If your kid has dreams of starring Broadway and can belt out Jackson 5 numbers like nobody’s business, then listen up.
The producers of MJ, the Broadway musical inspired by the life of Michael Jackson, are launching a nationwide search for an actor to play “Young Michael Jackson” in the production. Time’s running out to find the actor, though, because performances begin on December 6; the official opening is February 1, 2022.
The producers are looking for someone that looks 10-12 years old, with an “unchanged” singing voice. You can be older or younger than 10 to audition, but you have to be able to sing in Young Michael’s range.
Here’s how to apply:
1. Make a video of the kid singing a Michael Jackson song, such as “Rockin’ Robin,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save” or “I’ll Be There.”
2. In the video, have the kid say their name, age, height, where they’re from and how they heard about the opportunity.
The new series Only Murders in the Building debuts Tuesday on Hulu. It stars Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short as neighbors who make a true crime podcast while investigating a murder in their apartment building. Randomly, Sting makes a cameo as another resident of the apartment building, and Steve Martin tells ABC Audio that the rocker was so perfect during his appearance that it was annoying.
Calling Sting’s cameo “excellent,” the legendary comic actor declares, “He came in completely prepared, knew all his lines, he sang, he was game, he was funny, [and] charming off the set.”
“He sat and did the English cryptic crossword puzzle…in the Financial Times, which no one can do, and was completely charming and game,” Martin adds, mock-complaining, “I kind of hope he‘s the murderer!”
Martin also jokes that he’s miffed that the one-time Police frontman ignored his offer to help him out musically. The comedian, who’s also a Grammy-winning banjo player — really! — tells ABC Audio, “I think he’s hard of hearing, ’cause I said to him, ‘Hey Sting! Want me to play banjo on your next record?’ And it was like he didn’t hear it!”
Sting appears briefly in the trailer for Only Murders in the Building, but how he fits into the plot is a mystery — for now.
Thandiwe Newton says she was “terrified” when asked to take on the role of Emily “Watts” Sanders, a military veteran and close friend of “mind P.I.” Nick Bannister, in director Lisa Joy‘s debut film, Reminiscence.
“Initially, I was terrified, because I love Lisa Joy,” Newton tells ABC Audio of her Westworld director. “I love her as a woman, as a friend, the mother that she is. She’s an extraordinary writer, collaborator. Westworld was life changing for me, continues to be… And I had full support for her movie.”
However, even as Joy’s supporter, Newton says that when the director offered her a role in the film, she wasn’t so sure.
“I was like, “No, no, no…Lisa, please don’t. Because I might let you down. And… I would die.’ Not even thinking about the fact that we already worked together…But I just…love her so much, I didn’t want the responsibility — I wanted someone else to carry that responsibility.”
Thandiwe continues, “But in the end, I trusted her…If she wants me to play that role, it’s because she knows that’s the right person for the role.”
Still, Thandiwe admits that she joined the project “almost without faith that I was the right person for it,” but says she eventually became more comfortable during “the process of doing it, getting to know Hugh [Jackman], and also just researching.”
“In a way I had internalized the stereotype of women, as opposed to real women,” Thandiwe says of her initial concerns. “Women in the military, come in all shapes and sizes, for goodness sake. It’s absolutely absurd. And then I thought to myself, ‘My goodness, I as a woman have internalized a stereotype of what a woman in the military should be like.'”
After several days of testimony from women claiming they were groomed and sexually abused by R. Kelly, a man took the witness stand at Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial in New York City on Monday to say the R&B star exploited him in the same way when he was a high school student.
The witness, testifying in federal court in Brooklyn without using his real name, told a jury how Kelly allegedly lured him to his Chicago-area home in 2007 with false offers of helping him with his fledgling music career.
Kelly asked the alleged victim, then 17, what he was willing to do for music, then proceeded to perform oral sex on him.
In a later episode, Kelly snapped his fingers to summon a naked girl from where she was hiding under a boxing ring to give Kelly and the witness oral sex, the man told the jury.
The witness testified as part of a cooperation agreement stemming from his guilty plea in a separate case, which alleges he was part of a botched scheme to bribe a woman to not testify against Kelly. No charges were brought against Kelly related to the scheme.
Earlier Monday, a woman testified that Kelly sexually assaulted her at age 17 following a performance in Miami in 1994.
Kelly, 54, whose birth name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, faces state and federal charges for sex trafficking, racketeering, coercion and other charges related to the alleged abuse and exploitation of six women — three of whom were underage at the time — over the course of 25 years. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Chris Cornell Estate
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello is pleading on behalf of the female guitar students who are trapped in Afghanistan after the U.S. completed its withdrawal on Monday.
