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The final episodes of Outlander’s seventh season finally returned to Starz in November, and fans couldn’t be more excited. When viewers last saw Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) in the midseason finale, the pair were on their way back to Scotland with Young Ian (John Bell) after more than a decade away. During the show’s third season, Ian was captured by pirates, prompting Claire and Jamie to go after him, which eventually took them all to Jamaica. After reuniting and attempting to return home, the trio were caught in a hurricane and washed ashore in America, where they ultimately decided to stay. Needless to say, it’s been a long time since they were all in Scotland, which means quite a bit has changed, including one major actress.

During Outlander’s earlier seasons, the role of Jenny Murray, Ian’s mother and Jamie’s sister,...

Director Sam Mendes’ hit London staging of The Lehman Trilogy is heading to Broadway, with previews beginning Saturday, March 7, 2020 at the Nederlander Theatre. Opening night is Thursday, March 26, 2020.

The widely expected engagement of the acclaimed production was announced today by producers The National Theatre, Neal Street Productions, and Scott Rudin/Barry Diller/David Geffen.

Written by Italian playwright Stefano Massini and adapted into English by Ben Power, The Lehman Trilogy will play a strictly limited 16-week engagement featuring original cast of Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles. The sold-out West End production scored five Olivier Award nominations.

The epic play weaves together nearly two centuries of family history, charting “the humble beginnings, outrageous successes, and devastating failure of the financial institution that would ultimately bring the global economy to its knees.”

Today’s announcement describes the play as “the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family.

What the Constitution Means to Me, playwright-performer Heidi Schreck’s Tony-nominated Pulitzer Prize finalist, has recouped its $2.5 million Broadway capitalization, producers announced today.

The milestone arrived with the week ending July 14, with six weeks left in the Broadway engagement. The production will deliver a full return of capital to investors.

The recoupment comes during a Broadway summer when good financial news is sparse. A recent Forbes article tallied $111 million in losses from recent or recently announced Broadway closings, with King Kong, The Cher Show, Pretty Woman, The Prom, Be More Chill, King Lear, Gary: A Sequel To Titus Andronicus, Hillary and Clinton and Frankie And Johnny in the Clair de Lune all falling well short of expectations.

Constitution joins a considerably shorter summertime list: Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman recently ended its limited run in the black, having recouped a reported $6.7 million capitalization.

Even with its relatively low cost, three-person cast,...

With some considerable help from Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Broadway box office held steady during the Fourth of July holiday week, even with two fewer shows on board than the previous week. Down a small 5%, total receipts for the 33 productions tallied to $34,108,643 for Broadway’s Week 6 (ending July 7).

A solid $1,331,046 of that total came from Moulin, Sro at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where the musical played only five previews to allow for rehearsals. The show now shifts to a seven-performance schedule until the July 25 opening night, when it begins the standard eight-per-week.

Total attendance for the 33 shows was 288,107, a barely noticeable 3% slip from the previous week, when 35 productions reported figures. More shows than not reported box office slips from the previous week, competition with fireworks being what it is.

As with the previous week, director Alex Timbers’ adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 hit movie was among the hottest tickets on Broadway.

Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, winner of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Play, ended its limited run Broadway on Sunday as a hit: Producers announced that the acclaimed production has recouped its investment.

Capitalized at a reported $6.7 million, The Ferryman, directed by Sam Mendes and set during the Irish Troubles in the early 1980s, featured a huge cast — by Broadway play standards anyway — that included 17 main adult performers and, on rotation, four children and four babies. With covers, the production’s full company totaled 35, and that doesn’t include the live goose and rabbit and their understudies.

Following an Olivier Award-winning run on London’s West End, The Ferryman, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Neal Street Productions, began previews at Broadway’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on October 2, with an opening date of October 21.

The Tony win on June 9 prompted a big boost at the box office: Grosses for...

Two-time Academy Award&#174 winner Sean Penn will direct Flag Day, in which he will star alongside his daughter Dylan Penn. Principal photography began this week.

Also joining the Flag Day cast are Academy Award&#174 nominee Josh Brolin, two-time Tony Award&#174 winner Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Bailey Noble (True Blood), Hopper Penn (War Machine), Miles Teller, and Katheryn Winnick. Tony Award&#174 winning wright Jez Butterworth penned the screenplay, which is based on Jennifer Vogel's 2005 memoir "Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father's Counterfeit Life.}

Based on a true story, Flag Day is an illuminating portrait of a daughter struggling to overcome the loving yet dark legacy of her con man father.

