days, the friend, Laurie Jacobson,...
’24,’ ‘Runaways’ actor Annie Wersching dies at 45
Actor Annie Wersching, best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the series “24” and providing the voice for Tess in the video game “The Last of Us,” has died. She was 45. Wersching passed away Sunday morning in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer, her publicist told...
‘Avatar 2’ tops box office for 7th weekend
“Avatar: The Way of Water” claimed the No. 1 spot on the domestic box office charts for the seventh weekend in a row with an additional $15.7 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday. It was a quiet weekend overall, notable mostly for the Hindi language blockbuster “Pathaan” that broke...
Guitarist Tom Verlaine, co-founder of Television, dies at 73
NEW YORK — Tom Verlaine, guitarist and co-founder of the seminal proto-punk band Television who influenced many bands while playing at ultra-cool downtown New York music venue CBGB alongside the Ramones, Patti Smith and Talking Heads, has died. He was 73. He died Saturday in New York City, surrounded by...
Pittsburgh Ballet’s new artistic director returning to familiar spaces
Adam McKinney will take over as artistic director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in March, but he says there are many ways in which he already feels at home in the role and in the city. McKinney, 46, grew up in Milwaukee but often visited Pittsburgh, where his late father, Gerald...
Behind the Art: Ligonier museum intrigues Pittsburgh artist Robert Bowden
Though Robert Bowden is best-known for his cityscapes, the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley is one of the Pittsburgh painter’s favorite subjects. He’s painted the log structure, just south of the borough along Route 711, in both winter and summer. In the winter, he painted while sitting...
‘A Thousand and One’ wins Sundance grand jury prize
“A Thousand and One,” a drama about an impoverished single mother and her son in New York City, won the Sundance Film Festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition, while “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” was awarded the top prize in the U.S. documentary category. This...
Bob Dylan almost died in 1997. Months later, ‘Time Out of Mind’ revived his career
A quarter of a century ago, Bob Dylan found vital new life in an album about death’s inexorable approach. “I’m walking through streets that are dead,” the rock ‘n’ roll legend sang — wheezed, really — right at the top of “Time Out of Mind,” which came out in the...
Harrison Ford inspires cast in new comedy ‘Shrinking’
NEW YORK — When Bill Lawrence was developing his new Apple TV+ comedy “Shrinking,” he introduced one character in the pilot script as a “Harrison Ford-type” — but never dreamed he would get the real deal. Although the showrunner has had comedy success working with big names and executive-producing hits...
Smokey Robinson, ‘King of Motown,’ to release new solo album
NEW YORK — It’s been nearly a decade since Smokey Robinson’s last album, but new music from the King of Motown is on the horizon. Robinson will release the nine-track album “Gasms” on April 28, the music legend behind hits like “My Girl” and “The Way You Do the Things...
Review: Even J.Lo can’t save this ‘Shotgun Wedding’Video
Spoiler alert: J.Lo looks fantastic in a wedding dress. You surely knew that, given not only the plethora of wedding-themed movies Jennifer Lopez has made over the years, from “The Wedding Planner” to “Monster-in-Law” to the recent “Marry Me,” but also her own offscreen life, of course. And now comes...
Jay Leno breaks bones in motorcycle wreck months after fire
Two months after undergoing surgery for serious burns, Jay Leno is now contending with a number of broken bones after being knocked off a motorcycle. The comedian and former “Tonight Show” host told a Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Thursday that he broke his collarbone and two ribs and cracked his...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Jan. 27-29
From the grand spectacle of a symphonic “Harry Potter” performance to the weirdness of a World Oddities Expo, there is a wide array of entertainment options in Pittsburgh this weekend. ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ in Concert This sounds like a can’t-miss event for “Harry Potter” fans. The...
Elle King settles in Nashville as a mom and country singer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Singer Elle King has never fit neatly into any one box. Her early years were split between Ohio, New York City and Los Angeles and her rock music was always banjo-based, with elements of bluegrass, rockabilly and country pulling at the seams. Now raising her young son...
An art director stumbled upon a stack of drawings in an antique shop. Could she make them the next big thing?
PHILADELPHIA — The antique shop was about to close for good when Claire Iltis stumbled upon the drawings inside. They looked like other-wordly collages, or stained glass postcards, all with a maroon-black metallic gleam. Preserved in fading photo albums, each was labeled with a looping, cursive signature: Dorothy F. Foster....
‘Maybe I Do’ review: Love on the rom-com rocks, for couples both young and oldVideo
In the romantic comedy “Maybe I Do,” a young couple played by Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey debate whether marriage is in their future. She’s all in; he’s all “What?!” But this bland, beautiful duo might as well be an afterthought. The star attractions are their respective parents, played by...
John Mayer’s solo acoustic tour to stop in Pittsburgh
John Mayer is headed back to Pittsburgh — all by himself. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter’s “Solo” tour will play PPG Paints Arena on March 18. “Just like the early days,” Mayer wrote on social media Thursday, announcing the tour. “I’ll be playing old songs. Newer songs. Songs you haven’t heard yet...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native talks about her exit from ‘The Bachelor;’ ‘The Ark,’ ‘Wolf Pack’ premiereVideo
Pittsburgh native Cara Ammon made her debut and her exit on Monday’s season premiere of ABC’s “The Bachelor.” Ammon got little screen time and then she didn’t secure a rose that would have kept her on the reality competition. She wasn’t the woman who made bachelor Zach Shallcross guzzle maple...
