ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

RADIO/ HOW THE BRITISH DJ LOST HIS JOB: A British radio presenter has been fired after he pulled the plug on Queen Elizabeth II's traditional Christmas Day speech, telling listeners it was "boring". Tom Binns lost his job at Birmingham radio station BRMB after a number of listeners complained over his interruption of the monarch's traditional December 25 broadcast to Britain and the Commonwealth. "Two words: Bor-ring," he said on air as he stopped the broadcast, before quipping "from one Queen to another..." as he put on "Last Christmas" by pop duo Wham, featuring openly gay singer George Michael. Binns explained that the incident occurred after the Queen's Speech, a decades-old tradition still watched by millions of Britons and others every year, came on at a point when he had expected a regular news bulletin. "I was working on my own on Christmas Day; I'd even had to let myself into the studio. After the guy before me finished, we should have taken the news from Sky, and then my show would start. But instead of the news, we got the Queen's speech. I knew it shouldn't be there, but having never heard it before, I didn't know how long it was going to go on for. I'm not trained to make editorial decisions, but I decided to get rid of it and make a joke. I said: 'Two words: bor-ring'. I then went into an old riff about how people say the royal family are good for tourism, but the French beheaded theirs and people still visit France," before cueing up the Wham song, he said. The radio station's parent company, the Orion Media Group program, said the DJ's comments were "inappropriate", adding: "We do not condone what he said in any way, whether said in jest or not. Tom will now not be featuring again on our radio stations".

THEATRE/ "RAINBOW" TO COME TO AN END: Producers announced yesterday that the critically-acclaimed new Broadway production of "Finian's Rainbow" will close on January 17, 2010. By close, the production will have played 22 previews and 92 performances. A cast album from PS Classics will be released in February. "Finian's Rainbow" opened October 29, 2009, at Broadway's St. James Theatre to some of the best reviews of the season. The producers stated: "Despite the rave reviews and extraordinarily positive audience reception, the economic realities of Broadway today do not allow us to play at the St. James as long as we would have hoped. We are thrilled, however, that our gorgeous musical score, performed by our incredible cast and brilliant orchestra, lives on in our soon to be released cast album."

THEATRE/ "RAGTIME" EXTENDS ANOTHER WEEK: The producers of Broadway's "Ragtime" announced yesterday that the acclaimed revival would not close on January 3, 2010, as previously announced, but would get an extra week of performances at the Neil Simon Theatre, to January 10. A rush of sales followed the December 28 closing announcement, prompting the extension of 8 performances. By the time it closes January 10, the musical will have run 28 previews and 65 regular performances. Producers said: "We're thrilled and grateful that audiences will have another 8 chances to see "Ragtime" on Broadway".