1. art and entertainment
2. music

ARAB TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2011
NEWS/FEATURES
25
Music
‘On One’ tops
Beyonce’s ‘4’
back to No. 1
Continued from Page 24
Universal
Motown/Universal
Republic.
4. Hell: The Sequel (EP), Bad
Meets Evil. Shady/Interscope/IGA.
5. We The Best Forever, DJ
Khaled. We The Best/Young
Money/Cash
Money/Universal
Republic/UMRG.
6. Pink Friday, Nicki Minaj.
Young
Money/Cash
Money/Universal Motown/UMRG.
7. Planet Pit, Pitbull. Mr. 305/Polo
Grounds/J/RMG.
8. The Light Of The Sun, Jill
Scott. Blues Babe/Warner Bros.
9. Finally Famous, Big Sean.
G.O.O.D./Def Jam/IDJMG.
10.
Recovery,
Eminem.
Web/Shady/Aftermath/Interscope/IG
A.
Hot Rap Songs
1. I’m On One, DJ Khaled Featuring
Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne. We
The Best/Cash Money/Universal
Motown/UMRG.
2. Super Bass, Nicki Minaj. Young
Money/Cash
Money/Universal
Motown.
3. My Last, Big Sean Featuring
Chris
Brown.
G.O.O.D./Def
Jam/IDJMG.
4. Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO
Featuring Lauren Bennett &
GoonRock.
Party
Rock/will.i.am/Cherrytree/Interscope.
5. Out Of My Head, Lupe Fiasco
Featuring Trey Songz. 1st &
15th/Atlantic.
6. Give Me Everything, Pitbull
Featuring Ne-Yo, AfroJack & Nayer.
Mr. 305/Polo Grounds/J/RMG.
7. Otis, Jay-Z & Kanye West
Featuring Otis Redding. Roc-AFella/Roc Nation/Def Jam/IDJMG.
8. Lighters, Bad Meets Evil
Featuring
Bruno
Mars.
Shady/Interscope.
9. Marvin & Chardonnay, Big Sean
Featuring Kanye West & Roscoe Dash.
G.O.O.D./Def Jam/IDJMG.
10. Look At Me Now, Chris Brown
Featuring Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes.
Jive/JLG.
In this theater publicity image released by Richard Kornberg & Associates, the cast of the Broadway production of ‘Rent,’ is shown in New York. (AP)
Stage
‘Catch Me If You Can’ to disappear next month
Timeless ‘Rent’ imaginative, energetic
Hot Latin Songs
1. Give Me Everything, Pitbull
Featuring Ne-Yo, AfroJack & Nayer.
Mr. 305/Polo Grounds/J/RMG.
2.
Taboo,
Don
Omar.
Orfanato/Machete/Universal Music
Latino.
3. Amor Clandestino, Mana.
Warner Latina.
4. You, Romeo Santos. Sony
Music Latin.
5. Di Que Regresaras, La Original
Banda el Limon de Salvador
Lizarraga. Fonovisa.
6. Te Amo y Te Amo, La Adictiva
Banda San Jose de Mesillas. Sony
Music Latin.
7. On The Floor, Jennifer Lopez
Featuring Pitbull. Island/IDJMG.
8. Olvidame, Julion Alvarez Y Su
Norteno Banda. Fonovisa.
9. Cuanto Me Cuesta, La
Arrolladora Banda el Limon. Disa.
10. Donde Estas Presumida, Chuy
Lizarraga Y Su Banda Tierra
Sinaloense. Disa.
Top Jazz Albums
1. Gabriel Bello, Gabriel Bello.
Kings Mountain/ECMD.
2. Contact, Boney James. Verve
Forecast/VG.
3. Time Together, Michael Franks.
Shanachie.
4. Hardcastle VI, Paul Hardcastle.
Trippin ‘n’ Rhythm.
5. Chamber Music Society,
Esperanza
Spalding,
Heads
Up/Concord.
6. Backatown, Trombone Shorty.
Verve Forecast/VG.
7. Let’s Touch The Sky, Fourplay.
Heads Up/Concord.
8. Rock-et > Scie-nce, Bela Fleck
& The Flecktones. eOne.
9. The Mosaic Project, Terri Lyne
Carrington.
Groove/Concord
Jazz/Concord.
10. S7ven Large, Euge Groove.
Shanachie.
iTunes Top 10
Singles: 1. “Party Rock Anthem
(feat.
