Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

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Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo unveiled a lavish ceiling painting at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva that has spurred controversy because of its $23-million price tag.

London’s Royal Opera House says a plan to open a branch in Manchester, England, that might cost as much as $120 million will be dropped if it fails to receive state money.

Los Angeles Times critic Charles McNulty attended two David Mamet revivals on Broadway and found that one is genuinely reviving.

Variety reports that only a handful of straight plays managed to escape a pre-Thanksgiving lull on Broadway last week, with few tourists in town.

Up-and-coming playwright Itamar Moses’ latest offering, ‘Back Back Back,’ now at off-Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club, focuses on the steroid scandal that has rattled Major League Baseball in recent years.

Thanks to the current U.S. housing bust, a musical that Stephen Sondheim conceived in 1952 has become timely. ‘Road Show’ opens tonight at New York’s Public Theater.

-- Craig Fisher