Five-time Academy Award&#174 nominee Sean Penn won the award twice for his lead performances in Milk and Mystic River and is the acclaimed director of Academy Award&#174 nominated Into the Wild, as well as The Pledge,...

Sean Penn's next directorial venture Flag Day is heading into production and rounding out its cast.

Joining Penn and his daughter and son, Dylan and Hopper, onscreen will be Josh Brolin and Miles Teller, as well as Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Bailey Noble and Katheryn Winnick.

The Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth behind Broadway’s The Ferryman penned the screenplay, which is based on Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father's Counterfeit Life. The book tells the story of a daughter that has to come to terms with her perceptions of her criminal father,...

Sean Penn's next directorial venture Flag Day is heading into production and rounding out its cast.

Joining Penn and his daughter and son, Dylan and Hopper, onscreen will be Josh Brolin and Miles Teller, as well as Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Bailey Noble and Katheryn Winnick.

The Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth behind Broadway’s The Ferryman penned the screenplay, which is based on Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father's Counterfeit Life. The book tells the story of a daughter that has to come to terms with her perceptions of her criminal father,...

Matilda Lawler has landed the titular role of Flora in the Disney+ original film Flora & Ulysses, which has Alyson Hannigan and Ben Schwartz attached to play the parents. Based on the popular children’s novel, Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, by Kate Dicamillo, the adaptation is being directed by Lena Khan. Gil Netter is producing.

Brad Copeland, who wrote the forthcoming animated film, Spies in Disguise, adapted the script. The story centers on the imaginative, creative and cynical ten-year-old Flora (Lawler), who could hardly predict that the little squirrel she saved from a tragic accident would be born anew and transformed into a superhero with the powers of strength, misspelled poetry… and an uncanny knack for helping her and the lovable but broken people in her life become a family again.

The role marks Lawler’s first studio project. She recently made her...

At 50, Brian D’Arcy James has parlayed his theater stardom — he boasts three Tony nominations, for “Sweet Smell of Success,” “Shrek the Musical,” and “Something Rotten” originated King George III in “Hamilton,” and currently stars in Tony-winning drama “The Ferryman” — into frequent supporting roles in film and television. He popped up as Debra Messing’s husband in NBC showbiz series “Smash,” as the parent of a troubled teenager in “13 Reasons Why,” won the ensemble SAG award in Oscar-winner “Spotlight,” cheated at poker in Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game,” tested airplanes in “First Man,” plays the U.S. president in current “X-Men: Dark Phoenix,” Melissa McCarthy’s criminal husband in “The Kitchen,” a Silicon Valley player in Alex Garland’s FX series “Devs,” and is prepping Officer Krupke for Steven Spielberg’s revamp of Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins’ “West Side Story.”

In short, James has a wide range...

The current revival of “Oklahoma!” scored the most Drama Desk love with a whopping 12 nominations. Not far behind was the stage adaptation of “Tootsie” with 11. Bu even with those tallies, Broadway shows were shut out in several top categories, including includes Lead Actor in a Play. That Tony Awards race may be stacked, but the Drama Desk nominating committee spurned big names like Bryan Cranston and Jeff Daniels and cited only Off-Broadway performances.

The vehicles for those two stars (“Network” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” respectively) similarly couldn’t crack the Best Play lineup. Despite a stellar year for new plays on Broadway, the only Tony eligible productions the Drama Desk voters invited to the party were Jez Butterworth’s Irish epic “The Ferryman” and Heidi Schreck’s acclaimed auto-drama “What the Constitution Means to Me” (which transferred from Off-Broadway within the same season).

Big names on Broadway were shut...

Daniel Fish’s wildly re-imagined revival of Oklahoma! leads New York’s Drama Desk Awards nominations with 12, including Revival of a Musical. No big surprise there — but the head-scratcher came in the Best Play category: To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the best reviewed productions of the season and a box office smash, was snubbed. See the full list below.

Unlike the Tony Awards, though, the Drama Desk Awards cover both Broadway and Off Broadway, significantly lessening the nominations’ prediction factor. Mockingbird almost certainly will be among the nominees when the Broadway-only Tony roster is announced Tuesday.

