Opera superstar Placido Domingo joined forces and stars of New York's Metropolitan Opera to help the three-year-old daughter of a chorus singer suffering from a rare disease.

"Songs for Sophia", a medley of Broadway tunes and opera arias, was intended to help raise money for research into "second skeleton" disease, which freezes the body by turning tissue into bone.

"It's very important to find a solution quickly. We are here singing for love," Domingo said at the Waldorf-Astoria benefit for research on fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, which is incurable.

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INXS planning Tim Rice tour

The surviving members of INXS are to tour as part of Tim Rice's Musical Spectacular in Australia in April.

The band will only be playing songs written by Sir Tim, which include numbers from Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Lion King.

"We've never done anything quite like this before," said INXS member Tim Farriss at a Sydney press conference. "It is a really interesting and challenging concept," he added.

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McCartney welcomes Heinz news

Food manufacturer Heinz says that it is considering marketing Linda McCartney ready meals across the world.

The news was welcomed by Sir Paul McCartney who said: "This is what Linda would have wanted... to share her pioneering vision with a food giant."

Linda McCartney, who died from breast cancer in 1998. launched her own vegetarian range of meals in 1991.

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Cuts for American Psycho movie

A sex scene in British actor Christian Bale's new movie American Psycho is to be cut after US censors gave the picture an adult rating.

The film's producers are trying to avoid an NC-17 rating because it will mean that no one under the age of 17 can be admitted and many newspapers and magazines won't accept advertising.

American Psycho is based on Brett Easton Ellis's controversial 1993 novel about a killer in 1980s Manhattan and is due for release in the US in April.

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Pacino set for Broadway comeback

Hollywood star Al Pacino has reportedly turned down several big film offers to return to the New York stage, with the title role in the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex.

The Oscar-winning actor, who turns 60 this year, will star as the tortured king alongside Mary Beth Hurt, Dianne Wiest and David Strathairn.

Estelle Parsons will direct using WB Yeats's English translation of the play - last seen on Broadway in 1946 with Laurence Olivier starring as Oedipus.

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Ready Steady's Fern quits series

Fern Britton, presenter of the BBC's Ready Steady Cook, has announced that she is leaving the hit cookery show.

The 41-year-old mum of three revealed her decision at a party to mark the end of filming on the latest series.

"After a fantastic five-and-a-half years and a great deal of fun it's time to step down, pursue other ventures and see my family," Fern told the Mirror newspaper. Her final series of Ready Steady Cook will be screened in March.

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Ex-EastEnder Ross eyes gay role

Former EastEnders star Ross Kemp, who played tough guy Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap, says he is keen to break with his hard image and consider totally different roles.

In an interview for this month's She magazine, the 35-year-old actor admitted he got sick of playing Grant and he added that he was interested in doing a gay role.

"I would be up for doing a gay part. I've been in discussions about a project about a gay guy in the Army."

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McGowan makes impression on BBC

Scottish comedian Alistair McGowan has been signed up by BBC One to make a self-titled spoof and impressionist series.

Last year's successful pilot of Alistair McGowan's Big Impressions saw the comic impersonating 30 celebrities including David Beckham and Hugh Grant.

A "delighted" BBC One controller Peter Salmon said: "Where else could we get a cast of hundreds from just one person?"

The new series is expected to include spoofs of Gary Lineker and Tom Cruise.