ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

MUSIC/ TAKE THAT & EXAMPLE TOP UK CHARTS:  Take That’s "Progress," the biggest selling album of 2010 in the UK, is back in the penthouse of this week's UK album chart. The album roars back up to the top due the re-release of it as a 2 CD packaged set, "Progressed," which contains  the original album plus 8 brand new tracks. Released in November last year, "Progress" spent 6 consecutive weeks at #1 and has sold some 2.8 million copies to date. Meanwhile, Adele's massive "21" sits tight at #2 and her "19" set remains at #5. There are 3 new album debuts in the top 20. Paul Simon comes in at #6 with "So Beautiful Or So What," "Hell-The Sequel" by rappers Eminem and Da Royce debuts at #7 and "Hits" by Frankie Laine debuts at #16. And 70s rockers, ELO see their greatest hits package "All Over The World, The Very Best Of" climb from last week’s #23 to this week’s #10. On the singles chart, Example's "Changed The Way You Kissed Me" holds tight at #1 for the 2nd week. There were 3 new entries this week in the singles top 20. Calvin Harris’s "Bounce," featuring Kelis, settles for a #2 debut, while up and coming UK singer songwriter Ed Sheeran scores a career best with "The A Team," which comes straight in at #3. Tinchy Stryder teams up with N-Dubz frontman Dappy for single "Spaceship," which debuted at #5.

MUSIC/ AMY WINEHOUSE STUMBLES THROUGH BELGRADE SHOW: Amy Winehouse was booed by crowds in Serbia's capital Belgrade after appearing to be too drunk to perform last night. The concert was due to kick off her 12 day European tour, but was not the performance that 20,000 fans had hoped to see. For almost 90 minutes, Winehouse mumbled her way through parts of songs. She sang a few strained notes, before stumbling across the stage, pictured left, and at one point throwing her microphone to the floor. At times she left the stage altogether, while her band attempted to fill in. She was frequently booed by the crowd. Many had paid up to €45 to see her in a country in which wages are some of the lowest in Europe, and their anger was clear. The Grammy-award winning singer had been under strict instructions not to drink after recently finishing a course of alcohol rehabilitation in London at The Priory. At the end of May, British media had revealed the singer had been given an ultimatum by doctors at The Priory, quit boozing or die. Hotel staff on her European tour had reportedly been under orders to remove alcohol from her room. She has struggled with addiction for some time and it was hoped this tour might mark a new start. The singer is due to continue the tour with a performance in Istanbul.  

MUSIC/ CLARENCE CLEMONS DIES AT 69: Clarence Clemons, the larger than life saxophone player for the E Street Band who was one of the key influences in Bruce Springsteen's life and music through 4 decades, has died. He was 69. Clemons died Saturday night after being hospitalized about a week ago following a stroke at his home in Singer Island, Florida. Springsteen acknowledged the dire situation earlier this week, but said then he was hopeful. He called the loss "immeasurable". "We are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly 40 years," Springsteen said on his website. "He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band". Known as the Big Man for his imposing 6ft 5in 270 plus pound frame, Clemons and his ever-present saxophone spent much of his life with The Boss, and his booming saxophone solos became a signature sound for the E Street Band on many key songs, including "Jungleland," a triumphant solo he spent 16 hours perfecting, and "Born To Run". In recent years, Clemons had been slowed by health woes. He endured major spinal surgery in January 2010 and, at the 2009 Super Bowl, Clemons rose from a wheelchair to perform with Springsteen after double knee replacement surgery. But his health seemed to be improving. In May, he performed with Lady Gaga on the season finale of "American Idol," and performed on 2 songs on her "Born This Way" album. Just this week, Lady Gaga's video with Clemons, "The Edge of Glory," debuted. An original member of the E Street Band, contributed his big, distinctive big sound to the albums, "The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle," ''Born to Run," ''Darkness on the Edge of Town, "The River" and "Born in the USA". Clemons also performed with the Grateful Dead, the Jerry Garcia Band, and Ringo Starr's All Star Band. He recorded with a wide range of artists including Aretha Franklin on "Freeway of Love" and Jackson Browne on "You're A Friend of Mine". He also had his own band called the Temple of Soul. Clemons also made several television and movie appearances over the years, including Martin Scorsese's 1977 musical, "New York, New York, in which he played a trumpet player. He published a memoir, "Big Man: Real Life and Tall Tales," in 2009 and continued to perform. He is the 2nd member of the E Street Band to pass away: In 2008, Danny Federici, the keyboardist for the band, died at age 58 of melanoma. Clemons is survived by his family.

