Soprano Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Best known for his role as mob boss Tony Soprano in the HBO crime drama series "The Sopranos," James Gandolfini is one of the most beloved and innovative American performers of all time. His death shocked the world, especially the entertainment industry, but his popularity continues to grow nearly a decade since his passing.

Angel Blue, an African American soprano, has stepped down from her role in Aida at the La Traviata Verona theater in Verona, Italy. 

The Sopranos actor Robert Iler has recalled his late co-star Tony Sirico, saying he was the main reason he wasn’t bullied or harassed in Hollywood.The actor – who played A.J. Soprano in the HBO series – discussed Sirico’s presence on set in a recent episode of The Sopranos podcast Pod Yourself A Gun.During a discussion about other teenage stars in Hollywood, Iler (who was around 13 years-old when he joined The Sopranos) said Sirico vowed to protect him if anyone “bothered” him.Speaking on the podcast, Iler said: “When all the molesting stuff gets talked about… people always say to me, ‘Did anything happen like that on your set?’ And I’m like, you think Tony Sirico was standing around, if there were people eyeing me the wrong way, like ‘Oh, Rob looks really cute today,’ Tony Sirico is just gonna stand there and not do anything?”He added: “Once we did the second or third episode, Tony Sirico just came over to me and said, ‘Hey, uh, if anyone ever… bothers you, or anybody says anything, you tell Uncle Tony, OK?’ And that’s how I felt in fucking school, too.“Like I was 13 years-old and I was like, ‘Oh, this kid thinks he’s gonna mouth off to me? I’ll have Tony Sirico come down.’ No matter how old you are, you see somebody that has like black hair here and silver hair on the sides – and just the way he always had a handkerchief in his pocket – you go like this dude will fuck you up.”Sirico, who played Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri in The Sopranos, died aged 79 on July 8 after living with dementia for two years.His co-star Michael Imperioli paid tribute on Instagram, writing: “Tony was like no one else: he was as tough, as loyal and as big hearted as anyone I’ve ever known.

Sopranos cast member Steve Van Zandt has recalled how the late James Gandolfini gave cast members a share of a pay rise he received while on the show.Ganolfini, who played mob boss Tony Soprano in the long-running HBO show, had received a “big” pay rise according to Van Zandt and decided to share it among his fellow cast members.When asked about whether or not Gandolfini “gave each actor [in] The Sopranos $33,000 of his own money”, Van Zandt confirmed that he did – though not to settle a “salary dispute” as had been reported previously.Replying to the fan, Van Zandt said: “It wasn’t to settle a salary dispute. He had gotten a big raise and just divided it among the cast.

When Jamie-Lynn Sigler and her “Sopranos” sibling Robert Iler reunited for a Super Bowl commercial earlier this year, fans suddenly began wondering about the possibility of a reboot of the mob hit, featuring Meadow and A.J. Soprano.

Pete Davidson has found his new TV mom in Edie Falco!

The Sopranos and Law & Order, has died aged 65.The actor passed away in a Manhattan hospital on Saturday (May 7), as confirmed by his wife Carol Ochs to The New York Times. A cause of death has not yet been determined.MacVittie is perhaps best known for playing juror Danny Scalercio in the fourth season of HBO series The Sopranos. From 1991, he also had numerous roles in the Law & Order franchise, including spin-offs Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.He made his Broadway debut in 1983 opposite Al Pacino in a production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, a role he continued in London’s West End.He went on to have numerous guest roles in television, including Barney Miller, Miami Vice, The Equalizer, Sex And The City, Oz, The Stand, The Street, and Spenser: For Hire.After taking a break from acting in 2011 to train as a nurse, MacVittie returned to the profession with roles in Blue Bloods, Chicago Med, The Deuce and acclaimed Netflix series When They See Us, where he played Detective Hartigan.Paying tribute in The New York Times, Pacino wrote: “I loved Bruce MacVittie.

Actor Bruce MacVittie has passed away. In a tribute published by The New York Times, MacVettie's wife Carol Ochs said the "Sopranos" actor died on May 7 in a Manhattan hospital, but the cause of death had not yet been determined. A representative for MacVittie did not respond to Fox News Digital's immediate request for comment.

Bruce MacVittie, a prolific New York stage actor who made his Broadway debut opposite Al Pacino in a 1983 production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo and became familiar to television viewers through roles on The Sopranos, Law & Order and As The World Turns, died May 7 at a hospital in New York City. He was 65.

Superbad sequel, despite hesitations from the rest of the team.The filmmaker, who produced the beloved 2007 comedy, recently said he wants to follow the high school characters as they make their way through college.“I always wanted them to do a sequel to Superbad,” Apatow said on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast. Jonah Hill, who plays the lead, had said he would only make another one if the characters are in “an old folks’ home”.“I know that Jonah said, ‘Oh it’ll be funny to do it when we’re 70 or 80,’ but I really wanted them to do a Superbad in college where Jonah flunks out of college and just shows up and visits Michael Cera at college,” Apatow continued.“But everyone was like ‘Nah we don’t want to screw up Superbad by accidentally making a crappy second one,’ and I would always say the same thing, ‘Well that’s like saying don’t make the second episode of the The Sopranos.

Television finales are an incredibly tough beast – just ask the team behind The Sopranos or Lost.

