News Round-Up: April 15, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• Now, y'all know the fab Shoshana Bean is back on the Broad Way starring in Sara Bareilles' Waitress, right? Annnnd, her leading man is the oh-so-talented Jeremy Jordan? Get to the Brooks Atkinson Theater before they be gone. #JustSaying

• A jury sentenced a man to death because they thought he would enjoy being in prison for life because he is gay.

• Dallas police arrested 29-year-old Edward Thomas on a charge of aggravated assault for the brutal beating of a transgender woman. Authorities are investigating whether the brutal attack caught on video should have hate crime charges attached, although gender identity is not a protected class in the state. The video, posted to Facebook, is quite disturbing as Thomas punches the victim over and over as a crowd stood by.

• At Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri, an unnamed student tore down a large hanging sign advertising the school’s Gay Straight Trans Alliance (GSTA). The vandal crumpled up the sign into a ball and dropped it into the crowd below as dozens of students laughed and clapped.

• A 40-year-old man has filed a lawsuit against his parents for throwing away his porn collection that he estimates was worth $29,000.

• Donald Trump has a challenger for the 2020 Republican nomination - former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld has officially declared as a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2020.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders has released 10 years of tax returns showing both income and tax rate jumped after presidential campaign, and revealing his millionaire status.

• I could really, really wish to be in Mykonos right now with this guy... :)

View this post on Instagram

Mykonos at its best. @rondorff #blueandwhite #stripes #swimtrunks #rondorff . AD. . Photographer: @pascalpprl

A post shared by KILLIAN (@killian___) on Apr 14, 2019 at 5:46am PDT

Jeremy Jordan's Terrific New Take On "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'"

Jeremy Jordan "O What a Beautiful Mornin'"

After spending some years working on television series like The CW's Supergirl and NBC's SMASH, oh-so-talented Jeremy Jordan returned to Broadway last fall in the new play, American Son.

If you haven't seen the play at the Booth Theatre, hurry up as it's set to close at the end of the month.

That said, American Son isn't Jordan's only 'return' to Broadway material.

Having starred in musicals on the Great White Way like West Side Story, Newsies, and Bonnie and Clyde, folks might have forgotten what an gifted singer Jordan is.

Until now.

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization shares a new music video, the first in a series titled, "R&H Goes Pop!," of contemporary twists on timeless classics from the R&H catalog.

Jordan gets the honor of debuting this new take on the Oklahoma opener, "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’."

I've been a fan of Jordan's for years now. A terrific actor and vocalist, he's the real deal who can deliver.

The arrangement and orchestration here is killer: bright, fresh and current.

I love reinvention, and I love this.

Jordan took to Twitter to announce the news, writing, "A while back, the fine folks at @RnH_Org asked me to reimagine a classic. Naturally, I enlisted the help of @brauhala & we came up with this take on "O What a Beautiful Mornin." Then @nathanjohnsonny shot this video in the summer HEAT. Enjoy!"

A while back, the fine folks at @RnH_Org asked me to reimagine a classic. Naturally, I enlisted the help of @brauhala & we came up with this take on "O What a Beautiful Mornin." Then @nathanjohnsonny shot this video in the summer HEAT. Enjoy! #RHgoesPop https://t.co/LUV0ojC17U

— Jeremy Jordan (@JeremyMJordan) January 14, 2019

So happy to share "O What a Beautiful Mornin"... I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it brought me such joy to infuse some of my musical personality into a classic. I encourage everyone to take something old & shape it into something new. Something YOU think is beautiful

— Jeremy Jordan (@JeremyMJordan) January 18, 2019

Watch the new music video below and feel good.

My Favorite Thing Today: Jeremy Jordan Sings "Don't Rain On My Parade"

Broadway favorite Jeremy Jordan killed it earlier this week at the annual MCC Theater's MISCAST gala concert event with his performance of "Don't Rain On My Parade" from FUNNY GIRL.

The official description of MCC Theater's MISCAST 2015 is as follows: "MCC Theater's annual Miscast gala is one of the most exciting and unique theater events in town. Broadway's hottest stars perform songs from roles in which they would NEVER be cast. And the results are thrilling!

Sunday Sideshow: Cheyenne Jackson & Jeremy Jordan "Who Will Love Me As I Am?"

OMG - I can't tell you how happy this clip makes me.

I've been a fan of both Cheyenne Jackson and Jeremy Jordan for some time now, but between their fab voices and the humor here, this is all kinds of perfect.

If after this you'd like to listen to the original version with Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley, here's a handy-dandy link right here.

