‘High School Musical 3’ to begin shooting soon

Salt Lake City – The “High School Musical” gang is returning to Utah this month for its senior year.

Unlike its predecessors, the third installment in the series will be filmed during the school year at East High School in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen says setting up will begin in a couple weeks and shooting will start toward the end of the month. He says much of the filming for “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” will take place before and after school to minimize disruptions.

Winfrey ‘changed’ by show on puppy mills

Chicago – Oprah Winfrey plans to dedicate a show investigating abuses at puppy mills to her cocker spaniel, Sophie, who died last month from kidney failure.

“Sophie gave me 13 years of unconditional love. She was a true love in my life,” Winfrey says on the broadcast scheduled to air Friday. (Advance remarks from the show were released Tuesday by Harpo Productions.)

The show features special correspondent Lisa Ling investigating puppy mills, which Ling calls “horrific” and “haunting.”

Winfrey says the show is “for anybody anywhere who loves a dog, has ever loved a dog, or just cares about their basic right to humane treatment.”

While Sophie was not a product of a puppy mill, and Winfrey’s three current dogs were adopted from breeders, Winfrey says in the future she would look to adopt from an animal shelter.

“I would never, ever adopt another pet now without going to a shelter to do it. I am a changed woman after seeing this show,” she says.

TV, radio actors union to start negotiations

Los Angeles – The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists says it will start contract talks with Hollywood producers on April 28.

In an announcement Wednesday, the union said it decided to push back its negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers to give the Screen Actors Guild time to work out a separate deal with studios.

The talks involving the Screen Actors Guild are scheduled to begin April 15.

The two unions had for decades negotiated together with producers, even while sniping at each other over who better represents some 44,000 actors who are members of both groups.

Last weekend, the union representing TV and radio artists decided to sever that negotiating arrangement.

Gabriel Byrne to appear in ‘Camelot’

New York – From tortured psychotherapist to … King Arthur?

Gabriel Byrne – who has won raves and plenty of female fans for his work on the HBO series “In Treatment” – will play the lead in the New York Philharmonic’s concert performance of “Camelot” May 7-10 at Lincoln Center.

The May 8 show at Avery Fisher Hall will be broadcast nationally on PBS.

The Tony-winning “Camelot,” with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, first appeared on Broadway in 1960.

Byrne, 57, will perform opposite Marin Mazzie (who recently appeared on Broadway in “Spamalot”) as Guenevere.

‘Idol’ contestant goes to hospital after show

Los Angeles – A producer for “American Idol” says contestant David Cook went to the hospital because of heart palpitations after appearing on the show.

Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe said Wednesday that the 25-year-old from Oklahoma had heart palpitations and high blood pressure near the end of Tuesday night’s show.

Lythgoe says Cook was treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and did not require continued care.

Cook returned for Wednesday night’s castoff show.

He received good reviews Tuesday night for his version of Dolly Parton’s “Little Sparrow.”

Mariah Carey surpasses Elvis in No. 1 songs

Los Angeles – With her 18th chart-topper “Touch My Body,” Mariah Carey has passed Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and is now second only to the Beatles.

But while the diva was in full celebration mode after learning of her latest milestone, she was also quick to put her accomplishment in perspective.

“I really can never put myself in the category of people who have not only revolutionized music but also changed the world,” Carey told The Associated Press on Tuesday via phone from London. “That’s a completely different era and time … I’m just feeling really happy and grateful.”

Carey’s single is the new No. 1 single on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart: The song also is No. 1 on the trade magazine’s digital download chart thanks to a precedent-setting 286,000 downloads in its debut week.

She had been tied with Presley with 17 No. 1 singles; the Beatles are the all-time leaders with 20.

(Madonna also beat a Presley record this week, surpassing the King for the most top 10 hits with her 37th for her hit “4 Minutes.”)