Norman Lear News

Glenn Weiss has won a Directors Guild of America Award for directing the 75th Annual Tony Awards. Weiss won the Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Specials category. The 75th Annual Tony Awards were hosted by Ariana DeBose. They are available to stream on Paramount+, along with the pre-ceremony hosted by Julianne Hough and Darren Criss.

Developed in partnership with Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the University of Southern California Annenberg Norman Lear Center, the event will assemble storytellers and a medical and public health expert to discuss the very-real disparities in health care services that exist in access to health risk, prevention, treatment, and care.

Jesse Williams has joined the cast of Only Murders in the Building season three. Williams will be playing a documentarian who has a particular interest in the case that the show's stars, played by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, are solving. Williams will join Paul Rudd in the new season. Rudd will play Broadway star Ben Glenroy.

LA Opera launches a bold ambassadorship program to forge deep, authentic and longstanding relationships with diverse communities and the key thought-leaders influencing them.

Come From Away's Astrid Van Wieren, James Seol, Petrina Bromley, Sharon Wheatley, and creators Irene Sankoff and David Hein will join Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley for a Stars in the House Game Night, October 3, at 8pm ET/5pm PT. 

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced complete casting for the Special Benefit Concert Reading of The Pirates of Penzance. The concert will be taking place on Monday, October 17, 2022 at the American Airlines Theatre. 

Watch the video Lin Manuel Miranda sent to Norman Lear on his 100th Birthday, featuring a performance of a rewritten version of Al Jolson's 'April Showers.'

The extension will keep Kimmel on the network through a historic 23rd season, making him one of the longest-running talk show hosts in American television history. In addition to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Kimmel is known for hosting back-to-back Oscars® ceremonies in 2017 and 2018, and “The Primetime Emmy® Awards” in 2012, 2016 and 2020.

Americans for the Arts announced that acclaimed novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar will deliver the 34th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy. Akhtar will be introduced by Rockefeller Brothers Fund President and CEO Stephen Heintz, and the evening will feature a performance by artists Rez Abbassi and Kiran Ahluwalia.

Special guests set to celebrate Norman through speeches and comedy performances include Asante Blackk, George Clooney, Laverne Cox, Isabella Gomez, Emily Hampshire, Tom Hanks, Rita Moreno, Ms. Pat, Jay Pharoah, Rob Reiner, Aida Rodriguez and George Wallace. Musical performances paying tribute to iconic sitcom theme songs will also be featured/

Roundabout Theatre Company will present a special Benefit Concert Reading of The Pirates of Penzance, the Tony Award-winning musical adapted by Rupert Holmes, with music by Arthur Sullivan, libretto by W.S. Gilbert and direction by Scott Ellis. 

Honoring the life and legacy of the remarkable storyteller, activist and philanthropist Norman Lear, the one-night-only celebration features intimate conversations, special performances and surprise reunions that pay homage to the man behind some of television’s greatest stories in celebration of his 100th birthday.

West Side Story, In the Heights, Encanto, and more have been nominated for 2022 Imagen Awards. Nominees include Ariana DeBose, Rachel Zegler, Rita Moreno, Anthony Ramos, Leslie Grace, John Leguizamo, Stephanie Beatriz, Eden Espinosa, Frankie Rodriguez, and more.

Honoring the life and legacy of storyteller, activist and philanthropist Norman Lear, ABC will present “Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter.” The special will pay homage to the man behind some of television’s greatest stories and will feature a lineup of celebrity guests and musical performances to celebrate his 100th birthday.

The 4th Annual YI Love YiddishFest '22 (yiddishfest.org) is a six-day extravaganza of comedy, concerts and plays with contemporary Jewish celebrity headliners such as YidLife Crisis, Kosha Dillz, Avi Hoffman and a concert version of the NY hit musical Stars of David.

The GB Public Theater 2022 four-title Solo Fest concludes with Leave Your Fears Here (June 30 - July 10), a loving memoir written and performed by accomplished stage and screen actor James Morrison.

The Hollywood Museum has announced its 2022 salute to the LGBTQ+ community's contributions to the entertainment industry, it will once again present its ninth (due to the pandemic) annual 'Real to Reel: Portrayals and Perceptions of LGBTQ+ in Hollywood” exhibit in partnership with Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell (CD-13).

The GB Public Theater 2022 stage season presents four new solo performances over six weeks. All feature stories of humanity and demonstrate the power of a single voice to tell them.

Geffen Playhouse celebrated its 25th Anniversary and raised $1 million for the theater’s education, community engagement and artistic initiatives at its signature Backstage at the Geffen annual fundraiser held June 4, it was announced today. 

A&E Network will premiere the new two-part documentary event “Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution” exploring the progression of Black comedy and the comedians who have used pointed humor to expose, challenge and ridicule society’s injustices and to articulate the Black experience in America.