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PEOPLE & ARTSTuesday 17 November 2015
In this April 11, 2013 file photo, Charlie Sheen, a cast member in
“Scary Movie V,” poses at the Los Angeles premiere of the film
at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles.
Associated Press
Sheen to make ‘revealing’
announcement on ‘Today,’ NBC says
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC says actor Charlie Sheen is set to In this Nov. 3, 2015 photo, musician Sara Bareilles poses for a portrait in New York.
“make a revealing personal announcement” on NBC’s
“Today” show on Tuesday.
The network said Monday it would not comment on the Sara Bareilles, seeking ‘a change,’
specifics of the announcement, which it said will occur reconnects with theater
during an interview with “Today” anchor Matt Lauer.
Drug and alcohol use have marred Sheen’s personal and MARK KENNEDY
professional life in recent years: He was kicked off CBS’ AP Drama Writer
“Two and a Half Men” in 2011 after an explosive melt- NEW YORK (AP) — She’s
down that the network said included calling the show’s got a new album out with
producer a “contaminated little maggot,” and for provid- brand-new music, but Sara
ing cocaine to others. His escapades have also included Bareilles has pulled it all
the revelation that he spent more than $50,000 as a client from her past.
of “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss’ prostitution ring. The singer-songwriter of
The “Today” show airs at 7 a.m. EST.q such hits as “Brave” and
“Love Song” has changed
In this Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015, file photo, Jay Leno participates gears entirely to write
in the “Jay Leno’s Garage” panel at the The NBCUniversal Sum- eclectic music for the
mer TCA Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Broadway-bound stage
musical “Waitress.”
Associated Press “This is the oldest part of
me. This is the part that
Jay Leno to host Nobel Peace got suppressed as I was a
Prize concert on Dec. 11 young singer-songwriter in
LA and just barely getting a
NEW YORK (AP) — Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno foothold,” she said.
is set to host the Nobel Peace Prize concert next month. Bareilles adored musical
Organizers for the event announced Monday that Leno theater growing up but
will host the Dec. 11 event at the Telenor Arena in Oslo, had to shelve her more
Norway. quirky songwriting instincts
The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet was named the to become palatable to a
2015 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for its “decisive con- mainstream audience.
tribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tu- “When you’re trying to
nisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011,” the make a first impression,
Nobel Peace Prize jury said last month. q sometimes it’s nice to sim-
plify and to just help your
audience distill your ex-
pression so they can under-
stand it,” she said. “Now,
it’s like the gloves are off.” theater world, she actually
The new album — her fourth
studio CD, which debuted
at No. 10 on Billboard 200
albums chart this week — is
just part of a creative pe-
riod for Bareilles, who also
has her first book out and
is preparing to dive back
into her new songs to ready
them for a spring Broadway
debut.
After 14 years in Los Ange-
les, she moved to New York
three years ago following a
“mini-hiatus” here, finding
inspiration in a nonstop, ex-
citing city.
“I had a very comfortable
life — wonderful friends,
cute little house near the
beach. And I just felt kind of
uninspired. So, it was time
for a change,” she said.
One of those changes
came in the form of Tony
Award-director Diane Pau-
lus, who was creating a
musical from the 2007 film
“Waitress” about a waitress
and pie maker trapped in
a small-town diner and a
loveless marriage.
“When I was thinking of cre-
ating a musical version of
this movie, I just had this gut music for the theater,” said
instinct that we needed a
composer who would cap-
ture the indie film quality of
the original movie. That led
me to Sara,” said Paulus.
“Lucky for all of us in the
wanted to write a musical.”
That’s because Bareilles
did community theater
and grew up on the cast
albums of “The Sound of
Music,” ‘’Annie,” ‘’The Se-
cret Garden” and “A Cho-
rus Line.” (“Those are my
Associated Press
desert island records,” she
said.)
Paulus asked her to see
the film and write a song
inspired by it. “It’s an odd
movie.
It’s a quiet movie. It’s an
intimate movie,” said the
singer. “I didn’t think I knew
that I was going to connect
so deeply with the lead
character but I really did.
I found her to be fascinat-
ing.”
A few days later, an MP3
landed in Paulus’ inbox with
the song “She Used to Be
Mine,” an achingly beauti-
ful ballad that has become
the show’s cornerstone
and became the first song
from a new pre-Broadway
musical to enter the Adult
Contemporary Top 40 since
1985.
“She’s a natural at writing
Paulus. “She just gets it. She
gets storytelling, she gets
narrative, she gets charac-
ter. So that’s been a joy.”
The story of how Bareilles
wrote “She Used to Be
Mine” also became the last
essay in her book, “Sounds
Like Me: My Life (So Far) in
Song,” in which the Gram-
my-nominated singer re-
veals stories behind eight
of her songs.
“It’s not a very long book.
It’s not a dense read. q