Lauren
Bennett
&
GoonRock),” LMFAO
2. “Lighters (feat. Bruno Mars),”
Bad Meets Evil
3. “Moves Like Jagger (Studio
Recording from ‘The Voice’
Performance)
(feat.
Christina
Aguilera),” Maroon 5
4. “Super Bass,” Nicki Minaj
5. “Pumped Up Kicks,” Foster the
People
6.”Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),”
Katy Perry
7. “Tonight Tonight,” Hot Chelle
Rae
8. “How to Love,” Lil Wayne
9. “I Wanna Go,” Britney Spears
10. “Give Me Everything (feat.
Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer),” Pitbull
Albums: 1.”Watch the Throne,”
Jay-Z, Kanye West
2. “Young Love,” Mat Kearney
3. “21,” ADELE
4. “Chief,” Eric Church
5. “King,” Eric Church
6. “Victorious (Music from the Hit
TV Show) (feat. Victoria Justice),”
Victorious Cast
7. “Torches,” Foster the People
8. “Sigh No More,” Mumford &
Sons
9. “Hell: The Sequel,” Bad Meets
Evil
10.
“Divergent
Spectrum,”
Bassnectar
Indian Bollywood singer Shibani
Kashyap (left) cuts the ribbon to
launch a ‘Strands’ beauty salon in
Amritsar on Aug 11. (AFP)
Michaels
Mars
Variety
LOS ANGELES: Bret Michaels has
entered some choppy legal waters.
The Poison frontman and “Rock of
Love” star filed suit against Shoreline Tours
on Monday, alleging that the cruise-ship
company participated in “a fraudulent
scheme” intended to get Michaels to drastically drop his agreed-upon fee for two performances on one of its cruises.
According to the suit, Michaels’ was
approached by promoter Willie Donwell to
perform a two concerts on a “Super Cruise”
this fall, with Donwell handling the promotion, as well as the collection of Michaels’
fee.
However, the suit alleges, Donwell was
“essentially a shill” for Shoreline in a “bait
and switch” maneuver in order to get
Michaels to cut his fee.
Michaels and Donwell, the suit says, initially agreed to a $750,000 fee for the two
performances, to be paid through Donwell
in installments. However, according to the
suit, Donwell never had any intention of
paying Michaels’ fee, and shortly dropped
out of the deal, citing health woes, after
shifting promotion powers to Shoreline.
After an initial payment of $250,000 was
made by Shoreline, Michaels alleges, the
company, through its agent, Tim Towle,
began complaining about poor advance ticket sales (claims that, the suit alleges, are
fraudulent).
According to the suit, after the complaints, Shoreline sent a July 2011 offer to
Michaels’ camp, offering to continue promoting the cruise if the singer would agree
to perform for just $100,000 more than
$250,000 he’d already received — or
$400,000 less than $750,000 he’d initially
agreed to. (RTRS)
❑ ❑ ❑
NEW YORK, Aug 12, (AP): You
wouldn’t think a musical about
struggling artists facing an imminent threat of death could possibly
be uplifting.
But the new off-Broadway revival
of the popular rock musical “Rent,”
loosely based on the Puccini opera
“La Boheme,” radiates energetic
optimism, musicality and humor,
even though several of the youthful
characters are HIV-positive.
“Rent” originated off-Broadway
in 1996, then moved to Broadway
for what became a 12-year run, garnering four Tony Awards, including
one for best musical, and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for drama.
The current revival at New World
Stages, which opened Thursday
night, is full of vitality, imaginatively directed by Michael Greif, who
also helmed both of the previous
New York productions and most of
the regional tours.
Crafting
Book, music and lyrics for “Rent”
were all written by the late Jonathan
Larson, who died suddenly at age 35
of an aortic aneurysm in January
1996, just before the show opened.
Crafting clever parallels for his
modern bohemians, he transported
Puccini’s struggling artists of 1896
to New York’s gritty East Village, in
the bad old days of 1991-92 when
AIDS was considered a terminal illness.
Larson’s emotional, intensely
defiant pop rock score includes ballads, punk rock, R&B and rap. The
work is filled with witty lyrics that
celebrate the loves, courage and survival of characters based on
formers Adele, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown
and Young the Giant.
MTV also announced that it has added a
few more presenters into the mix. Welcome
aboard, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Odd
Future, Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez
and Rick Ross.
