that was jennifer hudson nearly 15 years ago accepting her academy award back in 2007 for her star turn met aretha franklin for the first time to discuss portraying the queen of soul and just a few weeks until that premieres, the powerhouse actress is opening up to oprah about playing the legendary diva. we're going to have much more on that interview coming up. >> i can't believe that academy award was 15 years ago. >> the first thing i thought. >> amazing. >> how is it that long? >> perhaps more to come. we'll see. >>> top headlines this morning, the summer surge. every state except california seeing a more than 10% increase in covid-19 cases. nationwide the daily case average is up 251% since mid-june. this as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads across the country. now the push to get more people vaccinated is growing more urgent. so far more than 162 million americans are fully vaccinated. that's about 49% of the total population. >> a nationwide carrot recall is under way. grimmway farms is pulling its bagged carrots from grocery store shelves because of a possible salmo

bruce springsteen, paul simon and jennifer hudson will headline the event, which is part of week—long of the city's reopening. 60,000 people are expected to go, with different sections allocated to vaccinated and unvaccinated spectators. berlin's museum island has a new landmark, the humbolt forum. this vast building brings together the ethnological museum and the museum of asian art in one enormous reconstructed baroque palace. its remit is to be a symbol of tolerance and diversity, but there has been controversy over its decision to house artefacts looted from parts of the world once colonised by europe. and barely a year goes by without dubai opening something enormous. this time it's the world's deepest pool. deep dive dubai goes downjust over 60 metres and holds enough water to fill six olympic—sized swimming pools. they have built an abandoned city at the bottom to explore, along with a library and an arcade. still to come on this week's travel show: the blast craters causing confusion in siberia. and with one final click of the castanets, a flamenco venue saying goodbye for the

how jennifer hudson channeled her inner emotions to play aretha. >> the wife, lover and cheating husband rooftop style.

that is academy award winner jennifer hudson portraying the one and only aretha franklin on stage at york city in this newly released clip from the much anticipated movie, "respect." the movie will be released in theaters on august 13th. we are very excited to announce that we will have jennifer hudson live right here on "gma" on august 10th. >> so cool to watch her play that part. >> yeah. >>> we have a lot of other big stories that we're following this morning. happening right now, six passengers on a royal caribbean cruise have tested positive for covid-19. the company says four of the adult passengers are vaccinated and the other two are unvaccinated children. they were all tested as part of a routine end of cruise testing. >>> also right now, broadway announcing new rules before the curtains go up in september. all people over the age of 12 will have to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask while in the theater. the broadway league saying, quote, we have to take safety first. the new policy will be in effect until at least october 31st. >>> and bob odenkirk telling his fans

that is jennifer hudson in the upcoming movie "respect."ranklin. hudson sat down with oprah to talk about taking on the role of the queen of soul, and janai has the scoop on that and much more in "binge this" coming up in our next hour. that song is one of those where you always wish you could sing. >> yeah, then you realize you can't and you're like, oh, well, but jennifer hudson can. >> she can. >> that's going to be great to see. more on that coming up still ahead. >>> first, though, some of the other big stories we're following happening right now, the heartbreaking search for victims of the deadly building collapse in surfside, florida, has come to an end one month after champlain towers south came down, 97 victims were recovered, and at least one person is still missing. >>> also right now, more than 100 people have died in india after monsoon rains caused flooding and landslides in the western part of the country. regions in the area saw up to 23 inches of rainfall in just 24 hours. >>> guys, i want you to take a look at who decided

