Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

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-- The J. Paul Getty Museum and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze have entered into a long-term cultural collaboration, officials of the museums in Los Angeles and Florence, Italy, announced today. Upcoming projects include the special exhibition ‘The Chimaera of Arezzo’ (that’s it, above) at the Getty Villa, opening this summer and including significant ancient bronze sculptures from the Museo Archeologico’s collection, and a large-scale exhibition featuring the art of the Etruscans.

-- The University of Michigan Museum of Art unveils a 53,000-square-foot expansion.

-- Sydney Opera House contemplates a $900-million (some say closer to $1-billion) renewal project.

-- Sylvia Plath’s son, Nicholas Hughes, 47, has committed suicide. Carolyn Kellogg has more on our book blog, Jacket Copy.

-- Within the next few days, Egypt will make an official request to the United States for the return of a Pharoanic coffin smuggled out of the country 125 years ago. Read our story.

-- What did the critics have to say about Yasmina Reza’s play, ‘God of Carnage,’ starring Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini, which opened Sunday at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater on Broadway? A sampling of reviews from our theater critic Charles McNulty, Variety critic David Rooney and the New York Times Ben Brantley.

-- And speaking of Broadway plays: Will non-musicals become the toast of the town? A flood of plays, including the newly opened ‘Impressionism’ with Jeremy Irons, the aforementioned ‘God of Carnage’ and an upcoming revival of Ionesco’s ‘Exit the King,’ is testing the waters. Variety examines the notion.

-- Meanwhile, plays or musicals, Backstage says that Broadway is booming despite the recession.

-- Diane Haithman

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