newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Kinky Boots’ begins national tour in Vegas

NEW YORK

Fresh off its Tony Award-winning night, “Kinky Boots” is planning a national tour that will kick off in Las Vegas in September.

Producers said Thursday the tour will start at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

No other cities were announced, but producer Daryl Roth said in a statement it will go “from coast to coast.”

“Kinky Boots” is based on a real-life shoe factory that struggles until it finds new life in drag footwear. It has songs by Cyndi Lauper and a story by Harvey Fierstein. It won six Tonys on Sunday, including best musical.

Rupert Murdoch files for divorce

LOS ANGELES

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from Wendi Deng Murdoch, his wife since 1999, citing a breakdown in the relationship. The matter doesn’t alter the succession plan for the media company, which the 82-year-old founder controls through a family trust.

Murdoch filed a one-page document Thursday indicating that he was opening a divorce case in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

A News Corp. spokesperson confirmed the filing.

A sealed document with the filing says, “The relationship between the husband and wife has broken down irretrievably,” according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter was personal.

The couple are parents to two daughters, Grace, 11, and Chloe, 9. The girls have no voting stake in the company, but they are beneficiaries of 8.7 million nonvoting shares that are held in a trust.

Wendi Deng Murdoch, 44, also has nonvoting shares.

Murdoch controls nearly 40 percent of the voting shares of News Corp. through a separate family trust.

He has four other children from two previous marriages, including three who have active roles within the company: James, Lachlan and Elisabeth.

Sarah Palin back at Fox News Channel

NEW YORK

Sarah Palin is rejoining Fox News Channel.

The network said Thursday that the former Republican vice- presidential candidate has signed on as a contributor to Fox and the Fox Business Network.

Her first appearance is scheduled for Monday on the “Fox & Friends” morning show — on the same day CNN is premiering a morning show to great fanfare.

Fox and Palin parted ways in January after she had worked there for three years as a contributor. They had talked about renewing their contract, but it didn’t happen. Money may have been a factor: Palin was signed for a reported $1 million a year when she originally joined Fox less than two years after being John McCain’s running mate.

Vindicator wire services