People & Entertainment

The Boss gets nod to play at Super Bowl halftime

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa, Fla., the NFL and NBC announced Sunday night.

Continuing a run of major talent that has lately included the Rolling Stones, U2, Paul McCartney, Prince and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the biggest television event in the nation will showcase one of its most beloved rock 'n' roll artists. The Super Bowl will be played Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium.

The 2008 Super Bowl show was watched by more than 148 million viewers in the U.S., the NFL said in its release. It wasn't always that way: For years, the game's halftime show was made up of local and college marching bands and drill teams.

McCready heading to jail

Country singer Mindy McCready will surrender to authorities today to begin serving a 60-day sentence for violating her probation on a 2004 drug charge.

McCready's deal with Williamson County, Tenn., prosecutors was announced yesterday by her attorney, Lee Ofman.

The 32-year-old singer was accused in June of falsifying her community service records and charged with violating her probation.

McCready received a suspended three-year sentence in 2004 for fraudulently obtaining prescription painkillers.

A piece of Glass

The New York City Opera yesterday announced it has commissioned Baltimore native Philip Glass to compose an opera that imagines the final months in the life of Walt Disney.

The opera, The Perfect American, is based on a recent novel by the American-born writer Peter Stephan Jungk. It will open City Opera's 2012-2013 season and honor the composer's 75th birthday.

Ready to rumble

The highly anticipated revival of West Side Story has found a theater and set an opening date on Broadway.

The classic New York musical about the Sharks, the Jets and the ill-fated love affair involving two people caught between the gangs will open March 19 at the Palace Theatre. Preview performances begin there Feb. 23. Casting will be announced shortly.

The show, which has music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, will play an out-of-town engagement Dec. 15-Jan. 17 at Washington's National Theatre. Laurents will direct and Joey McKneely will restage Jerome Robbins' original choreography.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS

Author Elie Wiesel, 80.

Singer Johnny Mathis, 73.

Actor Len Cariou, 69.

Actor John Finn, 56.

Actress Fran Drescher is 51.

Actress Marion Cotillard, 33.

Rapper T-Pain, 24.