Papi Chulo's BLOG

Sister Act to Make Broadway Debut

Sister Act producers Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment have announced that the show will premiere April 20, 2011 on Broadway.

The stage musical is based on the hit 1992 film comedy of the same name.

~Papi Chulo~

In the News :: Kristin Chenoweth Slams Newsweek Over "Horrendously Homophobic" Article on Openly Gay Actors

Singer, musical theater, film and television actress, and author Kristin Chenoweth posted several comments in response to a Newsweek article titled "Straight Jacket: Heterosexual actors play gay all the time. Why doesn't it ever work in reverse?" The article argues that openly gay male actors have hard time pulling off heterosexual romantic leads. The article specifically pointed out Glee's Jonathan Groff and Chenoweth's Promises, Promises co-star Sean Hayes as prime examples. The article went on to call Groff "too queeny" to play straight and Hayes' homosexuality the "big pink elephant in the room."

Chenoweth called Ramin Setoodeh's article "horrendously homophobic."

Kristin Chenoweth: "From where I stand, on stage, with Hayes, every night—I've observed nothing 'wooden' or 'weird' in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a 'pink elephant' in the Broadway Theater. I'd normally keep silent on such matters and write such small-minded viewpoints off as perhaps a blip in common sense. But the offense I take to this article, and your decision to publish it, is not really even related to my profession or my work with Hayes or Jonathan Groff. This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that 'as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school.' Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That's so sad, Newsweek!"

Chenoweth goes on to defend Hayes and Groff's acting work, as well as name-checking How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris and Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon as examples of gay actors who have played straight romantic leads.

Kristin Chenoweth: "No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can't be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!"

Bravo Kristin!

~Papi Chulo~

Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig Go Steady on Broadway

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig are set to appear together on Broadway in A Steady Rain ... The stage drama premieres this fall ...

The play "tells the story of two Chicago cops whose friendship is rocked by a case" ...

~Papi Chulo~

Spider-Man Swings to Broadway

Spider-Man arrives on the Great White Way next year ...

Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark opens on February 18, 2010 at the Hilton Theater ...

Preview performances begin January 16 ...

The musical will be directed by the Tony Award-winning Julie Taymor ... Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark will feature a score by Bono and The Edge ...

The musical will include "the story of his origins as well as new material" ...

~Papi Chulo~

Michael Jackson's Thriller Heads to Broadway

Michael Jackson has announced he is working on a stage musical based on his 1982 classic album Thriller ...

Jackson along with the Nederlander Organization will team up for the musical ... Jackson will provide songs from Thriller (including the title song, "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "P.Y.T.") as well as songs from his 1979 multiplatinum hit Off the Wall (which featured "Rock With You," "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "She's Out of My Life") ...

No word yet on when Thriller will debut ...

~Papi Chulo~

SNL :: "Save Broadway"

Neil Patrick Harris helps save Broadway on Saturday Night Live ...

~Papi Chulo~

Love Letter to Cast Led to Streep's "Mamma Mia!" Role

Meryl Streep wrote to the cast of the musical Mamma Mia! shortly after the production opened on Broadway ... The letter was to thank them for bringing joy to New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks ...

Meryl Streep: "We left floating on air. We were so elated. It couldn't have been a better tonic for the city and I wrote the cast a mash note thanking them for the music and what they gave us because it was something that meant a lot at that point. ... It was a gift not just to my little girl and her dispirited friends but it was a gift to the whole city. I never imagined the cast would make copies of the letter and send it to England and everybody would have it on their refrigerators, which I was told much later is what happened."

Seven years later director Phyllida Lloyd, producer Judy Cramer and writer Catherine Johnson got in touch with Streep when they were casting the big screen version of the musical ... and they asked her to play Donna ... the owner of a Greek island hotel who faces three former flames on the eve of her daughter's wedding ...

Meryl Streep: "I just about died. I kept saying, 'Are you sure you want me, because I'm not the likeliest choice, you know.' But I was thrilled because I love the music and it meant a lot to me, so I was very happy to get the chance."

Streep got a chance to do something she had never really done on screen before ... star in a full fledged musical ... She had taken opera singing lessons as a child ... and received good vocal reviews for Postcards From The Edge and A Prairie Home Companion ... but Streep confesses that the dancing presented some problems ...

Meryl Streep: "The singing and dancing was just like being invited to play every day and even when I couldn't dance as well as I wanted to, I could justify it by saying, well, Donna's not a dancer, she's running a hotel."

Coming up next for Streep is Julie & Julia ... where she portrays Julia Child ...

~Papi Chulo~

India.Arie Makes Her Broadway Debut

India.Arie is making her Broadway debut with a little help from Whoopi Goldberg ...

The Oscar-winning actress is producing a revival of the Obie Award-winning For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf ... and India.Arie is one of the featured players ...

The 1975 drama, by playwright Ntozake Shange, is a collection of 20 prosaic poems, each a reflection on modern American life as experienced by black women. The characters do not have names but are instead identified by monikers such as "Lady in Brown" and "Lady in Purple."

Previews for the show begin on August 19 at Circle in the Square ... while the show is set to make its official debut on September 8 ...

~Papi Chulo~

"Playgirl" Calls Mario Lopez

Mario Lopez is certainly not ashamed of his body ... but he does have his limits ...

When Playgirl magazine called ...

Mario Lopez: "I politely declined. It's not something for me at the moment. But it's ironic, because I'm, like, 'nature boy.' I'm always running around the house in underwear or nothing."

The former Dancing With the Stars contestant has just released a health and fitness book titles Mario Lopez's Knockout Fitness ...

New York Post's Page Six has dubbed the musclebound Latino "Flex" ...

Lopez can currently been seen on Broadway's A Chorus Line ...

~Papi Chulo~

Janet Jackson Dishes on Drag Queens, Gay Marriage and Broadway

Janet Jackson is currently making the rounds ... promoting her latest hit album Discipline ...

Janet launches a new tour on September 11 ...

She sat down with E!'s Marc Malkin to talk about drag queens ... gay marriage ... Broadway and much, much more ...

Here is an excerpt ...

On being a gay icon: I never thought of myself as that, and it never even crossed my mind when people started calling me icon and legend and all this other stuff. I remember I was over in Europe and I called my boyfriend [Jermaine Dupri] once because they had introduced me on a show as a legend, and I said, "You know they introduced me as 'the legendary Janet Jackson', " and he said, "You are." [Laughs.] I never thought of that or looked at myself in that way. But I'll wear the title. I'll own it.

On Janet Jackson drag queens: They really study you. They truly study you. But you know, they pour it on more, which I absolutely love. They give more than I do and I love that. The first time I went to the Baton in Chicago and saw this show, I was with some of my [female] dancers. Afterward, I said to my dancers, "We've gotta pull up because these bitches are hitting it. They're giving so much femininity and we look like boys onstage." The next night we had a show and we were trying our hardest to ooze with that feminine touch.

On gay marriage: I think it should be legalized. I think it's about finding your soul mate. It's finding that person you connect with. But most people don't get it right. Look at me! The thing is, I don't know if I ever will or won't get married again. I'm very happy where I am. I just think I jinx marriages, but that's not going to stop me from loving.

On Broadway: That's always been a dream of mine. I would love to do a musical.

~Papi Chulo~