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Britney Spears fights father’s fee claim, alleging financial misconduct

A lawyer for Britney Spears, in an effort to thwart her father’s demand that she pay his legal bills, claimed in court papers filed on Tuesday that her father and others involved with her conservatorship had committed myriad financial improprieties over several years.

MOVIES
In ‘Munich — The Edge of War,’ peace is hard to come by
George MacKay and Jeremy Irons star in this Netflix adaptation of Robert Harris’s best-selling historical thriller.

TELEVISION
Attempts at hangout comedy fall short in ‘How I Met Your Father’
Hulu’s strange and disappointing twist on the “How I Met Your Mother” formula is a clumsy blend of obvious rom-com tropes, strained efforts to be racy and current, forced character types, and laugh track cackles.

Grammy Awards move to April in Las Vegas
The 64th annual Grammy Awards will take place on April 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the show’s organizers announced on Tuesday.

Boy Harsher’s new music sounded like a soundtrack to something. So they made a horror film.

The result is “The Runner,” a short horror film the Northampton electronic duo directed and produced last summer as part of a project that also yielded an accompanying album.

‘Vernacular Glamour’ excavates the material world

Artists use opulence to reflect on identity at Cambridge Art Association’s Kathryn Schultz Gallery.
STAGE REVIEW

Lasting lessons in Lyric Stage’s ‘Mr. Parent’

In his deep-from-the-heart solo show, stage actor Maurice Emmanuel Parent explores his five-year stint as a teacher in the Boston Public Schools.

MORE RECENT ARTS HEADLINES

In "Encanto," Mirabel is voiced by Stephanie Beatriz and Bruno by John Leguizamo. The Disney film's soundtrack has landed four songs in Billboard's Hot 100, including “We Don’t Talk About Bruno."

How ‘Encanto’ and its vibrant soundtrack became a phenomenon

The soundtrack lighting up the charts, with the showstopping earworm “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” leading the way.

MATTHEW GILBERT | YOUR TV GPS
The Oscars haven't yet named a host for this year's March 27 show. Steve Martin (left) and Martin Short could handle the task with aplomb, but so could many others.

This week’s TV: ‘Ozark’ is back, ‘How I Met Your Father’ arrives, and who should host the Oscars?

The Oscars haven't named a host yet, but we have some ideas, plus a peek at what's new on TV this week, including the first batch of episodes from the final season of "Ozark."

Ariana DeBose.

SNL is back from winter break and Ariana DeBose used her Broadway talents as host

Everyone needs a bit of Broadway in their lives right now, and Ariana DeBose offered just that on Saturday Night Live.

MUSIC
Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performed Liszt's Second Piano Concerto with the BSO led by music director Andris Nelsons on Jan.13, 2022.

Glimpsing what a new era at the BSO might bring

Thursday’s concert in Symphony Hall included an American premiere — and food for thought about how the orchestra must expand its artistic vision not only in the Berkshires but right here at home.

Rendering of “The Embrace,” the memorial monument and plaza dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King on Boston Common. The completed project, created by Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group, will be installed early next year.

‘The Embrace,’ Boston’s long-awaited tribute to the Kings, will be unveiled on MLK Day 2023

Supply chain issues and COVID-19 led King Boston to push the memorial's unveiling back. But the Embrace Festival will take place this year.

TELEVISION
A scene from "A Reckoning in Boston."

A film, and a filmmaker, transformed in ‘A Reckoning in Boston’

On Monday at 10 p.m. on GBH 2, the film will have its PBS premiere as part of the “Independent Lens” series.

A history of addiction in ‘The Urge’

“The Urge” is one of those hybrid history/memoirs that illuminates an important subject through personal experience. Carl Erik Fisher digs deep into the history of addiction. He uses sociology, literature, criminology, and, yes, psychology, to explore how societal attitudes have fluctuated through the centuries, from condemning addicts as deadbeats to treating addiction as a disease.

BOOKS
The headquarters of Insys Therapeutics, in Chandler, Ariz., in 2014.

