Monster Mash: Growing concern over crowds at Downtown Art Walk

Dangerous?: After a car accident last week killed a baby, concern is growing over the crowds at the Downtown Art Walk. (Los Angeles Times)

Public display: A security guard at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco is facing criticism after he told two women that they couldn't hold hands. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Not gone yet: Zahi Hawass, who was recently fired as Egypt's antiquities chief, is still on the job after an effort to find a replacement fell through. (The Art Newspaper)

Sentenced: Art dealer Leigh Morse, found guilty of defrauding clients, has been ordered to pay $1.65 million in restitution. (Reuters)

Big-name talent: New York's Atlantic Theatre Company is producing new works by John Patrick Shanley, Adam Rapp and Ethan Coen for next season. (New York Times)

Public art: Sony has announced plans to install artist Tony Tasset's 94-foot-tall steel sculpture of a rainbow at its studios in Culver City. (Daily Breeze)

New role: Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa Simpson on Fox's "The Simpsons," is joining the off-Broadway cast of "Love, Loss and What I Wore." (Playbill)

Group effort: Playwrights John Logan, Lynn Nottage and Christopher Shinn are to contribute pieces to a site-specific work dealing with 9/11. (What's on Stage)

Affordable housing: The Philadelphia Orchestra is seeking lower rent as part of its bankruptcy filing. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Canceling: Soprano Deborah Voigt has withdrawn from the Chicago Lyric Opera's revival of Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" in November, having decided to drop the role from her repertoire. (Chicago Tribune)

Also in the L.A. Times: Eddie Izzard prepares for his upcoming appearance at the Hollywood Bowl.

-- David Ng

Photo: Jimmy and Natasha Vasquez comfort each other at a candlelight vigil for their 2-month-old son Marcello Vasquez, who was killed in a car accident during a recent Downtown Art Walk. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Monster Mash: Wisconsin governor replaces painting in mansion; 'Million Dollar Quartet' moving

Controversial decision: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has removed a painting depicting three children of different races that was hanging at his mansion, replacing it with a painting of a bald eagle. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Moving: Broadway's "Million Dollar Quartet" will close June 12 and transfer to an off-Broadway venue. (Playbill)

Complicated: The Barnes Foundation will continue to use its site in Merion, Pa., even though its art will reside in the heart of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Stubborn: Attempts to remove an unauthorized mural in Encinitas depicting the Virgin Mary on a surfboard are proving to be more difficult than expected. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Tragic: The death of one of William Shakespeare's relatives may have provided the inspiration for the character Ophelia in "Hamlet." (Agence France-Presse)

Canceled: The New York Philharmonic said it would not be presenting its traditional Concerts in the Parks Series this summer. (The Wall Street Journal)

Change of plans: The Historical Museum of Bern, Switzerland, has scratched plans to put on an exhibition about the scientist Albert Einstein in Shanghai. (BBC News)

Back to work: Conductor Seiji Ozawa, who has been recovering from cancer, said he will return to the podium in August. (Agence France-Presse)

And in the L.A. Times: The Getty Research Institute has acquired the Harald Szeemann archive and library.

-- David Ng

Photo: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Credit: Astrid Riecken / MCT

Monster Mash: Norman Rockwell painting found on 'Antiques Roadshow'; 'Once' headed off-Broadway

Quite a find: Appraisers on PBS' "Antiques Roadshow" have found a Norman Rockwell painting worth an estimated $500,000. (The Register-Guard)

Indie hit: The musical based on the 2006 movie "Once" will receive an off-Broadway production at the New York Theater Workshop in November. (New York Times)

Staying on: The president of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has signed a three-year contract extension, despite harsh criticism from musicians. (Detroit Free Press)

Departure: Des McAnuff will step down as artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival after the 2013 season. (Playbill)

New hire: Michael R. Taylor, the curator of modern art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has been named director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Financial woes: The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas has suspended operations due to money problems. (New York Times)

Going under: Washington's CityDance Ensemble has laid off its dancers and will dissolve. (Washington City Paper)

Defiant: Pianist Lang Lang has hit back at critics who consider his performances to be too flashy. (The Independent)

Cutting back: The National Gallery of Canada is laying off five curators. (CBC)

Arrested: The head of a San Francisco nonprofit group that teaches art to children has been charged with possessing child pornography. (San Francisco Chronicle)

And in the L.A. Times: Theater critic Charles McNulty on the past Broadway season.