FILM/ MONROE "SEVEN YEAR ITCH" DRESSES SELLS FOR $4.6M AT AUCTION: The white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the 1955 film "The Seven Year Itch" has sold for $4.6m at an auction in Los Angeles. The dress was part of a collection of film memorabilia collected by actress Debbie Reynolds over 4 decades. She had hoped to house them in a museum but the project never came to fruition. Other lots included Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra" headdress, a Charlie Chaplin bowler hat and the guitar played by Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music". Reynolds, 79, was reported to be in tears as the auction on the iconic "Seven Year Itch" dress closed. Pre-auction estimates expected the dress to reach around $2m. It was bought by an unidentified buyer bidding by telephone. A red sequined dress and feathered headdress worn for Monroe's role in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" reached $1.47m and a saloon girl costume from "River of No Return "for $510,000. Many of the items had been given to Reynolds by her close friend Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who died earlier this year. The horse racing outfit worn by Taylor as a child in "National Velvet" sold for $73,800. The trademark bowler hat worn by Charlie Chaplin in several films, including "The Little Tramp," reached $135,300 while a dress and pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the filming of "The Wizard of Oz" sold for $1.75m despite not having appeared in the film. Reynolds began collecting props and costumes in 1970 and had amassed some 3500 items. Speaking before the auction, she said the cost of maintaining them had become too high and that by selling them "I won't have quite so much responsibility and I can rest a little more".

THEATRE/ "ARCADIA" CLOSES ON BROADWAY TODAY: The Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard's century-hopping work "Arcadia," starring Tony Award winner Billy Crudup, Raul Esparza and Margaret Colin, ends its Broadway engagement today at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production is based on the 2009 London revival, which 5 time Tony Award nominated director David Leveaux staged at the Duke of York's Theatre. Leveaux repeated his work for the Broadway revival, which began previews February 26 and officially opened March 17. The limited engagement concludes its run as scheduled, after playing 35 previews and 75 regular performances. Set in both 1809 and the present, "Arcadia" straddles 2 centuries to chase a mystery surrounding Lord Byron and the death of a young poet. Crudup played Septimus Hodge in the play's Broadway debut and now takes on the role of literary academic Bernard Nightingale; he earned a Tony nomination for his current performance. The producers synopsis of the show is: "Set in April 1809 in a stately home in Derbyshire. Thomasina, a gifted pupil, proposes a startling theory, beyond her comprehension. All around her, the adults, including her tutor Septimus, are preoccupied with secret desires, illicit passions and professional rivalries. 200 hundred years later, academic adversaries Hannah and Bernard are piecing together puzzling clues, curiously recalling those events of 1809, in their quest for an increasingly elusive truth".

THEATRE/ "PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE" CLOSES ON BROADWAY TODAY: "The People in the Picture," the new original musical starring Tony Award winner Donna Murphy as an American grandmother remembering her days as a star in European Yiddish theatre and film, ends its limited Broadway run on schedule today at Studio 54. It opened April 28 following previews from April 1. Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, the musical has libretto and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart (the novelist of "Beaches") and music by Mike Stoller ("Smokey Joe's Café)" and Artie Butler (who wrote the pop standard "Here's to Life"). Murphy, the star of Broadway's "Passion," "The King and I," "Wonderful Town," was nominated for a 2011 Best Actress (Musical) Tony Award for her turn. There was talk of a cast album, but no official announcement was made. The producers synopsis of the show is: "Once the darling of the Yiddish Theatre in pre-war Poland, now a grandmother in New York City, Bubbie [Donna Murphy] has had quite a life. But what will it all mean if she can't pass on her stories to the next generation? Though her granddaughter is enchanted by her tales, her daughter will do anything to keep from looking back. A fiercely funny and deeply moving new musical that spans three generations, "The People in the Picture" celebrates the importance of learning from our past, and the power of laughter".