Buzz Briefs: Springsteen, Ledger
The Boss To Play Super Bowl Halftime
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at the 2009 Super Bowl halftime show, the NFL and NBC announced Sunday night.
Continuing a run of major talent that has included the Rolling Stones, U2, Paul McCartney, Prince and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the American football championship game - which is also the biggest television event in the U.S. - will showcase one of its most beloved rock 'n' roll artists.
The Super Bowl will be played Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
Last year's halftime show was watched by more than 148 million viewers in the U.S., the NFL said in a statement.
In 1988, Chubby Checker was the first popular musician to perform at halftime, and Michael Jackson upped the ante in 1993. His sister Janet provided the show's most infamous moment with 2004's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" - and the show has stuck with straight ahead rock acts ever since.
Ledger's Daughter To Inherit Late Actor's Estate
Heath Ledger's 2-year-old daughter Matilda Rose will inherit all of her father's estate, Ledger's father says.
The Australian actor, who died from an accidental prescription drug overdose in January, signed a will before his daughter was born leaving everything to his parents and three sisters. Some had speculated his former partner Michelle Williams would lodge a claim for the money.
But Ledger's father, Kim Ledger, told the Australian newspaper The Sunday Times that the family had given all the money to Matilda and that there had been no challenge from Williams.
"There is no claim," the newspaper quoted Kim Ledger as saying in a report published Sunday. "Our family has gifted everything to Matilda."
The actor signed the will on April 12, 2003. It lists assets and cash of just $118,000, but the actor's estate is believed to be worth more than $16.3 million, the newspaper said.
Adelaide accountant Mark Dyson, who is an executor of the estate, said he could not reveal how much Matilda would inherit.
Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds Get Hitched In Canada
Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds did a little rushing into it after all.
The couple married this weekend, according to publicist Meredith O'Sullivan. She did not provide details.
Us Weekly reported on its Web site Sunday that the small wedding took place at a resort outside Vancouver, British Columbia. Guests included Scarlett's mother, Melanie Sloan, and her brother, Adrian Johansson, the magazine said.
The couple announced their engagement in May.
"We're just enjoying our time," the actress said last month. "We're just recently - very recently - engaged. So, you know, we're just taking it easy. And no big plan yet. But it's a good time and we're just ... enjoying our time to be young and engaged.
"I mean, I'm 23. There's no reason to rush into it. Everything feels very natural and relaxed."
Johansson most recently starred in the Woody Allen film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Reynolds starred on the TV show "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" and the romantic comedy "Definitely, Maybe."
NYC Opera's Ode To Walt Disney
Philip Glass has been commissioned by the New York City Opera to compose an opera that imagines the final months in the life of Walt Disney.
The announcement was made Monday by the opera's incoming General Manager Gerard Mortier.
The opera, "The Perfect American," is based on a recent novel by the American-born writer Peter Stephan Jungk. It will open City Opera's 2012-2013 season and honor the composer's 75th birthday.
Mortier scrapped the traditional 2008-09 season while the company's home at Lincoln Center undergoes a $200 million renovation. Instead of staged operas, the company is presenting concert performances around the city.
As part of the 2009-10 season, City Opera will present Glass' "Einstein on the Beach," which was first staged in New York in 1992. The season will focus on 20th-century works.
The story of Disney in "The Perfect American" is told by a fictional Austrian cartoonist who worked for Disney in the 1940s-50s.
Broadway Welcoming "West Side Story" Back In 2009
The highly anticipated revival of "West Side Story" has found a theater and set an opening date on Broadway.
The classic New York musical about two gangs - the Sharks, the Jets - and the ill-fated love affair involving two people caught between the gangs will open March 19 at the Palace Theatre. Preview performances begin there Feb. 23.
Casting will be announced shortly.
The show, which has music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, will play an out-of-town engagement Dec. 15-Jan. 17 at Washington's National Theatre. Laurents will direct and Joey McKneely will restage Jerome Robbins' original choreography.
"West Side Story," loosely based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," originally starred Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence and Chita Rivera. It was first seen on Broadway in 1957. The Academy Award-winning movie featured Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer and Rita Moreno. The last Broadway revival was in 1980.
Tina Fey Reprises Role As Sarah Palin On "SNL"
"Saturday Night Live" is having more fun at Sarah Palin's expense.
Tina Fey was back at it again in her role as Palin, appearing in the opening skit along side Amy Poehler.
This time Poehler played CBS's Katie Couric in a parody of Couric's recent interview with Palin. Poehler mostly played it straight, letting Fey get all the laughs.
When Poehler's Couric pushed Fey's Palin to specifically discuss how she would help facilitate democracy abroad, Fey asked to use one of her lifelines.
When a confused Poehler told her that that's not how the interview works, Fey alluded to one of the governor's most quoted lines from the interview saying, "Well, in that case, I'm just gonna have to get back to ya."