Entertainment

Two years and one pandemic later, Birthday Candles, starring Debra Messing, finally makes its Broadway debut — and if it’s good old-fashioned life perspective you’re searching for, bring all the issues and some tissues, too.

Written by Noah Haidle, the production is a time-trip: Spanning 90 years in one woman’s life…and the highs and sometimes crushing lows that go along with the journey.

“It’s the most challenging thing I have ever been a part of bar-none,” the Will & Grace star tells ABC Audio. “Not ever leaving the stage, aging 90 years and having to gently transform throughout the play.”

From carefree teenager to midlife and the inevitable senior years, Messing’s character, Ernestine, marks her passage of time by celebrating a birthday every year — no matter what the circumstances are. And with every birthday come the inevitable questions.

“’Have I wasted my life?’ That is a question we ask ourselves at every stage of life,” Messing says. “That’s our greatest fear.”

Messing says the collective experience of the last few years makes the production “more relevant and more prescient” than ever. “It’s about connection,” she says. “We lost connection during the pandemic and connection is the thing that is most fragile in a family dynamic.”

Her co-star, Enrico Colantoni, echoes the sentiment. “My favorite line in the play is ‘notice what we have left.’ I don’t think that would have affected me the way it did if not for COVID,” he tells ABC Audio. “Little things are important now. Time spent with your family. I think that’s why it resonates with so many people now having gone through the two years. Everyone’s life is beautiful.”

Birthday Candles is now playing through May 29 at The American Airlines Theater.

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On Monday, former Survivor winner and two-time cancer survivor Ethan Zohn will re-run the Boston Marathon for the first time since 2015, when the Boston Bombing shattered the event.

The attack killed three and injured scores more. Zohn, who was running to celebrate a year of being in remission, says he was “about 20 minutes away from the actual finish line” when the bombs exploded.

“So it was really scary,” he said. “Like, we actually didn’t know what was going on when it actually happened because we are so far away. We heard an explosion, but everyone just kept running.”

Zohn called it, “Total chaos…Because no one knew really what happened, how many people are injured…No transportation in and out of the city. No phone service. So it was chaos.”

Afterward, however, Ethan witnessed the best of “human nature and compassion and empathy” that “[transcended] this horrible experience.”

Zohn, who advocates for cannabis use, which he says got him through chemo and helped with the psychological after-effects of battling cancer, is also running this year to advocate for AKTIV Against Cancer, which stresses physical activity for those fighting it.

“My father who died of cancer when I was 14 years old, he ran the Boston Marathon, so I’m like literally following in his footsteps,” said Zohn. “So I think this race for me…it’s my father. It’s my hometown of Boston, it’s running the race again after the bombs. It’s 10 years [in remission], it’s cannabis, AKTIV Against Cancer. So all these things coming together, I think it’s just a wonderful thing to celebrate.”

He adds, “I’m super excited, nervous and excited to be running this race.”

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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third in a series of Harry Potter spin-offs, managed to conjure up $6 million from Thursday night preview audiences in the U.S., according to Deadline.

The film, co-written by Potter creator JK Rowling, has already opened overseas and is nearing the hundred-million-dollar mark from foreign theaters. Stateside, it’s expecting an estimated take in the $40-$50 million range.

The movie, again starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne as magical animal wrangler Newt Scamander, and with Mads Mikkelsen replacing Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald, is getting a better critical reception than its predecessor, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. It also has an audience score of 83% on the ratings aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, higher even than the “Certified Fresh” original.

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David Zaslav, the CEO of Discovery, which recently purchased Warner Media for $43 billion, is apparently eager to iron out some wrinkles in the capes of its superhero properties.

Variety is reporting Zaslav is looking to overhaul DC Entertainment, which is home to superhero icons including Batman, Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, but has so far failed to leverage them into the years-long box office dominance of Disney-owned rival Marvel Studios.

Zaslav is reportedly looking for a figure like Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige, who can bring a “cohesive brand strategy” to the table, and take better advantage of Warner Bros. deep bench of heroes and villains, Variety explains.

