newsmakers

newsmakers

Franco apologizes for flirting with 17-year-old

NEW YORK

James Franco has apologized for his Instagram flirtation with a 17-year-old.

On the morning talk show “Live With Kelly and Michael,” Franco said Friday that he used “bad judgment” and “learned my lesson.”

The 35-year-old actor and filmmaker was caught trying to pick up a Scottish teenage girl named Lucy Clode on the photo-sharing app.

Franco said Friday that he was embarrassed and that he’s “a model of how social media is tricky.” He said the awkward process of meeting someone was made “doubly” embarrassing since it was in the public spotlight because of his celebrity.

Franco is starring in a revival of “Of Mice and Men” on Broadway.

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ to mount arena tour

NEW YORK

The 1970s rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” is being resurrected for a North American tour.

It was revealed Friday that the musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice about the last days of Jesus will start a 50-city tour in New Orleans on June 9.

It will star punk legend John Lydon as King Herod, Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child as Mary, Brandon Boyd of Incubus as Judas and JC Chasez of *N Sync as Pilate. Ben Forster, the winner of the U.K.’s prime-time contest show “Superstar,” will play the son of God.

The tour will come to Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena on Aug. 10 and Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center on Aug. 12.

The guitar- and keyboard-driven musical, which debuted on Broadway in 1971, includes such songs as “What’s the Buzz?” “Superstar,” “Everything’s Alright” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” The new version is being billed as an arena-rock spectacular.

Associated Press