NBC's live version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" won an Emmy Award on Sunday and that made three men extra happy — it meant star John Legend, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice joined the elite squad of EGOT winners.
The musical's win for best live variety special united Legend, Lloyd Webber and Rice with Emmys to go along with their Tonys, Grammys and Oscars — the four biggest prizes in show business.
Lloyd Webber and Rice have already won Tonys ("Evita" and "Sunset Boulevard"), Grammys ("Cats," "Evita") and an Oscar for "You Must Love Me" from "Evita." Legend has won 10 Grammys and in 2015 he scored an Oscar for his song "Glory" from the movie "Selma." Last year, he won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play as a co-producer of "Jitney." Legend, who played Jesus in the concert version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" but won his Emmy as a co-producer of the show, is also gunning for an acting Emmy later this month.
The special trio of Legend, Lloyd Webber and Rice — officially the 13th, 14th and 15th members of the EGOT club — join an elite group of winners that includes Robert Lopez, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, Mike Nichols and Whoopi Goldberg. (Lopez, the "The Book of Mormon" and "Frozen" songwriter, who was 38 when he got EGOT status, is still the youngest to win all four awards. Legend is 39.
Miss America didn't miss wearing bikini
The first woman to win the Miss America crown without having to don a swimsuit says she's glad she didn't have to. Miss New York Nia Imani Franklin, who won the title Sunday night, said the changes in the 98-year-old pageant are a welcome modernization. Meeting reporters soon after winning the crown, Franklin said she's glad there was no swimsuit competition because it enabled her to eat a little more. Also, hours after Franklin was crowned, the Miss America Organization released a report denying the outgoing Miss America, Cara Mund, had been bullied by pageant leaders including chairwoman Gretchen Carlson. The lawyer for Mund called the report, commissioned by the Miss America Organization, "dishonest" and "a complete whitewash."
Olivia Newton-John fights cancer again
Olivia Newton-John says she has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time in three decades. The four-time Grammy winner, who will turn 70 on Sept. 26, told Australian news program "Sunday Night" that doctors found a tumor in her lower back in 2017. Newton-John says she's "treating it naturally and doing really well." The "Grease" star says for pain, she is taking cannabis oil, made from marijuana that her husband grows in California. She has undergone radiation treatments and has cut sugar out of her diet. She said, "I believe I will win over it."
Associated Press