-- David Ng

Photo: Norman Rockwell. Credit: Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press

 

Monster Mash: Navy SEAL museum sees increase in attendance; Kansas axes state funding of arts

Special ops: The recent killing of Osama bin Laden at the hands of Navy SEALs has brought an increase in visitors to the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Florida. (Associated Press, via ABC News)

Controversial move: The governor of Kansas has eliminated state funding for arts programs. (Los Angeles Times)

Discovery: A previously unknown statue of King Tut's grandfather, Amenhotep III, has been revealed at the tomb in which he was buried. (LiveScience)

That's entertainment: Broadway saw an increase in attendance and box-office receipts for the 2010-11 season. (Los Angeles Times)

Pricey: The Metropolitan Museum of Art said that its Alexander McQueen exhibition will be open special hours on Mondays for people willing to pay $50 for admission. (New York Times)

Resurrected: The off-Broadway MCC Theater said that it will revive "Carrie," the musical based on the Stephen King novel, in January. (Associated Press)

Looking ahead: The Louisville Orchestra has filed its plan for getting out of bankruptcy. (Courier-Journal)

No-shows: Singers Anna Netrebko and Joseph Calleja have abruptly canceled their appearances in the Metropolitan Opera's tour of Japan. (Wall Street Journal)

Defaced: The Detroit sculpture of boxer Joe Louis' fist has been vandalized. (Detroit News)

SoCal art: "Greater LA," a new survey exhibition of recent art from Los Angeles, has opened at a loft in New York's SoHo neighborhood. (New York Times)

Also in the L.A. Times: The L.A. City Council has voted to oversee the Autry National Center's $8-million renovation goals; "God of Carnage" has broken box-office records at the Ahmanson Theatre.

-- David Ng

Photo: A statue of a frogman stands outside the entrance to the Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Fla. Credit: J. Pat Carter / Associated Press

Monster Mash: 'Chad Deity' wins top Obie Award; 'Spider-Man' musical shows respectable grosses; NEA grants $88 million

Honored: "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity," a pro-wrestling-themed comedy by Kristoffer Diaz, was the big winner at the 2011 Obie Awards, which honors off-Broadway productions. (Village Voice)

Back in business: Broadway's "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" played to 95% capacity and brought in $809,000 during its first weekend back in preview performances. (USA Today)

Arts funding: The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded $88 million through 1,145 grants to not-for-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations. (NEA)

Sneak peak: An early look at the upcoming NBC sitcom "Smash," about a songwriting duo trying to get a musical produced on Broadway. (Los Angeles Times)

Immortalized: The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is installing a painting of Bill and Melinda Gates that the museum commissioned for its collection. (Associated Press, via Washington Post)

Abandoning ship?: The financially troubled Philadelphia Orchestra may lose one of its star cellists. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

New hire: L.A.'s Center Theatre Group has named Edward L. Rada as managing director. (Los Angeles Times)

Sold: The art collection of disgraced former healthcare executive Richard Scrushy has brought in more than $672,000 at auction. (Associated Press, via Washington Post)

Caveat emptor: Many foreign touring orchestras have names that misrepresent the truth about their composition and makeup. (New York Times)

Cultural heritage: A Hong Kong performing arts school will offer a Cantonese opera degree in an effort to preserve the rarefied art form. (Associated Press, via CBS News)

And in the L.A. Times: Christian Marclay's installation "The Clock" has its L.A. debut at LACMA; theater critic Charles McNulty reviews "Moscow, Cherry Town" at Long Beach Opera.

