Live broadcast of 'Phantom of the Opera' planned (AP)

NEW YORK – To mark its 25th anniversary, "The Phantom of the Opera" is coming to a movie theater near you.

Producers will broadcast a special performance of the show from London's Royal Albert Hall to movie houses in America, the UK, Europe, Japan and Australia. A live performance on Oct. 2 will be followed by re-broadcasts on Oct. 5, 6 and 11.

Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, who co-starred in the "Phantom" sequel "Love Never Dies," will reunite for the special presentation. More than 200 original and current cast members are expected to make appearances.

"The Phantom of the Opera" is currently showing in London at Her Majesty's Theatre as well as New York, Budapest, Las Vegas and Kyoto. It has grossed over $5.6 billion worldwide.

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Online: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mu/storytext/us_theater_phantom_telecast/42916066/SIG=10tjn7sje/*http://www.FathomEvents.com.

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Two funerals planned for "Housewives" star Russell Armstrong (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Russell Armstrong, the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" husband found dead by suicide Monday, will receive two funeral services -- one in Los Angeles and one in Texas, his attorney confirms to TheWrap.

The plan for dual services follows a bitter dispute between Armstrong's family, who wished for the reality-TV personality to be buried in Texas, and his widow, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Taylor Armstrong. Friday night, attorney Ronald Richards told TheWrap that Taylor had divulged the funeral plans to a relative of her estranged husband at 4:30 p.m. -- after Richards publicly said she was not sharing the funeral plans with his family.

Armstrong's family grew increasingly angry as they waited for word on the service, Richards said.

"His sister specifically said Taylor can go to hell," Richards told TheWrap. "They're past the mad point."

According to Richards, it's not yet certain if Armstrong's family will attend the Los Angeles funeral.

"The remains will be given by myself or to his nephew or mother to be flown back to Texas," he told TheWrap. "If his mother or nephew attend the L.A. service, they will take them back. If they don't, I have agreed to return them to Texas."

Armstrong, a venture capitalist, was found dead in a Mulholland Drive residence Monday night. The Los Angeles County Coroner determined that his death was a suicide by hanging. He was 47.

Armstrong, who had been separated from his wife since July and had been experiencing financial and legal difficulties, was reportedly concerned about how he would be portrayed in the upcoming season of the series. His mother, John Ann Hotchkiss, told HLN earlier this week that her son had told her before his death, "Mom, they're just going to crucify me this season. I don't know what to do. I'll never survive it.'"

Bravo has confirmed that it is re-editing segments from the upcoming season of the series -- which was slated to premiere September 5 -- in the wake of Armstrong's suicide.

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Tributes planned for ex-Warrant frontman Jani Lane (AP)

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer Anthony Mccartney, Ap Entertainment Writer – Fri Aug 12, 7:25 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – As investigators searched for clues Friday as to what killed Jani Lane, the former lead singer of the metal rock band Warrant, his family and friends prepared for a pair of memorial services to honor the rocker.

Lane, 47, was found around dead Thursday in a hotel room in the San Fernando Valley, which is north of downtown Los Angeles.

Coroner's officials did not determine a cause of death after an autopsy Friday, but said they would wait to see the results of toxicology testing that could take up to two months.

With his long blond hair and tight leather outfits, Lane embodied the excess of 1980s "hair metal" rock bands. He joined Warrant in 1984 and wrote such hits as "Heaven," "Down Boys" and "Cherry Pie."

He had an on-and-off relationship with the band, leaving it in 1992 before returning and quitting several times. He left the band for good in 2008.

The current band will offer a tribute to Lane at a performance Friday night in Grand Forks, N.D., their publicist said.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family," the band wrote in a statement. "Jani was a very important part of our lives for a long time. We will always be incredibly proud of the music we created together. He was a true talent and will be missed by all of us."

His family will convene Sunday for a private memorial service, Lane's manager and longtime friend Obi Steinman said. A public memorial with performances by fellow metal rock bands including Great White and L.A. Guns will be held in Hollywood on Aug. 24 at a venue to be announced later, he said.

"He was one of the great rock-and-roll frontmen and singers of all time," Steinman said. "His music helped shape the '80s."

Lane had a pair of drunken driving arrests in recent years. Steinman said he battled alcoholism for years.

"He finally succumbed to that," Steinman said. "He lost his battle over alcohol."

"Cherry Pie" became a hit record when it was released in 1990, but Lane had mixed feelings about the song over the years.

Lane wrote the song after a record executive told him they needed a radio-worthy single for Warrant's second album. "As a joke, Jani wrote 'Cherry Pie' overnight in a hotel room," Steinman said.

It became the album's title and the band and Lane's biggest hit.

The racy music video for the song was also a hit, and Lane married the model who starred in it, Bobbie Brown.

"He used to laugh," Steinman said. "It was a curse and a blessing all at the same time."

