Bob LuPone, who as an actor earned a Tony nomination in the original run of A Chorus Line and went on to help found and lead the influential off-Broadway theater company MCC Theater for almost 40 years, has died. He was 76.

LuPone, brother of Broadway icon Patti LuPone, died Saturday (Aug. 27) following a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, according to Matt Ross Public Relations.

“The MCC Theater community mourns the loss of our much loved and uniquely inspiring partner, colleague and dear friend, Bob LuPone, who lived fearlessly and with great curiosity, good humor, a boundless passion for connection, and a whole lot of heart. We will miss him deeply and always,” the theater company said in a statement.

LuPone’s first professional job was in 1966, in the ensemble of the Westbury Music Fair’s production of The Pajama Game starring Liza Minnelli. He made his Broadway debut in the 1968 production of Noel Coward’s Sweet Potato and later appeared in Minnie’s Boys, The Rothschilds and The Magic Show.

LuPone was initially cast as Al in A Chorus Line, but convinced creator and director Michael Bennett to let him play Zach after the original actor left. LuPone would earn a best featured actor Tony nomination for the role.

Born in 1946 in Brooklyn, New York, LuPone graduated from the Juilliard School with a bachelor’s degree in dance in 1968.

He was teaching an acting class at New York University when one of his students was Bernie Telsey.

Together they would help form Manhattan Class Company in 1986 — known today as MCC Theater.
LuPone and Telsey, along with third co-artistic director Will Cantler, shaped MCC into a theatrical powerhouse, producing such Broadway-bound works as Frozen, Reasons to be Pretty, Hand to God, School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play, The Snow Geese, The Other Place and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit.

While serving as co-artistic director of MCC, LuPone also worked as an actor, appearing in A View From the Bridge, True West and A Thousand Clowns, all on Broadway. He was in the Chicago premiere of Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime and on TV was in The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Guiding Light and All My Children, for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination.

He also served as director of the MFA drama program at the New School for Drama from 2005 through 2011 and served as president of the board of directors of A.R.T/ New York.

LuPone is survived by his wife, Virginia; his son, Orlando; sister, Patti; and brother, William

Another Friday, another busy release day in the Latin music space.

This week, CNCO dropped their latest album, XOXO, which will be the very last album for the boy band, who in July announced they were splitting. This album is special because it’s one of their last projects together. The group is disbanding after nearly seven years together. “We always thought that if we split, it had to be natural, and that’s how it happened,” the band previously told Billboard. “We’ve lived many things together, and grew together in this industry, and we’re ready to try new things to expand our careers. We’re very excited.”

The red-headed Karol G is also back with a new single, “Gatubela” in collaboration with Maldy. Produced by DJ MAFF, the song is an old-school reggaeton track laced with infectious perreo beats. In the lyrics, Karol is fiery and unapologetic, singing: “I’m not with anyone but I’m hooked/ I’m elevated, I feel like a Catwoman/ It feels good when he moves my panty to the side/ It feels good when you kiss me down there.”

Meanwhile, Steve Aoki released a collaboration that has been in the works since the pre-COVID times. Titled “Ultimate,” the track features Mexican rappers Santa Fe Klan and Snow Tha Product and is a fusion of sounds (cumbia to rap and EDM). Santa Fe and Snow, representing Mexican rap culture, join Aoki in this trap-heavy song powered by an infectious head-bobbing reggaeton beat that will be part of his upcoming album HiROQUEST: Genesis, which is expected to drop in September.

Which is your favorite new Latin music release of the week? Vote below!

After first entering the music scene in 2014 with his K-pop boy band GOT7, Mark Tuan has finally released his first full solo project with his introspective album The Other Side.

While Mark was one of the designated rappers in GOT7, the Los Angeles native gets the chance to showcase his true range across the 20-song project. Tuan boasts songwriting and composition credits across every track with most songs spotlighting Mark’s singing abilities front and center. While five vocal-focused singles previewed the album through the past nine months — “last breath,” “my life,” “lonely,” “save me,” and “imysm” — The Other Side also sees Mark return to the rap tracks fans first heard during his time with GOT7 on braggadocio-heavy cuts like “my name” and LP standout “change up.”

Beyond musical elements, the most striking part of The Other Side is the raw introspections the star shares. Through his lyrics, he explores the topics of self-doubt (“hard 2 love”), toxic friendships (“exhausted”), unfaithfulness (“broken”) and the pressure to be perfect (“only human”). The album’s straightforward, lo-fi production also better shines the light on these challenging topics.

While not explicitly clear, Mark also describes what appear to be all-too-relatable mental health struggles like when he sings, “I sink down way into the floor/ You pull me up, but I’m too far…I’ve never been this low” on “at my low.” Another striking lyric comes in “I’ll just get f-cked up instead, it’s easier this way/ I found a way to escape the evil thoughts inside my head” on “lonely.”

The Other Side was released along with the music video for album closer “far away,” a kiss-off track where Mark finally rids himself of a toxic lover. The song is told through a melancholy music video, reminiscing back at the tender moments and photographs from the relationship: “I gave you one last chance, and you f-cked it up/ Now you’re far away / And I hope, that you know, that it’s where you’ll stay.”

While The Other Side is entirely a project created and crafted by Mark and his DNA Official team, GOT7 is also showing support. Fellow GOT7 member BamBam shared a photo of his signed copy of The Other Side, writing, “me and IGOT7s will always support what you do bro,” referencing the group’s devoted fanbase.

Watch “far away” music video below:

After months of speculation, NCT 127 is finally making their post-pandemic return to the U.S. this year for two dates in their ongoing world tour.

The K-pop boy band announced plans to play shows on both coasts in the U.S. this year. First up, hitting Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Oct. 6, followed by an Oct. 13 concert at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

The two dates come as part of NCT 127’s “The Link” world tour, first announced in November 2021 and officially kicking off with a three-date run in the Seoul Sky Dome. The trek has also visited Tokyo, Singapore and Manila with a press release sharing that Latin American dates will be announced soon.

The timing of the shows comes just after the Sept. 15 release of NCT 127’s upcoming album 2 Baddies, which the group announced and began teasing with new visuals and videos earlier this month. 2 Baddies follows up NCT 127’s Sticker album from 2021 that peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and spent 17 weeks on the chart.

While speaking about his first solo single “Forever Only” released earlier this month, NCT 127 member Jaehyun also gave Billboard some insight into the upcoming LP, its accompanying dance elements and forthcoming tour dates. “The style of choreography this time is kind of free; where you can express more of your own dancing style,” he said in the interview. “It was really fun to do the choreography…hopefully we’ll have a chance to meet our fans all around the world.”

Tickets go on sale Monday at 3 p.m. local time via Ticketmaster.

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