James Taylor at work on Broadway musical ‘Fire and Rain' with writer Tracy Letts

'It feels like the first time I performed with a symphony orchestra, John Williams and the Boston Pops, stepping into a new world at the highest possible level,' Taylor said. 'Who knows where it will go? But if it bombs, it won't be because we couldn't get the right people. We got the right people.'
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The celebrated singer, who turned 77 last week, wrote the song '
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Taylor said there was never any discussion about of calling the musical, 'Fire And Rain.'
'It just seems to have happened,' he said. 'Like a working title that sticks.'
Related
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Letts, an acclaimed American playwright, actor, and screenwriter, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award for best play for '
Jukebox musicals have become a staple of Broadway (and Off-Broadway) pretty much since 'Mamma Mia!', the enormously successful 1999 musical based on the songs of ABBA. Since then, countless artists — Alanis Morissette, Alicia Keys, Billy Joel, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Cher, Donna Summer, Huey Lewis, Green Day, Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, and Tina Turner, among others — have seen their music catalogs used to tell a story on stage. (Some, like Green Day's 'American Idiot,' have been hits; others, like Lewis's 'The Heart of Rock and Roll,' bombed and closed soon after opening.)
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Taylor said he and Letts have been talking about this project for a while, but a workshop with actors and musicians in New York in December helped sketch the contours of the story.
'It was like the ice breaking up in the river. It was just an amazingly fluid and productive process for Tracy to stage it in that reading context,' Taylor said. 'You're just in a room with people, trying different things, working with musicians on the songs, and trying to translate them for actors who are singing them.'
Taylor, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Paul McCartney in 2000, grew up in
Chapel Hill,
N.C. He's lived for much of his adult life in the Berkshires, Martha's Vineyard, and New York City. In the five decades since 'Fire and Rain,' Taylor has sold 100 million records, with hits that include 'Carolina In my Mind,' 'Sweet Baby James,' 'You've Got a Friend' (written by his friend Carole King), 'Country Road,' 'How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),' and 'Shower the People.'
Taylor said the musical will touch on themes familiar to fans of his music, including addiction, love, loss, heartbreak, spiritual connection, and family. As much as he's enjoyed collaborating with Letts, Taylor said entrusting his work to someone else has been an adjustment.
'I think it's fascinating, Tracy's process of synthesizing things. It's different from songwriting, but it's connected,' he said. 'I've always thought being a singer-songwriter — writing about very personal experiences and illustrating one's navigation through the world — was very much in my control.
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'But this is a real team and it's fabulous,' he said.
Taylor isn't stressed about the project — he's seen fire and he's seen rain, after all — and he insists he won't be bothered if, in the end, it isn't high art. 'It can be entertainment or it can be more, we don't know,' Taylor said. 'As a matter of fact, it
has
to be entertainment, and maybe something else as well.'
Mark Shanahan can be reached at

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USA Today

an hour ago

• USA Today

Bryan Cranston champions Ford's new philanthropy push at revived Detroit landmark

