Lea Michele, whose “Glee” character Rachel dreamed of playing Fanny Brice on Broadway in the role originated by Barbra Streisand, will officially star in the dramedy musical starting August 1. Michele takes over for Beanie Feldstein, last seen on Broadway in the Tony-winning “Hello, Dolly!” Michele will take over the role of Fanny Brice on September 6. Until then, Feldstein’s understudy Julie Benko will perform from August 2 through September 4 and every Thursday beginning on September 8....

As a lifelong Lohan fan whose childhood was marked by watching two Lindsays in “Parent Trap,” forcing my mom to see “Freaky Friday” to understand my plight of being an 8-year-old, and dreaming of moving to New York after watching the “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” DVD nonstop, I have wanted to believe in the Lohan-aissance. Like Santa Claus, the idea of icon Lindsay Lohan coming back on top in Hollywood seemed like the stuff of a Christmas miracle....

From San Francisco’s SFFILM Awards night to recent awards in Mill Valley and the Hamptons, it’s clear who many of the Oscar players are this year. SFFILM announced Tuesday that two lauded auteurs, Sorkin (Netflix pickup “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) and Chloé Zhao (Searchlight’s “Nomadland”) will accept (virtual) awards on December 9. SFFILM always mounts a glittery dinner gala to raise funds for the year-round film organization’s support of emerging film artists, but this year will pivot to a live-streamed showcase....

Nielsen’s latest report on the most viewed streaming television shows stated that the “Loki” debut episode was viewed for 731 million minutes, making it the third most-viewed streaming show during the week of its premiere. “Loki” trailed behind “Sweet Tooth,” which topped the latest Nielsen streaming rankings with 1,434 million minutes viewed, followed by “Lucifer,” which recently premiered the second half of its Season 5 on Netflix and has served as a consistent ratings driver for the platform....

The list of films shot or produced on location in Malta is a short one, with the island’s shimmery Mediterranean beauty primarily the backdrop for swords-and-sandals epics. A rare locally-produced film that is also about Malta itself, and features actual Maltese people, “Luzzu” marks the debut of director Alex Camilleri with a vérité fishing drama populated by nonprofessional actors. A neorealist telling in the tradition of the Dardenne brothers, who also work with locals on their films, “Luzzu” is beautifully shot, if at times emotionally restrained, in its centering around a man who’s occasionally hard to read....

For Wilson devotees and newbies alike, that’s a sturdy enough combo to let this bittersweet ode to the Mother of Blues strut its stuff. The second adaptation of the Pittsburgh Cycle following Denzel Washington’s sturdy “Fences” treatment (he serves as a producer here), “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” embodies the frustrations of Black artists in a society rigged against them, with the boisterous singer and her combustible band wandering a recording studio on a sweltering Chicago afternoon, squabbling and grandstanding until the final minutes....

Ana’s (Grace Van Patten) restless sleep is punctuated with all sorts of strange things: nightmares about endless tunnels, worryingly quiet men, vintage bombers laden with airmen, and a clear voice spelling out “M A Y D A Y” via the phonetic alphabet. But all that, strange as it may seem, is at least better than her real life, complete with a dead-end catering job and a sense of invisibility that’s not only in her head....