Names and faces

LITTLE ROCK — Keith Urban is trying to make his fans and his family happy this summer. The multiplatinum country star is hitting the road June 16 on a 44-city arena tour in the U.S. with a schedule that gives him time to be with his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, and their 2-year old daughter, Sunday Rose. “The thing is with balance, it’s never achieved. It’s just maintained,” Urban said of his family and career demands. “It’s maintained based on Nic’s and my ability to stay present and make the adjustments as we go.” Urban said he purposely structures a tour so he’s not gone for months at a time. He plays for two or three nights, goes home for a few days, then heads back out again. Urban said the short breaks make his shows better, too, because he really wants to be there. “I think we should never be going through the motions up there if we can avoid it,” he said. The “Get Closer” tour kicks off in Mobile, Ala., and will make stops in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Nashville. The tour will feature a new stage production and songs from his just-released sixth album.

The man known to television fans worldwide as Dr.Jack Shephard from Lost is set to debut on the British stage. Matthew Fox led a cast of marooned travelers for nearly six years on the television series Lost but will now lead a cast of two: He will play Bobby, a crass American carpenter in the inaugural production of In a Forest, Dark and Deep by Tony Award-nominated playwright Neil LaBute. Forest will center on the sibling rivalry between Bobby and his university dean sister, Betty. Betty will be played by Olivia Williams, the British actress known for her roles in movies such as The Sixth Sense and The Ghost Writer. The production will debut in March at the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End.