The “2011 MTV Video Music Awards”
will air live from Los Angeles on Sunday,
Aug. 28 at 9 pm EDT. (RTRS)
❑ ❑ ❑
LOS ANGELES: Miranda Cosgrove, the
18-year-old star of Nickelodeon’s “iCarly”
TV show, broke her ankle when her tour bus
crashed on Thursday, her spokeswoman
said.
Cosgrove has postponed her “Dancing
Larson’s real-life friends, a mosaic
of straight, gay, black, white and
Hispanic people — some of them
homeless — who form their own
family and take care of one another.
Like the original, this effective
revival features a talented cast of
young, sexy, attractive, relatively
unknown actors. The narrator, amateur video artist Mark, (played with
engaging charm by Adam ChanlerBerat) is shooting a year-long documentary about the lives of his
friends as they struggle in menial
jobs, try to maintain artistic integrity and fight greedy developers.
Mark shares an unheated loft on
the lower East side with his
depressed, HIV-positive friend
Roger (an appealing performance by
Matt Shingledecker), a derailed rock
musician striving to write “one great
song” before he dies. The unlikely
villain is their former friend Benny
(Ephraim Sykes), now their slumlord, who’s demanding a year’s back
rent while kicking homeless people
off his empty lot.
Preview
Roger meets and falls for Mimi,
an HIV-positive junkie and exotic
dancer, expressively portrayed by
Arianda Fernandez. Some of
Fernandez’ lyrics were hard to distinguish at a preview performance,
but her sultry rendition of “Out
Tonight,” is still a standout. She and
Shingledecker convey desparate
passion separately and together,
especially with their romantic duets,
“Without You,” ‘’I Should Tell You”
and the stirring finale, “Your Eyes.”
Their circle of friends includes
another AIDS-stricken couple:
Crazy” North American tour until further
notice because of the crash, the spokeswoman said in a statement.
“Miranda Cosgrove’s tour bus was
involved in an accident early this morning
in Illinois on I-70, just outside of Vandalia.
There were 5 passengers on the bus, and
Miranda suffered a broken ankle,” she said.
“We are told everyone will be fine.
Because of this, her tour is postponed until
further notice,” the statement said.
The singer and actress kicked off the second leg of her debut solo tour in Ohio in
July and it was due to end in Arizona in
October before moving on to Brazil in
November.
“iCarly”, in which Cosgrove plays a
teenager who creates her own web show,
Changes
Greif has fully utilized the small
theater, creating a dynamic flow of
quick scene changes on Mark
Wendland’s intimate set. Vertical
and multi-tiered, it’s a clever maze
of fire escapes, ladders and window
first aired in 2007 and has since won five
Kids’ Choice Awards. (RTRS)
❑ ❑ ❑
LOS ANGELES: Melanie Moore flew
away with the grand prize on “So You
Think You Can Dance.”
Viewer votes awarded the pixie-haired
19-year-old college student the title of
“America’s Favorite Dancer” and the
$250,000 prize.
Moore bested 23-year-old runner-up
Sasha Mallory and 22-year-old third-place
finisher Marko Germar on the Fox dancing contest’s finale Thursday.
The powerful contemporary dancer was
long considered the eighth season’s frontrunner. Host Cat Deeley said Moore picked
Eminem’s fame
NEW YORK: Bruno Mars, who is up for
four Video Music Awards including “Video
of the Year” will also perform on the show,
MTV announced Thursday.
The VMAs appearance will add to an
impressive list of 2011 accomplishments,
which also include his multi-platinum debut
album, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans”; his cowriting, producing and performing assistance on B.o.B’s “Nothin’ On You,” Travis
McCoy’s “Billionaire” and Cee Lo Green’s
“F—- You”; as well as his own hit singles,
“Just The Way You Are,” “Grenade” and
“The Lazy Song.”
“We’re thrilled to have Bruno Mars
bring his exceptional talent to the VMA
stage,” said Amy Doyle, executive producer
of the awards show. “He is one of the most
exciting live performers today and with his
artistic versatility, he will undoubtedly deliver a standout performance.”
Mars joins previously announced per-
Collins, (a wry, confident Nicholas
Christopher), a philosophical anarchist/professor; and his new lover,
Angel, a gentle drag queen and
street performer (a delightful MJ
Rodriguez.) The pair are affecting
together, especially on their romantic duet “I’ll Cover You.”
