Arts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A signed four-page letter written by George Washington to his nephew in 1787 sold for $3.2 million, and two works by Edgar Allen Poe set new sales records on Friday in auctions held by Christie's. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Christie's is confident the recession is well and truly over in the world of fine art, with a record old masters sale in London next week that includes important works by Rembrandt, Raphael and Il Domenichino. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Collaboration is critical in the workplace, choreographer Twyla Tharp writes in a new book that contends that although most workers do not team up with artistic greats as she does, the secrets to success are universal. Full Story »

The Wilma Theater's Philadelphia-premiere production of Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw, a play that was acclaimed when it appeared Off-Broadway, will be directed by Obie Award-winner Anne Kauffman. Full Story »

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong artist Christie To is only 16, but her aspirations to stardom are rooted in a centuries-old artform fighting extinction: Cantonese opera. Full Story »

David Esbjornson will stage Arthur Miller's Tony Award-winning family drama All My Sons for the Huntington Theatre Company in 2010. Boston veteran actors Will Lyman and Karen MacDonald will star as family patriarch Joe Keller, his wife Kate, respectively. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 73-year-old New York cabaret singer and one of Bernard Madoff's jilted investors is finding catharsis -- and some pay-back -- in her one-woman show, "John Denver, Bernie Madoff & Me," which opened in New York on Monday. Full Story »

Kathleen Chalfant joins Rosemarie DeWitt in the cast of MCC Theater's upcoming Off-Broadway presentation of Beth Henley's Family Week. Jonathan Demme directs. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A signed four-page letter from George Washington to his nephew is expected to break sales records in one of two manuscript auctions at Christie's in New York this week. Full Story »

Playwrights Horizons' 40th anniversary will launch in summer 2010 with a new title by a major American playwright: Edward Albee. Emily Mann will direct the New York City premiere of Me, Myself & I starring Elizabeth Ashley and Brian Murray. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Actress Liv Ullmann's numerous film collaborations with Ingmar Bergman serve her well in her staging of "A Streetcar Named Desire," which has just landed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a limited engagement after sold-out runs in Sydney and Washington. Full Story »

The Denver Center Theatre Company's 2010 Colorado New Play Summit will feature readings of four new plays, artistic director Kent Thompson announced. Full Story »

SYDNEY (Reuters) - When Suzan Colon was laid off from her dream job as a magazine editor in New York, her mother came up with some advice that has led to the next chapter of her life -- "put up soup," or resort to fortifying foods. Full Story »

Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig are film stars, acclaimed stage actors and, now, the top fundraising team in the history of the annual Gypsy of the Year competition. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Rediscovered royal treasures from Russia broke records at a London auction on Monday, but a separate sale of paintings fell well short of estimates. Full Story »

Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!, winner of the 2007 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event, will return to New York City, to play the Theatre at St. Peter's Jan. 8-10, producer Dan Whitten of Tiger Theatricals announced. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Emmy award-winning actor Kelsey Grammer will make his Broadway musical debut in April playing the gay owner of a transvestite club in the revival of "La Cage aux Folles," publicists said on Monday. Full Story »

The world premiere of Bola Agbaje's Off the Endz, beginning performances at London's Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs Feb. 11, prior to an official opening Feb. 19, will feature a cast that includes Lorraine Burroughs, Daniel Francis and Ashley Walters. It will run through March 13, 2010. Full Story »