NEW YORK -- Call it bel canto in the Rust Belt.The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “Lucia di Lammermoor” plucks the ill-fated heroine out of the Scottish hills where Sir Walter Scott placed her in his 1819 novel and where Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti kept her in his opera 16 years later.Instead, director Simon Stone has transplanted her to a contemporary American town whose once-prosperous residents are suffering the effects of economic decline and where the pharmacy and pawnshop are among the only thriving businesses.“It can feel relaxing to escape and go to a Donizetti opera that’s set in a previous era,” Stone said in a panel discussion at the opera house during rehearsal. “But I think it’s less of a transformative experience than if you can go, “Wow, this is about me, my family, us.'”Stone said he looked for an American equivalent to the original setting and settled on the Rust Belt.“The novel and opera are about the end of the aristocracy in Scotland, and it became an incredibly poor country very quickly,” he said in an interview.

Soprano Anna Netrebko has been hired by the Monte Carlo Opera to sing this month following the Metropolitan Opera's decision to drop her for failing to repudiate Russia President Vladimir Putin. The Monte Carlo Opera said Thursday that Netrebko will sing the title role in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" in performances on April 22, 24, 27 and 30.The 50-year-old Russian replaces an originally announced Maria Agresta. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov, Netrebko's husband, is scheduled to sing Des Grieux.

Montserrat Caballe, one of the greats of 20th-century opera, is being remembered on what would have been her 89th birthday. Nicknamed “La Superba”, the Catalan singer began her career in Switzerland, Germany and Austria before becoming a superstar on the world stage. She made her American debut in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in New York City on 20 April 1965, replacing the pregnant Marilyn Horne and earning a 25-minute standing ovation.

Rae Allen, the Tony Award-winning actress known for roles in Damn Yankees, A League of Their Own and The Sopranos, died early Wednesday morning peacefully in her sleep. She was 95.

Paul Herman has sadly passed away.

Paul Herman, an actor known for starring in "The Sopranos," has died. He was 76. A representative for Herman confirmed the actor died on Tuesday, March 29, which was his 76th birthday.

Paul Herman, a Brooklyn-born actor who appeared in such classic mob movies as Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America and The Irishman but is probably best known for his portrayal of club owner Peter “Beansie” Gaeta in The Sopranos, died Tuesday. He was 76.

The Sopranos.The Hamilton creator appeared as a hotel employee in the 15th episode of the sixth season, who crosses paths with Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Paulie Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) during their road trip from New Jersey to Florida.Speaking about his experience on the show in Judd Apatow’s new book Sicker In The Head: More Conversations About Life And Comedy, Miranda explained how he was intimidated by the small role.“I went on lots of voiceover auditions and acting auditions, and the only thing I booked was The Sopranos, as a bellboy; I say, ‘I don’t know’ twice,” Miranda said.“I’m so green you can see me look down at my mark. Watch it if you get a chance, because now people are like ‘Lin-Manuel’s cameo on The Sopranos!’ It wasn’t a cameo.

After 192 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, soprano Anna Netrebko will not be performing this year due to her support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.  The Met made several attempts to convince Netrebko, who has made statements critical of the war, to rebuke Putin but failed to persuade the singer. "It is a great artistic loss for the Met and for opera," General Manager Peter Gelb said in a statement Thursday.

Anna Netrebko, famous Russian soprano, will be banned from the Metropolitan Opera for the next two seasons after she failed to denounce Vladimir Putin amid his war on Ukraine.

Cult sandwich makers Bada Bing are looking for new premises, after their stint at the Ancoats General Store came to an end.

(CNN)"The Sopranos" went off the air in 2007, but people are still debating the ending.Which is one of the reasons why people were happy to see Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Meadow Soprano on the drama, recreate the show's opening credits sequence in a Super Bowl ad.The actress is seen in the commercial for the first all-electric Chevy Silverado driving the path the late James Gandolfini did as her character's father, Tony Soprano, in the series.Gandolfini died of a heart attack in 2013. He was 51. Sigler told People magazine Gandolfini's "presence was very much felt throughout it all, of course, because anything we ever do having to do with Sopranos, he is there.""And just the thought of that opening sequence with him, it's so iconic," she said.

HBO executive has seemingly dashed hopes for future The Sopranos spin-offs.Last year, series creator David Chase was reported to have been in conversations about a new Sopranos-related series for HBO Max. Those reports emerged after Chase signed a five-year, first-look deal with the streaming platform in October.Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO and HBO Max’s chief content officer, Casey Bloys, has now said that Chase isn’t interested in returning to the franchise – explaining that a recent Super Bowl commercial which recreated the opening credits wasn’t a tease.Asked if he’d been shown anything about a Sopranos prequel series, Bloys said: “You’re asking the question as if there is one in existence.

After The Many Saints of Newark, the feature film set in The Sopranos world from David Chase, there was much talk of revisiting Tony’s mob ties.

EXCLUSIVE: Coming off his dual performance in The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, Ray Liotta is set to join Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in The Substance. Revenge helmer Coralie Fargeat is directing her original script for Universal Pictures and Working Title.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler is sharing how she celebrated "The Sopranos" commercial that aired during the 2022 Super Bowl. The star, who played Meadow Soprano on the show that ran from 1999 to 2007, helped Chevrolet recreate the opening sequence to "The Sopranos" to tout its all-electric Chevy Silverado.  In the ad, Sigler is seen in the driver’s seat instead of the Sopranos patriarch played by the late James Gandolfini. After the commercial ran, the 40-year-old actress took to her Instagram Story.  Jamie-Lynn Sigler is sharing how she celebrated ‘The Sopranos’ commercial which aired during the 2022 Super Bowl.