Some other notable considerations for the Desk roster is that this season’s Broadway productions of Hadestown, Torch Song and Choir Boy were ineligible from some major overall categories because each had been staged in previous seasons as Off Broadway productions. For the Broadway productions, the Drama Desk nominating committee chose to consider...

Laura Donnelly, no stranger to portraying period-piece badasses, next will do so as the star of Joss Whedon’s HBO drama The Nevers.

The actress, who plays Outlander straight-shooter Jenny Fraser Murray in Starz’s Scottish historical drama, will lead what is described as an “epic science-fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies and a mission that might change the world.” The premium cabler gave the project a straight-to-series order in July.

Donnelly’s character, Amalia True, is an impulsive and emotionally scarred hero who rejects Victorian society and “would die...

“Outlander” actress Laura Donnelly has been cast as the lead on Joss Whedon’s upcoming HBO sci-fi series “The Nevers.”

Described as “an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world,” the series will be written, directed, executive produced and showrun by the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator himself.

Donnelly will play Amalia True, “the most reckless, impulsive, emotionally damaged hero of her time. A menace to stuffy Victorian society, she would die for the cause and kill for a drink.”

“Laura Donnelly has charisma, wisdom and an anarchic precision that not only captures Amalia but defines her,” Whedon said in a statement. “She’s fierce and she’s funny — and I need both for the journey ahead.”

Also Read: Jordan Peele's 'Lovecraft Country,' Joss Whedon's 'The Nevers...

Exclusive: Meet Joss Whedon’s next leading lady. Laura Donnelly (Outlander) is set as the lead in The Nevers, HBO’s straight-to-series drama from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator and The Avengers writer/director.

Co-written by Whedon and Buffy alums Jane Espenson and Doug Petrie and directed by Whedon, The Nevers is an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world.

UK actress Donnelly will play Amalia True, the most reckless, impulsive, emotionally damaged hero of her time. A menace to stuffy Victorian society, she would die for the cause and kill for a drink.

“Laura Donnelly has charisma, wisdom and an anarchic precision that not only captures Amalia but defines her,” said Whedon. “She’s fierce and she’s funny – and I need both for the journey ahead.”

Whedon, who serves as showrunner,...

“It’s how I learned to be a critical reader,” reveals Gideon Glick of his first experience with Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” After that “transformative” first read in the seventh grade, the actor now finds himself portraying Dill in Aaron Sorkin’s new Broadway adaptation of the American classic. Watch the exclusive video interview above.

Dill is a child in the story, but during the workshop process it was decided that adult actors would play the child roles. Dill (Glick), Scout (Celia Keenan-Bolger) and Jem (Will Pullen) all serve as narrators in the play. Though Glick notes that they “weren’t concerned with external aspects” of playing a kid. Instead they focused on what motivated them. Unlike modern times, “they don’t have any entertainment where they can just sit back.” That gave importance to every word uttered. “When we understand the stakes and setting, everything else follows suit.

In the six years since his last film, The Grandmaster, there have been a number of projects Wong Kar-wai’s been attached to. There was The Ferryman, which he ended up just producing, as well as his ambitious Amazon series Tong Wars, which is still in development, and a Gucci biopic for Annapurna that never came together, along with another drama series. Also among those in development was the drama Blossoms, which is now finally confirmed as his next film, according to the director himself.

While being awarded by the Hong Kong Film Writers Association this week, the director confirmed that the film could begin production as early as the end of this year, Ming Pao reports (via Coconuts). Based on Jin Yucheng’s 2013 novel, the film follows three Shanghai residents from the early ’60s, at the end of China’s Cultural Revolution and through the ’90s, with a selection...

Gold Derby’s 2019 Tony Awards prediction center is now open! Broadway productions must open by an April 25th cutoff date in order to be eligible for Tony consideration. So it’s time to make your early predictions in the race for Broadway’s highest honors.

Last year, “The Band’s Visit” stormed the ceremony with a whopping 10 wins, including Best Musical. David Yazbek finally became a Tony winner for his intimate Middle Eastern inspired score, and he will be back in contention this year for “Tootsie.” The musical adaptation of the classic film stars previous Tony nominee Santino Fontana (“Cinderella”) in the role Dustin Hoffman made famous. The show will face serious competition from “Hadestown,” a riff on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth with a folk opera score from Anais Mitchell. Director Rachel Chavkin (“The Great Comet”) has guided the show through successful runs Off-Broadway and in London, and is...