DC properties have had successes, most recently with the reboot The Batman, and prior to that with hits like the first Wonder Woman movie, with Gal Gadot, and Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa. The 2019 Todd Phillips drama Joker was not only a blockbuster, it earned 11 Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture, and a Best Actor win for star Joaquin Phoenix. However, DC’s movie misses have rankled fans and made headlines for the wrong reasons, such as the panned sequel Wonder Woman 1984, and the well-publicized Joss Whedon Justice League reshoot debacle.

DC properties have consistently performed on the small screen, however, most recently with HBO Max’s Peacemaker, writer-director James Gunn‘s spin-off of his The Suicide Squad. There’s also DC’s long-running so-called “Arrowverse” TV shows, which include no fewer than six hit series starring Green Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Batwoman and others — success DC would love to echo with their theatrical releases.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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If you’re one of the millions of people who contributed to Bridgerton’s season one record-breaking viewership, you’ve most likely started, or even already finished, season two of the Netflix dramedy. And with the return of the hit Shondaland series, came the commencement of the show’s royal stars, including two of its leading ladies — Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury.

Her majesty Charlotte, played by Golda Rosheuvel, and matchmaker Danbury, Adjoa Andoh, both spoke to ABC Audio about the joy they experience portraying the dignified women on-screen.

“To play a powerful woman who knows how to navigate and strategize the bear pit that would be the Regency Court of this period is fabulous,” Andoh said. “She gets to be manipulative, she gets to be loving, she gets to be hostile and welcoming, and she does it all with great style and elan…”

Rosheuvel expressed a similar sentiment about her character’s regal essence, detailing a vital aspect of the Queen’s fashion: her iconic wigs and luxurious ball gowns.

“It completely transformed the way I walk, the way I hold myself,” she said of her double-corseted undergarments. “The way you walk in those things is quite phenomenal. I quite like it. It’s quite choreographed for me. I like the way it kind of switches and stuff and the way my body moves.”

The powerhouse in each of the women shines through quite clearly in Bridgerton, but they’re also well aware of the overall cast impact. “The core of the show, it is a family…And we felt that in season one, filming it and coming back in season two, it was exactly the same,” Rosheuvel said.

Lucky for fans of the “Ton,” Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury will continue their royal legacy in a new Netflix spin-off show.

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While Tom Cruise arguably certainly doesn’t look like — or perform stunts like — most 59 year olds, he didn’t actually vault over six foot tall funnyman Keegan-Michael Key.

However, you’d be forgiven if you saw him do just that, thanks to a now viral video reportedly taken backstage at January’s AFI Awards.

The footage shows reportedly 5-foot-7-inch Cruise running behind and then vaulting over the taller actor, then shaking his hand, saying, “I just wanted to jump in and wish you luck.”

Cruise then says, “Congrats on the AFI Awards, congrats on life — work on the humor a little bit,” before laughing and walking away.

A shocked Key thanks him, and talks to camera, “Just here at the AFI Awards. That happens every three minutes.”

The video was posted by DeepTomCruise, a TikTok account with 3.4 million followers that uses Deep Fake AI technology to convincingly mimic the Top Gun star doing various things.

This time, while both Key and the jump were real, the star’s face was digitally stuck on whoever it was who stuck the landing.

Oh, and while the gag was fake, the video’s 675,000 likes and counting are very real.

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The Cleveland Guardians — known since 1915 as the Cleveland Indians — are getting a major Hollywood star to throw out the first pitch of the season tonight. 

Tom Hanks, who famously played a wartime baseball team manager in 1992’s A League of Their Own, will do the honors at Cleveland’s Progressive Stadium, when the Guardians take the field in their home opener against the San Francisco Giants.

The two-time Oscar winner has professional roots in Cleveland, having once played the Great Lakes Theater Festival as an up-and-coming actor in the late seventies.

Last year, Hanks narrated a video to debut the team’s rebranding. “It has always been ‘Cleveland’ that was the best part of our name,” he intoned.

In a statement earlier this month, Hanks enthused, “I’ve had Guardians fever since 1977 when I caught my first game in Section 19 of Cleveland’s Lakefront Municipal Stadium. I’m honored to return to Cleveland and Progressive Field for the first home game of the Cleveland Guardians era.”

