By Romeo San Vicente
Thanks for the 'Wet Hot American' sitcom, Netflix
In 2001's absurdist, summer-camp-themed cult comedy "Wet Hot American Summer," the counselors – a huge cast of future stars – vow to reunite in 10 years. And because math is hard, 13 years later that's what's about to happen. Netflix has been developing a sitcom based on the film for a while now, but the cast is reportedly set and shooting has begun. Original co-writers David Wain and Michael Showalter (with Wain directing) are back on board, as is most of the original cast. And what a cast: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, H. Jon Benjamin, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Chris Meloni, Molly Shannon, and the gay makeout team of Michael Ian Black and Bradley Cooper. Apparently the show is meant to be a prequel, which would mean that the middle-age adults would play teenagers, and frankly that fits the tone of "WHAS" perfectly. Anyway, at this rate, we probably won't see the show until later this year. Or maybe next summer. But we're ready now, Netflix. We've been ready. Don't keep us waiting forever.
Magneto the Man-Servant
Playwright Ronald Harwood's 1980 play "The Dresser" is about the gay personal valet to an aging stage actor during The Blitz in World War II-era England, and it encompasses the comedic and tragic aspects of staying devoted to an imperious diva. In 1983 it became an acclaimed film starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, but in recent years has become a bit of an obscurity outside its home country. This looks to change when the BBC partners with Starz to produce a new TV adaptation starring Anthony Hopkins as the actor and everyone's favorite gay wizard and X-Man, Ian McKellen, as the dresser. The film is due to air at an unspecified later date, which gives you plenty of time to hunt down the 1983 version and catch up. Look, sometimes culture is a homework assignment.
J-Hud will kiss a girl eight times a week
They're already reviving "The Color Purple" on Broadway. And this makes sense, really. The crowd-pleasing musical already tours the country regularly to appreciative audiences, especially when Fantasia Barrino resumes her role as Celie and shakes the rafters with her big gospel voice. But in its most recent engagement in London's West End, director John Doyle revamped the show, cutting it down to a leaner, more intimate experience and wowing crowds with actress Cynthia Erivo's critically-acclaimed performance. Doyle is also the man who revived "Sweeney Todd" and "Company" by placing musical instruments in the hands of the actors, so he's not afraid to take chances. They're trying to get Erivo to come over to resume her role as Celie, and there's already a name-recognized Shug Avery waiting in the wings: Jennifer Hudson. The Academy Award winner will make her New York stage debut in the role, proving the physical law that states that no matter what happens to you after "American Idol," eventually you will do Broadway. When do the tickets go on sale?
'Downsizing' is the new supersizing
Gone, it seems, are the days when big studios were interested in funding projects written by Academy Award-winning filmmakers and starring A-list actors. How else to explain the hardship of financing Alexander Payne's ("The Descendants," "Nebraska") latest film, "Downsizing"? It does, after all, star Reese Witherspoon, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Sudeikis. So what's the deal? That's a rhetorical question, by the way. The answer would take all day and involve superheroes. But no matter, art has a patron in lesbian super-producer Megan Ellison and her respected Annapurna brand. The company has stepped in to keep the project going and that's good news for everyone. The futuristic satire, about a family struggling to make ends meet, involves the father deciding to shrink himself to minimize his use of expensive resources. That this possibly bears any resemblance to "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" and, more pointedly, its 1997 sequel, "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves," will be entirely coincidental when the finished film arrives in theaters. We think. Once Damon finishes his new Bourne movie, this one will get moving for a 2017 release.