HBO has cast eight series regulars and two actors to recur opposite Ben Mendelsohn in The Outsider, based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel.

Cynthia Erivo (Bad Times at the El Royale), Bill Camp (The Looming Tower), Mare Winningham (George Wallace), Paddy Considine (The Ferryman), Julianne Nicholson (Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders), Yul Vázquez (I Am the Night), Jeremy Bobb (The Knick) and Marc Menchaca (Ozark) are the new regulars, with Hettienne Park (Hannibal) and Michael Esper (Trust) set to recur.

The project hails from The Night Of co-creator/executive producer Richard Price, director-producer Jack Bender (Mr. Mercedes) Jason Bateman’s Aggregate Films, Temple Hill Entertainment and Mrc. Bateman is set to direct the first two episodes.

In The Outsider, written by Price, a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a local boy leads a seasoned cop and an unorthodox investigator to question everything they believe to be real,...

Already off to a promising start in 2019, HBO just added an impressive ensemble for one of their upcoming shows. Jason Bateman’s “The Outsider,” which previously announced its leading man \ Ben Mendelsohn, has rounded out the rest of the main cast with powerhouse performers Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Paddy Considine, Mare Winningham, and Julianne Nicholson.

The series is based on the prolific author’s novel of the same name, which was published in May of last year. (In truest King fashion, that isn’t even his most recent novel — “Elevation” was published just five months later.) It follows the investigation of a crime against a young boy in a small Oklahoma town, only to find that things take on a King-like turn towards the otherworldly.

Erivo (fresh off her part in “Bad Times at the El Royale” and in the wake of one of the best Broadway performances in recent...

The 2019 Tony Awards may be months away, but the Tony Awards Administration Committee is busy determining category placement for shows from the 2018-2019 Broadway season.

The committee met for the second time this season to determine Tony Award eligibility for ten Broadway productions. The shows discussed were: “American Son,” “The Cher Show,” “The Lifespan of a Fact,” “The Ferryman,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The New One,” “Network,” “The Prom,” “Torch Song,” and “The Waverly Gallery.”

Here is the full list of decisions made by the committee:

Paddy Considine and Laura Donnelly will be eligible for Lead Actor/Actress in a Play for “The Ferryman.”

Joan Allen, Michael Cera, and David Cromer will be eligible for Featured Actress/Actor in a Play for “The Waverly Gallery.”

Mercedes Ruehl will be eligible for Featured Actress in a Play for “Torch Song.”

Brooks Ashmanskas, Beth Leavel, and Caitlin Kinnunen will be eligible for...

Broadway had some winter weight loss last week, shedding four productions and about 15% in box office. Grosses for Week 33, ending Jan. 13, totaled $31,937,248, with most shows reporting dips. Total attendance was 274,375, down about 9% from the previous week.

Going out with a bang was The Lifespan of a Fact, the play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannavale. The hit reality-based drama about a meticulous magazine fact-checker and a not-so-meticulous writer took in $1,000,817 for the final week of its limited 16-week engagement. Capitalized at a reported $4.1 million, Lifespan, which recouped its investment last month, was at 99% of capacity at Studio 54: 7,960 tickets sold. A West End production and a national tour – no casting announced yet – is next.

Other shows at standing room only – or close enough, with at least 98% of seats filled – were Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Mean Girls, Network, The Book of Mormon,...

Broadway’s Brian d’Arcy James will join the cast of Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman next month, leading a largely new company of replacement players in the primary adult roles beginning Tuesday, Feb. 19.

D’Arcy James will take over the role of Quinn Carney from departing cast member Paddy Considine. The actor is one of 15 new cast members announced by producers Sonia Friedman Productions and Neal Street Productions today.

All of the announced newcomers begin next month except for Orange is the New Black‘s Blair Brown, who takes over the role of Aunt Maggie Far Away from Fionnula Flanagan on Tuesday, April 16.

