Accessibility links
Performing Arts News, interviews, and commentary on theater, the arts, music, and dance.

Performing Arts

Tuesday

Women Of Grunge Reclaim Rock History In 'These Streets'

Ron Nine, Mitch Ebert, Eden Schwartz, Fiia McGann and Gretta Harley perform in These Streets, a new play based on a series of interviews with Seattle musicians. Courtesy of These Streets hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of These Streets

Music News

Women Of Grunge Reclaim Rock History In 'These Streets'

Two years ago, the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind sparked a slew of retrospectives about the Seattle grunge scene. But those narratives left something out: the influence of women. A new play by Gretta Harley and Sarah Rudinoff aims to update the historical record.

Women Of Grunge Reclaim Rock History In 'These Streets'

Listen · 6:13
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/172963580/172998733" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Friday

Theater

A New View Of Newton In 'Isaac's Eye'

What would Isaac Newton be like if he had been born a few centuries later? A new play "Isaac's Eye" reimagines Newton and his scientific rival Robert Hooke. Playwright Lucas Hnath and actors Haskell King and Michael Louis Serafin-Wells join Ira Flatow to talk about the play.

A New View Of Newton In 'Isaac's Eye'

Listen · 21:13
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/172100118/172100105" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Scottish Play (The Olivier Way)

Laurence Olivier, seen here in his film adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, also intended to create a film version of Macbeth. Anonymous/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Anonymous/AP

Theater

The Scottish Play (The Olivier Way)

British stage and screen legend Laurence Olivier had always hoped to produce his own film version of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. Now, decades after Olivier's death, a researcher has stumbled across his lost screen treatment of "the Scottish play."

The Scottish Play (The Olivier Way)

Listen · 2:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/171404321/171554773" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Rebecca Luker Has 'Got Love' For Jerome Kern

Soprano Rebecca Luker made her Broadway debut as an understudy to Sarah Brightman in Phantom of the Opera in 1988. Leslie Van Stelten/Derek Bishop hide caption

toggle caption
Leslie Van Stelten/Derek Bishop

Theater

Rebecca Luker Has 'Got Love' For Jerome Kern

Fresh Air

The Broadway star has a new album, I Got Love: Songs of Jerome Kern, which features songs by the great Broadway composer. The collection came out of a live show Luker performed at the Manhattan club 54 Below.

Rebecca Luker Has 'Got Love' For Jerome Kern

Listen · 17:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/170071380/171156368" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

In Moscow, Scandals Shake A Storied Ballet

Sergei Filin, artistic director of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre's Bolshoi Ballet, was nearly blinded by an attacker on Jan. 17. Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images

World

In Moscow, Scandals Shake A Storied Ballet

The Bolshoi Ballet is deeply beloved in Russia. But a series of recent scandals — capped by a nasty acid attack on the company's artistic director in mid-January — has sent shock waves through artistic circles.

In Moscow, Scandals Shake A Storied Ballet

Listen · 5:17
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/171059403/171138300" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

25 Years Strong, 'Phantom Of The Opera' Kills And Kills Again

Hugh Panaro is The Phantom and Sierra Boggess is Christine in the 25th anniversary cast of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Joan Marcus hide caption

toggle caption
Joan Marcus

Theater

25 Years Strong, 'Phantom Of The Opera' Kills And Kills Again

Invited guests packed the Majestic Theater on Saturday night to celebrate the longest-running Broadway musical ever. Times have changed, but the Phantom, that tortured genius who haunts the Paris Opera House, creating havoc and causing the chandelier to fall, has endured.

25 Years Strong, 'Phantom Of The Opera' Kills And Kills Again

Listen · 4:04
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/170377703/170385144" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Theater

Dementia Takes The Stage In 'The Other Place'

In the Broadway play The Other Place actress Laurie Metcalf ("Jackie" on the TV show "Roseanne") plays a scientist suffering from the dementia she studies. Playwright Sharr White discusses the play and the challenge of presenting complicated science on a theater stage.

