Monster Mash: Kander-Ebb musical to debut off-Broadway; Andrew Lloyd Webber in hospital; UC Berkeley scraps museum plan

-- Eagerly awaited: "The Scottsboro Boys," a new musical from John Kander and Fred Ebb, will begin performances February at off-Broadway's Vineyard Theater. (Variety) 

-- Scrapped: UC Berkeley has abandoned its plan to construct a new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in downtown due to a shortage of funds. (San Francisco Chronicle)

-- Speculation: Did David Mamet hurt business for his "Oleanna" on Broadway by refusing to participate in post-show audience talk-backs? (New York Post)

-- Health scare: Andrew Lloyd Webber is back in the hospital because of an infection after his surgery for prostate cancer. (Playbill)

-- Iconic art: The Dia Art Foundation considers documenting Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" as part of a conservation effort. (New York Times)

-- Well-endowed: The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center has received a large donation that is believed to be as much as $25 million. (St. Petersburg Times)

-- Photo finish: The Tate in Britain has selected Simon Baker as its first photography curator. (The British Journal of Photography)

-- And in the L.A. Times: Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne discusses possible sites for Eli Broad's planned museum; Hollywood's composers and lyricists seek to join the Teamsters; architects in the U.S. received more contracts in October.

-- David Ng

Photo: Fred Ebb, left, with writing partner John Kander. Credit: V. Richard Haro / For The Times