Others in the February replacement cast are Holley Fain, Emily Bergl, Fred Applegate, Ralph Brown, Sean Delaney, Jack Difalco, Ethan Dubin, Shuler Hensley, Terence Keeley, Collin Kelly-Sordelet, Ann McDonough, Julia Nightingale and Graham Winton.

The production, directed by Sam Mendes, includes 17 main adults, four children, and...

The choreographed chaos of Jez Butterworth’s jaw-dropping play The Ferryman certainly earns the critical attention that’s been heaped on it. With 21 people in the cast — and a live goose and rabbit — the play about an extended family in 1980s Northern Ireland leaves audiences reeling after a suspenseful three-plus hours. Part of that is due to the savvy narrative structure that defies dramatic rules and should be impossible to pull off. Part of that is a stellar cast that manages to weave the love and violence into an organic...

Universal will release Sam Mendes’ and DreamWorks Pictures’ World War I film “1917” on Wednesday, December 25, 2019, in limited screens, the company announced Thursday.

The film will go wide on January 10, 2020.

Mendes, who wrote the original script with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, will direct and produce the film. Pippa Harris — his partner at Neal Street Productions — will also produce along with Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall. George MacKay (“Captain Fantastic”) and Dean-Charles Chapman (“Game of Thrones”) are set to star.

Also Read: Prince-Inspired Movie Featuring His Music in the Works at Universal

Previously, Amblin Partners won the pitched spec package to finance “1917” in a battle with New Regency, Paramount and Sony, according to Deadline. The plot is being kept under wraps. The film will begin production next April.

“1917” marks a reunion for Mendes and DreamWorks. The British director made his first feature, the Oscar-winning “American Beauty,” under the DreamWorks label, followed by two other...

Three of the most anticipated Broadway productions of the fall season – King Kong, The Ferryman and American Son – began previews last week, helping to boost total box office by 13% over the previous week to $33,381,111.

Total attendance for Week 19 of the season – ending Oct. 7 – was 249,245, 88% of capacity and a 7% jump over the previous week.

All three of the newcomers began strong:

American Son, starring Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale, played two previews at the Booth, taking $204,804, 91% of its potential. Attendance of 1,450 was 94% of capacity, with an average ticket price of $141. The new play officially opens Nov. 4; King Kong, the giant-puppeted musical at the Broadway Theatre, was standing room only, grossing $364,854 for two previews. Average ticket price was $105, with an opening set for Nov. 8; The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth’s critically praised London smash directed by Sam Mendes at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, played six previews to $572,006, with attendance of 5,795 at 95% of capacity.

Stars: Nicola Holt, Garth Maunders, Pamela Ashton, Frank Mathews, Shobi Rae Mclean, Azz Mohammed, Philip Scott-Shurety | Written and Directed by Elliot Macguire

After struggling to deal with a recent tragedy in her life, Mara (Nicola Holt) becomes lost in a perpetual routine, isolated and depressed to the point where she decides to take her own life. Following her attempted suicide, Mara wakes to finds herself in a hospital bed and in a further twist of events, her estranged father Roland (Garth Maunders) is sitting by her side. At first Mara wants nothing to do with her father, who offers to help her out for a while in an attempt to make up for lost time. But when an unexpected death of a nurse turns her home a crime scene, and the strange sounds and apparitions begin to make her question her sanity, she has no option but to turn to him for help.

Organizers of the Oliver Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys, apologized “unreservedly” Tuesday for omitting theater legend Peter Hall from the awards ceremony’s “In Memoriam” segment last weekend and said the prize for best director would henceforth be named after him.

The Society of London Theatre, which organizes the Oliviers, came under heavy criticism for what it acknowledged was a “serious error” in leaving out Hall from the roll call of prominent industry figures who died in 2017. Hall, who won two Tony Awards and founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, died last September at the age of 86.

The Society of London Theatre said Hall “was a giant of British theater and is sorely missed in the industry.” It has also issued an updated “In Memoriam” video including him.

“In recognition of Sir Peter’s phenomenal contribution to British theater over many decades, and in close consultation with the Hall family,...