It's midmorning June 17 and actor Bryan Cranston is in a private room deep inside Michigan Central Station seated in an overstuffed lounge chair. He leans back, smiling and welcoming the respite from the grueling 82-degree heat he'd just endured for more than an hour outside, speaking in front of hundreds of Ford Motor Co. employees, dealers and some media. Cranston, 69, isn't complaining. Heck, he isn't even sweating. The Oscar-nominated star volunteered to be in Detroit to emcee the event to kick off Ford's new philanthropy program: Ford Building Together. The program aims to better unite Ford's nationwide dealership network and employees so that they can provide more efficient relief during disasters. Ford is partnering with four charities in the new program. 'I'm here to build that community, that's what it's all about," Cranston told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, of why he supports Ford's philanthropy work. "I'm tired of the vitriol and the rancor and the finger-pointing. We're better than that. We have a variety of different opinions on religion and politics and life. But let's find the commonality. This is one of those events that finds that commonality. This is a celebration of the American spirit.' The American spirit is fitting for Ford as the company touts itself as the most American of all the automakers, often citing the statistic that 80% of the vehicles it sells in the United States, it also assembles here. That is a timely message amid President Donald Trump's trade war, which seeks to encourage more U.S.-based manufacturing. A quiet philanthropist Cranston is most famous for playing the dad in the early 2000s sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle" and more recently as playing Walter White, a chemistry teacher turned drug dealer, in the hit 2008-13 drama "Breaking Bad." In 2016, he was nominated for Best Actor for the movie "Trumbo." Despite his movie star credentials, Cranston is a dedicated philanthropist, though he said this is the first time he has talked so openly about it. "I've been involved in philanthropy for quite a while. My wife and I have a fund set up for a variety of charities," Cranston said. "It was Jane Kaczmarek, who played my wife in 'Malcom in the Middle,' who said, 'Paying back, donating time, energy and money to charities is reciprocal to our good fortune and it kind of comes with the territory.' " He has used social media to promote his involvement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children over the years. And, even with his business endeavors, Cranston makes an effort to give back. "I'm so blessed; I'm so lucky. Why not share it?" Cranston said. "I don't know how good I'd be as a mogul, wanting to make more and more. I want to make and share, make and share. That's what we discovered when Aaron Paul (costar in 'Breaking Bad') and I started our mezcal company Dos Hombres — we have to give back to the people of Mexico. It's the right thing to do." 'You want me to show up?' Cranston's ties to Ford started years ago. The relationship has taken him from rescue work with the automaker's philanthropy arm after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, to more recently his visit to Dearborn, Michigan Truck Plant to donning a hard hat to trapse through the very building he sat in on June 17: Michigan Central Station, well before it was renovated. Cranston's famous voice — a deep, gutteral baritone — won him a contract as the voice of Ford commercials starting in October 2018 with the launch of the "Built Ford Proud" campaign, according to Ad Age. He has also voiced Ford Philanthropy promotional videos. Before that, he said he has personally bought several F-150 crew cab pickups over the years, donating them to charities to use after hurricanes to rescue people in flooded areas. As for his personal car, Cranston has been driving an all-electric Mustang Mach-E for the past few years. So when Ford told him about this new philanthropy program that partners with the American Red Cross (Cranston said he donates blood regularly), Habitat for Humanity, Feeding America and Team Rubicon, he didn't hesitate to help. "Ford said, 'Do you wanna …?' I said, 'You want me to show up?' They said, 'Will you? Really?' I said, 'Yeah, yeah.' So here I am," Cranston said. Cranston's visits to Michigan To get to Detroit on June 17, Cranston took a day and a half off from the set of his latest project, a dark comedy movie being filmed in Champaign, Illinois, called "Chili Finger." It also stars Judy Greer, Sean Astin and John Goodman. The timing is interesting, too. Cranston said it was nearly four years ago to the date when he entered "this building wearing a hard hat and a vest, stepping over puddles and fallen cables and graffiti and broken marble … it was a mess." That was in 2021 or so and Cranston said he'd come to Michigan to do research for the 2022 movie "Jerry and Marge Go Large" costarring Annette Bening based on the true story of Jerry and Marge Selbee, of Evart, Michigan, who figured out how to win the lottery. Cranston took a detour from his research to come to Detroit during that visit where he met up with friends. While in the city, he took a tour of Dearborn Truck Plant to see the F-150 pickup being made and then he made his way to Michigan Central Station. "I came here to see what Ford was doing to this and why," Cranston said. "I thought, 'Oh my gosh this is a huge undertaking.' I knew it was Bill Ford's baby and people thought he was a little crazy to do this and look at it now. It's gorgeous.' Executive Chair Bill Ford was on FOX News Channel's "FOX & Friends" the morning of June 17 talking to co-host Steve Doocy about the long-standing desire to repair the train station. "It had become a mecca for drug dealers and everything else. I drove by it almost every day and often, what happened was, there were stories, national stories about the decay of Detroit ... and this was often the visual," Ford said of the train station. Ford spent close to $1 billion to renovate the old train depot, which now holds shops, offices and soon, a luxury hotel. Since it opened to the public in June 2024, Ford said it has had about 300,000 visitors. On June 2, NoMad Hotels, an upscale boutique brand affiliated with Hilton and featuring a bourgeois-bohemian flair, said it plans to open an approximately 180-room hotel on the top floors of Michigan Central Station in the first half of 2027. Cranston's take on Detroit sports Cranston glances around at the marble walls. The sunlight pierces through the skylights illuminating the once downtrodden train depot. He is aware the building reflects the Motor City, a place he calls a "great town" that he visits often. "I'm really, really happy to see it come back," Cranston said. "There were times when I was here, where it was almost like a ghost town and to see that urban renewal is really rewarding.' Cranston has a couple of hours before he has to catch a flight back to Champaign, Illinois, and return to his real job. He doesn't mind going back to work, saying he is grateful that he gets to do what he loves for a living and it has given him a platform to help others. There is one regret though, being a Tigers fan, Cranston wishes he could have caught a game while here. "But the last time I was here, it was about a year and a half ago, and I'm from Los Angeles originally so I'm a Rams fan," Cranston said. "We came to play the Lions and the Lions beat us. They played a better game and they won. They've got a great team and it was a lot of fun." Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@ Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

