Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

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-- Former Museum of Contemporary Art director Jeremy Strick talks about his resignation from the financially troubled MOCA in today’s Times.

-- Sultry singer Eartha Kitt dies on Christmas Day at 81. Renowned playwright Harold Pinter dies on Christmas Eve at 78.

-- Richard Jay-Alexander, who directed the past summer’s ‘Les Miserables in Concert’ at Hollywood Bowl, will direct ‘Guys and Dolls in Concert’ at Hollywood Bowl in summer 2009. The cast has not been set.

-- Ovation TV’s second annual ‘Battle of the Nutcrackers’ online competition once again places Mark Morris’ ‘Hard Nut’ at the top.

-- Las Vegas Philharmonic Executive Director Peter Aaronson has been let go in a cost-cutting move. The financially troubled orchestra is not seeking a replacement.

-- Diane Haithman