Two years after sweeping the Tony Awards, Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s musical “Hamilton” did the same at the British equivalent, the Olivier Awards, on April 8. It won seven of its record 13 bids, including Best Musical. While that haul matched that of another tuner, “Matilda,” it fell two short of the benchmark set last year by the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”

On the play side, the big winner was Jez Butterworth‘s “The Ferryman,” a dark drama about the Irish troubles, which is set to come to Broadway in the fall. It only won three of its eight races but they were biggies: Best Play, Best Director (Sam Mendes) and Best Actress (Laura Donnelly). Bryan Cranston claimed the Best Actor prize for the stage version of the 1976 Oscar-winning film “Network.” Peter Finch had won the Oscar for playing Howard Beale, a TV anchor gone mad.

See 2018 Olivier Awards: Complete...

Winners of the 42nd annual edition of the Olivier Awards were revealed in ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall on April 8 hosted by Catherine Tate. Unlike the Tony Awards, which are showcased live on CBS, the Olivier Awards gets only a clips package on ITV later that evening and a live feed on BBC Radio 2.

“Hamilton” won a record seven Olivier Awards, including Best Musical and for both leading man Giles Terera and supporting player Michael Jibson. “The Ferryman” took home Best Play as well as the combined award for directing (Sam Mendes) and Best Actress (Laura Donnelly).

See Dish the Tony and Olivier Awards with theater insiders in our notorious forum

Musicals

Best Musical

An American In Paris

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Girl From The North Country

X – Hamilton

Young Frankenstein

Best Musical Revival

42nd Street

X – Follies

On The Town

Best Actor (Musical)

Ciarán Hinds...

Celebrating the best of British theater April 8 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the 2018 Laurence Olivier Awards gave top honors to the West End production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” which earned seven statues including best new musical. Giles Terera and Michael Jibson, playing the roles of Aaron Burr and King George III, respectively, were among the musical’s big winners. Read: Inside the Choreographic Storytelling of ‘Hamilton’ Hosted by the hilarious Catherine Tate and presented with Mastercard, this year’s Olivier Awards ceremony included performances and presentations from the likes of Chita Rivera, Cuba Gooding Jr., Patti LuPone, Michael Sheen, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The results cast a wide net among recipients, which included best new play champion “The Ferryman,” Jez Butterworth’s thriller led by best director winner Sam Mendes; Conor McPherson’s “Girl From The North Country,” which earned recognition for its stars Shirley Henderson and Sheila Atim...

Hamilton‘s revolutionary run is recording more milestones in the UK, with the Lin-Manuel Miranda show collecting seven Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical.

On the drama side, Jez Butterworth’s Northern Irish drama The Ferryman was named Best New Play. It also snagged a Best Director Olivier for Sam Mendes and took Best Actress honors for Laura Donnelly.

Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire received the Outstanding Achievement in Music prize. Other Hamilton wins included Giles Terera (who plays Aaron Burr) for Best Actor in a Musical, Michael Jibson (King George III) as Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, and honors for lighting, sound design and choreography.

While Hamilton has had capacity crowds on Broadway for years, some newer titles recognized tonight included Tony Awards contender Angels in America, which won for Best Revival. Angels star Denise Gough won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Best...

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” took home seven awards at the U.K.’s Laurence Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London Sunday, winning for best new musical, outstanding achievement in music, best actor in a musical, and best actor in a supporting role in a musical.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire took home the trophy for outstanding achievement in music, with Giles Terera winning best actor for his work as Aaron Burr and Michael Jibson winning best actor in a supporting role for his portrayal of King George III.

“Hamilton’s” other awards include the Delta Live award for best sound design, the White Light award for best lighting design, and best theatre choreographer for Andy Blankenbuehler.

Coming in with three awards was “The Ferryman,” including best new play, best director for Sam Mendes, and best actress for Laura Donnelly.

Bryan Cranston won for best actor for his role in “Network,...

Announced in London by Elaine Paige and Alexandra Burke, the 2018 Laurence Olivier Award nominations represented the U.K.’s most thrilling and boundary-pushing theater of the last year. As it did during its U.S. conception, “Hamilton” dominated the list in 13 places, setting a new record for most Olivier nods for a single production ever. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical about the Founding Fathers smashed box office records even before its Broadway opening in 2015, and eventually scored 11 Tony Award wins. The West End production of “Hamilton,” now playing at the Victoria Palace Theatre, will now compete at the Tonys of the U.K. alongside fellow 2018 Best New Musical nominees “An American In Paris” at the Dominion Theatre, “Everybody's Talking About Jamie” at the Apollo Theatre, “Girl From The North Country” at The Old Vic, and “Young Frankenstein” at the Garrick Theatre. This year’s most-recognized new play is Jez Butterworth...