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head lining the comeback concert of paul simon, jennifer hudson and the boss bruce springsteen.on batiste. and the homecoming concert will take place august 21st, 5:00 p.m. in central oncertgoers the prove proof of vaccination. and 80% of proceeds will be free. >>> and a surprise infection of a disgraced executive. the government's martin shreli's wu-tang clan album to pay off the fraud. he had previously purchased the album for over $2 million. it was momented as an unique work of or the with no physical or digital duplicate in existence. he's vilified for hiking the prize that treated an infection by 4,000%. he's currently serving a seven-year sentence of cheating investors of hedge funds and trying to prop up another company. >>> and a new yorker is recovering after surviving an underground explosion in queens. it shows it billowing smoke minutes before a new yorker steps over it. knocking him to the ground. he then appears to get up and walk away from the blaze. west suffered second degree burps and is recovering at the hospital. get well soon, mr. west. utility company con

cnn for the w"we love new york city," the homecoming concert, featuring bruce strpringsteen, jennifer hudsons saturday, august 21st, exclusively on cnn. ♪ ♪ here we go. ♪ ♪ ♪ so i'd like to know where you got the notion ♪ ♪ to rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't tip the boat over ♪ ♪ rock the boat ♪ ♪ don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat ♪ see disney's jungle cruise. it's time to rock the boat, america. >>> the "black widow" biting back today. scarlett johansson suing the walt disney company. she says that disney breached her contract by releasing her new movie in theaters and on their streaming service at the same time. cnn's brian stelter is following the story. so, brian, if it's in her contract that she gets a cut of ticket sales, they are ripping her off, right? >> the film is streaming online, you're able to pay $30 to watch it online, she wants a cut of that as well. we're seeing this big battle over the future of thollywood economics. i think it will rewrite the rules for hollywood filmmaking economics. oftentimes these stars, they're betting on the

next up, jennifer hudson stepping into the shoes of the legendary aretha franklin for the upcoming biol like a natural woman," which was famously co-written by carol sing. landed on the 1968 album "soul." here is j. hud as the queen of soul herself with her spin on that classic. ♪ if i make you happy i don't need to do ♪ ♪ because you make me feel you make me feel ♪ ♪ you make me feel like a natural woman ♪ >> one of my favorite things about having jennifer hudson as a coach on "the voice," when a singer would get up there and kill it, crush it like that, she would take off her shoe and she would throw her shoe. >> what? >> yeah. it's a term of endearment. >> wow. >> like a southern thing. so i want to take my shoe off and throw it at the monitor hearing j. hud. that's how excited she gets. and she looks mad. like oh, no, you're not doing that right now. and she chucks her shoe. >> ducking down. >> she's the best. she's going to be so good in this role "respect" along with the full sound track. and it comes out on august 13th. >>> finally, jenna fischer is revealing why that beloved ch

the boss, bruce springsteen has already signed on to perform with paul simon and jennifer hudson, and. new york city mayor bill de blasio saying, quote, this will be one of the greatest central park concerts in history and as you know that is saying something considering there have been some pretty unforgettable performances on the great lawn like this one. diana ross, 1983, where she sang through the rain. i remember all too well garth brooks filling the park to capacity and then there was simon & garfunkel. that 1981 concert they turned into an iconic concert album. one note, everybody, the free tickets will go mostly to people who can prove they are vaccinated. very exciting news there. we'll have more details on how to get tickets down the road. >>> also in the news this morning, jennifer lopez making new music and she's about to heat up the rest of your summer with this new single, "listen up." [ singing in foreign language ] >> love it? i'm shaking. it translates to change the stat. this is her first collaboration with singer rauw alejanddro saying the song is a lesson for life

lineup for the city's mega concert, headlining the celebratory comeback concert are, paul simon, jennifer hudsonnd fire, journey, barry manilow. this is amazing. officially titled we love nyc, the homecoming concert. it will take place on august 21st at 5:00 p.m. in central park. all concertgoers will need to provide proof of vaccination. 80% of tickets will be free and the event will be broadcasted globally, but you need a proof of vaccination to be there. other states are not celebrating. the louisiana department of health and governor are urging residents to get vaccinated as the state reaches a record number of covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. just over 6,800 new cases were reported yesterday, the second highest single-day case count since january, and nearly 1,400 people are currently hospitalized from covid with yesterday seeing the largest single-day increase since march. governor edwards writes in a statement, quote, the surge is on us and that means it is up to each of us to do our part to bring it to an end. i am pleading with everyone who is not vaccinated and is of age to make th