The 30-year-old Latina actress/comedian will star in Syfy’s TZGZ anime-inspired comedy Magical Girl Friendship Squad.
Created by Kelsey Stephanides, Magical Girl Friendship Squadis a female-driven anime comedy about two young women, Alex (Quinta Brunson) and Daisy (Anna Akana), who are destined to save the Universe…as soon as they figure out how to pay their rent.
In January, TZGZ greenlit a straight-to-series order of the longer-form version of the show (six 15-minute episodes).
Produced by Cartuna, the short-form version, Magical Girl Friendship Squad: Origins (six four-minute episodes), currently airs as part of the late-night adult animation block’s acquisition slate.
In addition to Brunson and Akana, Series regulars include Ana Gasteyer and Matteo Lane.
Christine Baranski,Manny Jacinto,Helen Hong, Eric Bauza and Sarah “Squirm” Sherman will recur on Magical Girl Friendship Squad.
Guest stars are Jason Mantzoukis, Paget Brewster,Vella Lovell, Jamie Loftus and Patti Harrison.
Ortega, who starred in the Disney Channel’s live-action Kim Possiblemovie, will appear as a utility player alongside Stephanie Sheh and Daisy Hobbs.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is celebrating a living musical theater legend.
The 40-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, singer, actor, producer and playwright, widely known for creating and starring in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, has signed on to appear on Sunday’s Stephen Sondheim virtual birthday concert.
Miranda, who starred in Mary Poppins Returns, joins a roster of new additions that includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Linda Lavin, Laura Benanti, Neil Patrick Harrisand Ben Plattfor the all-star benefit for Artists Striving To End Poverty.
Previously announced stars participating in the concert include Annaleigh Ashford, Melissa Errico, Beanie Feldstein, Josh Groban, Judy Kuhn, Randy Rainbow and Lea Solanga.
Special appearances will be made by Victor Garber, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Lane and Steven Spielberg.
They’ll all join the previously announced Meryl Streep, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald, among many others, in the special virtual concert to celebrate Sondheim’s 90th birthday.
Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, hosted by Raúl Esparza, is set for this Sunday, April 26, the 50th anniversary of the opening night of Sondheim’s groundbreaking musical Company.
The concert kicks off at 8:00 pm ET, and will be available for free at Broadway.comand the Broadway.com YouTubechannel.
Other artists performing songs from the Sondheim catalog will include Mandy Patinkin, ChristineBaranski, Donna Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Aaron Tveit, Maria Friedman, Iain Armitage, Katrina Lenk, Michael Cerveris, Brandon Uranowitz, Stephen Schwartz, Elizabeth Stanley, Chip Zien, Alexander Gemignani and, from the cast of Pacific Overtures at Classic Stage Company, Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh and Thom Sesma.
Esparza starred as Bobby in the 2006 Tony Award-winning revival of Companyand in the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Sunday in the Park with George and Merrily We Roll Along in 2002, as well as the City Center Encores! production of Anyone Can Whistle and in last year’s Road Show.
“The world is in a hard place,” Esparza said in a statement, “and we are all searching for something great. Well, Stephen Sondheim is greatness personified.”
Mary-Mitchell Campbell will be the music director, with Paul Wontorek serving as director.
The online event will act as a fundraiser for ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), the organization conceived by Campbell and Juilliard students to transform the lives of youth through art.
The 53-year-old Colombian actor and stand-up comedian will serve as a presenter at this Sunday’s Tony Awards ceremony.
Leguizamo, who previously earned two Tony Award nods, is nominated this year for Best Play for his one-man show Latin History for Morons.
Leguizamo joins a list of presenters that includes Christine Baranski, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jeff Daniels, Robert De Niro, Brandon Victor Dixon, Tina Fey, Billy Joel, Patti LuPone and Kerry Washington.
Tony Award Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Andrew Lloyd Webber and Chita Rivera will also take the stage.
The 72nd Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban, will air live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS on Sunday at 8:00-11:00 pm ET/delayed PT.
Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the sequel to Mamma Mia! The Movie, starring the 61-year-old Cuban actor.
The sequel shifts back and forth in time to show how relationships forged in the past resonate in the present.
Ten years after Mamma Mia! The Movie grossed $610M worldwide, everybody’s back on the Greek island of Kalokairi for an all-new original musical based on the songs of the Swedish pop sensations.
All of the original cast returns including Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard.
Garcia is new to the island, along with Lily James showing off some pipes as Young Donna, Alexa Davies, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Jeremy Irvine, Josh Dylan and Hugh Skinner.
Cheralso turns up in the trailer above as grandmother Ruby Sheridan.
Ol Parker writes and directs the sequel from a story by Catherine Johnson, Richard Curtis and Parker.
The musical comedy will open domestically in the U.S. on July 20, 2018.
