{"id":95469,"date":"2026-09-13T21:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T04:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=95469"},"modified":"2026-09-13T21:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T04:45:00","slug":"uk-and-broadway-dish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/09\/13\/uk-and-broadway-dish\/","title":{"rendered":"UK and Broadway Dish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary singer Tom Jones <\/strong>wants to make it clear he did not quit the UK version of The Voice<\/em><\/strong>.  \u201cITV <\/em>made this decision \u2013 obviously a while ago, and I was told just recently.  The reason given is because of a financial difficulty with insurance.  They now say in the press they wanted to \u2018refresh\u2019 the show, and with a new coaching line-up there wouldn\u2019t be a chair for me.  They are offering a much-reduced role where I would make an appearance but without being actually involved from the start, and I\u2019m not thrilled about that.  So the only thing I know right now is that there\u2019s never a good time to fire an 86-year-old who\u2019s still pretty good at his job.\u201d  Why, oh why, ITV<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Speaking of London, we previously told you that Cole Escola <\/strong>returned to the title role in Oh, Mary!<\/em><\/strong> in the West End<\/em> production.  One of those performances was filmed for future broadcast, and it\u2019s just been announced that it will turn up on HBO<\/em>.  Cole shot a cheeky promo video in his Mary Todd Lincoln <\/strong>regalia bursting into HBO<\/em>\u2019s offices and being directed down the hall from the queen of the network, Sarah Jessica Parker<\/strong>.  She asks \u201cMary\u201d if she\u2019d like some water, which was presented on a platter by Cynthia Nixon<\/strong>.  \u201cMary\u201d declined.  I guess Kristin Davis <\/strong>has joined Kim Cattrall <\/strong>and Chris Noth <\/strong>on the \u201cout\u201d list.  You can see the clip on BillyMasters.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Our pal Sherri Shepherd <\/strong>might have lost her day job, but she\u2019s bounced back with a nightly gig, courtesy of her old pals at Disney<\/em>.  She\u2019ll make some history by being the first female to play the role of the genie in the Broadway <\/em>production of Aladdin<\/em><\/strong>.  She joins the cast on October 16th<\/sup> and will stay through the end of the year.  By the by, this is not Sherri\u2019s first foray into musicals.  Back in 2014, she joined Keke Palmer <\/strong>in the Broadway <\/em>production of Cinderella<\/em><\/strong> as the first Black actress to play the role of Cinderella\u2019s stepmom.  Congrats!!<\/p>\n

Sherri will have some interesting company on the Great White Way<\/em>.  Julia Roberts <\/strong>is returning to Broadway<\/em>.  Now, I know someone out there is thinking, \u201cBilly<\/strong>, you\u2019re thinking of Eric Roberts<\/strong>.\u201d  While I am often thinking of Eric Roberts, Julia did in fact appear on Broadway <\/em>way back in 2006 for two months.  I\u2019m not sure why \u2013 perhaps there was a writers\u2019 strike, or maybe she needed to let an unfortunate haircut grow out.  She was in Richard Greenberg<\/strong>\u2019s Three Days of Rain<\/em><\/strong> and she played two roles \u2013 so, really, it\u2019s like she was there for four months!  Her costars were Paul Rudd <\/strong>and Bradley Cooper<\/strong>, and the director was Joe Mantello<\/strong>.  Julia\u2019s returning to Broadway <\/em>in the play Small Mouth Sounds<\/em><\/strong>, where she will again be directed by Mantello and co-star with Paul Rudd!  Joining them will be Sarah Paulson<\/strong>, Martin Freeman<\/strong>, Greta Lee <\/strong>and Isaac Powell<\/strong>.  Shows begin on February 18th<\/sup> and end on June 17th<\/sup>.  BTW, the Tony Awards <\/em><\/strong>are on June 13th<\/sup>.  Coincidence?<\/p>\n

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The multitalented Jinkx Monsoon <\/strong>has had an extraordinary past few years.  In 2023, she was the first drag queen to play Mama Morton in Chicago<\/em><\/strong> on Broadway<\/em>.  The following year, she appeared off-Broadway <\/em>in Little Shop of Horrors<\/em><\/strong>.  In 2025, she made her Carnegie Hall <\/em>debut and then took over the lead in the Broadway <\/em>production of Oh, Mary!<\/em>.  Earlier this year, she played Judy Garland <\/strong>in Beyond the Rainbow<\/em><\/strong> in London.  And currently she\u2019s back in the West End<\/em> once again as Mary Todd Lincoln.  Is there nothing she can\u2019t do?  Well, she has a few dream roles, and she\u2019s putting them out in the universe.  \u201cI really want to play Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd <\/em><\/strong>someday, but I\u2019m willing to wait until it\u2019s the time.\u201d  She also has her eyes on the title role in Mame<\/em><\/strong>.  \u201cI know it will eventually happen, and I hope that when the stars align, I\u2019m right there to play her.  But I want to be the next Mame <\/em>on Broadway<\/em>, however that takes place…The show is about chosen family, and I think we as a society as a western civilization have started to realize the value in chosen family, whether you\u2019re queer or not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legendary singer Tom Jones wants to make it clear he did not quit the UK version of The Voice.  \u201cITV made this decision \u2013 obviously a while ago, and I was told just recently.  The reason given is because of a financial difficulty with insurance.  They now say in the press they wanted to \u2018refresh\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95470,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95469\/revisions\/95470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}