CelebSpice

Britain's Royal Opera will stage the world premiere next year of "Anna Nicole," a work about the life of former Playboy model, actress and tabloid favorite Anna Nicole Smith who died in 2007.

The new opera, by British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and writer Richard Thomas, will be staged by renowned opera director Richard Jones, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Thomas was a co-creator of "Jerry Springer: The Opera," the controversial show that prompted thousands of complaints and street protests when it was aired on the BBC in 2005.

He has said the libretto for Anna Nicole would end with her death rather than focusing on the sensational court battle over the disposal of her remains and custody of her daughter Dannielynn.

Smith died aged 39 of an accidental prescription drug overdose in Florida.

At the time of her death she was embroiled in a long-running legal battle over the will of her late husband, billionaire oil tycoon Howard Marshall. They had married when she was 26 years old and he was 89.

Another doomed celebrity is the focus of "Adriana Lecouvreur," the 1902 opera by Francesco Cilea about the 18th century French actress who died in 1730 aged 37 and who was believed to have been poisoned by a rival in love.

Superstar Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu will play the title role in the new production, the first at the Royal Opera House for more than a century.

The Royal Ballet's 2010/11 season will feature "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," a new work that is a co-production with the National Ballet of Canada

It will be choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and hits the stage in February 2011.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

New black and white photos of a "laughing, stylishly dressed Marilyn Monroe visiting the poet Carl Sandburg" have been discovered.  There are four images in total that were found and all of the pictures of the iconic American actress and sex symbol are for sale, listed between $2,000-$4,000.

More here from the Independent with this caption, "On a wintry afternoon, Sandburg and Steckler patiently awaited Monroe, who arrived three hours later than planned, claiming she was at the hairdresser's trying to get her hair white to match Sandburg's," dealers Eagle National Mint said.
"The two spent the rest of the afternoon bonding over conversation and cocktails, fostering a new friendship while Steckler quietly observed, his Nikon loaded with black and white film, nothing more than natural Northern light pouring through the windows."

More celebrity news...A date has been set for the trial of Howard K. Stern, Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor in relation to the death of Anna Nicole Smith. The three are accused of conspiring to illegally provide the former Playboy model with prescription drugs before she died and will stand before a judge on August 4 a hearing revealed Friday.
Radar Online reported that Stern was "spitting mad" outside the Los Angeles Superior Court following the hearing and claimed he was "outraged" with the accusations that he killed his former lover. Stern claims his innocence, and along with Smith's former psychiatrist Eroshevich and medical internist Kapoor has pled not guilty to felony charges against him.
Radar Online also reported that Stern can't wait to come back to the court and start the trial so he can be cleared. According to reports Stern also said that he is looking forward for the cross-examination part of his upcoming trial, stating that prosecution witnesses will be proven to be liars.

A judge has ordered Anna Nicole Smith's former lover and attorney to court.  Anna's ex Howard K. Stern got the order from a judge in the LA Superior Court.  More news from Hollywood Nights, it is reported that it is an amicable spit (for now) between the Oscars and Hugh Jackman.

The handsome Australian actor hosted the show last year and was wonderful, but says back-toback may be pushing it, according to a magazine report.  Follow both stories below.
One -  Anna Nicole Smith's ex Howard K Stern was told by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J Perry that he must appear in court.  Nicola Pittam notes in a report, "The decision came after Judge Perry took home a 45-minute video to watch that purportedly showed Anna Nicole under the influence of drugs."  More here from the report.

Two - Hugh Jackman has ruled out hosting the Academy Awards this coming March.  "Neil Patrick Harris seems to be the most popular rumor for his replacement, but Academy PR representatives are saying no host announcement is imminent", reports News in Film and they have more information and guesses for hosts.

Anna Nicole Smith's longtime companion Howard K Stern and two doctors have been ordered to stand trial on charges of furnishing the late model with drugs. After a three week preliminary hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J Perry ruled there is enough evidence to require Stern, 40, and physicians Khristine Eroshevich, 61, and Sandeep Kapoor, 41, to stand trial.

They are charged with conspiring to illegally provide controlled substances to Smith. All three have pleaded not guilty. The decision came after Judge Perry took home a 45-minute video to watch that purportedly showed Anna Nicole under the influence of drugs provided by her lawyer-boyfriend.

After it was announced that the three will stand trial, Anna Nicole Smith's mother Virgie Arthurs said she was 'thrilled' with the court's ruling. A friend of Virgie revealed: "She is absolutely thrilled with the judge's decision. All she has ever wanted is justice."
Smith, 39, died from an accidental prescription drug overdose on February 8, 2007, after unsuccessful efforts to revive her in a Florida hotel room.

A California judge on Friday ordered the boyfriend and two doctors for former Playboy model and actress Anna Nicole Smith to stand trial on charges of fueling her addiction to prescription drugs.

Smith, 39, died from a prescription drug overdose in February 2007.

Her longtime boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, is charged with 11 felony counts, including dispensing a controlled substance to an addict and obtaining a prescription for opiates by deceit.

