From the opening of the new Nassau Coliseum to the rebooted “Spider-Man” and “24” and Bette Midler’s much-anticipated starring role in “Hello, Dolly!” here’s a look at what’s in store for 2017 in music, TV, movies and theater.
NASSAU COLISEUM
(Credit: SHoP Architects)How much will the renovated Nassau Coliseum — now fully named Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Presented by New York Community Bank — change the Long Island landscape when it reopens April 5? Well, it will bring Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks, The Pretenders, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey to Uniondale. And that’s just the first week. Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Roger Waters and New Kids on the Block are already scheduled for the rest of the year, all part of a new booking arrangement with Barclays Center that bundles the venues together to help A-level artists route their tours through Long Island again. Pictured: a rendering of proposed Coliseum facade.
ANDERSON .PAAK
(Credit: Invision/John Salangsang)The R&B singer-rapper was like hip-hop’s utility infielder in 2016, making high-profile appearances on projects from A Tribe Called Quest, Schoolboy Q, Mac Miller and Kaytranada, in addition to releasing “Yes Lawd!” as part of the duo NxWorries and his own well-received “Malibu” album. All that earned him a best new artist nomination at the Grammys, which will likely serve as his launchpad for his solo career in 2017.
TERRESTRIAL RADIO
(Credit: Getty Images/Matt Winkelmeyer)There are plenty of questions facing terrestrial radio stations these days, as they face growing challenges from satellite radio, Internet radio sites such as Pandora, and streaming services like Spotify. But those are more theoretical questions compared with the lawsuit brought by high-powered manager Irving Azoff, pictured, and his Global Music Rights company, which negotiates the rates songwriters are paid when their songs are played on the radio. Azoff expects congressional hearings over the rates, which he says have been artificially lowered. If the battle escalates, Azoff clients, like the songwriters behind Justin Bieber and Drake hits, could pull their songs off terrestrial radio immediately.
MACHINE GUN KELLY
(Credit: Getty Images/Paras Griffin)The Cleveland rapper doesn’t just have his first pop hit, the irresistible “Bad Things” (Bad Boy / Interscope) with former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello, ready to explode as 2017 begins, but he’s been a Wilhelmina model, a regular actor in Cameron Crowe’s canceled Showtime series “Roadies” and a pal of the world champion Cleveland Cavaliers. All that adds up to his upcoming album being one of the most anticipated in 2017.
JON BELLION
(Credit: Getty Images/Timothy Hiatt)The Lake Grove singer-songwriter has always said that his live shows are the most obvious way he will make his mark. Of course, the Grammy winner has already done pretty well co-writing Eminem and Rihanna’s “The Monster” and his own album “The Human Condition,” but his upcoming arena tour opening for Twenty One Pilots should introduce him to a wider audience.
VR CONCERTS
(Credit: AFP / Getty Images/Bertrand Guay)The rise in the use of virtual reality in 2016 is expected to broadly expand into music in 2017. The main use will likely be to film concerts and festivals using VR technology to make viewers feel immersed in the concert-going experience.
AI SONGWRITERS
(Credit: AFP / Getty Images/Lluis Gene)IBM supercomputer Watson, pictured, landed its first songwriting credit with Alex Da Kid’s single “Not Easy,” which Alex also co-wrote and also features X Ambassadors, Elle King and Wiz Khalifa. That success is encouraging other artists to use supercomputers to help in the creative process. The British supercomputer Jukedeck is already being used to quickly compose songs on its own, for use mainly as background music.
’24: LEGACY’ (Fox)
(Credit: Fox/Ray Mickshaw)A familiar show will follow Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5. What’s not so familiar is the “who.” Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer is not in this latest iteration. Instead, the star is Corey Hawkins (“Straight Outta Compton”), pictured, as ex-Army Ranger Eric Carter, who returns stateside to find out he’s the target of an assassination plot, and turns to CTU for protection. Other stars joining include Miranda Otto, as Rebecca Ingram, running for president, and Jimmy Smits, as Sen. John Donovan, her husband. Eric’s worst day ever will not play out over 24 episodes, but just 12.
‘LITTLE BIG LIES’ (HBO)
(Credit: HBO/Hilary Bronwyn Gayle)David E. Kelley has adapted the Liane Moriarty book into a seven-episode “event” series (Feb. 19) that is already blessed with buzz. The cast may be the reason: Kidman (also starring in the second season of “Top of the Lake” in 2017), Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgård and Laura Dern. The book’s about domestic abuse, bullying and revenge. Pictured: Witherspoon, left, Darby Camp, Woodley, Iain Armitage, Nicole Kidman, Cameron Crovetti and Nicolas Crovetti.