-- David Ng

Photo: Playwright Kristoffer Diaz. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

Monster Mash: Bryan Cranston joins 'Rock of Ages'; surfing Madonna artwork makes waves in San Diego

All-star ensemble: Bryan Cranston will play the mayor of L.A. in the upcoming film version of the musical "Rock of Ages," whose cast already includes Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Mary J. Blige. (Access Hollywood)

Making waves: A piece of street art portraying the Virgin Mary on a surfboard is turning heads in San Diego County. (Los Angeles Times)

Pricey: Going to a museum in the L.A. area is getting more expensive. (Los Angeles Times)

Honored: The off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Awards bestowed their biggest prizes on the musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" and the play "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity." (Playbill)

On the move: Artist Shepard Fairey has created an outdoor mural near Chicago's lakefront. (Chicago Tribune)

For sale: The Nippon Music Foundation in Tokyo is auctioning a violin by Antonio Stradivari with proceeds going to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. (Wall Street Journal)

Paying for the arts: A National Endowment for the Arts study shows that Americans spend more on the performing arts in total ticket revenue than on going to the movies, though not as much as on tickets for spectator sports. (Associated Press)

Resigning: Just days after getting started the president of the Dallas Symphony has abruptly announced he is stepping down, citing health concerns. (Dallas Observer)

Wanted: A worker at the Houston Grand Opera has been accused of raping a teen. (Houston Chronicle)

Unwise choice? An artist who once shot a dog as part of an avant-garde art project has been commissioned to create a public sculpture in New York, raising questions about the appropriateness of the selection. (New York Post)

Out: The California Philharmonic has lost its summer home of the last 15 years, the Arboretum in Arcadia, to the Pasadena Pops. (Los Angeles Times)

Passing: Harry Jackson, the artist who created the famed John Wayne sculpture in L.A., has died at age 87. (Los Angeles Times)

Also in the L.A. Times: Theater critic Charles McNulty reviews Anna Deavere Smith in "Let Me Down Easy" in San Diego; music critic Mark Swed reviews conductor David Afkham and the L.A. Philharmonic.

-- David Ng

Photo: Bryan Cranston. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

 

Monster Mash: Bruce Norris wins Pulitzer Prize for drama; controversial Andres Serrano work vandalized in France

Winners: This year's Pulitzer Prize for drama has been awarded to Bruce Norris for "Clybourne Park." The music prize went to Zhou Long's opera "Madame White Snake." (Los Angeles Times)

Still controversial: Andres Serrano's infamous "Piss Christ" photograph has been vandalized at a museum in Avignon, France. (BBC News)

Eagerly awaited: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has acquired "The Clock" by Christian Marclay, a 24-hour-long movie montage. The museum also acquired a work by Ai Weiwei. (Los Angeles Times)

Money problems: New York's Public Theater appears to be facing a difficult financial predicament. (New York Post)

Honored: Art critic Sebastian Smee of the Boston Globe has won this year's Pulitzer Prize for criticism. (Boston Globe)

Coming soon: The Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis has announced its 2011-12 lineup. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Arrested: Authorities have nabbed a man who they say stole about 40 paintings valued at $550,000 from homes in the Hamptons during a two-month period. (New York Post)

Page to stage: Julie Andrews is expected to direct "The Great American Mousical," a stage production adapted from a children's book that the actress co-wrote with daughter Emma Walton. (Playbill)

Big fan: Performance artist Marina Abramovic declares her love for the TV series "Sex and the City." (New York Daily News)

Fashion forward: Zahi Hawass, Egypt's minister of antiquities, is receiving criticism for the line of apparel that bears his name. (New York Times)

Also in the L.A. Times: A report on conductors Riccardo Muti and James Levine; an artist from New York goes on the offensive against the Westboro Baptist Church.

-- David Ng

Photo: A scene from the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Clybourne Park" by Bruce Norris at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre. Credit: Erik Tomasson

Lanford Wilson, celebrated playwright of 'Burn This,' has died at 73

Lanford Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist whose best known works include "Talley's Folly," "Fifth of July" and "Burn This," has died at 73, the Steppenwolf Theatre said Thursday.

Wilson rose to fame for his plays that explored such themes as contemporary gay identity, youthful angst and modern anomie. Throughout his lengthy career, he worked closely with the Circle Repertory Theatre in New York, of which he was a founding member. A number of Wilson's plays reached Broadway, and he received three Tony nominations for best play. But today he is most closely associated with the off-off-Broadway scene, where his plays are regularly revived.