Dementia Takes The Stage In 'The Other Place'

Listen · 12:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/169708759/169708748" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

A Cooler Roof For A New 'Cat'

In Rob Ashford's new production of the classic play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Scarlett Johansson plays an earthier version of restless sex kitten Maggie. Joan Marcus hide caption

toggle caption
Joan Marcus

Theater

A Cooler Roof For A New 'Cat'

A Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' iconic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof may feature big names, but it aims for a quiet kind of authenticity. Director Rob Ashford asked his cast to take their characters off the pedestal of dramatic history and put them back in the scene.

A Cooler Roof For A New 'Cat'

Listen · 7:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/169156926/169580898" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

'Adventure Hour' Is A New Take On Old-Time Radio

Mark Gagliardi and Autumn Reeser, as aviator Amelia Earhart, perform in The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Actors dress up and read scripts onstage in front of a live nightclub audience. Jonathan Reilly/The Thrilling Adventure Hour hide caption

toggle caption
Jonathan Reilly/The Thrilling Adventure Hour

Theater

'Adventure Hour' Is A New Take On Old-Time Radio

The Thrilling Adventure Hour is both an update and an homage to old radio dramas. Created eight years ago by college friends Ben Blacker and Ben Acker, the pseudo radio show features actors reading from scripts in front of a live nightclub audience.

'Adventure Hour' Is A New Take On Old-Time Radio

Listen · 5:35
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/169061076/169088962" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Bobby Cannavale, At Home On Broadway

Bobby Cannavale (right) stars in Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway. Cannavale has also starred in television shows such as HBO's Boardwalk Empire and in films such as The Station Agent. Scott Landis/JRA Broadway hide caption

toggle caption
Scott Landis/JRA Broadway

Theater

Bobby Cannavale, At Home On Broadway

Fresh Air

The actor, who's currently starring in Glenngarry Glen Ross opposite Al Pacino, has been acting for the stage since he was a teenager in Union City, N.J. "It was the only thing I ever wanted to do, really," he says.

Bobby Cannavale, At Home On Broadway

Listen · 36:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/167470435/168943062" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

A Vet's Haunted Homecoming In 'Water By The Spoonful'

Liza Colon-Zayas plays a troubled character named Odessa Ortiz, who finds her better self online. She's pictured above with Bill Heck, as Fountainhead. Richard Termine hide caption

toggle caption
Richard Termine

Theater

A Vet's Haunted Homecoming In 'Water By The Spoonful'

Quiara Alegria Hudes' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama opens off-Broadway on Tuesday. The play is the second in a trilogy focused on an injured Iraq veteran named Elliot — a character based on Hudes' cousin. "I just remember the instant I saw him, there was just something changed in his eye," she says.

A Vet's Haunted Homecoming In 'Water By The Spoonful'

Listen · 6:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/168814442/168853455" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

A Way Without Words: Mummenschanz Mimes Celebrate 40

Troupe member Philipp Egli says the genius of Mummenschanz lies in simplicity. The most beautiful pieces, he says, start with black space and some people on stage. Mummenschanz hide caption

toggle caption
Mummenschanz

A Way Without Words: Mummenschanz Mimes Celebrate 40

WBUR

The experimental Swiss mime troupe took Broadway by storm in the 1970s. Now the masked performers are bringing their hard-to-describe characters back to the U.S. for a five-month national tour celebrating the troupe's 40th anniversary.

A Way Without Words: Mummenschanz Mimes Celebrate 40

Listen · 5:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/168634973/168724703" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Broadway's Profit-Turning, Crowd-Pleasing Christmas Story

Jordan Gelber plays Buddy the Elf in Elf on Broadway. The limited-run production may not turn a profit immediately, but producers have a multipronged strategy for making money. Joan Marcus/The Hartman Group hide caption

toggle caption
Joan Marcus/The Hartman Group

Spirit Of The Season

Broadway's Profit-Turning, Crowd-Pleasing Christmas Story

With hordes of tourists descending on New York for the Christmas season, Broadway is looking to turn a profit — by staging limited-run holiday musicals like A Christmas Story and Elf. But with production costs so high, how can these shows make money back? The answer, it turns out, is complicated.

Broadway's Profit-Turning, Crowd-Pleasing Christmas Story

Listen · 7:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/167467459/167772013" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript