Property Brothers star is going dancing
Property Brothers star Drew Scott is ready for a whole new world of movers and shakers as the Vancouver native joins the cast of Dancing With the Stars.
The real estate expert is the first celebrity announced for the new season of the ABC dance competition series.
Scott will be teamed with pro dancer Emma Slater when Dancing returns for its 25th season on Sept. 18.
Other Canadians who have appeared on the long-running series include Indy Car driver James Hinchcliffe.
Scott’s new gig is a far cry from his role on Property Brothers, in which he scouts and negotiates purchases for fixer-upper homes. He stars on the Emmy-nominated series alongside his identical twin Jonathan.
Eric McCormack to get theatre award
Will & Grace star Eric McCormack is this year’s recipient of the Stratford Festival Legacy Award.
The Toronto-born actor was a member of the festival’s acting company from 1985 to 1989, when he appeared in 17 productions.
McCormack launched his acting career in Canadian theatre, performing across Canada, including stints with Canadian Stage.
His stage success extended south of the border, where he starred in the title role of The Music Man in 2001 on Broadway, and opposite stage and screen legends James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury in the Tonynominated The Best Man.
McCormack catapulted to international fame with his Emmy-winning turn as lawyer Will Truman on Will and Grace and is in the midst of filming the reboot of the American sitcom. He is also a producer, director and star on the sci-fi series Travelers. McCormack will be honoured during a gala at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto on Sept. 18.
Funny albums back on Juno list
Canadian comics are getting a chance to win a Juno Award with the return of the Comedy Album of the Year category.
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences says the comedy album honour is being reinstated after a 33-year hiatus to celebrate and promote comedic artists, and to recognize the emerging and established talents currently contributing to culture.
Standup, sketch, improv and musical comedy albums will be eligible for submission and there are no sales qualifications for the category.
Submissions for the 2018 Junos open on Oct. 2 and close on Nov. 10.
The Comedy Album of the Year will be presented during the Juno gala dinner and awards on March 24, 2018 in Vancouver.
Springsteen gig ticket prices soar
Tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s Broadway debut, Springsteen on Broadway, went on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Despite Ticketmaster’s efforts to thwart bots and resellers, tickets immediately appeared on Stub Hub, with some selling for over $6,000 (all figures U.S.).
Springsteen on Broadway begins previews on Oct. 3, with Springsteen performing five shows a week. Because of the show’s limited run and intimate setting at the 960-seat Walter Kerr Theatre, tickets were hard to come by for some fans, who flooded the #Springsteen Broadway hashtag with complaints.
In a statement, Ticketmaster said “They care deeply about the fans and, due to the intimate venue setting, there may simply be more fans who want to see Springsteen on Broadway than there will be available tickets.” USA Today
Walk with zombies in new AR game
Last year, it was the augmented-reality challenge of Pokemon Go that brought new life to geo-gaming.
This year, AMC is hoping to muster the same excitement for the dead. The network and Next Games dropped a trailer Tuesday for The Walking Dead: Our World, the latest AR offering that will overlay a fictional interactive game onto the player’s real-world location through the roaming ease of a mobile screen.
In other words, in this virtual zombie apocalypse, you can fight the walkers wherever you’re walking.
Our World, said to be coming soon to ios and Android devices, is timed to the Oct. 22 Season 8 premiere of The Walking Dead, the comics adaptation that is aiming to return to its ratings of yore.
Although Season 7 debuted to 17 million viewers last year, the series plummeted to 11.3 million by April’s finale. The Washington Post