‘VICTORIA’ (PBS)
(Credit: ITV Plc)Public TV is going through its own version of “peak TV,” and the bounty continues in ’17 — and almost immediately. The fourth, possibly last, season of “Sherlock” arrives Jan. 1, but starting Jan. 15, the eight-part “Victoria,” with Jenna Coleman, pictured, as Queen Victoria and Tom Hughes as Prince Albert, begins. Rufus Sewell is Victoria’s young paramour, Lord Melbourne. This is tailor-made for all those still pining for “Downton Abbey” or those have already watched all of “The Crown” on Netflix.
‘CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM’
(Credit: HBO/Prashant Gupta)Yes, after a six-year break — earning a Guinness record for “longest hiatus since the word ‘hiatus’ was invented — “Curb” returns with the whole gang (Larry David, pictured, Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines, Susie Essman, J.B. Smoove, Richard Lewis, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson). There’s even a brief logline for the first episode: “Larry gets scammed by an online dating site. He falls in love with a woman from Russia and lives his own ‘90 Day Fiance.’ ” What we don’t know is when this all begins. With a couple exceptions over the first eight seasons, “Curb” launched in the fall, but a summer run seems like a better bet for the ninth.
‘STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’ (CBS All Access)
(Credit: CBS)CBS’ subscription video service is relaunching one of the most iconic brand names in entertainment history — so iconic that it’s been relaunched four times before on TV. Here’s a little of what we know: A January launch date was pushed back to May (which some fans interpreted as an ominous sign), and it will consist of 13 episodes. It’s set a decade before the events of the mother series (’66-69) and will comprise a continuous storyline as opposed to episodic. Even though this isn’t technically TV (the pilot is expected to air on CBS), this should still be among the premier TV events of the entire year.
‘TWIN PEAKS’ (Showtime)
(Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin)So little is known about this reboot that all we can absolutely confirm is the cast — a huge one — and the name. Other than that, no airdate has been set, and the Showtime logline is elegantly, farcically brief: “Twenty-five years later, the story continues . . . ” We do know the series will be broken up into two seasons. And as noted, the cast is a marvel of both scale and eccentricity. Just the briefest sampling of names: Naomi Watts, Eddie Vedder, Amanda Seyfried, Trent Reznor, Ashley Judd, Bérénice Marlohee, Ernie Hudson, Jim Belushi and Michael Cera. Pictured: Sherilyn Fenn and Kyle MacLachalan in the original “Twin Peaks.”
‘THE SON’ (AMC)
(Credit: AMC /James Minchin)And speaking of big-screen stars who have come back to the welcome embrace of TV, there’s Pierce Brosnan, pictured, who got his big start on “Remington Steele” then never looked back. In 2017, he’s back. He’ll star in this adaptation of the Philipp Meyer novel about a Texas family. He plays Eli McCullough, who’s kidnapped by Comanches as a kid, and then 60 years later, fights for his family cattle ranch during the Bandit Wars of 1915, when so-called Seditionistas from Mexican border states to the south tried to take over Texas.
‘THE HANDMAID’S TALE’ (Hulu)
(Credit: Getty Images/Chris Weeks)Set to launch April 26, this could be Hulu’s most significant series yet. This adaptation of the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel — about a dystopic breakaway republic set in New England where women are held as “handmaids,” or essentially reproductive slaves — stars Elisabeth Moss, pictured, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Joseph Fiennes.
‘A FEW GOOD MEN LIVE’ (NBC)
(Credit: Castle Rock Entertainment/Sidney Baldwin)Taking a brief respite from the live musical — but brief only because “Bye Bye Birdie”’ arrives in 2017 as well — NBC will air this adaptation sometime in 2017. No cast details, but you can well imagine the names lined up will an even bolder shade of “boldface.” Craig Zadan and Neil Meron produce, and the true showmen in both would demand nothing less. This is based on Aaron Sorkin’s celebrated 1989 play (starring Tom Hulce) as opposed to the even more celebrated 1992 screen version (starring Tom Cruise, pictured, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Bacon and Demi Moore).
‘SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING’
(Credit: Columbia Pictures/Chuck Zlotnick)British actor Tom Holland, pictured, gave Marvel fans a sneak peek at his new Spidey in this year’s “Captain America: Civil War,” earning generally positive reviews. We’ll see if Holland can carry his own movie when “Homecoming” arrives in July. According to early reports and other clues, we may not have to live through another origin story, and Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben might not die on us again. Fans who suffered Spidey-fatigue during Andrew Garfield’s short reign will be looking to Holland to restore the character to its former glory. Talk about great responsibility.