Although Lane denounced the song in the 1990s, Steinman said the rocker later embraced it, but just didn't want it to "define his artistry."

He spent recent years writing music for other musicians and himself, Steinman said. He also appeared in a season of VH1's "Celebrity Fit Club."

Lane had been married for about two years to his third wife, Kimberly, Steinman said. He has two daughters from two previous marriages.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/celebritydocket

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Support grows for planned Winehouse addiction foundation (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – The father of Amy Winehouse on Wednesday won support from a lawmaker for his plan to set up a foundation in the late British soul singer's name for people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

Mitch Winehouse revealed plans to establish the foundation on Tuesday at the funeral of his 27-year-old daughter, whose hugely successful music career was often overshadowed by her fight against drink and drug problems.

The Grammy-award winning singer, who shot to stardom with her 2006 album "Back to Black", was found dead at her north London home on Saturday. A cause of death has yet to be established although it is not being viewed as suspicious.

Her family must wait two to four weeks for the results of toxicology tests.

Opposition Labour Party lawmaker Keith Vaz, who chairs a parliamentary committee that held a 2009 inquiry into drug addiction at which Mitch Winehouse testified, on Wednesday offered his support for the proposed foundation.

"Mitch Winehouse gave powerful evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee during our inquiry into drugs in 2009," said Vaz.

"Drawing on his personal experience, he highlighted the long delay in accessing treatment for those with addiction.

"Two years on we need to revisit this issue to see if anything has improved. I am very happy to help Mitch in any way I can with his important campaign to help rehabilitate those most vulnerable in our society."

Friends and family attended Winehouse's Jewish funeral at Edgwarebury Cemetery in northwest London, where her father delivered a heartbreaking eulogy which ended with the words: "Goodnight, my angel."

He told mourners that his daughter had "conquered her drug dependency".

The singer made little secret of her struggle with drugs and alcohol, famously singing about her refusal to seek treatment in her biggest-selling single "Rehab".

But the problems increasingly took over, and she had to scrap a European comeback tour after stumbling through the opening performance in Belgrade on June 18.

With her beehive hairdo and sultry vocals, Winehouse became an international star with "Back to Black", her second and last album, which won her five Grammy awards.

Former Europe minister Vaz has been in the spotlight this month, with his committee role seeing him spearhead the grilling of key figures in Britain's newspaper phone hacking inquiry.

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'Bengal Tiger' Makes Its Final Roar July 3; Stagings Planned for Germany, Italy, France (Playbill)

Rajiv Joseph's Pulitzer Prize finalist play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, starring Robin Williams as the self-questioning title character who roams a haunted patch of Iraq, circa 2003, ends its limited 16-week Broadway engagement as planned July 3 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, but there are future plans for the critically acclaimed drama.

The play, which had its world-premiere in 2009 at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, will next be seen in Europe as rights have been sold for productions in Germany, Italy and France. Broadway producer Robyn Goodman has also announced that discussions are underway for a London production as well.

Bengal Tiger was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Featured Actor in a Play for Arian Moayed; Best Lighting Design for David Lander; and Best Sound Design of a Play for Acme Sound and Cricket S. Myers. The production also received two Drama Desk Awards: Best Lighting for David Lander and Best Sound Design for Acme Sound and Cricket S. Myers.

At close, the production will have played 23 previews and 109 performances. The drama — flooded with dreamlike flashbacks, eruptions of violence and broken creatures pondering existential questions — was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Williams is making his Broadway acting debut as a grizzled feline set free from a cage in the Baghdad zoo. He is the only character to directly address the audience. Moises Kaufman, the director of Broadway's 33 Variations and I Am My Own Wife, directs the production, repeating work that he began in two Los Angeles engagements of the play.

The play is billed as a "savagely funny and deeply affecting play" in which "a tiger haunts the streets of present-day Baghdad seeking the meaning of life." The tiger "witnesses the puzzling absurdities of war," encountering "Americans and Iraqis who are searching for friendship, redemption and a toilet seat made of gold."

With the exception of Academy Award winner Williams ("Good Will Hunting," "Good Morning Vietnam," "Mrs. Doubtfire"), the Broadway company is made up of performers who appeared in earlier Los Angeles-area engagements of the acclaimed play in 2009 and 2010.

The troupe features Glenn Davis as Tom, an American Marine who plunders local riches; Brad Fleischer as Kev, a Marine broken by war; Hrach Titizian as the ghost of Uday Hussein and others; Sheila Vand in multiple roles; Necar Zadegan in multiple roles; and Arian Moayed as Musa, an Iraqi gardener (and witness to atrocities) now serving as a translator for American forces. (For the record, Kevin Tighe played the Tiger in California.)

Joseph is the 36-year-old American playwright whose plays include Gruesome Playground Injuries (recently at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre), Animals Out of Paper, Huck & Holden, All This Intimacy and The Leopard and the Fox.

