Michelle Obama News

The Better Brothers Los Angeles (BBLA) in association with award winning actress/activist Sheryl Lee Ralph and her non-profit organization, The DIVA Foundation, are excited to announce that the award-winning director/producer Anthony Hemingway will round out this year's impressive list of award-winning honorees for the fifth annual Truth Awards. 

When Ellen Rowe was a young girl growing up in Ridgefield, Connecticut, there weren't many women making jazz music.   Through her success as a world-renowned jazz pianist, composer and pedagogue, she's spent the better part of the last 35 years trying to change that.  

Jack Paar paved the way for Johnny Carson who inspired the great David Letterman, topping the exclusive list of legendary talk show hosts... But get ready for them to get pawed off their pedestals by legendary kitty icon LIL BUB and her feline-tastic talkshow, Lil BUB's Big SHOW on Animalist (Discovery Network's exclusive YouTube channel). Over 13 star studded episodes and multiple live events, Lil BUB interviewed superstars like Michelle Obama, Andrew W.K., Whoopi Goldberg, and Jack McBrayer all while showcasing a different animal welfare organization in each episode!

Last week (week #22 of the 2018-2019 broadcast season), THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT (3.95m) beat both 'The Tonight Show' (2.42m) and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' encores (1.49m) according to Nielsen live plus 3-day ratings. Over the last five weeks, THE LATE SHOW has delivered its top five live plus 3-day weekly audiences of the season and has delivered more than 3.5 million weekly viewers with 3-day lift every first-run week this season.

YouTube today announced a new learning special “BookTube,” that will feature a panel discussion with former First Lady Michelle Obama who will discuss her #1 national bestselling memoir Becoming. Best-selling author John Green, co-founder of YouTube channels vlogbrothers and Crash Course will lead the discussion alongside a panel of YouTube creators that includes Jouelzy, Ariel Bissett, Kat O'Keeffe, Jesse George and Franchesca Ramsey. The special will debut in March during Women's History Month.

Girl Rising, the nonprofit behind the global campaign for girls' education and empowerment, today released the trailer for the upcoming short film, Brave Girl Rising, which will debut on International Women's Day, 2019. The 20-minute film, written by a refugee, performed by a cast of refugees, and made in collaboration with refugees, is about how hope, love, and friendship can propel us beyond even the most bleak of circumstances. It tells the story of Nasro, a 17-year-old girl whose courageous drive to continue her education is inspired by the magical dreams of her mother and the sisterhood of her friends.  Brave Girl Rising will debut Friday, March 8, at https://girlrising.org/brave.

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) has announced that Carla R. Stewart (Broadway, National Tour, and Regional: The Color Purple) will play The Voice of the River in the world premiere production of Tori Sampson's If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka, directed by Obie winner Leah C. Gardiner (Born Bad) and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly. Performances begin Today, February 15, and continue through March 31 in the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036). The production opens officially on the evening of Sunday, March 10.

The nominees for the 50th NAACP Image Awards were exclusively announced today at the Television Critics Association's (TCA) TV One's joint press conference with Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP and Alfred Liggins, Chairman and CEO of TV One. The winners will be revealed during the Two-Hour LIVE TV special airing on TV One on Saturday, March 30, 2019.

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) has announced that Carla R. Stewart (Broadway, National Tour, and Regional: The Color Purple) will play The Voice of the River in the world premiere production of Tori Sampson's If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka, directed by Obie winner Leah C. Gardiner (Born Bad) and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly. Performances begin Friday, February 15, and continue through March 31 in the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036). The production opens officially on the evening of Sunday, March 10.

What does a black Christian man and a white Jewish man have in common? Griffin Matthews, a black Christian man, and Matt Gould, a white Jewish man, are co-directors of a non-profit, co-writers of a docu-musical, and co-parents to a beautiful little boy. Their theatre piece WITNESS UGANDA (based on their non-profit UgandaProject) will begin February 8, 2019 at The Wallis. They took some time out of their combined multi-tasking to answer a few of my inquiries.