Billboardobtained a copy of the open letter Morello penned as U.S. withdrawal efforts came to a close, with him begging for the rescue of those enrolled in the Girl with a Guitar program, which was kick-started by friend Lanny Cordola and teaches close to 200 students.
“I’m writing on behalf of some very special girls in Afghanistan who are in grave danger,” Morello penned. “[Girl with a Guitar] takes in street orphans and other girls that have endured significant trauma and uses music as a rehabilitation tool and means of working through their problems, their histories, and their hopes.”
“I’ve had the honor of collaborating with these wonderful kids. Since the Taliban takeover their school has been destroyed and the girls are in hiding. They are at extreme risk because they are widely known to have performed Western music and have been educated by a male American teacher,” Morello pleaded. “Anything you could do to help save their lives would be much appreciated.”
The students enrolled in the Girl with a Guitar program have remotely recorded with a variety of artists, including Morello, Sammy Hagar, Brian Wilson, Blake Shelton and many others. With Morello, the girls assisted in his and Kathy Valentine‘s cover of Eurythmics‘ “Sweet Dreams.”
Cordola, who’s is currently in Pakistan, is working to extract the rest of his students, 12 in all, their families and his driver from the country, saying “their lives are in peril.”
Donations can be made on Cordola’s Miraculous Love Kids website.
Six years ago, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden and awkwardly dodged questions on whether they were dating in real life. On Monday night, Camila returned to Corden and admitted that back then she totally had feelings for Shawn, who’s now her boyfriend of two years.
“I was completely in love with him,” she says of the fateful late show appearance in 2015. “And he was the one I thought didn’t love me back.”
Camila says she was taken by surprise when Shawn seemed to indicate on the show that he was the one who liked her and she didn’t like him back. “I remember backstage after our interview, I was like, ‘Why did you say that? ‘Cause you know that I like you!’” Camila recounts. “…And look at us now.”
Camila also celebrated the Los Angeles premiere of her new film Cinderella on Monday. The film hits Amazon Prime September 3.
(NEW YORK) — Tennis star Naomi Osaka has opened up recently about her mental health struggles and now she is sharing a new strategy to help her cope.
Osaka, 23, said on Twitter that she realized she is “extremely self-deprecating” and always thinks she is “never good enough.”
“I’ve never told myself that I’ve done a good job but I do know I constantly tell myself that I suck or could do better,” she wrote, adding, “Every time a new opportunity arises my first though is, ‘wow, why me?'”
In hopes of turning a new page and better protecting her mental health, the reigning U.S. Open champion said now she plans to celebrate even her small wins.
“I’m gonna try to celebrate myself and my accomplishments more,” Osaka wrote. “I think we all should.”
Giving examples of the seemingly small wins worth celebrating, Osaka continued, “You got up in the morning and didn’t procrastinate on something? Champion. Figured something out at work that’s been bugging you for a while? Absolute legend.”
Osaka’s tweet prompted a reply from Ted Lasso, the fictional American football coach turned English football manager known for his positive attitude.
“I agree with every bit of this,” Lasso’s Twitter account posted Sunday. “The thing about small victories is that they’re easier to carry with you. I’m calling myself the champion of popping every single kernel of popcorn in the microwave last night.”
Osaka, who is currently defending her title at the U.S. Open in New York, faced a summer of setbacks due to what she has said are her mental health struggles.
She withdrew from the French Open in June after being fined $15,000 for missing a post-match press conference.
Osaka had announced at the start of the tournament she would not participate in the mandatory post-match news conferences in order to preserve her mental health.
Osaka also withdrew from Wimbledon this summer, with her agent explaining at the time that she was “taking some personal time with friends and family.”
The Japan native competed in the Tokyo Olympics in her home country but lost in the third round and left without a medal.
“I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others,” Osaka, who lit the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony, said after the match, according to ESPN.
Osaka said she is focusing on this new approach to her mental health as a way to unburden herself from outsiders’ expectations.
“Your life is your own and you shouldn’t value yourself on other people’s standards,” she wrote. “I know I give my heart to everything I can and if that’s not good enough for some then my apologies but I can’t burden myself with those expectations anymore.”
“Seeing everything that’s going on in the world I feel like if I wake up in the morning that’s a win,” Osaka continued. “That’s how I’m coming.”
