Monster Mash: Broadway ticket sales get an Easter lift; George Hamilton to star in 'La Cage' national tour

Box-office bump: Sales for Broadway tickets saw a healthy jump during the Easter weekend. (Variety)

Leading man: George Hamilton will star in the national tour of "La Cage aux Folles," scheduled to appear at the Pantages Theatre in July 2012. (Playbill)

Stymied: Musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which recently filed for bankruptcy, are grappling with the organization's many problems. (Associated Press)

Equal opportunity: The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles has welcomed two openly straight members. (Los Angeles Times)

Honored: The winners have been announced for the Helen Hayes Awards, honoring excellence in theater in the Washington, D.C., area. (Washington Post)

Caveat emptor: Counterfeit tickets are being sold for the Broadway musical "Book of Mormon." (New York Times)

Delicate: More than 100,000 toothpicks have been used to create a kinetic sculpture of San Francisco. (SFist)

Familiar name: Bill Watterson, the creator of the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip, has donated a new painting for Parkinson's Disease research. (New York Press)

Stage to screen: Broadway theaters are jumping into the trend to simulcast live productions to movie theaters. (Reuters)

Dancing drama: In New York City Ballet's production of Kurt Weill's "The Seven Deadly Sins," Wendy Whelan is dancing and Patti LuPone is singing. (Wall Street Journal)

Passing: Eldon Davis, the influential architect known for the "Googie" coffee-shop design, has died at 94. (Los Angeles Times)

Also in the L.A. Times: A review of Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue," starring Jason Alexander, at El Portal Theatre; two dancers withdraw from the "Tour de Force II" production at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts; reviews are mixed for Ben Stiller and Edie Falco in "The House of Blue Leaves" on Broadway.

-- David Ng

Photo: George Hamilton. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times