How Rachel Bloom Turned a Standup Show Into a Death-Defying Solo Musical

Blue singer Lee Ryan has avoided a jail term for drunkenly assaulting a Black female flight attendant.As The Guardian reports, Ryan received a 12-month suspended prison sentence for racially aggravated common assault and behaving in an abusive way towards the cabin crew member.The incident occurred on a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London in July last year. Ryan was found guilty of racially aggravated assault this January.As he sentenced Ryan on Thursday (September 28), Judge Nicholas Wood said that the incident “seemed like a lifetime for everybody on that plane”.He ordered the singer to pay £2,500 in compensation to the British Airways flight attendant Leah Gordon, £750 to her colleague Jade Smith, and £510 in costs.

Daniel Craig’s new hairdo has attracted attention online following an appearance at an event with wife Rachel Weisz.The James Bond actor appeared alongside Weisz at the Clooney Foundation For Justice’s second annual Albie Awards event in New York yesterday (September 28) where he was seen sporting a golden quiff.Some have drawn comparisons to his Knives Out character Benoit Blanc, with an Instagram commenter writing: “Getting ready to play Benoit Blanc again, it appears.”Another on X (FKA Twitter) added: “Classic Benoit Blanc move.”“I love his hair that shade,” another on Instagram added. “It suits him… as does the blue suit.”Other attendees at the event included Viola Davis, Mary J.

The Elder Scrolls: Castles has released for Android platforms and it’s very like Fallout Shelter, involving the management of a castle as the player plots the course of history through their choices.“Tell your story for generations – each day in real life covers the span of an entire year in The Elder Scrolls: Castles,” the description reads for the game on the Google Play Store.“Train your subjects, name heirs, and maintain order to help your kingdom flourish. Will you keep your subjects happy and ensure a long life for their ruler? Or will they grow discontent and plot assassination?”At the time of writing, Bethesda hasn’t announced anything relating to The Elder Scrolls: Castles on its website or social media accounts.

All of Us Are Dead has begun teasing the series’ upcoming second season.On September 26, All of Us Are Dead director Lee Jae-kyoo visited the site of Universal Studios Singapore’s annual Halloween Horror Nights event, which will feature a themed haunted house based on the series in this year’s rendition. During his visit, Lee spoke about what fans can look forward to in its upcoming second season.“In season two, more powerful and evolved zombies will be featured, and the series will be set in the fallen Seoul.

Billie Eilish has opened up about the writing process behind her song for the Barbie soundtrack, ‘What Was I Made For?’.Released in July, the track was written by Eilish alongside her brother and collaborator Finneas. It appears in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 hit Barbie film, which also features songs from the likes of Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Haim and Tame Impala.During a new interview with Allure, Eilish recalled how ‘What Was I Made For?’ came about at a time when she was creatively uninspired.“It was as if this song was a tiny creature inside of me for years, scratching the inside of me,” she remembered.

U2 have spoken about drummer Larry Mullen Jr playing “up a storm” in the studio when recording their new single ‘Atomic City‘, despite being saddled with surgery recovery.The band, who dropped their first new song in two years today (September 29) hours before their residency at Las Vegas’ new MSG Sphere venue opens, said in a new interview that drummers – and Mullen Jr – are “a breed apart” when it comes to soldiering on.Mullen Jr last year cited damage to his “elbows, knees [and] necks”, which he “got a chance to have a look at” during the COVID pandemic. He said that he was unsure whether he’d be able to tour with U2 for the foreseeable.Due to these drumming-related injuries, which he described as “damage along the way”, Mullen said he’d “like to take some time… to get myself healed”.

Nick Cannon has reflected on how Mariah Carey handled his Lupus diagnosis in 2012, saying he “probably wouldn’t be alive” without her.The 42-year-old was a guest on The Diary Of A CEO last week (September 21) and spoke about his Lupus diagnosis, among other things. He admitted to host Steven Bartlet that the situation likely affected their relationship; however, praised the pop juggernaut for helping him get through the difficulty of such a life-altering news.“She was my rock, man. She went hard,” Nick Cannon said.

Carlos Santana was the O.G. hippie in the ’60s, think again.In fact, the 76-year-old guitar hero was once an anti-weed warrior as his namesake band was huffing — and puffing — to succeed in the San Francisco scene alongside groups such as the Grateful Dead.“I’d been around marijuana all my life since I was a child, but I never toked,” reveals Santana in the new documentary “Carlos,” which opens in theaters on Friday.Indeed, the “Smooth” operator was that guy who was a downer to the doobies — in part, to protect his own good name and reputation.“You’re building a band around me, and I noticed that they smoke weed.