Mindler with Rudd in 2011 — Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
The death of Matthew Mindler, a 19-year-old former child actor who appeared opposite Paul Rudd in the comedy My Idiot Brother, has been ruled a suicide by authorities in Pennsylvania, according to TMZ.
Mindler was found dead on August 28, three days after the Millersville University freshman was declared missing, the school’s president announced, relaying the news to Mindler’s fellow students “with a heavy heart.”
TMZ reported that while the manner of death has been ruled suicide, no cause of death has yet been determined pending toxicology reports.
Mindler appeared in a few productions over his brief career, with credits for As The World Turns, the aforementioned Rudd film, which also starred Rashida Jones and Zooey Deschanel, and also Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
Ethan Hawke is reflecting on the indelible mark Robin Williams left on his career — even though they had a rocky start at first.
Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he received the President’s Award, the 50-year-old actor, who co-starred with Williams in the Oscar-winning 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, admitted he once thought Williams hated him.
“I thought Robin hated me. He had a habit of making a ton of jokes on set. At 18, I found that incredibly irritating. He wouldn’t stop and I wouldn’t laugh at anything he did,” Hawke said, according to Variety. “There was this scene in the film when he makes me spontaneously make up a poem in front of the class. He made this joke at the end of it, saying that he found me intimidating. I thought it was a joke.”
He said his understanding of Williams’ joke changed over the years, adding, “As I get older, I realize there is something intimidating about young people’s earnestness, their intensity. It is intimidating — to be the person they think you are. Robin was that for me.”
Hawke played Todd Anderson in Dead Poet’s Society, a student who forms a special bond with Williams’ John Keating.
Hawke also revealed that Williams admired him all along and even helped him get his start in Hollywood, noting that the late comedian helped him secure his first talent agent.
“[The agent] called, saying, ‘Robin Williams says you are going to do really well,'” he grinned.
Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Maj. Gen. Donahue is the final American service member to depart Afghanistan, Aug. 30, 2021. – U.S. Central Command
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government collapsed and the Taliban seized control. Now with the U.S. military withdrawal complete, America’s 20-year campaign ends as it began: under Taliban rule.
Officials said the terror group ISIS-K carried out what the Pentagon called a “complex attack” outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 13 American service members and wounding 20, among scores of Afghan casualties.
When President Joe Biden sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, he warned of the threat of attacks on the ground and said he did not see a way to withdraw from Afghanistan without “chaos ensuing.”
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern.
Aug 31, 11:57 am
Harris presides over Senate passage of bill assisting Americans fleeing Afghanistan
Vice President Kamala Harris gaveled in a pro forma session of the Senate on Tuesday morning, to enable the passage of a bill that will help with the repatriation of Americans coming from Afghanistan, according to a White House aide.
The bill provides emergency, temporary assistance for Americans returning from Afghanistan. It was passed without any objection at roughly 10:30 a.m. and will now head to the president’s desk since it originated in and already passed the House.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday there is still a “small number of Americans — under 200, and likely closer to 100 — who remain in Afghanistan and want to leave.”
Aug 31, 10:18 am
Taliban spokesperson congratulates nation on ‘freedom,’ American defeat
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Taliban soldiers at a press conference hours after the last U.S. soldiers left the airport in Kabul that they had secured victory for the whole of the Afghan nation.
“Due to the sincerity, perseverance, and patience of our elders, we gained our freedom. I congratulate all of you and our nation on this freedom, and I hope that Afghanistan will never be occupied and that it will be free, prosperous, and the home of Afghans, and that there will be an Islamic government,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks from Reuters.
Mujahid said the Taliban wanted to sustain good relations with the rest of the world, that Afghanistan was not a country for occupying forces, and that Americans were defeated and could not achieve their goals.
“The nation has suffered a lot, and they have been repressed because of the occupation, have seen problems for 20 years, and can no longer tolerate misbehavior. Therefore, I call on all our militaries to treat the people well because the people have the right to peace, to unite, and we are the servants of the nation, not to dominate the people,” he said.
Aug 31, 10:04 am
Biden to defend Afghanistan withdrawal in speech to nation
President Biden is expected to defend his decision on Afghanistan when he speaks at 2:45 p.m. from the White House — a day after the last U.S. troops left in accordance with his self-imposed deadline but also while other Americans who wanted to leave were left behind to deal with an uncertain fate.
In an exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan offered more defense for the administration’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, perhaps foreshadowing Biden’s remarks this afternoon.