The production has scenic design by Tony winner Derek McLane, costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by David Lander, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, and original music composed by Kathryn Bostic.

Director Kaufman received a Tony nomination for his direction of Doug Wright's play I Am My Own Wife, and a Tony nomination as playwright for 33 Variations, seen on Broadway starring Jane Fonda (it's currently playing Los Angeles). As founder of Tectonic Theatre Project, he wrote and directed Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and directed The Laramie Project, which he co-wrote with other members of the company.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is produced on Broadway by Robyn Goodman, Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Sander Jacobs, Ruth Hendel/Burnt Umber, Scott and Brian Zeilinger, Center Theater Group and Stephen Kocis/Walt Grossman.

The Rodgers (recently home to In the Heights) is at 226 W. 46 St. between Broadway and Eighth Avenue.

Tickets to Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo are also available by calling Ticketmaster at (877) 250-2929 or (800) 745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com or by visiting www.bengaltigeronbroadway.com.

View highlights from the show:

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Joan Jett sues in NY over planned Runaways tribute (AP)

NEW YORK – Joan Jett loves rock and roll, but not on a tribute album she says an ex-employee put together without her permission.

The "I Love Rock N' Roll" singer-guitarist and 1970s bandmate Cherie Currie sued Thursday to try to stop the June 28 release of "Take It or Leave It: A Tribute to the Queens of Noise," an intended homage to the Runaways, the punk bank that launched their careers and helped light a path for other brash, hard-edged female rock groups.

The two-disc album features Runaways songs covered by artists ranging from the all-woman Japanese pop-punk band Shonen Knife to David Johansen, of the 1970s glam-rock pacesetters the New York Dolls, according to the website of the label releasing it, Main Man Records. The group was best known for such tracks as "Cherry Bomb" and "Queens of Noise."

But the lawsuit says the independent Main Man Records label used their names to promote the album without their say-so and that a Main Man staffer who once worked at Jett's record label used that connection to imply the project had her blessing.

Eatontown, N.J.-based Main Man didn't immediately respond to email and Twitter messages. No working telephone number could be found for Main Man or Jett's former employee.

While the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, Jett and Currie ultimately just "want them to stop," said their lawyer, Oren J. Warshavsky. "This isn't about money. This is strictly about preserving reputation and quality that both Joan and Cherie are known for."

Formed in 1975, the Runaways made a splash with brash, raw songs, a rebellious attitude and a sound that blended punk and heavy metal. The group disbanded in 1979, but the 2010 movie "The Runaways," starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, reignited interest. Jett and Currie, who was the group's lead singer for a time, have done some reunion performances in recent years.

Jett went on to form another band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and score hits including "I Love Rock N' Roll," "Bad Reputation" and "I Hate Myself for Loving You." She also has appeared onstage in "The Rocky Horror Show" and in various movies, including 1987's "Light of Day," co-starring Michael J. Fox and Gena Rowlands.

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Reboot of 'Two And a Half Men' Planned Without Charlie Sheen (ContributorNetwork)

The latest plan to do "Two and a Half Men" without Charlie Sheen apparently involves writing Sheen's character out and having the show feature Jon Cryer's character along with a new sidekick to be determined.

There is no word about what this rebooted "Two and a Half Men" will premier, what the new character will be, who will play him, or what the relationship between him and Cryer's character will be.

Meanwhile, Sheen, whose "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour has received a less than stellar reception among audiences, is suing for $100 million and his old job back.

"Two and a Half Men" had the premise that Cryer's character, a chiropractor, and his young son move in with his brother, played by Sheen, after a messy divorce. Cryer's character is nebbish, somewhat whiney, and in short, as we say in Texas, a bit of a wussy. Sheen's character is self confident, a womanizer of great appetite and vigor, in short everything his brother is not. Much of the comedy of the series concerns the personality clashes between the two brothers, with the child, now a strapping teenager, caught somewhat between his dad and his uncle.

A reboot of a show that has already been on the air for several years and has garnered a following is always a risky proposition and hardly ever works for more than a season. These things usually happen because of contract disputes with a show's major star and a desire by the producer to not only not accede to the star's demand but also to continue a money making show in some fashion.

Of course in the case of "Two and a Half Men" the situation concerns a major star having a complete mental meltdown, with drugs and other issues involved, like likely could never be resolved through adroit negotiations.

Will the reboot beat the odds and work? Chuck Lorre, the show's creator, has some measure of artistic skill, as noting how funny "Two and a Half Men" has been. Lorre is also the creator of "The Big Bang Theory", concerning a group of socially inept geniuses.

In any case, the experiment will be interesting to see, though with Sheen's continued antics, the drama off screen might overshadow the comedy on it.

Sources: Chuck Lorre Plans 'Two and a Half Men' Reboot Without Charlie Sheen, Chris Harnick, TV Squad, April 28, 2011

Charlie Sheen Bombs at Radio City Music Hall, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, April 9, 2011

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