ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

THEATRE/ "MEMPHIS" TO LENS FOR CINEMAS: The Tony Award-winning rock musical "Memphis," starring Chad Kimball and Montego Glover, will be filmed in the coming weeks for nationwide distribution in US movie theaters this spring. "Memphis" will be the 1st musical to be filmed live and released in theaters while concurrently running on Broadway. Emmy Award-winning director Don Roy King and sound producer Matt Kaplowitz will capture the January 18-21 performances at the Shubert Theatre in front of a live audience. The musical about an interracial love affair in the 1950s segregated South is being filmed for distribution by Broadway Worldwide. The high definition film will be released on a date yet to be determined. Bon Jovi songwriter and band member David Bryan and DiPietro wrote the score to "Memphis," which is flavored with gospel, R&B, rock and soul sounds.  "Memphis" earned Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Score and Best Musical. Kimball and Glover earned Tony Award nominations for their performances. "Memphis" opened on Broadway October 19, 2009, at the Shubert Theatre under the direction of Christopher Ashley. A national tour will launch in the fall.

THEATRE/ "BORN YESTERDAY" MAKES A SPRING DATE: The talked-about Broadway revival of Garson Kanin's 1946 comedy "Born Yesterday" will be a reality this spring. The Doug Hughes-directed staging will begin rehearsals on or about March 1. An opening of mid-April is planned at a theatre to be announced. "Born Yesterday," one of the 1st commercial theatrical hits in post-World War II America, focuses on Billie Dawn, the dumb-blonde girlfriend of Harry Brock, a corrupt businessman. Brock hires Paul Verrall, a New Republic reporter, to smarten her up. Judy Holliday starred in the original Broadway run and in the film version, for which she won an Academy Award. Madeline Kahn starred in the 1st (short-lived) Broadway revival, in 1989. Actor Jim Belushi (of TV's "According to Jim" and "The Defenders") and acclaimed rising actress Nina Arianda (Off-Broadway's "Venus in Fur") have been mentioned for the roles of brutish Brock and Billie, respectively. Although no annoucement has been made on casting, audition notices say the 3 main roles have already been cast.

FILM/ MCDORMAND JOINS "MAD 3": Frances McDormand has been cast to voice the villain in "Madagascar 3," DreamWorks Animation’s latest installment of the zoo franchise. Eric Darnell, who co-directed the previous 2 movies and was a writer on them as well, is directing solo with this new venture. Noah Baumbach wrote the script. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith are slated to reprise their roles as big-game animals who escaped a New York zoo and end up on the island off the African coast. The new story sees the animals reunite to try to find their way home by joining a traveling circus. A host of new characters will be introduced, expanding the ethnic flavor of the group. Among the new additions are an Italian sea lion, a Russian tiger and a Latina jaguar. McDormand will voice a calculating and goal-oriented animal control officer who leads her team to capture the animals. The "Madagascar" movies have been a huge moneymaker for DWA. The 2005 original grossed $532.6 million worldwide while the 2nd movie, 2008’s "Escape 2 Africa," made $603.9 million. "Madagascar 3" is slated for release on May 18, 2012.

FILM/ MATRIARCH OF "THE FIGHTER" FALLS ILL: Alice Ward, the mother of "The Fighter" subject Micky Ward, was put on life support yesterday after she suffered cardiac arrest and stopped breathing for more than half an hour. The 80-year-old, portrayed by Melissa Leo, pictured, in David O. Russell's Oscar-contending film as a tough-love parent, is at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. Micky Ward, played by Mark Wahlberg in the movie, reportedly rushed to Boston from New York, where he was promoting the film, to be at his mother's side, along with his half-brother Dicky Eklund (played by Christian Bale) and their sisters. Alice Ward, who used to manage her boxer son's career, reportedly has been having health problems for the past few years and on Wednesday regained consciousness and is able to speak. "She was dead for almost an hour and today she's doing so well," said a family member's Facebook post. "The nurse said she's never seen anything like this in the eight years she's been working (at the hospital.)" Leo is nominated for her portrayal of Alice Ward and is a front-runner for an Oscar nomination.

TV/ USA BUYS 9/11 DRAMA: USA network announced today that it has purchased "The Space Between," a drama starring Melissa Leo as a Flight Attendant who forms a bond with a 10-year-old Pakistani-American boy traveling by himself on 9/11. Written and directed by Travis Fine, the movie premiered last spring at the Tribeca Film Festival. It is the network’s first festival acquisition. "The Space Between" will air on September 11, 2011, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks.

TV/ ROLES EXPAND ON "LOLA": A day after its creative revamp was reported, NBC has confirmed expanded roles for the freshman drama's Alfred Molina and Terrence Howard. Molina's ADA Ricardo Morales will transition to a detective as his character's 15-year history with the police force will be revealed in an upcoming episode. Meanwhile, Howard's Jonah Dekker, who previously traded episodes with Molina's Morales, will appear in every episode. Skeet Ulrich's Detective Rex Winters will depart the show after Episode 14. Cast members Regina Hall and Megan Boone also will be leaving the series. Series creater Dick Wolf said he "needed" to change the cast of the show. The show averages about 9 million viewers, faring better than all other new NBC dramas. But it still faces competition from a new night, and midseason premieres.

BOOKS/ "CATCHER" SEQUEL BANNED IN THE US: A book billed as the sequel to JD Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" has been banned from release in the US. Swedish author Fredrik Colting reached a settlement with Salinger's estate to end a lengthy copyright dispute over the book. As part of the deal, the book cannot be published in the US or Canada. But it can be sold in other countries. Colting must also stop calling his work "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye". Prior to his death 1 year ago, Salinger had taken legal action against Colting, who wrote his work under the pseudonym John David California. According to the late author's lawyers, the book, published in the UK in June 2009, was "a rip-off, pure and simple". The Swedish author claimed his book, which features a character based on Salinger's anti-hero Holden Caulfield, was a literary commentary and not a sequel. But a US judge blocked its publication in North America, saying it mirrored Salinger's original too closely. Colting was granted an appeal last May, but the settlement was reached before the case went to trial. Under the terms of the deal, Colting is forbidden from dedicating the book to Salinger. It also prohibits him or any publisher of the book from referring to "The Catcher in the Rye" or Salinger. They are also prevented from using the copyright claim or Salinger's so-called "ban" to promote the work.

MUSIC/ MARGARET WHITING DIES AT 86: Margaret Whiting, a pop singer for television, film, cabaret and Broadway whose recordings of such standards as "That Old Black Magic" and "Come Rain or Come Shine" sold millions of copies in the 1940s and '50s, has died. She was 86. Whiting died Monday at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey, of undisclosed causes. Whiting had a career that stretched over 7 decades. She recorded for the 1st time while she was still in her teens and was still performing as a cabaret artist in her 70s and 80s. Her duet with Johnny Mercer on "Baby It's Cold Outside" continues to be heard every holiday season. And as recently as 2009, her 1947 recording of "Time After Time" was heard in the film "Julie & Julia" Some of her hits include "It Might as Well Be Spring," "Guilty" and one of Whiting's signature songs, "Moonlight In Vermont". "Far Away Places," "Now Is the Hour" and "A Tree in the Meadow" continued her string of mainstream hits. Her successes, more than 700 songs recorded and a dozen gold records, reflected a natural ability to find material best suited to her interpretive style. Whiting married 4 times. Her last husband was gay porn star Jack Wrangler. They wed in 1994, after years of living together. Wrangler died in 2009.