Opera singer is rehired

Opera singer is rehired
LONDON -- An American soprano fired by the Royal Opera House because of her weight has been rehired after undergoing stomach surgery and losing 135 pounds, her spokeswoman and the prestigious theater said Sunday.
Deborah Voigt, one of the world's top opera singers, lost her part in Richard Strauss' "Ariadne on Naxos" in 2004 because the Royal Opera House decided a slimmer singer would be better.
She now has a contract to return to the role in the 2007-08 season, a Royal Opera spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the house does not officially announce its casts so far in advance.
"She's very, very excited," Voigt's spokesman Albert Imperato said in New York. "She's just definitely felt like, 'I've not had a chance to really build my career in London, it's a major opera capital.' It was very sad for her that she didn't get a chance to do Ariadne originally."
Imperato said he did not know how much Voigt had weighed before the surgery.
Voigt had gastric bypass surgery in June 2004. When she disclosed it the following March, she said she had worn size 30 clothes at her heaviest and her goal was a size 12.
Nielsen's No. 5 is official
NEW YORK -- Brigitte Nielsen can call it legal now.
The model and actress married her fifth husband, Mattia Dessi, on Saturday -- 17 months after a ceremony that wasn't legal because she hadn't finished divorcing No. 4, People magazine reported on its Web site.
The ceremony last year between Nielsen, 42, and Dessi, a 28-year-old Italian former model, was "more like an official engagement," said Nielsen's manager, Luigi Balduini.
They officially tied the knot in Malta, People reported. Their earlier ceremony took place in the Dominican Republic, while Nielsen was still married to former race-car driver Raoul Meyer.
Today's birthdays
"Mr. Wizard" Don Herbert is 89. Eunice Kennedy Shriver is 85. Actor William Smithers is 79. Broadway composer Jerry Herman is 73. Actor Ron Glass is 61. Actress Sue Lyon is 60. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 59. Rock singer Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) is 52. Banjo player Bela Fleck is 48. Actor Adrian Grenier is 30. Singer-actress Jessica Simpson is 26.