Mark’s ex-girlfriend, earnestly
bad performance artist Maureen (a
spunky, comedic portrayal by
Annaleigh Ashford) has left him for
lawyer Joanne (a grounded performance by Corbin Reid). One of the
funnier
numbers
is
“Tango:Maureen,” a skillful dance
and duet between Reid and ChanlerBerat, in which they reluctantly realize the bond they share.
Six other actors round out the community with a variety of small but
vital roles as worried parents or
snarky homeless people. The hardcharging five-piece band, led by Will
Van Dyke and located atop the rear of
the set, keeps the beat pulsating without drowning out the lyrics. Spirited
choreography by Larry Keigwin
matches Larson’s energetic score,
with music supervision and additional arrangements by Tim Weil.
Other strong numbers include “La
Vie Boheme,” a sarcastic homage to
individuality, and “Seasons of
Love” the haunting anthem about
time, which many of these people
may not have.
Royce aiming high
In this undated photo released by MIC records/Gracie Productions, Detroit
rappy Royce da 5’9”, also known as Ryan Daniel Montgomery, is shown.
(AP)
NEW YORK, Aug 12, (AP):
Royce da 5’9” has enjoyed a No.
1 album thanks to his collaboration with Eminem, but he doesn’t
enjoy the same amount of fame.
He’s still aiming high, though.
“It would be great if I could be
in that position,” says Royce,
whose real name is Ryan Daniel
Montgomery.
“I obviously don’t have to be
that big,” he adds modestly.
The rapper has toiled under
the radar for years, but is enjoying a different side of fame since
working with Eminem, a fellow
Detroit native whom he has
known for years. Their joint
album “Hell.
gates, rising against a backdrop of
urban projections by Peter Nigrini.
With lighting by Kevin Adams and
Brian Ronan’s sound design, the
production elements nicely establish
quicksilver mood and location
changes.
The grungy look and feel of the
East Village 20 years ago is aided by
the streetwise fashion sense of
Angela Wendt’s costumes. Whether
or not you’ve seen “Rent” before,
the message of the rock opera
remains timeless. The final words,
“No day but today,” sung by the
ensemble, reflect Larson’s resonant
message that what truly matters is
finding love and living fully with
whatever time you’ve got.
Also:
NEW YORK: There’s now only a
limited time to catch the Broadway
musical “Catch Me If You Can.”
Producers said Tuesday that the
Tony Award-nominated show will
close Sept. 4 at The Neil Simon
Theatre after having played 32 previews and 170 regular performances.
The production was nominated
for four Tonys and Norbert Leo
Butz took home the award for best
actor in a musical.
The show also starred Aaron
Tveit as a con artist who passed
himself off as a doctor, a lawyer, and
a jet pilot.
The musical is based on the life of
Frank Abagnale Jr It inspired the
hit film directed by Steven Spielberg
and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The first national tour of the musical will launch in the fall of 2012 in
Providence, Rhode Island.
up an impressive 47 percent of viewer votes.
She clinched the competition, mostly by
mastering artful contemporary routines set
to such tunes as Bonnie Tyler’s “Total
Eclipse of the Heart” and Ingrid
Michaelson’s “Turn to Stone.” (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
LOS ANGELES: “Glee” diva Mercedes
(Amber Riley) has found a new beau following the departure of the show’s Chord
Overstreet. “Friday Nights Light” star
LaMarcus Tinker has been signed on as a
regular for the musical series’ season five,
TheWrap has confirmed.
Tinker, who also appeared on last season’s ABC comedy “Cougar Town” as
Travis’ college roommate Kevin, will play
the creatively named Marcus, a lovable linebacker for McKinley High who hits it off
with the high-note-hitting New Directions
member. He will make make his first
appearance in the show’s season September
21 premiere. (RTRS)
❑ ❑ ❑
LOS ANGELES: Lifetime has given the
go-ahead to a series based on its 2010
movie “The Client List,” which also will
star Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lifetime
announced on Wednesday.
Hewitt will executive-produce the series
through her Fedora Films production company. The network also announced that it
has entered into a first-look development
deal for both series and movies.
The series, which has been greenlit for 10
episodes, follows the exploits of a Texas
housewife (Hewitt) who takes a job at a day
spa after being deserted by her husband,
only to discover that the spa offers illicit
services. Over the course of the show, the
character attempts to balance her dual life as
both a single, financially strapped mother
and a businesswoman “working with a
rowdy, sexy and unpredictable group of
women,” according to Lifetime. (RTRS)