Two years after sweeping the Tony Awards, Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s musical “Hamilton” is poised to do the same at the British equivalent, the Olivier Awards. On March 6, it reaped a record 13 bids for these top theater prizes, shattering the record set by the musical “Hairspray” in 2008 and equalled by the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” last year. On the play side, the leading contender is Jez Butterworth‘s “The Ferryman,” a dark drama about the Irish troubles which is set to come to Broadway in the fall.

Winners will be announced in a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall on April 8 hosted by Catherine Tate. Unlike the Tony Awards, which are showcased live on CBS, the Olivier Awards get only a clips package on ITV later that evening and a live feed on BBC Radio 2.

“Hamilton” is clearly the frontrunner for Best Musical. Conor McPherson’s “Girl From The North Country,...

Producers Sonia Friedman Productions and Neal Street Productions are pleased to confirm that tickets for the Broadway engagement of Jez Butterworth's acclaimed new play The Ferryman go on sale today March 5th at 10Am through www.telecharge.com. Directed by Sam Mendes, The Ferryman will begin previews Tuesday, October 2nd at Broadway's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre 242 W. 45th Street, New York ahead of the opening night on Sunday, October 21st.

While DC and Marvel might already have a lock on several future release dates past the 2015 campaign with the Coen Bros. circling February on their calendars, for the most part, when it comes to American independent and foreign film flavored items, 2016 is still cloudy with a chance of…. 2015 just broke (we already have plenty to look forward to (Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films / Top 25 Most Anticipated Studio Films / Top 100 Most Anticipated American Independent Films – soon!) but we’re already excited about what is in store for several of our favorite auteurs. Here are picks 100 to 6, with our Nicholas Bell providing further analysis on current top five for 2016. Pictured above is Peter Strickland, who sits in our number six spot.

100. Untitled Edward Munch Project – Erik Poppe

99. Bastille Day – James Watkins

98. Live By Night – Ben Affleck

97. Imagine – Benoit Graffin

96. Pete’s Dragon – David Lowery

95. Bella Luna – Ivan Fila

94. Bat, Butterfly, Moth – Sergio Caballero...

Jack Webb didn.t go to film school and taught himself the art of directing. He.s just demonstrated that a lack of formal training is no barrier to writing and directing a feature film.

Hand of Art follows a young artist who pursues his passion regardless of the doubts and the costs to his relationships. Webb aims to finish a cut next month in time to submit to the Sydney Film Festival.

The cast includes Bradley Murnane as the lead, Dee Harding, Mercedes Porter as Dee.s high school sweetheart, Stephanie King and newcomer Ebony Nave.

He used two DOPs, Will Edmunds and Nathan Frost, with whom he had worked on his short films. He says the crew were paid and there are some deferred payments.

Webb spent 21 days filming on his parents. historic farm near Canberra plus three days in Brisbane and a day each on the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.

Are you bored of the same old TV shows? Tired of the mainstream? Then check out this round-up of alternative movies and series showing on UK television tonight…

8.00pm Mailbu Shark Attack (Syfy)

An underwater earthquake causes a tsunami that unleashes a pack of goblin sharks on an unsuspecting Malibu beach. Quick thinking from the local lifeguards ensures the area is cleared before the monsters strike, but a number of people remain abandoned in high water and must fight the creatures to reach dry land.

9.00pm Foolproof (Movies4Men)

A group of friends are blackmailed into pulling off an impossible £20m heist when they are framed by a dangerous gangster. Action thriller starring Ryan Reynolds, David Suchet and Kristen Booth.

10.00pm Circle of Deception (CBS Action)

A lesbian psycho-killer falls out with her old friend over the opening of a flower shop in this erotic and murderous thriller, with b-movie queen Kari Wuhrer.

GrimmUpNorth is Manchester's premier, horror film festival, running from October 29th - November 1st and including the world premier of 'The Reeds' and screening of 'The Descent 2', with Q&A from cast and director. The festival will be taking place in Manchester's Printworks and Odeon Cinema.

Gerard Johnson's Tony, a film we all love here at Qe, will be playing. We highly reccomend it. Review here.

