Gay Artists

The New York Times reports: George Michael, the English singer-songwriter who became a pop legend in the 1980s and ’90s and who was found dead on Christmas Day, died of a heart condition, according to a coroner’s statement released on Tuesday. Darren Salter, the senior coroner for Oxfordshire County, said Mr. Michael, 53, died at his home in Goring-on-Thames of …

Just in from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS: Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple), four-time Grammy Award nominee Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812), Tony winner Cady Huffman (The Producers), three-time Tony nominee Carolee Carmello (Sweeney Todd) and Tony nominee Santino Fontana (Cinderella, TV’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) are joining the spectacular cast of Broadway Backwards, a …

Via press release: Award-winning writer/director Del Shores (“Blues For Willadean,” “Southern Baptist Sissies,” “Queer A Folk”) releases his latest film, A Very Sordid Wedding, the outrageously funny sequel to his play, movie and TV series Sordid Lives. The film brings back an all-star ensemble cast of characters, rooted in the Southern Baptist world of Winters, Texas, in the weeks following …

NPR reviews: Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce are radiant beings who make every minute louder, more glamorous and deeply personal as PWR BTTM. The punk duo has announced Pageant, its follow-up to 2015’s Ugly Cherries, with the outrageous “Big Beautiful Day.” “There are men in every town / Who live to bring you down,” Hopkins sings. “My advice is to …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s longtime nemesis says she is willing to play Trump’s top advisor on “Saturday Night Live.” Rosie O’Donnell on Monday tweeted that she would be up for portraying Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon on SNL if asked to do so, after a report about the president’s anger at SNL’s portrayal of his team led to …

Deadline reports: “Is there some reason that my coffee isn’t here? Has she died or something?” That’s a snippet of Meryl Streep’s dialogue from the 2006 comedy The Devil Wears Prada. Now Sir Elton John and Paul Rudnick are writing a musical adaptation for Broadway. A production timeline is TBA for the show, which will be produced by Kevin McCollum, …

Entertainment Weekly reports: On the day his presidency is handed over to Donald Trump, Barack Obama is getting one last “Thanks, Obama.” Following her own personal tribute, Ellen DeGeneres reached out to famous LGBT faces for help compiling a heartwarming video of thank yous set to Katy Perry’s “Roar,” which she played on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Friday morning. “President …

TIME recaps: To commemorate President Barack Obama’s final day in office, Ellen DeGeneres spent a few minutes of Thursday’s episode of The Ellen Show saying goodbye to him and First Lady Michelle Obama. DeGeneres began the segment by thanking POTUS for everything he accomplished during his White House tenure, including legalizing gay marriage.”I want to personally thank him for changing …

Deadline reports: The Emmy-winning Will & Grace is returning to NBC. After months of complex and difficult negotiations, the network has closed a deal for a new 10-episode limited installment of the hit series, to air during the 2017-18 season. NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke made the announcement at the top of NBC’s TCA presentation. The new, ninth season of …

The BBC reports: Larry Steinbachek [center in photo], former keyboardist with 1980s synthpop group Bronski Beat, has died at the age of 56. Steinbachek formed the group with Jimmy Somerville and Steve Bronski in 1983 and they had chart success with songs including Smalltown Boy and Why?. Their cover of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love with Marc Almond was also …

US Magazine recaps: Pants off to you! Neil Patrick Harris challenged James Corden to a Broadway musical riff-off on the The Late Late Show on Monday, January 9, and the outcome was epic. The How I Met Your Mother alum, 43, got so into the battle he ended up splitting his pants, but that wasn’t the only comical moment. Harris …

The Irish Times reports: Behind the headlines and huge on-stage persona, George Michael was a generous man who kept quiet about his considerable charitable donations, it has emerged.  The star donated all the royalties from his 1996 number one single Jesus To A Child to charity, and is said to have given a gameshow contestant thousands of pounds to fund …

Over the last 25 years house maven Crystal Waters has scored ten #1 singles on Billboard’s dance chart, starting with 1991’s career-making, maddeningly catchy, and widely-sampled Gypsy Woman. This week we get the video for Testify, her collaboration with former Soup Dragons frontman turned hottie bear icon and producer HiFi Sean, who makes a cameo appearance. Watch below.

This will definitely gay up this joint. The San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus closed their Christmas show this week with quite the complexly choreographed number set to Hooray For Our Favorite Son from the 1991 Tony-winning musical The Will Rogers Follies. I’d say they did Tommy Tune proud. Watch below. (Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)

This is SO much fun. Vanity Fair recaps: What did we do to deserve James Corden? It’s been quite a year, but at last it’s time to start wrapping it up—and the Late Late Show host has apparently been working for all of 2016 to make sure his viewers do so in the best way possible. How? By quietly enlisting …

Billboard recaps: There’s no two ways about it: 2016 was a crap year. How crap? Just ask Stephen Colbert, Michael Stipe and James Franco, who got together on “The Late Show” on Thursday night (Dec. 15) to remake R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” as a eulogy for a rough 12 …

Watch the highlights clips below. Variety reviews: It’s hard to imagine better casting for the production. Jennifer Hudson stole the show, once Motormouth Maybelle got to the screen; Ariana Grande, certifiable pop star, came away as the show’s MVP, acting as both reliably overlook-able sidekick and, once the situation required it, showstopping diva. Harvey Fierstein was predictably great, reprising his …

As a desperately needed diversion from the ongoing decline of our nation, let’s gay the fuck out of this joint and watch Hairspray Live! together. NBC’s live broadcast begins at 8PM Eastern and stars Harvey Fierstein, Jennifer Hudson, Kristin Chenoweth, Ariana Grande, with Maddie Baillio making her television debut as Tracy Turnblad. You can watch via NBC’s smartphone app and …

Entertainment Weekly reports: Hairspray might be set in the ’60s, but the stars of NBC’s upcoming live version of the film and Broadway show think it has a lot to say about modern times, too. “The subject of Hairspray is very current to today,” Jennifer Hudson, who plays Motormouth Maybelle, says in a new featurette. She later explains, “To me, …

The New York Post reports: Elton John will perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration, claimed a key adviser, who championed the billionaire as the first president ever to enter the White House with a “pro-gay rights” stance. “Elton John is going to be doing our concert on the mall for inauguration,” Anthony Scaramucci, a member of the presidential transition team executive …