John Malkovich to perform at Barbican, and other top stories...

John Malkovich is to star in a play at the Barbican next year, playing a real-life Austrian serial killer. Jack Unterweger was imprisoned for murdering prostitutes, but was released following a campaign by authority figures who considered him a model of rehabilitation. His reintegration with society didn't pan out though. The play is destined to be a grisly one. The Barbican had its most successful year ever in 2009, and its future programme also features a new version of Gyorgy Kurtag's Kafka Fragments...

The Doors' Jim Morrison was a poetic genius. That's why he used the lyrical refrain ‘Mr Mojo Rising' - an anagram of his own name, would you believe.  Not one to miss an opportunity to air his rock credentials, Johnny Depp will recite Morrison's verses across fifteen tracks of an upcoming soundtrack album, recorded to compliment a documentary about the singer. Depp, who originally moved to LA to pursue a music career, has previously collaborated with members of Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Butthole Surfers. He also narrates the documentary, which is entitled When You're Strange. Deep, man...

Playboy centrefold and notorious celebrity train wreck Anna Nicole Smith is to have her life turned into an opera, which will make its debut at the Royal Opera House next year. Smith died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in 2007. The production has been co-written by Mark-Anthony Turnage who was responsible for the successful and controversial Jerry Springer: The Opera. Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek will play Smith.  It's unclear at present who will play J. Howard Marshall, the oil tycoon 63 years Smith's senior who she married in 1994...