Day: May 18, 2020

Yes, “Aretha” is coming … eventually

For Cynthia Erivo, the timing seemed perfect:
On May 17, she led a soaring Aretha Franklin medley during the “American Idols” finale …. On May 24, she’s set to sing “Hero” during the “National Memorial Day Concert” … And on May 25, the mini-series “Genius” would start its third edition (shown here), this time with Erivo as Aretha Feranklin.
The only problem: The virus shutdown has now delayed “Genius” until sometime this fall. Read more…

Best-bets for May 20: The last masks are gone

1) “The Masked Singer” finale, 8 p.m., Fox. The big surprise came last week, when Barry Zito was unmasked, finishing fourth. He’s now a musician (as his parents and sister have been), but is mostly known as a retired baseball star – a Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion. Now he has topped such pros as Chaka Khan, Bret Michaels, Hunter Hayes and the angelic-voiced Jackie Evancho. Tonight, the show unmasks the final three — Frog (shown here), Turtle and Night Angel –and has a champion. Read more…

Memorial concert scrambles in the year of COVID

As the virus shut down large chunks of life, Michael Colbert was sure of two things.
Yes, there would still be Memorial Day, even without some of the parades and picnics and such.
And the night before that, there would be the annual “National Memorial Day Concert” (shown here from a previous year); that’s at 8 and 9:30 p.m. May 24 on most PBS stations. “We need to have our rituals,” Colbert said. Read more…