At its grand reopening Monday after a massive $56 million renovation, Philadelphia’s 110-year-old Metropolitan Opera House looked handsome and revitalized, like an aged beauty that’s been refreshed. The same could be said of Bob Dylan, an ideal choice to reopen the opulent and rejuvenated 3,400-seat hall. Monday was about two things: marveling at what had become of the
Music
December 4, 2018 10:34AM PT Kanye West may have caused some unwanted drama at the opening of Broadway’s “The Cher Show” on Monday in New York, but thankfully his alleged bad behavior didn’t come close to spoiling the evening. Cher herself caused fantastic frenzy as she glided down the aisle of the jam-packed Neil Simon
Red Bull Music Festival will return to Los Angeles in February, where it will “explore how music intersects with film, gaming, photography and more, as well as partnering with groundbreaking artists from Los Angeles and around the world for special performances and lectures,” according to the announcement. The festival made its Los Angeles debut in 2017
December 4, 2018 8:05AM PT BMG today announced that is has struck a deal with the estate of legendary German-born composer Kurt Weill for the administration of the popular songs he wrote in collaboration with dramatist Bertolt Brecht. Included are all of the songs from the acclaimed works “The Threepenny Opera” (1928), “Happy End” (1929) and “Rise and Fall of
December 4, 2018 7:10AM PT Rapper/entrepreneur Pitbull today announced his partnership with music-finance firm Sound Royalties and its founder Alex Heiche. The company’s stated goal is to help artists advance their careers while retaining ownership of their creative works by advancing performance royalties paid through labels, Sound Exchange, as well as songwriter royalties paid through
Most CEOs might not pepper their conversation with adjectives like “dope” and “fire,” but most CEOs aren’t like Jonny Shipes, who is at the helm of the rising independent hip-hop label Cinematic Music Group. Shipes tells Variety that what “turned this sh– around” was discovering Sean Kingston, who after signing with CMG in its founding year
Lady Gaga and Lin-Manuel Miranda sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Few artists have been decorated as frequently as Lin-Manuel Miranda. The impresario has won a Pulitzer and shared a Kennedy Center Honors designation for the stage bombshell “Hamilton”; he’s also won an Emmy, three Tonys and three Grammys.
December 4, 2018 6:00AM PT Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s iconic parking lot scene may have popularized their hit song “Shallow,” but Gaga said it’s even more important for simply showing a man listening to what a woman has to say. “This is a conversation between a man and a woman, and he actually listens
Camila Cabello’s ‘Havana,’ ‘Never Be the Same’ Reach New Milestone – Variety You will be redirected back to your article in seconds December 3, 2018 10:12PM PT It wasn’t all about the PDA between Cardi B. and Offset at the Los Angeles leg of the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball tour on Friday. Love was also in
December 3, 2018 6:02PM PT Kanye West attended the first night of Broadway musical “The Cher Show” alongside Kim Kardashian West, but it’s up in the air whether he actually got anything out of the performance. According to Jarrod Spector, who plays Sonny in the production, West was on his cell phone during the show.
December 3, 2018 5:09PM PT Schlocky TV variety-show format diminishes Broadway’s Cher musical, despite a can-do cast, pop tunes and diva power. Choosing to recreate the spirit of the television variety shows that Sonny and Cher — and then Cher sans Sonny — headlined in the ‘70s is a choice that lands as flat as
It’s been a long time since the “M” in MTV stood for music, but cable network AXS TV is trying to fill the void with a boomer/Gen X-heavy mix of shows hosted by venerable rockers Sammy Hagar (seen above, with Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters) and Eddie Money, as well as concerts,
The tightknit New Orleans music scene just got a little tighter. One of the city’s top musical exports, the band Galactic, has purchased Tipitina’s, New Orleans’ most revered “juke joint” for up-and-coming as well as big-name acts. “Our goal is to preserve, promote, and protect the future of New Orleans music, culture and heritage via
December 3, 2018 1:08PM PT Cori Gadbury has joined Banc of California Stadium Entertainment as its first Vice President of Marketing. She will be based in Los Angeles and report to Adam Friedman, president of BOCS Entertainment and EVP of LAFC Sports, LLC. She arrives from Live Nation, where she was senior director of marketing for 15
NBC will mark the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s 1968 “Comeback Special” with “Elvis All-Star Tribute Special,” to air on Sunday, Feb. 17. Participating artists have not yet been announced, other than host Blake Shelton. The original “Singer Presents…. Elvis” special aired on Dec. 3, 1968 and was sponsored by the sewing machine company. Later