Business Insider

2 hours ago

• Business Insider

The status symbol items CMOs sported at this year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

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After spending six days with this group, I noticed two beloved items over and over again. One wasn't a shocker, while the other was a nice surprise. The first status symbol I noticed as soon as I touched down at the airport in Nice, before trekking the 45 minutes to Cannes, was that most of the marketers had Away luggage. It's not a new hot item, but it's easy to see why the brand is beloved by these busy professionals. They have a sleek, minimalist design. They're quite light, around 7.5 pounds, making it easy to head to Cannes or any other locale, and they have wheels that turn 360 degrees. Another travel item I saw time and again throughout my week in sunny Cannes was Celine sunglasses. The French designer's accessory is the ultimate "if you know, you know" product, as they're not deemed trendy. Instead, because of their quality — premium acetate and gold hardware — the sunnies were a favorite among marketers. 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Yahoo

2 hours ago

• Yahoo

Anthony Ramos claims Madonna was on her iPad ‘the whole time' during Hamilton performance

Anthony Ramos says he once caught Madonna distracted on her iPad throughout the 'whole' production of Hamilton. The Broadway star, 33, originated the lead roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony-winning musical in 2015. On Thursday's episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Ramos was asked who the 'most terrifying celebrity [was] to spot in the audience' during his 15-month run. After taking a brief moment to think, he named Madonna, who he said had an 'iPad in her face.' 'She was like this the whole time,' he recalled, mimicking the pop icon looking down at an iPad in her lap. 'I was like, 'Damn, shawty. If you're not enjoying it that much, you know the door's right there. You ain't gotta stay here!'' Ramos laughed. The Independent has contacted Madonna's representative for comment. Ramos, who rose to fame with his dual portrayal of Laurens and Hamilton on Broadway, recently reunited with his former Hamilton castmates, including Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Leslie Odom, Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, and Phillipa Soo, at the 2025 Tony Awards. In celebration of the hit musical's tenth anniversary, they performed a medley of songs from the soundtrack, including 'Non-Stop,' 'My Shot,' 'History Has Its Eyes on You,' and 'The Room Where It Happens.' Ramos wasn't given a main part in the performance, leading to confusion among viewers. Hamilton, which opened on Broadway in 2015, received a record-breaking 16 nominations at the 70th Tony Awards and ultimately won 11 awards, including Best Musical. Following his time on Hamilton, Ramos went on to lead Miranda's 2021 film adaptation of his other hit musical, In the Heights. The singer and actor has since continued releasing his own music and starring in movies like 2024's Twisters and Spike Lee's newest crime-thriller, Highest 2 Lowest. According to IMDb, Ramos will star in six upcoming projects, including thriller-drama House of Dynamite, out October 24, as well as the big-screen adaptation of popular children's series Bob the Builder. He will portray the titular Bob in the Jennifer Lopez-produced movie.