Though Stephanopoulos pressed him for details on the plan to evacuate the remaining Americans, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said is “under 200,” Sullivan repeated they will use “every available diplomatic means with the economic leverage that we have,” but he did attempt to take credit for the successful evacuations — and even pinned some of the blame on the remaining Americans who weren’t able to make it out.
“We do believe that there is an important dimension of humanitarian assistance that should go directly to the people of Afghanistan.”
“We got out between 5,500 and 6,000 people — Americans from Afghanistan — we got out 97 or 98% of those on the ground and the small number who remain, we contacted repeatedly over the course of two weeks to come to the airport to come to a rally point. 5,500 or more did that,” Sullivan said.
In response to criticism from many Republicans lawmakers like Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Sullivan contended that only the president, as commander in chief, knows what it is to make these hard decisions.
“Those criticizing are not the ones who have to sit in the Situation Room and make the hard calls about the threats that we face and the objectives we’re trying to obtain and President Biden made that hard call and it is a call he believes will ultimately serve the interests of our people, all of our citizens and our country,” he said.
He also insisted aid will not be given to the Taliban unless they adhere to international obligations.
“It will be about whether they follow through on their commitments, their commitments to safe passage for Americans and Afghan allies. Their commitment to not allow Afghanistan to be a base from which terrorists can attack the United States or any other country,” Sullivan said.
Aug 30, 9:19 pm
Taliban wield American-supplied equipment, uniforms after withdrawal
Moments after the last U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, Taliban fighters entered the Kabul airport, wielding American-supplied weapons, equipment and even uniforms.
Aug 30, 8:59 pm
Military releases image of last soldier out of Afghanistan
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, of the 82nd Airborne Division, was the last American service member to depart Afghanistan, according to Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command.
“On the last plane out was General Chris Donahue, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division and my ground commander, and he was accompanied by our — our charge d’affaires, Ambassador Ross Wilson, so they came out together,” McKenzie said at the Pentagon briefing. “So the state and defense team came out on the last aircraft and were in fact the last people to step on the ground.”
Aug 30, 8:04 pm
US engaging Taliban, but not recognizing it
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. will continue to engage the Taliban going forward — engagement that will be “driven by one thing only — our vital national interest.”
“The Taliban seeks international legitimacy and support. Our message is any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned,” he said. “The Taliban can do that by meeting commitments and obligations on freedom of travel; respecting the basic rights of the Afghan people, including women and minorities; upholding its commitments on counter-terrorism; not carrying out reprisal violence against those who choose to stay in Afghanistan; and forming an inclusive government that can meet the needs and reflect the aspirations of the Afghan people.”
But the Taliban have already violated many of those — denying freedom of travel to some, violating their commitments on counter-terrorism, carrying out reprisal violence and more.
Aug 30, 7:37 pm
Commitment to Afghans who worked with US ‘has no deadline’: Blinken
For Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. who wanted to leave but weren’t able to get out, the U.S. would continue to try to help them, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in remarks Monday evening.
“Our commitment to them has no deadline,” he said.
To that end, he thanked Qatar and Turkey for trying to make the Kabul airport operational soon, allowing safe passage to these people.
“This would enable a small number of daily charter flights, which is a key for anyone who wants to depart from Afghanistan moving forward,” Blinken said. “We’re also working to identify ways to support Americans, legal permanent residents and Afghans who have worked with us to depart via land routes.”
But he tempered expectations.
“We have no illusion that any of this will be easy,” Blinken said. “Or rapid. This will be an entirely different phase from the evacuation that just concluded. It will take time to work through a new set of challenges.”
Aug 30, 5:01 pm
Number of Americans left in Afghanistan in the ‘low 100s’
There are still Americans left in Afghanistan that the United States is trying to get out of the country, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said.
“I believe our Department of State is going to work very hard to allow any American citizens that are left, and we think the citizens that were not brought outnumber in the low — very low 100s,” McKenzie said. “I believe that we’re going to be able to get those people out.”
There were no evacuees left at the airport when the last U.S. flight left, he said.
McKenzie also said the U.S. would also “negotiate very hard, and very aggressively, to get our other Afghan partners out.”
Aug 30, 4:35 pm
All US troops have departed Afghanistan: Pentagon
All U.S. troops have departed Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense, concluding America’s military ground presence there and its longest war.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, made the announcement from the headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida, after being introduced in the Pentagon Briefing Room by press secretary John Kirby.
Acknowledging that the withdrawal has been completed, McKenzie said the last U.S. military plane has cleared Afghan airspace.
He said that the U.S. military’s 20-year mission in Afghanistan is over.
