People talk 8/12

Jessica Simpson, hubby croon through show

Jessica Simpson took the stage at a launch party for her new CD with perhaps her biggest fan.

The 23-year-old singer crooned about love and loss with fellow singer and husband, Nick Lachey.

Lachey, of the boy band 98 Degrees, also performed a few songs from his new solo album "Soulo," which will be released Sept. 9.

About 500 family, friends and radio contest winners attended the party at The Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas. Simpson sang a handful of songs from her new album, "In This Skin," set for release Aug. 19.

"It's all about telling that person you're madly in love with ... them before they walk out that door," said Simpson in introducing the song "I Have Loved You."

Lachey, 29, sang a ballad titled "This I Swear," which he said describes the ultimate kind of love he and Simpson share.

"She's never looked better. She's never sounded better," Lachey said of his wife. "It's definitely her time."

The couple's reality show, "Newlyweds," debuts Aug. 19 on MTV.

Prince nabs deer, angers animal lovers

Animal welfare campaigners have condemned Prince William for reportedly spearing a small antelope during his vacation in Kenya.

"William the deer killer sparks fury," read a headline in the Daily Express tabloid Monday.

"Bad Will Hunting," added the Daily Mirror, in a pun on the 1997 movie starring Matt Damon.

St. James's Palace declined to comment on the report in the Mail on Sunday that William crept up behind a 14 inch-high dik-dik, a small antelope native to Africa, during a hunting trip last week after taking lessons from a Maasai warrior.

"We do not comment on the prince's private life," said a palace spokesman on customary condition of anonymity.

The newspaper's report -- headlined "William Kills Bambi deer with Maasai warrior spear" -- said the prince experimented with the spear, made from acacia wood and fashioned with a metal tip, by targeting tree trunks in a village clearing.

"Then we took him out hunting and he crept up like we do on the first prey he saw, a fully grown dik-dik. Using the Maasai's silent approach, he followed it, took aim and speared it in one go," the newspaper quoted Legei, a tribal village elder, as saying.

Jonathan Owen, spokesman for the World Society for the Protection of Animals said: "We only know what we have been told about this by the press, but one's first thought is, why would somebody feel the need to kill an animal while on holiday, and why do it in a way which has a very high chance of being quite inhumane."

Members of the royal family, including the prince's father, Prince Charles, have been criticized in the past for their support of fox hunting in Britain.

Acting veteran takes on Wizard of Oz role

Joel Grey is getting "Wicked."

The Tony- and Oscar-winning actor will join the cast of the $14 million, Broadway-bound musical when it opens this fall at the Gershwin Theatre.

Grey, 71, best known for his role as the master of ceremonies in the stage and screen versions of "Cabaret," will portray the Wizard of Oz. He replaces Robert Morse in the musical, which completed an out-of-town tryout in San Francisco this summer.

"Robert was not comfortable ... being away from his wife and two young children for the three months devoted to New York rehearsals and San Francisco performances," producer David Stone said Monday. "He decided that he did not want to leave his family on the West Coast for an additional 12 months to fulfill his Broadway contract."

"Wicked," which has a score by Stephen Schwartz, is based on the cult novel by Gregory Maguire and tells the story of Glinda and Elphaba, the witches from the Frank L. Baum classic. Kristin Chenoweth plays Glinda and Idina Menzel plays Elphaba. Joe Mantello ("Take Me Out") is the director.

The California reviews for "Wicked" were mixed. The San Francisco Chronicle, while praising its stars, suggested the musical "still needs some wizardry.

-- From wire reports