December 3, 2018 12:38PM PT Just over six months after her Los Angeles residence was busted into by an intruder/stalker who hung around inside the lavish house for 12 hours, mononymic Barbadian pop phenom Rihanna has unsurprisingly hoisted the property near the base of Nichols Canyon up for sale at $7.495 million. The nine-time Grammy
Not having much luck selling her recently acquired Los Angeles home where over the summer she overdosed on Oxycodone laced with Fentanyl, Disney darling turned internationally renown pop-rock star Demi Lovato has put the three-story contemporary out for rent at $39,500 per month. The 13-time Teen Choice Award and five-time People’s Choice Award winner purchased
December 3, 2018 10:52AM PT Google is selling its Chromecast Audio streaming adapter for just $15, down from $35, on the Google Store as well as at participating retailers, including Best Buy, Macy’s and B&H Photo-Video-Audio. The sale will continue until February 28, 2019, while supplies last. Chromecast Audio was first introduced a little over 3
UPDATED: Cardi B on Monday did not attend a court hearing over misdemeanor charges against her stemming from a fight in a New York strip club last summer, and received a warning from the judge. “I want you to convey to her that it’s not acceptable that she’s not here today,” Queens Criminal Court Judge Sean
In an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times, Bruce Springsteen said he doesn’t think the Democrats yet have a strong enough candidate to defeat Donald Trump in 2020, and said that he’ll be getting “back to his day job next year,” which includes the release of a long-completed solo album — which he discussed in detail
Michael Chester has been appointed Executive Vice President, Promotion for Warner Bros. Records, the company announced today. In his new post, he will oversee all aspects of the label’s promotion initiatives and strategies. Chester comes to the label from Scooter Braun’s SB Projects, where he served as SVP, Marketing and Promotion, working closely with Justin
December 3, 2018 6:08AM PT Due to the scheduled memorial services for former President George H.W. Bush, the 61st Grammy Awards nominations will now be announced on Friday, Dec. 7, instead of Wednesday, Dec. 5 as previously planned. Select categories will be announced live on “CBS This Morning” and on Apple Music at 8:30 a.m. ET. Shortly
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was a celebration of a broad spectrum of American music — from country and jazz to musical theater and modern minimalism — at the 41 annual Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday. That’s when the nation’s capital paused from its political concerns to toast eight showbiz titans for excellence: Superstar multi-hyphenates Cher
A documentary on Beach Boys cofounder Brian Wilson is nearing completion, producers tell Variety, after nearly three years of under-the-radar production that has involved collecting about 90 hours of fresh footage of the music legend talking about his life or working in the studio. Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Nick Jonas are among the famous
Health scare, schmealth scare. Elvis Costello’s run of shows in California this week proved that he’s in more than fighting fettle, on a tour that’s being characterized most nights by set lists of peak-Springsteenian proportions, including a 2-hour-54-minute, 33-song performance at L.A.’s Wiltern Thursday night that counted as one of his more epic shows, locally
Cardi B strutted her stuff with a shimmy and a shake Friday night at the Forum, bringing the Los Angeles leg of the KIIS FM Jingle Ball tour presented by Capital One to a close. Following a star-studded lineup that included Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa, Alessia Cara and Calvin Harris, Cardi B was
Bacon makes everything better, Nick Jonas once sang, and Variety took his advice to heart by celebrating the year’s most influential artists and executives in music at an exclusive brunch on Saturday in West Hollywood. To toast the annual Hitmakers issue, Variety executive editor of music Shirley Halperin welcomed honorees like Bebe Rexha, British pop sensation
Late Friday night Eminem dropped the latest in his recent string of surprise releases, this one a fiery 11-minute freestyle that covers a multitude of topics including the 2017 terrorist bombing after Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester, England, Muslim extremism along with his usual brilliantly juvenile wordplay, insults and celebrity mentions, including Justin Bieber and
Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” video is a bona fide overnight sensation: It has smashed YouTube’s all-time record for most views in the first 24 hours of release. The video, an homage to female-driven movies from the early 2000s, dropped at 12 p.m. PT on Friday after weeks of buildup — and set the record
Kid Rock was fired from his role as grand marshal of the Nashville Christmas Parade Friday night, following a morning appearance on “Fox & Friends” in which he called Joy Behar a “b—h.” But associates are insisting he still plans to lead the parade, booted or not. Bryan Lewis, the attorney for Steve Smith, Kid