Kardashians fans have divided themselves into two camps over an explosive new episode of the reality show which saw a bitter row escalate between Kim and Kourtney.The sisters threw insults at each other in an episode of The Kardashians where resentments and rivalries from the previous season spilled over into a fresh argument. Last season, viewers of the show had seen the family bickering over Kim's work with Dolce & Gabbana, despite the fashion house having already played a big role in Kourtney's wedding, who felt they were her territory.

Former EastEnders star Preeya Kalidas has been rushed to hospital after suffering a “painful and bloody” injury as she worked out at the gym. Preeya played Amira Masood on the BBC soap for three years from 2009 until her departure in 2012. On her Instagram Story, she shared snaps and a clip from her hospital visit, showing followers her bandaged finger.

Taylor Swift has 'opened up' one of her New York homes to actress Sophie Turner. Following Sophie’s split from her husband, singer Joe Jonas , the 33 year old struck up a friendship with the Game of Thrones star.

Katie Price has said that she is “a bit concerned” for her eldest son Harvey as he “phones me crying all the time.” Harvey, 21, lives with numerous disabilities including autism, a rare genetic disorder called Prader-Will syndrome, septo-optic dysplasia, and is blind. He currently resides at the National Star College in Gloucester, which provides residential services for those with an array of disabilities, as well as further education, training and personal development.Talking about her son, who she shares with footballer Dwight Yorke, on her podcast The Katie Price Show, Katie explained: “I'm a bit concerned for him at the minute, he phones me crying all the time.

Married at First Sight UK couple Terence Edwards and Porscha Pernnelle have experienced their first major row of the series and it wasn't pretty.Things kicked off during a romantic dinner while on their honeymoon in Morocco when Porscha was seen constantly bickering with her new 40 year old husband during their Moroccan honeymoon. In hilarious scenes, Terence branded his wife, 36, "childish" after she stormed off when he wouldn't use the correct serving spoon.

Molly Rainford has been left heartbroken following the death of her beloved cousin Ben, at just 38 years old. Sharing the tragic news to her Instagram Story, the EastEnders actress and former Strictly star, 22, shared a photo of herself and Ben, to which she added the text: "Rest peacefully cousin Ben [white heart emoji] [angel emoji]" Ben had suffered from cerebral palsy and epilepsy throughout his life, although Molly did not share his cause of death at this time. He had lived at St Elizabeth's in Hertfordshire, a specialist school and residential centre, for which Molly had worked as an ambassador.

EastEnders is to see the return of more beloved characters in the coming months following the successful comeback of Cindy Beale. The return of Cindy, played by Michelle Collins, left fans floored - while also sparking a social media frenzy and boosting ratings. Now, the BBC One soap’s executive producer, Chris Clenshaw, has confirmed that more popular characters are going to be making a comeback - with their identities set to be announced soon.

A huge storyline in the most recent series of The Kardashians was the ongoing feud between Kim and Kourtney Kardashian. Now as series 4 hits the air, it seems nothing has yet been resolved with the first episode of the fourth series seeing the sisters get into a heated spat over the phone. For those who need catching up, It all began when Kim teamed up with Dolce and Gabbana to serve as the creative director for one of their fashion shows, just a few months after Kourtney had collaborated with the designers for her wedding looks when she married Travis Barker.

Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner have been making headlines with their new romantic interests. Kendall, the 27-year-old model, has been dating Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny. Meanwhile, Kylie has been spotted getting closer to actor Timothée Chalamet.

A destructive man who deliberately set fire to his Hamilton home has been jailed for 16 months.

Kilmarnock's Bobby Wales is set to join Alloa Athletic on-loan for the season.

It can be tricky to find the right food for your pet, with a difficult balance between what your dog enjoys and the food products that are good for them.

Lovers of golf have slammed Zach Johnson for ignoring the spirit of the game at the Ryder Cup and launching into a chinwag while one of his OWN stars was on the tee.

Love Island winner Amber Davies has joined the line-up for Dancing On Ice 2024.

A coach carrying school children has overturned in a horror crash on a busy motorway. Emergency services were called to the northbound carriageway on the M53 near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, on Friday morning.

On Monday, TMZ shared that Krayzie Bone was placed in an induced coma to “help [with] the healing process,” as the artery is still bleeding. The publication revealed that there are plans for the Grammy Award-winning rapper to go into surgery again to repair his blood vessel.“In this challenging moment, as the immediate and Bone thugs family rallies behind my brother, we humbly ask for a moment of privacy,” Layzie Bone wrote under a photo of him, Wish Bone, Flesh-n-Bone, and Krayzie Bone on Instagram.