THE TV LAND DEMOGRAPHIC
(Credit: Frank Masi)If you watched television in the 1970s, ’80s or ’90s, Hollywood has a movie to sell you. This year we’ll see “CHiPs,” based on the buddy-cop show, with Dax Shepard as Officer Jon Baker and Michael Peña as Ponch; “Baywatch,” a version of the bikini-focused series, with the movie version starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron as investigative lifeguards; and “Power Rangers,” a reboot of the Japanese import about teenagers with superpowers. In a nod to inflation, the sci-fi show “The Six Million Dollar Man” will be remade with a “Billion Dollar” title and Mark Wahlberg as the bionic hero originally played by Lee Majors. Good thing theaters have reclining seats. Pictured: The cast of “Baywatch,” Jon Bass, left, Alex Daddario, Efron, Johnson, Kelly Rohrbach and Ilfenesh Hadera.
#OSCARSLESSWHITE?
(Credit: Paramount Pictures/David Lee)It’s too soon to say for certain, but this year’s Academy Awards seem destined to look more diverse than last year’s. Already there’s Oscar buzz for Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, pictured, in “Fences,” an adaptation of August Wilson’s play (directed by Washington). The recent release “Hidden Figures” features three great black actresses — Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and singer Janelle Monáe — for voters to choose from. “Moonlight,” about a gay African-American growing up in Miami, has been such a critical hit that some pundits think it could vie for best picture. Even if the top Oscar goes as expected to “La La Land” — starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling — we should see some diversity in the overall nominees.
THE SILVER SCREEN AND THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
(Credit: Universal Pictures/Jasin Boland)America may be in a nationalist mood, but Hollywood still has its eye on China. We saw some cross-pollination last year: In “Independence Day: Resurrection,” the Shanghai-born pop star Angelababy fought alongside American soldiers, and in “Captain America: Civil War,” Iron Man switched his cellphone from South Korea’s LG to Guangdong-based Vivo. What’s more, the Russo brothers (who directed “Civil War”) recently formed a Beijing-Los Angeles studio to make Chinese-language blockbusters, and the Chinese conglomerate Wanda now owns the American company Legendary Entertainment (“Jurassic World,” “Pacific Rim”). The new Matt Damon, action-fantasy, “The Great Wall,” an American-Chinese production with a mixed cast to match, may be a sign of things to come. It’s out in February. Pictured: Damon in “The Great Wall.”
‘BLADE RUNNER 2049’
(Credit: AFP / Getty Images/Mark Ralston)Nearly 35 years after the release of the original “Blade Runner,” the sequel finally arrives. It has a high bar to clear, given that Ridley Scott’s 1982 film, starring Harrison Ford as a cop hunting humanoid replicants in a future Los Angeles, is widely considered one of the great science-fiction films of all time. The good news is that the sequel’s cast and crew are among the best around, with Ryan Gosling, pictured, in the lead (as “Officer K”), director Denis Villeneuve (last year’s “Arrival”), cinematographer Roger Deakins (a 13-time Oscar nominee) and original screenwriter Hampton Fancher. “Blade Runner 2049” is due in theaters in October.
Actor Ryan Gosling arrives for the 22nd Annual Critics’ Choice Awards at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California on December 11, 2016.
‘DUNKIRK’
(Credit: AFP / Getty Images/Niklas Halle’n)Christopher Nolan, the audacious director behind “The Dark Knight” and “Inception,” goes for wartime realism in his latest, a retelling of the evacuation of allied soldiers from coastal France in 1940. Though the early trailer isn’t revealing a central plot, it suggests a big-screen spectacle with intense battle scenes and a fine cast that includes Tom Hardy, pictured, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance. Although the World War II theme wasn’t a big seller last year (“Hacksaw Ridge” and “Allied” were strong but not stellar performers), Warner Bros. is betting big on “Dunkirk” with a height-of-summer release in July.
