Monster Mash: Celebrities turn out for LACMA gala; Billie Joe Armstrong joining ‘American Idiot’ cast

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-- Celebrity gathering: Tom Hanks, Kathryn Bigelow, James Franco and Christina Aguilera were among the celebrities at LACMA’s gala for the new Resnick Pavilion. (Los Angeles Times)

-- Rocking out: Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong is joining the cast of ‘American Idiot’ for eight performances starting Tuesday. (Los Angeles Times)

-- Prime suspect: Egypt’s interior minister says an employee working in a Cairo museum was probably behind the recent theft of a Van Gogh painting. (Agence France-Presse)

-- Flipping the bird: A public sculpture depicting a giant raised middle finger is provoking debate in Milan, Italy. (Reuters)

-- Auction block: A recently discovered group of paintings by Adolf Hitler could fetch more than $237,000 when they go under the hammer this month. (Telegraph)

-- Diplomatic gesture: Taiwan plans to loan artwork to China in a sign of growing cultural exchange between the two countries. (Agence France-Presse)

-- Considerable talent: Stockard Channing, Stacy Keach, Linda Lavin and Elizabeth Marvel will star in John Robin Baitz’s ‘Other Desert Cities,’ premiering off-Broadway in December at Lincoln Center Theater. (Playbill)

-- Also in the L.A. Times: The Downtown Art Walk has shut down until January; theater critic Charles McNulty reviews ‘Notes From Underground’ at La Jolla Playhouse; Rachael Worby conducts her final Pasadena Pops concert.

-- David Ng