Hanks will be tossing to Larry Doby Jr., the son of the man who became the first Black player in the American League 75 years ago, months after Jackie Robinson first broke the color barrier in professional baseball.

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24 veteran Elisha Cuthbert plays a mom who loses her teen daughter to the mysteries of the basement of a supernatural old Irish mansion in the new thriller The Cellar.

Based on writer-director Brendan Muldowney‘s award-winning short The Ten Steps, the film hits theaters and starts streaming on the Shudder app today.

Cuthbert’s character handles marketing for social media influencer teenagers, but as the film begins, it’s apparent that she’s disconnected from her own daughter, Ellie.

“[My character lives] sort of this distracted lifestyle that we’re all so used to now, and…sort of losing sight of your children sometimes,” Elisha explains. “And so when you see my character…and her daughter at the start of the film…it’s a sort of very tumultuous relationship…which makes…losing her even more difficult.”

The film was shot in an actual creepy mansion in Roscommon, Ireland. “It ended up becoming another character in the film,” the actress notes.

“Being at the same location really felt like it had its own presence in the film. That is undeniable,” she teases.

Speaking of scary, ABC Audio wanted to know what Elisha thought about her former co-star Paul Dano, from 2004’s The Girl Next Door, and his freaking out fans and critics in The Batman.

“To see him play the Riddler, I mean, his career has just been so stellar, and yeah, he’s a brilliant actor,” Elisha says.

She adds, “And even when we were doing The Girl Next Door, I mean, he was so charming and so fun to work with. All those guys were. That movie was such a great experience…and it’s one of those sort of cult things now. But yeah, love Paul!”

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Netflix has scooped up the rights to the action comedy The Man from Toronto, starring Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson. The Sony Pictures film, which also stars Kaley Cuoco and Ellen Barkin, has Harrelson’s titular master assassin mistaken for Hart in an Airbnb mix-up. Deadline reports that the film was supposed to hit theaters on August 12, but will now debut on the streaming service later this year…

Who is Michael Davies? That’s the answer to the question, “Who will be the next executive producer of Jeopardy!?” Davies posted a message Thursday to confirm he’s taking the place of Mike Richards, whose short stint as host last year was derailed by controversial blog posts he’d made. “I am both honored and humbled by the faith the studio and the staff have put in me,” Davies said in part, and he thanked “everyone in the Jeopardy! community for your phenomenal support.” Davies is a veteran of unscripted shows, including Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live…

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon has joined the cast of the Warner Bros. DC Comics adaptation Blue Beetle. According to The Wrap, Sarandon will play Victoria Kord, a villainous new character developed for the movie; the publication noted that Sharon Stone was once in talks for the part. Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña will star as Jamie Reyes, aka the hero Blue Beetle. He’ll be the first lead Latino actor in a DC property when the film comes out in August of 2023…

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Out today, on The Roku Channel, Swimming with Sharks — starring Diane Kruger and Kiernan Shipka — is a drama about the dark side of Hollywood and how an assistant flips the script on an abusive boss. They say art often imitates real life, so just how accurate is the show’s depiction of Hollywood?

“Look, it’s like the Devil Wears Prada, you know, Meryl Streep‘s character is so terrible. But is everybody in the fashion world like that? No. So is everyone in Hollywood like Joyce Holt? No. Right? But is she the most fun to play and watch on TV? Probably,” says Kruger. “Do we really want to see a show about the nicest producer out there? I don’t think so.”

Unlike the original 1994 film, which Kruger admittedly did not watch, this new version is female-led, which is what drew her to the role.

“I think what’s unique about the show and what drew me to it is that now it’s 2022 and we’re women in these positions of power finally, right, to a certain extent anyways. And what that means for us, you know, in terms of wanting it all, wanting a family, wanting a happy home life…how to navigate our newfound power,” the actress explains.

Overall, Hollywood has made strides in the almost 30 years since the original SWS, which is something Shipka has noticed as well.

“The truth is that I’ve always been very protected and really kind of lucky in the circumstances that I’ve been in growing up and working in this town. But I think things are absolutely changing and absolutely improving,” she shares. “And I think, if anything, more things are just being talked about now and addressed.”

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