In L.A.:

The latest economy-related casualty in the arts: The planned June 26-28 performances of the Nederlands Dance Theater I, part of the ongoing Music Center dance season at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, have been canceled. There will be no replacement.

In New York:

Cutting costs in the wake of the economic downturn, the Met is dropping next season's highly anticipated revival of John Corigliano's "The Ghosts of Versailles" that was to feature the company debut of Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth.

In auctionland:

It was perhaps a bad omen that before the auction of contemporary art even began at Phillips de Pury & Company on Thursday night, five works were withdrawn, including examples by such popular artists as John Currin, Richard Prince and Anselm Kiefer. And as the evening progressed, the results proved dreary, with about 40 percent of the art unsold and those works that did sell going for a fraction of their estimates.

And in Orange County:

The economic crunch has swallowed Opera Pacific's 2008-2009 season after a single production, "The Barber of Seville." The two remaining operas, "The Grapes of Wrath," a new work by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie, and Richard Strauss' "Salome," with Deborah Voigt (left) in the title role, will not be staged, the company announced Tuesday. The reason: a drop in donations — on which it relies for 60% of its revenue.

And in New York:

Broadway musical "A Tale of Two Cities" will shutter Nov. 16 after a wobbly few months at the box office.

Show's closing announcement cited the economic downturn as a factor that contributed to disappointing sales. Exec produced by Barbra Russell and Ron Sharpe, the musical likely lost nearly all of its $16 million capitalization costs.

Big theater, it seems, is fucked.

(Though Minnesota just voted to raise its sales taxes, in part to give $54 million a year to local arts. Voluntary socialism! In the heartland!)