FranklyHANK: Jennifer Hudson's Broadway debut; Beyonce's duet diss

CHICAGO -- Oscar and Grammy winner - and Chicago native - Jennifer Hudson is making her Broadway debut.

Last night, previews began Tuesday night for "The Color Purple" in New York City. Hudson plays Shug Avery in this bare-bones production of the Broadway hit, which officially opens Dec. 10, 2015.

Entertainment Weekly has a great interview with Hudson and the other stars of the show, "Orange Is the New Black" star Danielle Brooks, and the London production's star, Cynthia Erivo. Check it out.

Beyonce pulls a lot of weight in the music world, but there was nothing she could do to convince Adele to collaborate on a duet with her.

The International Business Times reports that Queen Bey tried in vain for a year to get Adele to sing with her, even going as far as meeting her in a recording studio. But Adele's focus was on her much anticipated album, "25," which comes out Nov. 20, 2015.

Instead, it's reported that Beyonc will include the track she had hoped to sing with Adele on her own upcoming album, which has not yet been announced.

In the meantime, check out Adele's first live performance of her chart-topping single, "Hello," from France's NRJ Awards. It's spectacular.

Say it ain't so! Country star Jason Aldean's rep confirms to TMZ that Aldean did indeed dress as Lil Wayne for Halloween, and by the looks of the picture, in black-face as well.

When will people learn? No matter how funny one thinks it is, dressing in black-face is a disgrace not only to African-Americans, but to all people. For shame, Jason Aldean. So far, he's made no apology.

Idris Elba is an actor and a producer, but did you also know he's a DJ?

He's so good, in fact, he's opening for Madonna's Rebel Heart Tour in Berlin this weekend. The hunky actor goes by the name of Driss when spinning tunes. Now that's a show not to be missed.