Jeremy Jordan Sings "Moving Too Fast" On Good Morning America

Jeremy Jordan sings "Moving Too Fast" from The Last Five Years on GMA

Randy Report fave Jeremy Jordan knocked it outta the park on Good Morning America today with a red-hot live performance of "Moving Too Fast" from his new film The Last Five Years, accompanied by Tony Award winning composer Jason Robert Brown.

Listen to that voice! And then there's the "easy on the eyes" factor :)

I've posted previously about Jeremy here and here.

My Favorite Thing Today: Jeremy Jordan Sings "It's All Coming Back To Me"

Broadway's Jeremy Jordan sings Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back To Me"

On January 9th, Broadway’s biggest belters celebrated the best-selling Canadian music artist in history, Celine Dion, in an evening of epic power ballads, and classic pop tunes at the hot NYC cabaret spot, 54 Below.

The starry cast included Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, “Smash”) who brought his considerable vocal prowess to the enormous pop aria, "It's All Coming Back To Me."

Not only does Jordan's voice soar through the piece, he brings the right balance of humor to moments letting you know he doesn't take himself too seriously. WE, however, take Jeremy's uber-talent way serious.

Watch as he delivers passionate vocals and pops of comedic twinkle below. This is my favorite thing today :)

The writer of the song, Jim Steinman, had this to say: "As I wrote and produced the song for Celine - I'm very impressed and pleased with JEREMY'S ability to scale the Olympian operatic heights and imbue it with humor, seamlessly! All in all, BRILLIANT!! And thank you."

By the way, Jeremy co-stars with Into The Woods star Anna Kendrick in the upcoming film adaptation of the cult musical favorite The Last 5 Years. In theaters and VOD February 13.

"Three minutes left..."

Key change!

"There were moments of gold, and there were flashes of light"

"If I forgive you all this..."

Equal opportunity crooner - "When you see me like this..."

Jeremy Jordan sings "Let It Go" at MCC Theater's MISCAST

At this year's MISCAST, a benefit for the Off Broadway’s MCC Theater, "Newsies" and "Smash" star Jeremy Jordan stopped the show with (yes, you guessed it) his "miscast" rendition of "Let It Go" from the animated film, "Frozen."

Via EW.com:

Ficitonal SMASH musical to get concert reading at 54 Below in NYC

SMASH star Jeremy Jordan to appear in concert performance of "Hit List"

SMASH fans may need to get to New York City on December 9th.

The fictional Broadway show "Hit List" from the now cancelled TV series SMASH will make a real life appearance at 54 Below in concert form WITH some of the series stars, including Jeremy Jordan and Krysta Rodriguez.


From the NY Times:

54 Below will present the world-premiere concert performances of “Hit List” on Dec. 9, press representatives for the project said on Tuesday, with a cast that features the former “Smash” stars Jeremy Jordan and Andy Mientus (who played the putative “Hit List” creators Jimmy Collins and Kyle Bishop), as well as Krysta Rodriguez (who played Ana Vargas, a “Hit List” cast member).

A news release for “Hit List” described it — finally! — as “a modern fable about identity and the price of fame” that “tells the tragic love story of a wannabe pop singer who transforms herself to become a star and the hidden songwriter she uses to get there – but at what cost?”

The score for “Hit List” is written by the flesh-and-blood composers Drew Gasparini, Joe Iconis, Andrew McMahon, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and Lucie Silvas. Its press representatives said that the live performances “will include some additional songs from these composers that were intended for ‘Hit List’ but never made it to air, and also special appearances by several of ‘Hit List’s composers and additional performers to be announced at a later date.”

Jeremy Jordan & Jonathan Groff - "Let Me Be Your Star"

A bit of Saturday silly fun from hunky Jeremy Jordan (SMASH) and Jonathan Groff (GLEE). I've liked the song "Let Me Be Your Star" since I first heard it in the pilot of SMASH.

In related news, Glee‘s Jonathan Groff has been cast in The Normal Heart, HBO‘s original movie adaptation of the Tony-winning Larry Kramer play, which is being written by Kramer and directed by Ryan Murphy.

He joins Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Taylor Kitsch in the pic, which tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s. Production is slated to begin later this year in New York for a 2014 debut.

SMASH show runner: "We're aware the show is not successful"

Even with scenes featuring a shirtless Jeremy Jordan, there's not good news coming from SMASH show runner Josh Safran: “We’re all aware the show is not successful," according to TVLine.

He also reveals that the upcoming season finale, episode 17, “was constructed as a series finale.”

The series, recently moved to Saturday nights, is expected to be cancelled.

(via Gay.net)