‘STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII’
(Credit: Lucasfilm/Elena Dorfman)It won’t come out until December, but fans are already scrambling for information, spoilers and images. We know the director is Rian Johnson (“Looper”) and it will probably feature a bigger role for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who appeared in the closing moments of the previous film. Given the widespread anticipation for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($100 million in advance tickets, a record) and the spinoff “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (early ticket sales reportedly caused 20-minute slowdowns online), fans would probably buy tickets for “Episode VIII” today if possible. Pictured: Daisy Ridley in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
A GROWING HORROR
(Credit: Lions Gate Films/Greg Gayne)About 15 horror movies came out in each of the previous two years, which would seem like plenty. In 2017, however, we could see as many as 20 — and that includes “Annabelle 2,” the third “Ring” movie and a new installment of “Saw.” What’s driving the trend toward fear and terror in the movies? Before you make any jokes about politics, consider a more prosaic reason: money. Horror movies are cheap to make and tend to turn a profit. Last year’s “Conjuring 2,” made for $40 million, earned $320 million worldwide. Pictured: Cary Elwes in finds “Saw.”
HELLO, BETTE
(Credit: Invision/Dan Hallman)OK, admit there’s no resisting as Bette Midler dives into classic musical comedy in “Hello, Dolly!” a rare revival of Carol Channing’s iconic show. David Hyde Pierce is Horace. (Opens April 20.)
OFF-BROADWAY TRANSFERS
(Credit: Joan Marcus)Two veteran Pulitzer-winning women playwrights finally come to Broadway with Off-Broadway hits. Paula Vogel (“How I Learned to Drive”) brings “Indecent” (April 18), a riveting story-behind-the-story of a scandalous play, and Lynn Nottage (“Ruined”) brings “Sweat” (March 26), the probing, intimate drama behind the Rust Belt financial disasters. Pictured: Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson (foreground) in “Sweat.”
MORE BIG NAMES
(Credit: Getty Images/Dave Kotinsky)And let’s not underestimate other incoming star power — Cate Blanchett in “The Present,” Kevin Kline, pictured, in “Present Laughter,” Allison Janney in “Six Degrees of Separation,” Sally Field in “The Glass Menagerie,” Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon alternating roles in “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes” and Tony Shalhoub, John Turturro and Danny DeVito in “The Price.”
RETURN OF THE BRITS
(Credit: Getty Images/Dimitrios Kambouris)Also, here come Brit mega-musicals, both revivals from London. Glenn Close, pictured, reclaims her Norma Desmond in a limited run of “Sunset Boulevard” (Feb. 9) and “Miss Saigon” (March 23), presumably with its helicopter, is back, too.
AGAIN AND AGAIN
(Credit: AP/Manuel Harlan)From the team behind “Matilda the Musical” comes “Groundhog Day,” a smash in London. Andy Karl, pictured, who made a fine impression in the looming shadow of Sylvester Stallone in the musical adaptation of “Rocky,” now competes with cherished memories of Bill Murray in this adaptation of the 1993 film. (April 17)
COSMETICS COMPETITION
(Credit: Newsday/Ari MIntz)Apropos of diva-dom, Patti LuPone, pictured, plays Helena Rubinstein and Christine Ebersole is Elizabeth Arden in “War Paint,” a new musical about the 50-year competition between the cosmetics pioneers. The show is by the creative team that wrote “Grey Gardens.” (April 6)
DAVID BYRNE RETURNS
(Credit: Getty Images/Ian Gavan)“Here Lies Love,” David Byrne’s environmental rock opera about Imelda Marcos, was a huge hit at the Public Theater in 2013 and again the following year. Now, the unpredictable artist is back at the Public with “Joan of Arc: Into the Fire,” about a very different sort of heroine.
NO SINGING FOR HARVEY
(Credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)Harvey Fierstein is celebrated as a playwright (“Torch Song Trilogy”), musical book writer (“La Cage aux Folles,” “Kinky Boots”) and musical actor (Edna in “Hairspray,” Tevya in “Fiddler on the Roof,” Albin in “La Cage.”) But his appearance at the Public in “Gently Down the Stream,” a love story by Martin Sherman, will be a rare return to the stage in a nonmusical.
SHAWN’S LATEST
(Credit: Invision/Dario Cantatore)The extraordinary off-center writer-actor Wallace Shawn will be in his new play, “Evening at the Talk House,” about the 10th anniversary reunion of the author and cast of a memorable flop. The world premiere, produced by The New Group, co-stars Jill Eikenberry, Larry Pine, John Epperson and Claudia Shear.
THAT DEMON BARBER
(Credit: DreamWorks Pictures / Warner Bros./Leah Gallo)Before you think we don’t need another revival of “Sweeney Todd,” you should know that this production comes from a pie and mash shop in London and will play Off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre and, yes, real pies will be involved. Pictured: Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in the film adaptation of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
