Deborah Cox

It would probably be an understatement to say that Whitney Houston was a beloved musician. The singer, actress and model has been often hailed as the most awarded musician of all time, and whether you listen to her songs as part of the soundtrack for a critically-polarising movie or while dancing the year away on 31st December each year, Houston is still the only artist to have seven consecutive top charting singles.

Yolanda Ross, Deborah Cox, Angela Bassett, Yaya DaCosta, Suzzanne Douglas and Arlen Escarpeta at the 'Whitney' premiere (credit Angela Weiss - Getty Images)

In the upcoming Lifetime biopic, 'Whitney', the life of the performer and her relationship with husband Bobby Brown, is charted from the days of her humble church choir beginnings up until her tragic death from a combination of heart failure and drowning at the guest room of The Beverly Hilton. Coincidently, just a few blocks away from the site of her death stands The Paley Centre for Media - the site of the premiere for 'Whitney'.

Continue reading: The Stars Come Out At The Whitney Houston Biopic Première [Photos]

Jekyll & Hyde – the revived Broadway adaptation, which first premiered sixteen years ago, opened last night (April 18th) for a new theatrical engagement on Broadway. The original musical and the revival are based on the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and tells the story of the quiet, repressed Dr. Jekyl, whose experiments lead him to accidentally channel the dark parts of his personality into an alternate version of himself – Mr. Hyde.

The reviews are in for the musical’s revival and it looks like most critics have nothing but praise for the adaptation. While some, like the Associated Press’s Mark Kennedy don’t pass up the opportunity to comment on the production’s camp factor, there is also a lot to be said about the stars’ - Award nominee Constantine Maroulis and Grammy Award nominee and R&B superstar Deborah Cox – stunning performances. Charles Inglewood of The New York Times calls Maroulis’s portrayal of Jeckyl “satuesque and beautiful” and praises Cox’s “suffering dignity”. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter calls to attention the excesses of director Jeff Calhoun’s production, but also comments on the way it redeems itself through the stars’ solid acting choices and impressive voices. Entertainment Weekly's Melissa Rose Bernardo on the other hand, was less kind, calling the production "head-scratchingly, laughably, even painfully bad".

The general opinion seems to be that “Jekyl and Hyde” makes no qualms about what it is – an overly-dramatic, sometimes campy, steampunk styled version of the classic tale. But if that’s your cup of tea, it is certainly done well here.

Continue reading: Is Jekyll & Hyde Really 'Laughably, Painfully Bad'?