Wilson won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1980 for "Talley's Folly," the second play in his cycle "The Talley Trilogy" which also includes "Talley & Son" and "Fifth of July." The trilogy of plays follows the Talley family of Lebanon, Mo., in the first half of the 20th century.

Wilson's perhaps best-known and most-revived, play remains "Burn This," the 1986 ensemble drama about a group of young friends who grapple with their collective grief following the death of an associate. A revival production of "Burn This," directed by Nicholas Martin, is set to open at the Mark Taper Forum on April 3.

Here is the full obituary.

-- David Ng

Photo: Lanford Wilson in 1980. Credit: Marty Reichenthal/Associated Press

The Arts on TV: Pee-wee Herman, 'Forever Plaid'

A weekly look at arts and music programming on television from Thursday  to Wednesday:

“Forever Plaid” 9:30 p.m. Friday, KVCR; 4 p.m. Saturday, KVCR. The off-Broadway musical revue centers on four young male singers killed in a car crash on the way to their first major show; narrator David Hyde Pierce.

“The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway” 10 p.m. Saturday, HBO; 2 and 9:45 p.m. Monday, HBO. The comic brings “Pee-wee's Playhouse” to life at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York City.

“Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations” 10:30 p.m. Saturday, KLCS. The Goldwell Open Air Sculpture Museum; Shoe Tree on the Loneliest Highway; Thunder Mountain.

“Broadway Melody of 1940” (1940) 7:45 p.m. Sunday, TCM. Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell. A casting mix-up leads a dancer to land a major role intended for his partner.

“The Artist Toolbox” 8 p.m. Sunday, KCET. Abstract artist Sam Gilliam.

“Globe Trekker” 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, KCET. Belgium and Luxembourg -- The Antwerp home of painter Peter Paul Rubens; shrimp fishing on horseback; World War I battlefields; European Union headquarters.

“Guys and Dolls” (1955) 5 p.m. Wednesday, TCM. Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons. A Broadway gambler bets that a Runyonesque high roller cannot take a sidewalk soul-saver on a date to Havana.

-- Compiled by Matt Cooper

Photo: Pee-wee Herman. Credit: MCT

Monster Mash: Julie Taymor latest casualty of 'Spider-Man'; Rodin sculpture stolen from museum

Not quite fired: Director Julie Taymor is being relieved of her daily responsibilities on "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" as the Broadway show is delayed until the early summer. (Los Angeles Times)

Not quite smooth: Wednesday's performance of "Spider-Man: Turn of the Dark" was halted for several minutes when the actor playing the Green Goblin was stuck in the air after a malfunction caused his steering mechanism to fail. (Broadway World)

Missing: A statue by artist Auguste Rodin was stolen from the Israel Museum during the facility's recently completed renovation. (Associated Press)

Money trouble: The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County faces more financial hurdles. (Los Angeles Times)

Headed home: London's Natural History Museum is returning the remains of 138 indigenous people taken from the Torres Strait Islands in the 19th century. (BBC News)

Windfall: The Museum for African Art in New York has announced a major contribution of $3 million from the Ford Foundation. (Art Daily)

Theatrical talent: South Coast Repertory announces the lineup for its annual Pacific Playwrights Festival. (Los Angeles Times)

Comedic: "All New People," a new play by actor Zach Braff, will open this summer at Second Stages in New York. (Playbill)

Accusation: A woman attending a recent performance at New York's Metropolitan Opera said she was abused by police officers after she misplaced her ticket. (New York Post)

Cuts everywhere: Major London arts groups are facing budget cutbacks. (ArtsJournal)

New leader: The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York has named its first female president. (NY1)

Birthday: London's Abbey Road recording facility is are marking its 80th anniversary with a competition to find "the great anthems of our time." (BBC News)

Also in the L.A. Times: Music critic Mark Swed compares the styles of Gustavo Dudamel and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

-- David Ng

Photo: Julie Taymor with "Spider-Man" star Reeve Carney. Credit: Jason Kempin / Getty Images