Doctors Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor each face six felony counts, including unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance to an addict. All three defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit a crime.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry's decision on Friday to order Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor to stand trial follows more than two weeks of lurid testimony that, in the court's view, established there was sufficient evidence to merit a criminal trial.

The famously buxom blond Smith died in Hollywood, Florida, shortly after the birth of her daughter and the death of her adult son, also from a drug overdose.

She was a Guess jeans model who gained fame by marrying an 89-year-old billionaire oil tycoon when she was 26.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Todd Eastham)

Once Anna Nicole Smith’s found out she was pregnant, she attempted to go “cold turkey” for her addiction to prescription pills back in 2006.

But after trying, she went back to the habit and began again, claimed a psychiatrist who treated her and who testified on Monday.

Dr. Nathalie Maullin prescribed hospitalization for the former Playboy playmate. She spoke out in court in the trial against Smith’s lawyer and boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, and two doctors, who prosecutors believe gave her illegal drugs.

Maullin said, “She said, I’ll do anything for my baby.”

Smith passed away in February of 2007 and was given substitute drugs to hopefully wean her off her love for prescription medications. When she tried to give them up completely and go into psychological sessions, she stormed out of treatment altogether.

Dr. Maullin added, “She was very hostile. It was, ‘Give me my medications and leave me alone.”

Maullin also testified that when Smith refused to join an outpatient program or go to rehab, Stern asked her if it was really necessary.

Prosecutors alleged in a Los Angeles hearing that model Anna Nicole Smith was taking 44 different medications prior to her death in 2007.

The hearing followed a two-year investigation into the Playboy model's death. It was held to determine whether Howard K. Stern, Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor should face felony charges in connection with Smith's death, People.com reported Friday.

Stern, 40, has pleaded innocent to charges ranging from deceit or misrepresentation to conspiracy to commit a crime. Stern was Smith's attorney and former partner.

Eroshevich, 61, and Kapoor, 41, are physicians facing charges of unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance, prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict, and conspiracy to commit a crime for allegedly providing Smith with the medications.

Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose alleges all three defendants gave Smith -- who died of an acute combination of toxic drugs at age 39 -- the medications despite knowing she was an addict.

"It's like putting a gun in the hand of someone who is suicidal and saying don't pull the trigger," Rose said in court this week.

Larry Birkhead, the father of Anna Nicole Smith's child, is expected to testify in a preliminary hearing for the Los Angeles trial of Howard K. Stern, Khristine Eroshevich, and Sandeep Kapoor.

Birkhead, who sensationally proved his paternity to Dannielynn Hope, will testify on behalf of the prosecution in a case that brings multiple charges against Stern and two doctors to the late Smith, alleging drug infringements.

An insider said: "Larry just wants to get this over with. He will honestly answer all questions asked to him, by both sides. Larry has nothing to hide. It's very painful for him to have to relive the last few months of Anna's life. Larry is committed to raising their daughter, Dannielynn."
Dannielynn was said to be "absolutely flourishing" in the single-parent care of her father.

A government investigator testified that Anna Nicole Smith, 39, was in a shocking state in the days before her death from a fatal drug overdose on February 8, 2007. California Department of Justice investigator Danny Santiago told a Los Angeles court that witnesses said Smith was unable to walk on her own. She arrived at a Florida hotel on February 5, with her then boyfriend Howard K. Stern helping her, he said a detective told him.
"He [the detective] said she was being supported by Mr Stern. He was holding her as they walked through the lobby. He said she wasn't her usual vivacious self. She seemed down and was possibly ill." Stern, along with doctors Sandeep Kapoor and Khristina Eroshevich, stands accused of conspiring to provide Smith with illegal drugs.

The three have pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges. Stern also told investigators Smith had complained of flu-like symptoms and was being treated with Tamiflu by Eroshevich, who had the suite next door, Santiago said. Santiago said Tasma Brighthaupt, a registered nurse and the wife of Smith's bodyguard, was seated at her bedside but did not notice when Smith's lips were blue and her body was discoloured.
By the time the hotel sent someone to check on Smith, "she was laying on the ground and Maurice Brighthaupt was giving her CPR", Santiago said. Stern sat forward in his chair with his head in his hands for some of the testimony at the preliminary hearing.

Tragic Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith was investigated by the FBI over a plot to kill her tycoon husband's son, it has emerged. Newly-released files show the famously curvy blonde, who was battling E Pierce Marshall over his late father's oil fortune, was probed by investigators in 2000 and 2001 over an apparent murder-for-hire plot.

According to the FBI files, a revolver was recovered from Smith's home during the investigation, as well as a three-and-a-half-inch knife. Ultimately, prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to charge Smith, who died in 2007 from a drugs overdose.

E Pierce Marshall has also since died. During an interview with agents on July 3, 2000, "Smith began crying and denied ever making such plans," a report said.
"Smith adamantly denied ever contemplating such a crime," an agent wrote. Smith's estate attorney has expressed surprise at the allegations, while representatives for Marshall's estate would not comment.