Country Music Hall of Fame member Loretta Lynn is taking her life story to Broadway, and she has tapped film and TV actress Zooey Deschanel to play her onstage.
Miss Lynn, 80, unveiled plans for a musical adaptation of “Coal Miner’s Daughter” during a Grand Ole Opry show at the Ryman Auditorium on Thursday night. Wearing one of her signature long sleeve, floor- length dresses, the singer blew through four songs before bringing Miss Deschanel onstage to sing the title tune.
The announcement mirrored the way Miss Lynn invited actress Sissy Spacek on the Opry stage in 1979 to reveal that Miss Spacek would play her in the upcoming film. She won an Academy Award for her portrayal.
“I have a friend here tonight. I don’t know if ya’ll remember when Sissy Spacek was with me. I brought her out here with me. She about fainted. We both fainted,” Miss Lynn said with a laugh. “She went on to do the ’Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ and you know from there. Well, there’s a little girl back stage that’s going to do the play of ’Coal Miner’s Daughter’ on Broadway,” Miss Lynn continued. “Zooey, where you at honey?”
Miss Deschanel, 32, the star and a producer of the Fox comedy “New Girl,” then emerged in a short, vintage-inspired white dress. She grabbed Miss Lynn’s hand and flashed a dazzling smile.
“Are you going to help me sing ’Coal Miner’s Daughter’?” Miss Lynn asked.
“I’m going to help you sing,” said Miss Deschanel, who has been nominated for a Grammy Award. “This is a great honor for me. This is my hero.”
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” was a No. 1 hit for Miss Lynn in 1970 that she wrote about growing up as one of eight children in rural Kentucky. It became the title of her 1976 autobiography and the basis for the 1980 movie, starring Miss Spacek, which traces Miss Lynn’s rise from humble beginnings into one of country music’s most beloved singers. In 1972, Miss Lynn became the first woman to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.
Plans for a stage adaptation are still in the beginning stages, with no creative team attached or workshop dates announced. The producers — Fox Theatricals and Scott Sanders Productions — have been behind such Broadway hits as “Legally Blonde,” “The Color Purple,” “Red” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”
Ginnifer Goodwin hopes her ’accessible’ style inspires
When “Once Upon a Time” star Ginnifer Goodwin attended the recent White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, she wore a $299 dress she got from H&M.
Miss Goodwin said that’s not unusual for her.
“Last year to the Vogue’s Met gala, I wore a Top Shop dress,” she said in an Associated Press interview Thursday.
Miss Goodwin, who’s also known for her roles in the film “Something Borrowed” and HBO’s “Big Love,” said she loves high-luxury design, but doesn’t let a price tag determine what she buys.
“My day-to-day wardrobe I do mix it up,” she said. “I’ll wear something from Target along with something by YSL. It’s about finding the right items that make you happy.”
The actress said in the case of the H&M dress she thought it fit the annual Washington political event, at which President Obama poked fun at White House races, the Secret Service and Donald Trump.
“I thought it was incredibly glamorous and appropriate for the occasion, conservative enough for the occasion,” she said.
She said she gets excited when she finds clothes she likes that are “affordable and accessible to the public.”
Noting that H&M made 999 other copies of the dress she wore, she said she hopes “they get snatched up immediately by ladies who think that high fashion is beyond their grasp because it’s not.”
Court rules for Costner in dispute over sculpture
The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that actor Kevin Costner did not breach a contract with an artist when he placed commissioned sculptures of bison and American Indians at a different site than originally was planned.
The Hollywood superstar, who filmed much of his Academy Award-winning movie “Dances with Wolves” in South Dakota, paid Peggy Detmers $300,000 to make 17 bronze sculptures for a resort called the Dunbar he planned to build on the edge of the Black Hills gambling town of Deadwood. The resort never was built and the sculptures instead are at his Tatanka attraction near the proposed resort site.
A later contract said if the resort was not built within 10 years or the sculptures were not “agreeably displayed elsewhere,” the sculptures would be sold with Mr. Costner and Ms. Detmers sharing the proceeds.
The artist contended in a lawsuit filed in 2008 that because the Dunbar was not built and the sculptures were not “agreeably displayed elsewhere,” the artwork should be sold. A circuit judge ruled in July that Ms. Detmers indicated her approval of the Tatanka location by participating in the site’s development and several events related to its opening in 2003.
The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Circuit Judge Randall L. Macy’s finding that Ms. Detmers never received any promise or guarantee that the resort would be built. Ms. Detmers knew the resort’s future was questionable, the high court said.
Comedian Izzard to run 27 marathons to honor Mandela
British comedian, actor and endurance runner Eddie Izzard said he will run 27 marathons in honor of Nelson Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years by apartheid governments before being released to help usher in South Africa’s democracy.
Mr. Izzard spoke of his plan Thursday on the sidelines of a reception for donors at Mr. Mandela’s foundation and archives in Johannesburg.
He said he will run the marathons in 27 consecutive days in South Africa along routes he will map out himself at sites around the country linked to Mr. Mandela’s personal history.
Mr. Mandela, 93, became South Africa’s first black president after its first all-race elections in 1994. He served one term, and now is retired from public life.
• Compiled from Web and wire reports.
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