Thompson to debut on NY stage

    Emma Thompson will tread the boards in New York for the first time, taking on the juicy* role of Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s 1979 musical masterwork, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

    But theater lovers hoping for a Broadway appearance by the two-time Oscar winner will have to settle for a production playing just four performances. The musical is being staged as a special event by the New York Philharmonic, running March 5-8, 2014, at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.

    ‘Pascha’ wins at Busan fest

    Movies from South Korea and Mongolia have won US$30,000 New Currents Awards for emerging filmmakers at Asia’s largest film festival.

    Busan International Film Festival organizers said on Saturday that the festival’s biggest prizes went to “Pascha” by South Korean director Ahn Seonkyoung and “Remote Control” by Mongolia’s Sakhya Byamba. It’s the first time a Mongolian movie entered and won the competition in the festival’s 18 years.

    Swift opens education center

    Pop star Taylor Swift opened her US$4 million Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday morning, and accepted her record sixth songwriter-artist of the year award from Nashville Songwriters Association International on Sunday.

    Swift cut the ribbon* on the new education center she donated to the museum as part of its expansion campaign and showed reporters and area high school students the new classroom and exhibit space before the museum opened.

    Edward Norton to host ‘SNL’

    Edward Norton is heading to “Saturday Night Live.”

    The Oscar-nominated actor is set to host the October 26 broadcast, with singer Janelle Monae serving as musical guest. This will be Norton’s first time hosting the late-night series, though he did appear in a VH1 sketch in 1999 and also popped up during Salma Hayek’s opening monologue* in 2003. It will be Monae’s first time performing on the show as well.

    Norton will next be seen in Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” set for release sometime next year. (SD-Agencies)