Sam Lutfi, the self-styled manager for Britney Spears, has agreed to stay away from the pop singer for at least another month, delaying a hearing that could have made a restraining order against him permanent, his spokesman said. The agreement, reached Sunday between Lufti and the conservators for Spears's estate, a group that includes her father, was to be approved by a judge Monday.
The flu season is taking a heavy toll on opera singers in New York, but it's a boom time for debuts at the Metropolitan Opera. Ermonela Jaho, an Albanian soprano, stepped in Saturday night for an indisposed Ruth Ann Swenson as Violetta in "La Traviata." She sang opposite the tenor Jonas Kaufmann, as she had done in January when she replaced Anna Netrebko in the same role at the Royal Opera House in London. Hers was the third Met debut in a lead role in two days, after Gary Lehman replaced Ben Heppner, and Janice Baird took over for Deborah Voigt midperformance in the Met's revival of "Tristan und Isolde."
A new museum of contemporary art, the CaixaForum, has opened in Madrid near the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museums, The Art Newspaper reported. The building was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, and a wall of the square in front of the building has a 25-meter, or 80-foot, vertical garden designed by the botanist Patrick Blanc that features 15,000 plants of 250 species. Artists represented in its opening show, running through April 6, include Cindy Sherman, Anselm Kiefer and Georg Baselitz.
A former pilot for Nazi Germany's air force writes in a forthcoming book that he believes he shot down the author of "The Little Prince," Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, although he cannot be certain. Horst Rippert, in his book, "Saint-Exupéry, the ultimate secret," said he shot down a Lockheed Lightning P-38 on July 31, 1944 - the type of plane Saint-Exupéry was flying the day he disappeared. The wreckage of his plane was later found off the Mediterranean coast of France. But, Rippert added: "I didn't see the pilot, and it would have been impossible for me to know that it was Exupéry. I hoped, and I still hope, that it wasn't him." Excerpts from the book were published in Le Figaro Magazine this past weekend.
Carrie Underwood will be joining the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, as its newest member, The Associated Press reported. Underwood, 25, a former "American Idol" winner, was invited to join by Randy Travis, after she performed his song "I Told You So" at an Opry show this past weekend. Her debut album, "Some Hearts," released in 2005, has sold more than six million copies in the United States, and her latest album, "Carnival Ride," released in October, includes the hit "All-American Girl," her sixth consecutive No. 1 song on the country charts. Underwood has also been named the female vocalist of the year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. She will be inducted on May 10.
The American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater was honored with an award from France's National Order of Arts and Letters. Bridgewater, 57, an American who has spent many years in France, was named a commander in the order - one of its highest ranks, and one she shares with two other Americans, the director Clint Eastwood and the choreographer William Forsythe - last week.
"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" made its U.S. box-office debut at No. 1 with an estimated weekend draw of $45.1 million, the best opening so far this year, according to The Associated Press. Jim Carrey provides the voice for "Horton." Last weekend's box-office winner, "10,000 BC," fell to No. 2 with $16.4 million for the three-day period.
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