Benedict Cumberbatch is the first performer to sign up for the New York debut of London’s Letters Live, a stage show that pairs celebrities with actual “literary correspondence” from the likes of Mohandas Gandhi, David Bowie, Tom Hanks, Abraham Lincoln, Patti Smith and Janis Joplin.

Cumberbatch is the first star confirmed for the show’s New York debut engagement on May 18 and 19 at Manhattan’s Town Hall. Additional cast will be announced, though some surprises are planned for the shows.

Created and developed by independent publishing house Canongate, Letters Live is described as a “live celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence. Each show always features a completely different array of great performers, reading remarkable letters written over the centuries and from around the world. One of the joys of Letters Live is that one never knows who is going to take to the stage or what letter they are going to bring alive.”

A portion of the proceeds from the two NYC shows will support literacy group 826NYC and Entertainment Industry Foundation.

Since its 2013 at the Tabernacle in London, Letters Live has included performances by Cumberbatch, Gillian Anderson, Ian McKellen, Kylie Minogue, Russell Brand, Thandie Newton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rose McGowan, Riz Ahmed, Juliet Stevenson, LeVar Burton, Mark Hamill, Anjelica Huston, Tom Hiddleston, Sally Hawkins, JJ Abrams, James Corden, Noma Dumezweni, Oscar Isaac, Mary J. Blige, Jude Law, Brie Larson, Nick Cave and Sir Ben Kingsley.

In addition to the missives from Bowie, Gandhi, Joplin, Hanks and Smith, letters read include ones written by Maya Angelou, Elvis Presley, Kurt Vonnegut, Charlotte Bronte, Katherine Hepburn, Richard Burton, James Baldwin and Che Guevara. [Source]

Benedict Cumberbatch attends the Seoul premiere of ‘Avengers Infinity War’ on April 12, 2018 in Seoul, South Korea. Go to the gallery to take a look to the photos.

Benedict Cumberbatch attends the press conference for ‘Avengers Infinity War’ on April 12, 2018 in Seoul, South Korea. You can go to the gallery to take a look to some photos. Please, credit this site if you take the pics.

Showtime has released a new teaser and poster (see below) for Patrick Melrose, its upcoming five-part limited series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, who also executive produces, in the titular role.

There’s very little dialogue in this latest look, but Cumberbatch’s angst over his traumatic childhood is evident in a series of flashbacks. The series centers on Melrose (Cumberbatch) who’s struggling to overcome the damage inflicted by a horribly abusive father and the mother who tacitly condoned his behavior. [Source]

Benedict Cumberbatch attends the UK Fan Event for ‘Avengers Infinity War’ at Television Studios White City on April 8, 2018 in London. You can go to the gallery to take a look to over 300 HQ photos.

Edward St. Aubyn’s darkly comic novels about upper-class life in Britain, beloved by a generation of distinguished readers, come to Showtime next month.

In 2012, when it came time to publish a paperback version of the Patrick Melrose novels, the semi-autobiographical pentalogy by the English author Edward St. Aubyn, his American publishers had no trouble rounding up rapturous praise from a passel of distinguished readers: Zadie Smith, Bret Easton Ellis, Ann Patchett, Edmund White, Sam Lipsyte, and Alice Sebold. They might also have thought to ask a reader named Benedict Cumberbatch, who considers the books “the most exquisite achievements in 21st-century prose”—a fortunate view, given that Cumberbatch stars in the five-part adaptation of the novels that airs on Showtime in May.

A darkly comic indictment of Britain’s upper class, Patrick Melrose, which also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Blythe Danner, follows its protagonist from age five, when he is abused by his father (played by Hugo Weaving) in a country house in Provence, through his young adulthood, when he becomes a heroin addict in New York and London, to his recovery from drugs and transition to fatherhood. “It was a hell of an arc to play,” says Cumberbatch. “Patrick’s life is a nonstop madeleine cake of horrors.”

Portraying a character from age 25 to 45 was a significant challenge, Cumberbatch says—as was capturing the attitude and vocal mannerisms specific to Patrick’s class: “I went to a very posh public school, second to Eton, yet I had only one friend from the landed gentry. I’ve been trying to knock the corners off my accent ever since I left Harrow.” Cumberbatch consulted frequently with St. Aubyn, who, though he didn’t write the teleplay, made himself available to any cast member in search of biographical grist.

In the end, St. Aubyn reports, there’s unexpected consolation to be found in seeing his alter ego brought to the screen. “I’ve spent 25 years being asked if I’m Patrick Melrose,” he says. “So it’s a great deal of relief to be able to say, ‘No, Benedict Cumberbatch is.’” [Source]