Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

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—Popularity contest: Really, really rich guy in Michigan, Rick DeVos, right, launches a competition for artists with a top prize of $250,000 — and the public gets to vote on the winner.

—Temporary reprieve: Brandeis University will keep Rose Art Museum open — for now. But director is let go.

—Now, get rid of that song: After 100 million hits on YouTube, ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ sensation Susan Boyle dumps some of her frump — and the backlash begins.

—Please don’t choose ‘Les Miz’: ‘I definitely want to do Broadway,’ says Grammy-winning singer and actress Beyonce Knowles.

—Here are songs we’ll hear again and again: Will Barbara Cook star in the new Stephen Sondheim tribute show ‘iSondheim’?

—In the city that’s home to the Art Institute: Chicago Tribune loses its art critic in latest round of cuts (via Modern Arts Notes).

—’Not in financial trouble’: CTG drops another show, this time at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. ‘The Lieutenant of Inishmore’ was cut from the Mark Taper Forum season in February.

—’It was not a financial decision’: Reprise Theatre Company announces a shortened lineup for 2010 season.

—Stuck on the drawing board: Plans for Zaha Hadid’s Opera House in Dubai are canceled, a victim of economic conditions.

—Surprise: Hitler artwork fetches about $150,000 at auction.

—New playhouse: National Children’s Museum in Washington unveils a design by Cesar Pelli for its permanent location on the Potomac River.

—$$ for local companies: A Noise Within, Shakespeare Festival/LA and Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum win NEA Shakespeare Grants.

—No acting, please: John Malkovich looks to Broadway — as director of ‘The Good Canary’ (second item).

—Lisa Fung