Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

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-- Upbeat news: Picasso’s 1968 ‘Mousquetaire a la pipe’ painting brings in $14.6 million at Christie’s Impressionist sale.

-- On the other hand: Sotheby’s auction house, meanwhile, posts wider losses as the global recession takes its toll.

-- Show must go on: Ailing Placido Domingo leaves the stage mid-performance during Metropolitan Opera’s production of ‘Die Walkurie.’

-- Public-private venture: Las Vegas City Council approves funds for $245-million performing arts center.

-- Bring on the wrecking ball: Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic is OK with the demolition of a ‘mediocre’ Mies van der Rohe building on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus.

-- Yuck: ‘Body Worlds’ ’ Gunther von Hagens triggers new controversy with an exhibition showing plasticized cadavers having sex.

-- Another new one: David Mamet’s ‘Race’ finds a Broadway home and sets a December opening date.

-- Pricey reproduction: Russian art experts add a $3-million work by Boris Kustodiev to list of 900 fakes.

-- Recession friendly housing: Designers unveil the iHouse, a prefab, solar-powered alternative to traditional mobile homes.

-- Musical magic: Broadway/L.A.’s new season includes touring productions of ‘In the Heights’ and ‘Young Frankenstein.’

-- You tell us: Who should be the host of the 2009 Tony Awards?

-- Lisa Fung