MUSIC/ "X FACTOR" WINNER MCELDERRY COMES OUT: Britain's "X Factor" winner Joe McElderry has come out as gay just weeks after he claimed that he was straight. Earlier this month, someone hacked into his Twitter account and posted messages including: "It's been difficult living a lie for so many years…" Despite denying publicly that he was gay, the incident prompted him to come out to his mother. Today, on his official website, he said: "I have always been a very honest person and so it is important for me to continue to be honest. It has been the most amazing year so far and I feel so privileged. It’s also been a time of real self realisation and I feel as if I have grown up so much in these few months. There has been speculation about my sexuality in the past and I have always been honest at the time I have been asked. Over the past few weeks I have really had time to reflect and to realize who I am. I spoke to my friends and family about this in the last few days and it was important to do the same for you all as you have been so supportive". He added: "Everything is going well and I’m really happy to be able to move forward from here". He told a British tabloid today that the Twitter incident was the catalyst for him to realize he is gay: "I think the Twitter thing was the point when I realized I was gay. I'm feeling good about it, it's liberating. Now I can just get on with my life." McElderry had a girlfriend while at school but was the target of homophobic bullies. "Actually, my feelings have changed," he said. "This is how I feel now". "X Factor" judge Simon Cowell has offered McElderry his full support. McElderry follows in the footsteps of Will Young who came out as gay immediately after winning the precursor to the "X Factor," "Pop Idol".
"Judy Garland:The Lost Tracks," a 4 disc collection of never-before-released recordings from Garland's early career, were released by UK record label JSP today. The collection of songs, some of which feature a 12-year-old Garland's 1935 Decca studio tests, spans the years 1929-1959. "Judy Garland:The Lost Tracks" boasts 100 songs, 55 of which have never been previously released. JSP is first releasing the collection in the UJ, with a planned US release in the future. All of the songs in "The Lost Tracks" have been remastered. Notable inclusions are some of the earliest surviving recordings of the Gumm Sisters performing together, as well as a young Garland singing "Bill" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop/The Object of My Affection/Dinah" with her mother accompanying on the piano. The latter tracks were rejected by Decca in 1935 and thought to be lost until discovered in a trash heap outside Garland's vacated home in 1960.
TV & MUSIC/ FOX TO LAUNCH NEW COUNTRY AWARDS: Fox has announced its intent to launch a country music awards telecast. The 2 hour "American Country Awards" will premiere December 6 live from Las Vegas. 2 of Fox's broadcast rivals already have country music awards shows of their own: CBS' "Academy of Country Music Awards" and ABC's "Country Music Awards". That's on top of CMT's "Country Music Television Awards," which is the highest-rated program on the cable channel, and "CMA Music Festival," an annual 3 hour ABC special that essentially is a country music awards show minus awards. The ACA awards will attempt to differentiate itself from the other shows by having the fans vote for the winners. A hollywood media outlet asked is the country music genre is robust enough to sustain 4 shows? They pointed out that country album sales dropped 9.1% during the 1st half of the year, compared with the year-ago period, but that's better than other categories experiencing double-digit declines. They also pointed out that there is no shortage of such star attractions as Taylor Swift, pictured, and Lady Antebellum, and, country music also has dodged the doldrums that are cutting into revenue on the concert circuit.
The new cast in the revival of Sondheim and Wheeler's "A Little Night Music" opened yesterday on Broadway to rave reviews. Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch replaced original cast members Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. The Hollywood Reporter said: Bottom Line: New leads Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch bring a whole new level to a show that demands a repeat visit. The current Broadway revival of "A Little Night Music" has gotten a whole lot brighter, and it has nothing to do with the lighting". The New York Times raved about Peters and said: "But for theater lovers there can be no greater current pleasure than to witness Bernadette Peters perform the show’s signature number, “Send In the Clowns,” with an emotional transparency and musical delicacy that turns this celebrated song into an occasion of transporting artistry. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced with such palpable force, or such prominent goose bumps, the sense of being present at an indelible moment in the history of musical .theater". Entertainment Weekly gave the show an A- and said: "A rare and remarkable thing has happened to the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's 1973 musical "A Little Night Music" since the departure of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury in June. It's gotten better — faster, funnier, and altogether more delightful". "A Little Night Music" is playing at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway.
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