Rodrigo will return to Disney series
Grammy-nominated pop musician Olivia Rodrigo will be returning for the third season of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” the hit Disney+ TV show that made her a star in 2019.
Rodrigo, who was announced Thursday as Time’s Entertainer of the Year, will return for one more season of the show, the magazine reported, and possibly continue acting beyond that. Disney did not respond immediately to a request for confirmation.
“Songwriting is the thing I take most seriously in my life,” Rodrigo told Time. “It’s the most personally gratifying too.”
Rodrigo, 18, had showcased those skills on “HSMTMTS” before breaking out in January with the single “Drivers License.” Her debut studio album, “Sour,” cemented her place in pop music and recently scored a Grammy nomination for album of the year. The teen pop sensation is nominated for seven Grammys in total.
“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t any pressure,” she said. “But I sometimes remember: This happened 10 months ago. You don’t have to have it all figured out yet.”
On “High School Musical,” Rodrigo plays Nini Salazar-Roberts, an underdog theater kid who books the lead role of Gabriella Montez in her high school production of the titular show-within-a-show.
After her blockbuster year, many fans wondered if Rodrigo would choose to leave the series and prioritize her music career.
“High School Musical” will begin production on season three in January, a few months before Rodrigo’s world tour kicks off.
Singer Tavares dies: Ralph Tavares, the eldest of the
five brothers in the Grammy-winning R&B singing group Tavares, whose hits included “It Only Takes a Minute” and “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel,” has died. He died at his Massachusetts home Wednesday, two days before his 80th birthday, the group’s manager David Oriola said. The cause was not immediately clear.
The brothers, sons of immigrants from Cape Verde, began performing together in 1959, settling on the name Tavares in 1973, the same year they had their first hit, “Check It Out.”
Universal movies will go to Peacock faster: Streaming service Peacock may get a boost from movies made by its corporate sibling, movie studio Universal Pictures. Starting next year, the majority of movies from Universal Films Entertainment Group will debut on Peacock 45 days after their theatrical release, the Comcast Corp.-owned streamer said Thursday.
This means that most Universal, Focus Features and Dreamworks Animation movies, including Blumhouse’s “The Black Phone” and Michael Bay’s “Ambulance,” will be available for streaming on the subscription service much faster than usual.
The typical gap between a movie’s debut in multiplexes and its arrival on pay TV or streaming has been eight to nine months.
Not all Universal movies will follow the new 45-day streaming model. “Jurassic World: Dominion” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” are expected to be exceptions.
Dec. 11 birthdays: Actor Rita Moreno is 90. Singer David Gates is 81. Singer Brenda Lee is 77. Actor Bess Armstrong is 68. Singer Jermaine Jackson is 67. Bassist Nikki Sixx is 63. Actor Gary Dourdan is 55. Comedian Mo’Nique is 54. Actor Rider Strong is 42. Actor Xosha Roquemore is 37. Actor Hailee Steinfeld is 25.