NEWARK, N.J. — Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder will sing at the private funeral of Whitney Houston on Saturday in what promises to be a very musical service.

Publicist Kristen Foster also confirmed that invitations went out to Houston’s ex-husband, Bobby Brown; her co-star in “The Bodyguard,” Kevin Costner; and Oprah Winfrey.

Houston’s longtime musical mentor, Clive Davis, will speak at the funeral. The eulogy will be given by gospel singer and longtime family friend Marvin Winans.

Others who will be part of the program include Donnie McClurkin, Tyler Perry, Kim Burrell, Rickey Minor, Alicia Keys, Dionne Warwick and Cece Winans, Foster said. The Queen of Soul was a close family friend and considered Houston her goddaughter; she said in an email Thursday that Houston used to call her “Aunt Ree.”

Organizers were getting the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark ready Thursday for the funeral. Drums and speakers, which were to be part of the musical service, were in the aisles.

Fans without invitations will be kept far away. Newark police say streets will be shut down for six square blocks around the church.

But on Thursday, there were several dozen fans outside, contributing to and taking pictures of the makeshift memorial to the superstar outside the church. Media were also outside of the venue.

Houston died Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif., at the age of 48.

‘Colbert Report’ replaced by repeat episodes

NEW YORK – Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” is off the air and it’s a mystery why.

An expected new episode of the show was replaced by a repeat Wednesday. Comedy Central said Thursday’s live show was off, too.

The network said it was airing the repeats “due to unforeseen circumstances,” but offered no other explanation.

A person close to the show, who wasn’t authorized to speak publically on the matter, told The Associated Press that new episodes are expected to return soon.

A publicist for host Stephen Colbert declined to comment.

Colbert’s popular “fake commentary” program airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30 p.m. ET, following “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.

Penn criticizes field of GOP candidates

CARACAS, Venezuela – Actor Sean Penn criticized Republican presidential candidates during a visit to Venezuela on Thursday, saying that right-wing policies in the United States aim to benefit the wealthy.

Penn made the remarks after meeting with socialist President Hugo Chavez at Venezuela’s presidential palace, when he was asked by a reporter about criticisms of Chavez by some Republican candidates.

Penn said he doesn’t think “the use of those exploitive sort of demonizations will be very beneficial to this crew of candidates.”

“That would be the least amongst their weaknesses,” Penn said. “It’s never predictable what can happen in an American election, but we certainly believe at this point that it’s becoming increasingly clear to the American people that the policies of the far right are the policies of the rich, and that they are to the exclusion of the middle class and the poor, and that no society has a future on that basis.”