Monster Mash: Judi Dench, Anish Kapoor win Japanese arts prize; big payday for Harry Connick Jr.?

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Honored: This year’s recipients of Japan’s Praemium Imperiale awards include actress Judi Dench, artist Bill Viola, sculptor Anish Kapoor, architect Ricardo Legoretta and conductor Seiji Ozawa. (Agence France-Presse)

Big bucks: Could Harry Connick Jr. join the ranks of Broadway elite and earn $100,000 a week for ‘On a Clear Day You Can See Forever’? (New York Post)

Authentic? An Italian scholar claims that a lost painting by Michelangelo has been hanging in a residence at the University of Oxford. (BBC News)

Hasty, perhaps: California’s top parks official thinks the plan to build a skateboard park near Watts Towers is moving too fast. (Los Angeles Times)

Angered: The unions of New York City Opera say the company is moving toward a new contract that would gut the chorus and the orchestra. (New York Times)

On display: The National Gallery in London said it will exhibit the religious-themed painting that was recently authenticated as the work of Leonardo Da Vinci. (Associated Press)

Drip paintings: A scientist has published a paper analyzing the physics in Jackson Pollock’s artwork. (Wired)

Taking a stand: Musicians of the Louisville Orchestra said they would unanimously reject a new offer from the orchestra’s management. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

Popular demand: New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is once again extending the hours of its Alexander McQueen exhibition. (New York Times)

Allegations: Two Manhattan art dealers have been accused of selling forged paintings. (New York Post)

Legal case: The New Jersey man charged with stealing a Picasso drawing from a San Francisco art gallery is expected to plead not guilty. (Associated Press)

Missing: Eleven Canadian paintings were stolen from a Toronto gallery late Sunday night or early Monday morning. (Toronto Star)

Back for more: ‘Jerusalem,’ starring Mark Rylance, will return to London following its Broadway run. (Playbill)

Winner: The British reality competition series ‘Popstar To Operastar’ has crowned a new victor. (Daily Mail)

Also in the L.A. Times: Architecture Christopher Hawthorne writes about this week’s temporary closure of sections of the 405 Freeway.

-- David Ng