franklyHANK: "The Cher Show," Netflix & Laugh, Hugh Jackman

Windy City LIVE
Thursday, July 5, 2018
franklyHANK: The Cher Show, Netflix comedy and The Greatest Showman
Hank takes a look at entertainment news before the weekend.

"THE CHER SHOW"

She is an icon worthy of a Broadway musical, hence "The Cher Show." This is the life story of music legend Cher that follows all of her ups and downs.

What I loved: Bob Mackey's costumes are out of this world. He'll win the Tony for sure. The songs are fun and some of them are reimagined really well. Stephanie J. Block as the older Cher completely embodies the singer in every way.

What I didn't like: Three Chers telling the story (occasionally at the same time) is two too many for me. The concept of a TV variety being taped to help tell the story can also be very confusing.

"The Cher Show" is good, but it's not great. It's missing the excitement that comes with a real Cher show - but how could anything compare to the original? This show is headed to Broadway, and I definitely think you should check it out while it's here.

"The Cher Show" plays through July 15 at the Oriental Theatre. Tickets are as low as $33 through Broadway in Chicago.

NETFLIX & LAUGH

Netflix has a new comedy series playing, "The Comedy Lineup."

Netflix is giving eight up-and-coming comedians their 15 minutes of fame, literally. The lineup includes: Michelle Buteau, Ian Karmel, Taylor Tomlinson, Sam Jay, Phil Wang, Sabrina Jalees, Jak Knight and Tim Dillon.

Each comedian gets their own 15-minute episode, so you can watch them quickly to sneak in a good laugh. I'm partial to Michelle Buteau, because she was my video editor in my life as a news producer at WNBC in New York. Oh, the laughs we had in that edit room!

HUGH JACKMAN

Who has the best-selling album of 2018?

Not Kanye. Not Taylor Swift. Not Beyoncé.

It's Hugh Jackman! Yes, Hugh Jackman. The soundtrack to his film, "The Greatest Showman," has outsold them all.

The album has gone platinum, or sold one million copies, in ten countries and triple platinum in the United States. It spent 23 weeks in the Top 5 albums in the U.S. and even beat Adele in the UK by spending 21 weeks at the top of the charts. "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack is now the best-selling movie soundtrack since "Frozen" in 2014.