A full line-up can be found at the festival website, but other notable screenings include Faye Jackson's Romanian vampire film 'Strigoi' and a special screening of Hellraiser, including a chance to meet the 'Cenobites' themselves; Doug Bradley (aka Pin Head), Nicholas Vince (Chatterer) and Simon Bamford (Butterball) on the Friday.

Here's a list of films that will be screened over the weekend:

Thursday 29th

Decsent 2 + Tras Visillos (Short)

Friday 30th & Saturday 31st:

Gnaw

Tony + Excision (Short...

Andrew Gunn will be directing Devil's Playground based on a script by Bart Ruspoli (an actor in Band of Brothers and Rome) and the film will be produced by Jonathan Sothcott who clearly has the most experience out of the three. Even as such, some big names are attached: Did I say Vinnie Jones? This'll be the second post apocalyptic film he's in by my count, the first being Tooth & Nail. Here's what producer Sothcott had to say about the film:

”Starring Vinnie (Midnight Meat Train) Jones, Danny (Severance) Dyer, Tamer (The Ferryman) Hassan, Martin (Embrace Of The Vampire) Kemp, Jemima Rooper, Billy Murray and Lisa (Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes) McAllister, Devil’S Playground details the plight of the last remnants of a civilization destroyed by an all-out zombie armageddon, following the misguided experiments of a presumed-dead Nobel Prize-winning virologist. In a bid for survival, a group of survivors seek...

British producer Jonathan Sothcott got in touch with Fango to tip us off to a couple of genre projects he’s attached to. The first is Devil’S Playground, which is slated to begin production in London in late January with Andrew Gunn on board as director.

“The script is by Band Of Brothers and Rome actor Bart Ruspoli, and is something pretty special,” Sothcott tells us. “It takes everything you want in a balls-to-the-wall zombie film and structures it into a high-concept thriller.

”Starring Vinnie (Midnight Meat Train) Jones, Danny (Severance) Dyer, Tamer (The Ferryman) Hassan, Martin (Embrace Of The Vampire) Kemp, Jemima Rooper, Billy Murray and Lisa (Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes) McAllister, Devil’S Playground details the plight of the last remnants of a civilization destroyed by an all-out zombie armageddon, following the misguided experiments of a presumed-dead Nobel Prize-winning virologist. In a bid for survival, a group...

Does anyone out there remember a little New Zealand horror film called The Ugly? It was one of those low-key flicks that came around direct to DVD here in the States just over a decade ago and got a good amount of buzz for its time.

Well, if you have fond memories of it, The Ugly’s director, Scott Reynolds, is getting ready to make his first film since 2001, which also happens to be the first in a new South Korea/New Zealand co-production treaty.

THR reports that Reynolds is on board to direct Soul Mate, a horror film about love and vengeful ghosts, which sounds about as South Korean as one could ask for. The script comes from Nick Ward, whose recent credits include another solid flick from New Zealand, The Ferryman (review), and Weta Workshop will be handling the visual effects on Soul Mate.

So far Korean actress...

Alright, my backwoods buddies, it looks like we have some casting announcements for Wrong Turn 3 (which we last wrote on here). Have yourself a look at the latest batch of bodies to do battle with the mutant, forest-dwelling flesh-eaters: Tom Frederic (The Oxford Murders), Janet Montgomery and Mike Straub (both from The Hills Run Red), Tamer Hassan (The Ferryman), Gil Kolirin and Chucky Venice (both from Return To House On Haunted Hill), and Mac McDonald (Transsiberian). Okay, so no...

• The Ferryman (New Zealand, 2007)Director: Chris GrahamYou may want to hug your dog before venturing out to watch New Zealand’s latest splatter export, The Ferryman.Confined to the middle of the ocean, a nihilistic parasite is sending out distress signals in order to get within range of unwitting victims whose bodies it requires to inhabit for survival. So why does the parasite seem to enjoy torturing it’s hosts so much and what’s got it so spooked it’s constantly on the run?An immensely entertaining actor’s wonderland in which almost every character gets to make the transition to evil incarnate (and manages to do it with believability and gusto), Ferryman probably goes one step too far in depicting it’s hidden menace with a literal visualization. Regardless, the direction from as-yet little known Chris Graham is executed with assured style, and even offers helpful tips

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