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Harry Belafonte, Tina Turner bio musicals planned for Broadway

Harry Belafonte bio musical in the works

Broadway producer Ken Davenport (“Once On This Island”), who earlier this season was making regular onstage appearances at the short-lived “Gettin’ the Band Back Together,” announced this week that he has secured the rights to develop a Broadway musical about the life of singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte (“The Banana Boat Song,” “Jump in the Line”). In a statement, Davenport called Belafonte “a son of immigrants who made a profound impact on the lives of Americans and millions of people around the world, to the theatrical stage.”

Public Theater to present ‘Hercules’ in the park

The Public Theater will present a new stage version of the 1997 Disney animated musical “Hercules” this summer for free at the Delacorte Theatre as part of its Public Works series, in which hundreds of everyday New Yorkers work together with professional actors in massive musical pageants based on works of Shakespeare or other classical stories. The main stage Shakespeare in the Park season will consist of Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” (directed by Kenny Leon, “A Raisin in the Sun”) and rarely-performed political drama “Coriolanus” (directed by Daniel Sullivan, “Proof”).

Adrienne Warren to star in Tina Turner musical

Adrienne Warren, who won acclaim in London for her performance as “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” Tina Turner in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” will star in the bio musical when it comes to Broadway this fall. Turner, who is herself involved with the musical, said in a statement that Warren “has given it everything she’s got, she has poured her soul into it, and she deserves every success.” The musical has direction by Phyllida Lloyd (“Mamma Mia!”) and a book by Katori Hall (“The Mountaintop”).

Spotted…

Meryl Streep at “The Prom”…James Franco, Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler at “The Ferryman”…Justice Sonia Sotomayor at “To Kill a Mockingbird.”