Emma Thompson News

BEAUTY & THE BEAST is coming to the big screen again in a whole new way, with brand new songs!

On Twitter Watch, Josh Gad wrote ' that stage veteran and film star Ian McKellen has joined Disney's upcoming live-action adaptation of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST as 'Cogsworth'. Set for a release on March 17, 2017, the beloved tale will be retold for the big screen with a modern live-action lens and the help of transformative CG magic. As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Emma Watson and Dan Stevens will star as Belle and the Beast/Prince respectively, and Luke Evans will play the role of Gaston. Emma Thompson has joined the cast as Mrs. Potts and Kevin Kline as Belle's father, Maurice. As BWW announced previously, Josh Gad will reportedly take on the role of Le Fou, with six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald playing Garderobe. Eight-time Oscar-winner Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards for the 1991 animated classic, will score the new BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, which will feature new recordings of the original songs in addition to several new songs written by Menken and Sir Tim Rice. Bill Condon will direct from a script by Stephen Chbosky, and the film will be produced by Mandeville Films' David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. Production begins in May at Shepperton Studios in London. Disney also recently announced it will be creating live-action versions of MULAN and PINOCCHIO, joining reboots of THE JUNGLE BOOK, PETE'S DRAGON and WINNIE THE POOH. The live-action adaptation of CINDERELLA, starring Lily James, just hit the big screen this winter. McKellen was last seen on the big screen as 'Gandalf' in THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (a role he originated in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy) and will soon appear in MR. HOLMES and THE DRESSER. He is also well known for his role as 'Magneto' in the X-MEN movies. The Olivier-winning, classically trained actor last starred on Broadway in NO MAN'S LAND and WAITING FOR GODOT opposite Patrick Stewart. Before that, he appeared in DANCE OF DEATH, IAN MCKELLEN: A KNIGHT OUT AT THE LYCEUM, WILD HONEY, IAN MCKELLEN: ACTING SHAKESPEARE, AMADEUS -- which earned him a Tony Award in 1981 -- and THE PROMISE. McKellen was a member of the Old Vic and has performed at the Chichester Festival, in the West End, and with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre and more. 1991's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was an animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on the traditional French fairy tale of the same name by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont,Beauty and the Beast is the 30th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Additionally, it is third in the Disney Renaissance period. Starring Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson, Beauty and the Beast focuses on the relationship between the Beast (Benson), a prince who is magically transformed into a monster as punishment for his arrogance, and Belle (O'Hara), a young woman who he imprisons in his castle. The film also features the voices of Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury, who occupy supporting roles. The film was a box office success, and has since garnered over $424 million worldwide. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was nominated for several awards, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture; it also received five additional Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Score, Best Sound, and three separate nominations for Best Original Song. Ultimately, the film won Best Original Score, while Best Original Song was awarded to its title song. In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was deemed 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant' by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In April 1994, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST became Disney's first animated film to be adapted into a Broadway musical. '

Tony and Emmy Award winner Tyne Daly, Tony Award winner Harriet Harris, Sierra Boggess and Lisa Howard head an outstanding cast in It Shoulda Been You, the hilarious and heartwarming new musical comedy that proves when it comes to wedding day insanity, everything is relative. It Shoulda Been You, which had a sold-out premiere at New Jersey's George Street Playhouse, officially opens tonight, April 14, 2015 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Scroll down to learn more about the cast, plus watch interviews with the company!

On Saturday, April 25 at 2:30 p.m., EDT, medici.tv (www.medici.tv) will present a free, live webcast of the New York Philharmonic's concert, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, of 20th- and 21st-century music at the newly opened Philharmonie de Paris, marking the first time an American orchestra is performing at the venue.

The second annual Illuminate Film Festival, May 27-31, will bring to screens 22 inspirational, thought-provoking films

Folger Theatre and the Capitol Riverfront BID celebrate Shakespeare's birthday this April with three free screenings of some of the most beloved film adaptations of the Bard. From April 24 through April 26, free screenings of Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, and Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew will begin at sundown, between 7:30 and 8pm each night. Actors from Folger Theatre's production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (on stage May 12 through June 21) will be present to introduce the screenings and area vendors will be on hand to provide refreshments. Bard in the Yards represents an exciting collaboration between Folger Theatre and the Capitol Riverfront BID in a burgeoning area just south of Capitol Hill.

The New York Times writes that John Turturro will star in ZORBA! for Encores!, running May 6-10, 2015.

In the summer of 2015 the New York Philharmonic will undertake its first performance residencies in Shanghai, as part of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership, and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

What a renaissance - again! Although the period beginning with THE LITTLE MERMAID in 1989 through to the doubleheader of POCAHANTAS in 1995 and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME in 1996 and ending with MULAN in 1997 is considered by House Of Mouse superfans and many entertainment enthusiasts as the official Disney Renaissance era - meaning the company once again came to major prominence as a direct result of its animated musicals - it very much looks as if an entirely new type of Disney rebirth is in the process of occurring, spurred on by the worldwide success of the esteemed company's most successful animated feature to date, the highly theatrical and Broadway pedigreed FROZEN. Of course, in any way matching an era which in addition to MERMAID, POCAHANTAS, HUNCHBACK and MULAN shepherded BEAUTY & THE BEAST, ALADDIN and THE LION KING from inspiration to actuality would be a high order, if not outright impossible, yet it seems that the recent, current and upcoming spate of ingenuously timed and expertly devised projects that Disney possesses at the moment could put them in that stratospheric level of uber entity once again in the industry - and in the hearts and minds of millions around the world, as well.

“EFFIE GRAY,” Written by Emma Thompson and Starring Dakota Fanning, Emma Thompson, Tom Sturridge, Sir Derek Jacobi, Julie Walters and Claudia Cardinale, to have U.S. Theatrical Premiere today, April 3.

Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson lead the cast as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett in Lonny Price's production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller at the London Coliseum. Joining them are Matthew Seadon-Young as Anthony Hope, Katie Hall as Johanna Barker, Philip Quast as Judge Turpin, Jack North as Tobias Ragg, Alex Gaumond as Beadle Bamford, Rosalie Craig as Beggar Woman and John Owen-Jones as Pirelli.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: AIRLINE HIGHWAY and LIVING ON LOVE bring NOLA and comedic romance to Broadway, and 39 STEPS returns to NYC tonight!

There is still some casting that is yet to be announced, but much of the cast has now signed on to take part in the much-anticipated film. Below, get to know the company and the roles that they will be playing!

Lonny Price directs Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller, the first production in a major new long term partnership between English National Opera (ENO) and the GradeLinnit Company. Joining Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson who will lead the cast as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett are Matthew Seadon-Young as Anthony Hope,Katie Hall as Johanna Barker, Philip Quast as Judge Turpin, Jack North as Tobias Ragg, Alex Gaumond as Beadle Bamford, Rosalie Craig as Beggar Woman and John Owen-Jones as Pirelli.

Lonny Price's production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller begins tonight, 30 March 2015 the London Coliseum.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: It's an evening of galas and benefits for Vineyard, MCC, York and more!

This just in! According to the Hollywood Reporter, Audra McDonald is in final talks to join the cast of Disney's upcoming remake of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The six-time Tony winner will take on the role of 'Garderobe,' the wardrobe.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has today announced that BAFTA-winning actor Alan Rickman will discuss his craft and career at a special 'BAFTA A Life in Pictures' event at BAFTA's headquarters

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in Beethoven's Egmont Overture and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 at the Annual Free Memorial Day Concert, Monday, May 25, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.