Edward R. Matthews, CEO of ADAPT Community Network, announced its 2019 ADAPT Leadership Awards Gala to take place on Thursday, March 14th, at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. The event will be hosted by Cara Buono, co‐star of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, and Emmy‐ nominee for her role on Mad Men. The awards honor the accomplishments of extraordinary individuals and corporations who have made an impact on people with disabilities and have inspired others through their professional and charitable endeavors. The gala benefits the important ongoing programs and services of ADAPT Community Network. This year's honorees will be announced next month.

Less than a week before the 2019 Sundance Film Festival begins in Park City, the Park City Institute presents Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jodi Kantor, at the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Center, Today, January 18th, 2018, at 7:30 PM. Kantor will discuss how she, along with her colleague, Megan Twohey, broke the story about Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse of women-in locations as far away as Cannes and Rome, and as nearby as the Stein Ericksen Lodge, in Deer Valley.

Long Beach Opera believes that discussions inspired by art should extend beyond the lobby of the theater. For this reason, LBO is using its 40th anniversary season theme, Justice, as a catalyst to present its brand new five-event series called Community Conversations February 9 through June 6.

Garvey|Simon is pleased to present Exploring Light, a new series of illuminated, sculptural works by Bentley Meeker.  The exhibition will take place during Armory week at 517 W. 37th Street New York, NY 10018, a street level gallery space in the Hudson Yards district in close proximity to the fairs. The show will be open and on view Tuesday - Saturday, 11am-6pm, and by appointment. An artist talk will be held in the gallery on Saturday, March 16, at 1pm.

The Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild(MUAHS, IATSE Local 706) has announced nominations for the 6th Annual MUAHS Guild Awards honoring outstanding achievements in make-up and hair styling in motion pictures, television, commercials and live theater. Winners will be honored at the black-tie gala on Saturday, February 16, 2019 at The Novo by Microsoft at L.A. Live. Today's announcement was made by MUAHS Awards Chair Sue Cabral-Ebert. 

 2 DOPE QUEENS, featuring the hit comedy duo of Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson, returns to HBO next month for a second series of four themed hour-long specials adapted from the hit podcast of the same name. Taped again in front of a live audience at Kings Theatre Brooklyn anddirected by Sandra Restrepo, the first special debuts FRIDAY, FEB. 8 (11:00 p.m.-midnight ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, followed by three more shows subsequent Fridays at the same time. Guests include Lupita Nyong'o (“Black Panther,” Oscar® winner for “12 Years a Slave”), Daniel Radcliffe (the Harry Potter films), Janet Mock (“Surpassing Certainty”), Lizzo (“Coconut Oil,” “Big Grrrl Small World”) and Keegan-Michael Key (“Key & Peele”).

Less than a week before the 2019 Sundance Film Festival begins in Park City, the Park City Institute presents Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jodi Kantor, at the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Center, Friday, January 18th, 2018, at 7:30 PM. Kantor will discuss how she, along with her colleague, Megan Twohey, broke the story about Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse of women-in locations as far away as Cannes and Rome, and as nearby as the Stein Ericksen Lodge, in Deer Valley.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced today that Broadway, film, and television star Rosie O'Donnell will play Mrs. Paroo in the Broadway Center Stage production of Meredith Willson's The Music Man. O'Donnell joins Tony Award® nominee Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess) as Harold Hill and Tony Award®–winning actress Jessie Mueller (Waitress, Carousel, Beautiful) as Marian Paroo in the starry semi-staged concert production directed by Marc Bruni (Beautiful, Broadway Center Stage: How to Succeed…) with choreography by Chris Bailey (Jerry Springer: The Opera, The New Yorkers at Encores!) and music direction by James Moore (Miss Saigon, the Kennedy Center's Follies and Ragtime).

Playwrights Horizons presents the world premiere of If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka, written by Tori Sampson, directed by Leah C. Gardiner, and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly, February 15-March 31, 2019 in the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons