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Jimmy Dean, The Tony Awards And 'The Karate Kid': Three To See

Posted 6/14/10 1:30 pm EST by in Music


Every morning, MTV News delivers the top news stories in music, movies and pop culture hot and fresh for your reading and watching pleasure. We then bring together a trio of the biggest headlines for "Three to See," the daily digest of the top stories making noise on our site and across the Internet. This morning, stories on the death of country star and sausage magnate Jimmy Dean, Scarlett Johansson's victory at the 2010 Tony Awards and the dominance of "The Karate Kid" at the box office lead the way.

Country Music Star And Sausage King Jimmy Dean Dies
County Music Hall of Fame member Jimmy Dean — he of both classic tunes and a sausage empire — passed away at the age of 81 on Sunday (June 13). The Grammy winner and former TV host died of natural causes at his home in Varina, Virginia.

Scarlett Johansson, Denzel Washington Win Big At Tony Awards
One week after making television history by kissing Sandra Bullock on the MTV Movie Awards, Scarlett Johansson walked across the stage at the Tony Awards to accept the prize for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. The movie star and musician made her Broadway debut in a revival of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge." She wasn't the only silver screen actor to score a Tony, as Denzel Washington also picked up a statuette for his work in "Fences."

"The Karate Kid" Kicks Back "The A-Team" At The Box Office
Just as the main character does against the team of bullies, "The Karate Kid" fought back "The A-Team" in the weekend's box office race. The remake of the classic 1984 teen film took in $56 million in receipts over the weekend, while the big-budget action flick "The A-Team" stumbled a bit, taking in only $26 million.

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Tony Nominee Stew: 'Rock Is Easy Compared to the Theater'

Posted 5/13/08 1:10 pm EST by in Music, Television, theater



The Tony Award nominations were announced this morning, and the two strongest contenders for Best New Musical feature songs you may actually find on your iPod.

"In the Heights," with its Latin- and hip-hop-infused score written by 28-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, led the pack with 13 nominations. "Passing Strange," a coming-of-age tale told through rock & roll, was co-written by Stew -- formerly of LA-based pop rock band The Negro Problem -- earning Stew four of the production's seven nods.

One of the (many) great things about "Passing Strange" is that it features real rock & roll, not some “theaterized” derivative played by a handful of Broadway hires. It's Stew’s band onstage, and watching an authentic, soulful frontman take you through this two-hour story is enough to make the musical-haters out there reconsider.

MTV News spoke to Stew recently about why, despite the occasional "Rent" or "Hair," it’s taken so long for the music you hear in clubs or bars to make it into the theater:

“My fifteen-year-old would love to be able to go to the theater and know that when she walks in there’s going to be some music that corresponds to what she hears at home on her iPod,” he told us. “She would love that.”

But he acknowledged that jamming on pop rock tunes in a club with your band is a very different ballgame than the years-long process of creating a two-hour musical story.

“It’s like going to war!” he said of writing a musical. “Rock is easy compared to the theater.”

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