Valve has stated that those who “associate” with Counter-Strike 2 cheaters will be subjected to penalties too.“When one or more party members get convicted of cheating and permanently banned, all their associates will be penalised with loss of Profile Rank and CS Rating,” Valve said in the Counter-Strike 2 release notes published on Wednesday (September 27) to Steam.This was in and amongst announcements about various changes to the sequel including the Training Day tutorial for new players, correcting footstep sounds in certain locations, separation of casual and deathmatch maps into different groups, animated eyes on player models, and chickens that will finally fall off the Vertigo map.The word “associates”, however, doesn’t offer much clarity about what that might mean. It could be a player that continually and consciously teams up with someone who’s proven to be cheating in order to gain a dishonest advantage in matches.If a player happens to be a part of a team that’s cheating, although they were unaware of that, it’s hoped that they’re not caught in the crossfire of the developer’s sanctions.At the time of writing Valve has not added any explanation on what “associating” with a cheater constitutes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Uday Shankar, the former head of Disney in India, says that “limitless” changes to the Indian media landscape may soon leave behind conventional ideas of television and video. The great disruptor is JioCinema, part of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries conglomerate, and in which Shankar is a major investor. JioCinema, which operates streaming services, and is allied with Viacom18, sits alongside the cluster of Jio companies that have, in just a matter of years, exploded the cellular telephony business in India and are doing the same with broadband internet access and video.

Daft Punk have announced a new “drumless edition” of their final studio album ‘Random Access Memories’.The French duo are set to release a track-by-track reimagining of their 2013 Grammy-winning fourth record on November 17. You can pre-order it here (physical) and here (digital).Fans will be able to get their hands on a CD, 2LP and a choice of two vinyl ‘bundles’.An official description reads: “This version strips away all drum and percussive elements from the album, giving listeners the ability to dive deeper into the layers of instrumentation on each track.”Check out the preview video and snippet in the announcement post below.Random Access Memories – Drumless Edition, November 17th 2023 Pre-order now, https://t.co/788o6rjHKE pic.twitter.com/EtNeu1Ccmd— Daft Punk (@daftpunk) September 28, 2023Earlier this year Daft Punk released a 10th anniversary edition of ‘Random Access Memories’ containing 35 minutes of outtakes and unheard demos.The original version of the album included the hit single ‘Get Lucky’ featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers, and ‘Instant Crush’ featuring The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas.NME this year explored how ‘Random Access Memories’ became the most hyped album of its era in a special retrospective feature.Daft Punk announced their break-up in February 2021 after almost 30 years together.During a recent interview Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter he was “relieved” over the way that the band ended.“The question I ask more myself is why we did end it rather than how it could last for so long,” he said.

Content warning: This story contains discussion and description of sexual assault.Marilyn Manson has reportedly settled a sexual assault and rape lawsuit with his accuser a week ahead of the case going on trial.According to a Rolling Stone report, the settlement between Manson and his accuser – known only as Jane Doe to protect her identity – was reached on Wednesday (September 27) and that a notice of settlement was filed that day by Doe’s attorney Adam Wolf. Wolf will also reportedly file a request to dismiss the case within 45 days.The lawsuit was first filed in 2021 after Doe, who claims to be an ex-girlfriend of Manson, alleged that Manson raped her in June 2011 when she went to return a key for his apartment, threatening to kill her afterwards.When contacted by NME for comment after the initial lawsuit was lobbied against the musician in 2021, a member of Manson’s team “strongly denied the accusations”.Details of the settlement have not been revealed at the time of publishing.Doe has now come to a settlement with Manson, telling Rolling Stone in a statement: “I was fully prepared for trial and never in a million years thought I would ever settle, but over the past two-and-a-half years I have silently endured threats, bullying, harassment and various forms of intimidation that have intensified over the past few weeks.”“Marilyn Manson attended my deposition, and I was forced to answer seven hours of aggressive questioning with him staring at me from across the table.

U2 are back with their first new song in two years – listen to “Atomic City’ and watch the accompanying music video below.The Irish band have returned to the post-punk of their heyday with a stirring guitar hook reminiscent of their 1983 hit ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and a chorus that channels Blondie.Vocalist Bono sings about freedom (“I’m free/ I see what’s in front of me/ And your freedom is contagious/ What you’ve got I wanna be,”) and nods to “Atomic City” aka Las Vegas, the city in which the accompanying music video is set, as somewhere to find it.It’s not known whether the song, which is U2’s first since 2021 when they released ‘Your Song Saved My Life‘ for the Sing 2 soundtrack, will feature on an as-yet-unannounced album. The band have teased a record that prioritises a “guitar music” sound.The new single was produced by Jacknife Lee and Steve Lillywhite and recorded at Sound City in LA.