‘The Hard Sell’ is a vivid tale of opioid firm showcased at Boston trial

Author Evan Hughes presents a tightly focused and insightful account of how Insys Therapeutics, a company that went public in the most successful IPO of 2013, ended up a poster child for corporate greed and chicanery.

Lisa Gardner.

Lisa Gardner: She reads for story, not genre

Inspired by her own hiking obsession, best-selling writer Lisa Gardner set her newest, “One Step Too Far,” in the wilds of Wyoming where her anti-heroine Frankie Elkin goes searching for a missing young man. This is the second in Gardner’s newest series about Elkin, a recovering alcoholic obsessed with cracking cold cases. She talked with us about her own reading habits.

After a loss, learning to live

"Tides," Sara Freeman's debut novel, ponders grief and memory.

BOOKS
Bernardine Evaristo

Bernardine Evaristo manifests ‘Manifesto’

The Booker Prize-winning novelist gets personal with a new memoir about creativity, ambition, and love.

NEW ENGLAND LITERARY NEWS
Sketch for Ed Emberley's "Drawing Book of Animals."

A poet’s inviting new collection, drawing lessons, and speaking for the silenced

A roundup of bookish news from around the region.

BOOKINGS
Author Jacquelyn Mitchard.

Author readings around Boston Jan. 16-22

All author appearances are virtual unless otherwise noted.

BOOKS

Local bestsellers for the week ending Jan. 9

Based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the New England Independent Booksellers Association and IndieBound.

MATTHEW GILBERT
Mackenzie Davis as Kirsten in "Station Eleven," with the titular graphic novel.

In ‘Station Eleven,’ the arts outlast an apocalypse

I’ve fallen into the show despite being exhausted by the dystopia genre. It’s an appropriate story at this moment, embracing new life more than it grieves what has been lost.

TELEVISION
Steve Carell (pictured in 2018) will play a psychotherapist held prisoner by a serial killer in "The Patient."

Steve Carell provides therapy under duress in ‘The Patient’

Carell will play a psychotherapist being held prisoner by a serial killer, played by Domhnall Gleeson. The twist: The killer wants the therapist, whose wife recently died, to help him curb his homicidal compulsions.

Part of an artistically accomplished family, Erika Lambe has two roles in ‘Anthony Williams’ Urban Nutcracker’

Twenty years ago, Lambe was the first Black dancer cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Boston Ballet’s production. Today, she’s working to change the culture of ballet.

Rachel Dratch heads to Yuletown, Maine, for ‘A Clüsterfünke Christmas’

The Lexington native and fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Ana Gasteyer collaborate on a spoof of Hallmark Christmas movies. The farcical parody premieres Dec. 4 on Comedy Central.

Jane Lynch and friends are swinging by with some toe-tappin’ Christmas tunes
Joined by Kate Flannery, Tim Davis, and the Tony Guerrero Quintet, the actress and singer will bring a yuletide cabaret act to City Winery for two December shows.

20 family-friendly events to put you in the holiday spirit

The whole family can enjoy these holiday festivities, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve.

‘It tests our emotions’: The wonder of ‘Messiah’ returns to Boston

Handel and Haydn Society artistic director Harry Christophers will conduct the world’s most popular oratorio for his final season. Plus, a look at where to see the customary sing-ins.

Laying down arms, lifting voices in song in ‘All Is Calm’

The documentary musical at Greater Boston Stage Company recounts a spontaneous truce on a French battlefield during World War I that began when a German soldier started singing “Silent Night.”

10 TV shows that bring the holidays home

From a Waltons reboot, to a Kelly Clarkson Christmas special, to some very good dogs, here are some of highlights of the season.

Explore all our holiday arts critics' picks

6 places to find art, craftsmanship, and holiday gifts

10 traditional holiday treasures and shiny new productions on area stages

10 dance highlights to look forward to this season

8 classical concerts Yule be sure to enjoy

10 holiday concert picks for pop music fans