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

Performing Arts

Tuesday

Tony nominee Jocelyn Bioh puts braiders centerstage

Somi Kakoma and Lakisha May in Jaja's African Hair Braiding on Broadway Matthew Murphy/Manhattan Theatre Club hide caption

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Matthew Murphy/Manhattan Theatre Club

It's Been a Minute

Tony nominee Jocelyn Bioh puts braiders centerstage

This week, Brittany Luse sits down with playwright Jocelyn Bioh, whose new play, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, is up for five Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. The two discuss Bioh's unique approach to comedy, what it took to bring a hair affair to Broadway, and how to find humor in dark situations.

Tony nominee Jocelyn Bioh puts braiders centerstage

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Monday

A new album by pianist Inna Faliks features world premiere recordings of works by five composers.

A new album by pianist Inna Faliks features world premiere recordings of works by five composers. Rosalind Wong/Inna Faliks hide caption

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Rosalind Wong/Inna Faliks

Music Interviews

Pianist Inna Faliks traces musical odyssey from Soviet Ukraine via Faustian fantasy

Faliks draws from her Ukrainian-Jewish heritage and Mikhail Bulgakov's anti-censorship novel The Master and Margarita for a new album.

Pianist Inna Faliks traces musical odyssey from Soviet Ukraine via Faustian fantasy

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Sunday

Playwright Paula Vogel is known not just for her work on Broadway — but for the generations of famous playwrights whose careers she has nurtured. Above, Jessica Lange in Paula Vogel's Mother Play.

Playwright Paula Vogel is known not just for her work on Broadway — but for the generations of famous playwrights whose careers she has nurtured. Above, Jessica Lange in Paula Vogel's Mother Play. Joan Marcus/Second Stage hide caption

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Joan Marcus/Second Stage

Theater

In honor of Mother's Day, here's 'Mother Play' — which gestated for 40 years

Playwright Paula Vogel is known not just for her work on Broadway — but for the generations of famous playwrights whose careers she has nurtured. Mother Play is about her own mother.

In honor of Mother's Day, here's 'Mother Play' — which gestated for 40 years

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Thursday

Switzerland's Nemo rehearses

Switzerland's Nemo rehearses "The Code" before the second semifinal. Jessica Gow/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty hide caption

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Jessica Gow/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Eurovision 2024: Here are the songs with the best shot at glory

Another year, another glitter-filled spectacle known as the Eurovision Song Contest. The Grand Final airs Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET on Peacock in the United States.

Eurovision 2024: Here are the songs with the best shot at glory

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One of opera's greatest hits gets a new and happy ending in Washington

Speranza Scappucci conducts singers on stage and the orchestra in the pit for the Washington National Opera's production of Turandot. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR

One of opera's greatest hits gets a new and happy ending in Washington

Giacomo Puccini's final opera Turandot gets a brand new ending premiered in Washington, with music by a composer known for video game tunes and a librettist who produced 'Succession'

One of opera's greatest hits gets a new and happy ending in Washington

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Wednesday

Why Jenny Slate sometimes feels like a 'terminal optimist'
NPR

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

Why Jenny Slate sometimes feels like a 'terminal optimist'

Welcome to Wild Card with Rachel Martin. In this first episode, Rachel talks to Jenny Slate, known for her roles in Obvious Child, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Parks and Recreation. Jenny opens up about whether fate brought her to her husband, what she's sacrificed for motherhood and what's so special about margarine and white bread sandwiches.

Why Jenny Slate sometimes feels like a 'terminal optimist'

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Tuesday

Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

English actress Judi Dench at a dress rehearsal of 'Hamlet', making her London debut as Ophelia in 1957. Bob Haswell/Getty Images hide caption

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Bob Haswell/Getty Images

Consider This from NPR

Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

Dame Judi Dench has played everyone from the writer Iris Murdoch to M in the James Bond films. But among the roles the actress is most closely associated, are Shakespeare's heroines and some of his villians.

Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

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Thursday

Sunday

Conductor Andrew Davis, who headed orchestras on 3 continents, dies at 80

Conductor Andrew Davis, right, raises his arms as he takes a bow, accompanied by Renee Fleming, and Peter Rose, center, during the final dress rehearsal of Richard Strauss's Capriccio in the Metropolitan Opera at New York's Lincoln Center, March 25, 2011. Richard Drew/AP hide caption

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Richard Drew/AP

Obituaries

Conductor Andrew Davis, who headed orchestras on 3 continents, dies at 80

Davis led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Britain's Glyndebourne Festival, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

Friday

A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside

To help the group feel like a band, Will Butler had them open for him in Brooklyn. Julieta Cervantes/Stereophonic hide caption

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Julieta Cervantes/Stereophonic

Theater

A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside

Stereophonic, a new play on Broadway with music by Arcade Fire's Will Butler, tracks the volatile creation of a rock and roll album over the course of a year in the 1970s.

A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside

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Tuesday

An argument for the art of whistling

Molly Lewis, photographed by Shervin Lainez Shervin Lainez hide caption

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Shervin Lainez

It's Been a Minute

An argument for the art of whistling

Some of us whistle while we work, but what happens when your work is whistling? This week, host Brittany Luse is joined by professional whistler, Molly Lewis. Lewis' catalogue spans across the film and music industries, from features on the Barbie soundtrack to performances alongside Karen O. From NPR's New York Bureau, Brittany sits down with Lewis to talk about the world of competitive whistling, how she hones a craft many people see as fidgeting, and why older generations are more likely to whistle. This episode also features a special live performance with songs from Lewis' new album, On The Lips.

An argument for the art of whistling

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Saturday

'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life

Amber Iman and Eden Espinosa in Lempicka. Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman/Lempicka hide caption

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Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman/Lempicka

Theater

'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life

Once the toast of 1920s Paris, Tamara de Lempicka's story is now on Broadway. She was a modernist art deco artist who's better known in Europe than in the U.S.

'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life

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Sisters make peace with dark memories through art, science and each other

Sisters Sofie Elliott (left) and Simone Elliott say that reconciling their memories felt especially important as they waded into one particular period of their childhood — a darker chapter that they still hadn't fully explored but that they felt ready to confront together. Kayana Szymczak for NPR; Lena Mucha for NPR hide caption

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Kayana Szymczak for NPR; Lena Mucha for NPR

Shots - Health News

Sisters make peace with dark memories through art, science and each other

Two sisters found they had different recollections of a traumatic childhood experience and learned that human memory is a lot less reliable than we tend to think.

Sisters make peace with dark memories through art, science and each other

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Friday

'We want to help': Why climate activists are trying something new

Activists from Extinction Rebellion, left and center, protest during a performance of An Enemy of the People on Broadway, starring Jeremy Strong, right. Extinction Rebellion NYC hide caption

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Extinction Rebellion NYC

Theater

'We want to help': Why climate activists are trying something new

A recent disruption at An Enemy of the People on Broadway by Extinction Rebellion shows a new approach to climate change activism.

'We want to help': Why climate activists are trying something new

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