K-pop singer and former NU’EST member Baekho has dropped a sultry cover of Brown Eyed Girls’ ‘Abracadabra’.The singer has released a cover of the 2009 Brown Eyed Girls hit through his official YouTube channel. Baekho’s rendition of the song swaps its electronic sound for a guitar-led R&B instrumental, with the singer also slowing down parts of ‘Abracadabra’.“Bring, bring, I want to hold you in my arms / I will do anything and even more / Bling bling, you are my fantasy / I’ll put everything / In stake to have you,” he sings in the chorus.The new cover comes two weeks after the singer dropped his remake of singer Park Jin-young’s 1995 hit ‘Elevator’, for which he has also released a performance video.Prior to this, Baekho’s last music release was his debut mini-album ‘Absolute Zero’ in October 2022, which was led by the single ‘No Rules’.

*NSYNC have released ‘Better Place’, their first song in more than 20 years.The pop band, whose last song was a remix of The Neptunes-produced ‘Girlfriend featuring Nelly in early 2002, have reunited for a funky new single that features on the upcoming Trolls Band Together soundtrack.‘Better Place’ is produced by Shellback who also collaborated with *NSYNC bandleader and solo artist Justin Timberlake for Trolls, the first of the three film franchise installments, in 2016. The song ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling‘ was a hit.Despite getting up hopes of a reunion proper, Billboard reports that there are no plans for *NSYNC to return soon for a tour.

Lizzo has asked a judge to dismiss a harassment lawsuit filed against her by previous employees.Last month the pop star was sued by three former backup dancers for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and engaging in sexual harassment, among other claims. Lizzo has denied the allegations, saying that they are “false” and adding how “disappointing” it is to see her character “criticised”.Now, in court documents filed on Wednesday (September 27) and independently viewed by Variety, Lizzo’s legal team has insisted that the case should be dismissed “in it’s entirety”.However, the singer’s lawyers have accepted the claimants’ request for a jury trial should it proceed to that stage (Lizzo has also previously requested a trial by jury).“Any and all claims to the contrary are ridiculous, and we look forward to proving so in a court of law,” Lizzo’s team wrote in its response.The artist and her Big Grrrl touring company have denied “each and every allegation” made, the documents read.“This is the first step of a legal process in which Lizzo and her team will demonstrate that they have always practiced what they’ve preached,” a spokesperson for Lizzo’s legal team said [via Variety].

B.I has released a new single titled ‘4 Letters’ featuring Filipino-Australian singer James Reid.The release is accompanied by a visualiser resembling pages of love letters with the lyrics to ‘4 Letters’ fading in and out of view. “Darling, don’t cry / It’s only goodbye, it happens sometimes / Don’t be fooled just cause Love is four letters / Don’t mean it’s forever / Don’t mean it’s forever no,” he sings in the chorus.‘4 Letters’ is a track from B.I’s upcoming album ‘Love or Loved Pt.2’, due out on November 10.

Epic Games has announced the loss of 830 employees in a round of layoffs, with “two-thirds” of these roles outside of game development ventures.Through this, CEO Tim Sweeney aimed to “[cut] costs without sacrificing development or lines of businesses” and guarantee the continued efficacy of the company’s development functions.“For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators,” explained Sweeney in a post to the Epic Games official website.“I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.”Of these 830 employees, Epic Games will lose 250 employees resulting from divestitures from Bandcamp and SuperAwesome. Bandcamp will be owned by Songtradr and “most” of SuperAwesome will be taken over by SuperAwesome Leadership.Those affected will benefit from a severance package that contains career transition services, visa support, six months base pay, the opportunity to “accelerate people’s stock option vesting schedule through the end of 2024” and six months of Epic-paid healthcare in the United States, Canada and Brazil.There will be no further redundancies in the future, affirmed Sweeney.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor For every production of “Merrily We Roll Along,” there is always a question. Ever since the ignominious failure of its Broadway premiere, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1981 musical has carried the reputation of being too flawed, too facile, too conceptual ever to satisfy — while at the same time, a cult of creatives and fans have remained steadfastly convinced the show’s a masterpiece, needing only the right staging to reveal it. The same question, then, haunts every revival: Is this the version that finally fulfills the promise of “Merrily We Roll Along”? Judging from critical and audience response, the latest New York production may be the one that achieves it.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor “Smash,” the TV series about the making of a fictional Broadway musical, takes an early step toward becoming a real-life Broadway musical on Sept. 22, with a pair of industry readings led by Tony nominees Robyn Hurder and Kerry Butler.