Quick Takes: Bon Jovi rocks hunger

Jon Bon Jovi’s “pay-what-you-can” charity restaurant in New Jersey is open for business.

The rocker said Wednesday that Soul Kitchen in Red Bank is designed to help the hungry without the stigma of a soup kitchen.

There are no prices on the menu. Diners pay whatever they’re able to. Those without money can still eat provided they’re willing to work in the restaurant or perform some community service.

The restaurant operates out of a former auto body shop near the Red Bank, N.J., train station. The rocker’s charitable foundation is subsidizing it.

—Associated Press

Peter Pan tale is Broadway-bound

Disney’s prequel to “Peter Pan” is flying to Broadway.

Producers said Wednesday that “Peter and the Starcatcher,” the first play commissioned by Disney, will be staged in the spring. It was last seen off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop, where it earned five Drama Desk nominations.

The new cast and theater will be announced later.

The play is written by Tony Award nominee Rick Elice, based on “Peter and the Starcatchers” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.

—Associated Press

McMurtry visits Harper’s pages

Larry McMurtry’s newest job is not writing books but writing about them.

The author of “Lonesome Dove,” “Terms of Endearment” and other novels is stepping in for an indefinite period as the “New Books” columnist for Harper’s Magazine.

The publication announced Wednesday that McMurtry’s first column will appear in the issue that arrives next week.

McMurtry is filling in for “White Teeth” novelist Zadie Smith, who is on temporary leave.

—Associated Press

Newton will open door soon

Las Vegas icon Wayne Newton said a yearlong effort to turn his sprawling Sin City estate, Casa de Shenandoah, into a tourist destination is almost complete.

A promotional tour is expected to begin next month and Newton said he hopes to offer the first public tours by February.

Visitors will be able to survey the singer’s collection of European antiques and celebrity mementos — including Nat King Cole’s watch, a Johnny Cash guitar and a champagne glass used by Frank Sinatra to toast Newton.

A museum, theater, visitors’ center and other attractions were being added to the property. And revised building plans submitted last month call for expanding the museum space and theater, where Newton will perform at least occasionally.

Newton received permission last year to turn his lavish home into a tourist venue after a bruising battle in which his neighbors said they didn’t want tour buses invading the largely residential neighborhood where the “Danke Schöen” singer built his 10,000-square-foot home decades ago.

The 40-acre estate features South African penguins, Arabian horses, Impressionist paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir and 17th century antiques collected from European castles.

Newton, his wife and their daughter are expected to move into a smaller house on the property, ceding the main house to the public.

—Associated Press

J.Lo-Anthony series inks deals

Jennifer Lopez’s and ex-hubby Marc Anthony’s talent competition series “¡Q’Viva! The Chosen” will premiere in the U.S. next year on Univision.

The two — along with the show’s producer, XIX Entertainment, the company of “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller — have sold the show to 21 broadcast networks internationally, with the first three deals announced Wednesday for the United States, Mexico and Colombia.

Univision, the top-rated Spanish-language broadcast network, plans to air the series in one-hour weekly episodes.

“¡Q’Viva! The Chosen,” which is currently being shot in Spanish, Portuguese and English, will document Lopez and Anthony as they travel around Latin America and tap into the talent pool of performers.

—Yvonne Villarreal

NYC film critics move date ahead

The New York Film Critics Circle announced Wednesday that it will hand out its annual awards, including its selection for the best film of the year, on Nov. 28, two full weeks ahead of the usual date, in an effort to garner more attention for its choices.

The move preempts the selections by the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., bodies that usually make their picks ahead of the New York group.

The National Board of Review, which historically has been the first to reveal its top picks of the year, will make its selection public Dec. 1, three days after the New York Film Critics Circle announces its choices.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. is planning to announce its picks on Dec. 11 or 12.

—Nicole Sperling