The daily gossip: April 17, 2020

(Image credit: Robb Cohen/RobbsPhotos/Invision/AP)

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1. Fiona Apple's first album in 8 years earns a perfect score from Pitchfork
2. We came this close to getting a Patti LuPone Glee episode
3. 2020 loses two more large events as Comic-Con, Taylor Swift tour are scrapped
4. Hugh Jackman 'wasn't available' — nudge nudge wink wink — to star in Cats
5. John Krasinski is hosting a virtual prom tonight for seniors in quarantine

published 17 April 2020

1. Fiona Apple's first album in 8 years earns a perfect score from Pitchfork

Fiona Apple's first new album in eight years, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, earned rave reviews upon its release Friday, with Pitchfork giving it a perfect score. "Fiona Apple's fifth record is unbound, a symphony of the everyday, an unyielding masterpiece," the website's critic wrote. "No music has ever sounded quite like it." Pitchfork last gave a new album a flawless 10 out of 10 score a decade ago, to Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In conjunction with the release on Friday, Apple, 42, told Vulture "making this album has really helped me get through stuff, and I don't know if I can say that about my other albums." Listen on Spotify here.

Brace yourself, Gleeks — this one's gonna hurt. In an interview with The New Yorker, Broadway legend Patti LuPone revealed that there was almost an entire Glee episode themed around her, but she turned it down. "I got a telephone call from my agents saying that [showrunner] Ryan Murphy wanted to do an episode of Glee around me. It would have been 'Patti LuPone on a plane,'" LuPone said. "I have no idea what the plot was. I immediately said no: 'No, no, no, no!' ... I will be 'Patti LuPone' on TV for a long time, and I won't get work." LuPone ultimately agreed to guest star in an episode set in the Broadway restaurant Sardi's instead, but oh, think of what could have been!

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Two more big events are officially off until 2021. San Diego Comic-Con has been canceled for the first time ever due to the coronavirus pandemic, a move that increasingly looked inevitable even as organizers said earlier this month they were "hopeful" the convention could somehow still happen. Comic-Con will next take place in July 2021. Taylor Swift also announced Friday she's canceling all of her performances scheduled for this year. Swift had been set to tour this summer, but she said Friday that "fighting COVID-19 is an unprecedented challenge for our global community and the safety and wellbeing of fans should always be the top priority." Her shows will be rescheduled for 2021.

Hugh Jackman has at last admitted that director Tom Hooper offered him a role in the "jarring fever dream" that was 2019's Cats. Asked directly by The Daily Beast's Marlow Stern if he turned down a role, Jackman replied: "Umm … yep." Although Jackson earned an Academy Award nomination for his work with Hooper on Les Misérables in 2012, it apparently wasn't enough to sell him on the director's follow-up musical, which has since been described as "the worst thing to happen to cats since dogs." When asked what role he was offered, Jackman said, "there were a couple of options there based on availability and time, and I really … yeah, I just wasn't available at the time." Suuuuure.

High school seniors are understandably upset that coronavirus has effectively canceled prom — but never fear, John Krasinski is to the rescue. The Office star, who has recently made a turn as the host of the coronavirus counter-programming YouTube show Some Good News, announced this week that he will be holding a virtual prom on Friday. "First of all ... you're welcome," Krasinski said in the announcement, which included a delightfully dorky photo of him in his own prom outfit. "Second of all, I can't take it anymore how much you are all missing your prom. So let's do something about it! Let's have an #SGNprom!" Throw on your dress and get ready to slow dance with your cat to "Forever Young," starting at 8 p.m. ET here.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.