Whoopi Goldberg reveals her look for Broadway’s ‘Annie’

October 3, 2024

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On Thursday’s installment of The View — and on her Instagram — EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg revealed her look as Miss Hannigan in the forthcoming New York City performances of Annie.

Miss Hannigan, the show’s antagonist, runs the orphanage in which the main character, Annie, lives; Hannigan sings the song “Little Girls” and “Easy Street” in the production.

The revival of the classic musical will run at The Theater at Madison Square Garden for a limited engagement from Dec. 4, 2024, through Jan. 5, 2025.

To her View audience, Whoopi said, “It may not be your grandma’s Annie, but it will be fun.” She added it’s “been a while” since she’s done theater — she last appeared on Broadway in 2011. Whoopi called it “kinda exciting and scary” to be returning.

When Whoopi announced she’d be on board, she commented, “I love the theater, and in my mind, there is no better way to spend the holidays than to get back on stage. I can’t wait to step in to the delicious role of Miss Hannigan and perform for the greatest audiences in the world — in my hometown of New York City.”

A Very Royal Scandal stars on their no-nonsense historical drama

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The bombshell Prince Andrew interview about Jeffrey Epstein that caused Andrew to step back from his royal duties is the subject of the limited series A Very Royal Scandal, which started streaming Thursday on Prime Video.

Michael Sheen plays the prince, opposite Ruth Wilson as Emily Maitlis, the former BBC Newsnight anchor whose hard-hitting questions sent shock waves through the U.K. and beyond. Wilson remembers that interview vividly and tells ABC Audio that like the rest of the nation, she was left “gobsmacked.”

“My takeaway from that was, ‘How on earth did this happen? … Why did he put himself in that scenario?’ And now, you know, having done this drama, we’ve interrogated that and we’ve got all the answers on that. Or not,” she laughs.

The fallout came as no surprise to Sheen, who tells ABC Audio that the interview checked a lot of boxes when it comes to the kinds of things that fascinate the British people.

“There’s both the kind of media frenzy, the tabloid fodder kind of nature of it. … And then also, of course, underlying it all was this much darker, more serious, more disturbing issue that it was dealing with about, you know, the exploitation of young women and the relationship with Epstein and all that kind of stuff.”

Sheen had to gain a bit of weight for the role and tried to portray Andrew as this former military stud who was far removed from his glory days.

“The aging process, losing your looks, putting on a bit of weight, all of that stuff, the media no longer being interested in you as being kind of, you know, tabloid fodder. … It’s getting, moving further and further away from the center of power and all that kind of stuff. … It was that sort of trajectory.”

Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt go on sci-fi adventure in ‘The Electric State’ trailer

Millie Bobby Brown is living among robots in a new trailer for The Electric State.

A trailer for the sci-fi movie starring Brown and Chris Pratt arrived on Thursday and features the pair searching for Brown’s sibling in the movie.

The Netflix film, directed by the Russo Brothers, takes place “in the aftermath of a robot uprising in an alternate version of the ’90s,” according to a synopsis. The story centers around “an orphaned teenager who ventures across the American West with a cartoon-inspired robot, a smuggler, and his sidekick in search of her younger brother.”

The Electric State will premiere on Netflix on March 14, 2025.

“Right now all of us have something in common,” Brown’s character, Michelle, says in the trailer, which is tracked to a version of the Oasis hit “Champagne Supernova.”

“We all lost something in the rebellion,” she continues. “Robots lost their freedom, humans lost connection with each other, and I lost everyone I loved — or so I thought.”

Pratt, who plays a smuggler, enters the trailer, telling Michelle he will accompany her on a trip to recover her lost brother. The action-packed trailer showed the pair’s ensuing adventure, which includes several robot battles.

Along with Pratt and Brown, the film stars Ke Huy Quan, Woody Norman, Giancarlo Esposito, Martin Klebba and Stanley Tucci. A star-studded group including Woody Harrelson, Jason Alexander, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Hank Azaria, Colman Domingo and Alan Tudyk also star in voice roles.

‘Shōgun’ and ‘The Crown,’ ‘The Bear’ and ‘Only Murders’: A look ahead to Sunday night’s 76th Emmy Awards

Anna Sawai, Hiroyuki Sanada in Shōgun — FX/Katie Yu

ABC is presenting the 76th annual Emmy Awards on Sunday, hosted by Eugene Levy and his son, Dan Levy — Schitt’s Creek Emmy winners both and the first father-son duo to host the show.

FX’s Shōgun leads the pack for drama with 25 nominations, while another FX show, The Bear, leads the comedy category with 23 — despite the fact that pretty much nobody, except apparently the Television Academy, thinks the series is a comedy.

Shōgun is already a big winner: It led the recent Creative Arts Emmys with 14 wins, including Outstanding Guest Actor in a drama for Nestor Carbonell. In fact, its performance broke Game of Thrones‘ record for the most Emmys won by a show in a single year.

In the drama category, the series is up for more trophies with awards-night mainstay The Crown; the acclaimed video game adaptation Fallout; Mr. and Mrs. Smith; The Gilded Age; The Morning Show; Slow Horses; and the sci-fi book adaptation 3 Body Problem.

As for comedy, The Bear is in a cook-off against previous winners Abbott Elementary, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Hacks, in addition to Palm Royale, What We Do in the Shadows, Reservation Dogs and Only Murders in the Building.

The Bear also sizzled at the Creative Arts Emmys, taking seven, including one for Outstanding Guest Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis.

The 76th Emmys could see some records set, too. According to factoids compiled by VegasInsider.com, if he takes home a trophy Sunday night, Robert Downey Jr., nominated for playing three roles on HBO’s The Sympathizer, could be the first actor ever to win an Oscar, a Daytime Emmy and a Primetime Emmy in the same year.

Abbott Elementary star and creator Quinta Brunson could become the first Black actress to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category two times. But if Selena Gomez bags her first-ever acting trophy for Only Murders In The Building, she could be just the second Latina performer to win in that category, after America Ferrera.