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

Performing Arts

Monday

John Gallagher Jr. On 'Newsroom' Dialogue And Staging Green Day

In Season 2 of The Newsroom, Jim Harper (John Gallagher Jr.) goes on the 2012 campaign trail. Melissa Moseley/HBO hide caption

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Melissa Moseley/HBO

Television

John Gallagher Jr. On 'Newsroom' Dialogue And Staging Green Day

Fresh Air

In addition to playing a cable news producer on Aaron Sorkin's HBO drama, Gallagher is a Tony Award-winning Broadway performer. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about starring in a punk rock musical and rehearsing Sorkin's Newsroom scripts.

John Gallagher Jr. On 'Newsroom' Dialogue And Staging Green Day

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Sunday

Wallace Shawn: From 'Toy Story' Dino To Highbrow Playwright

Wallace Shawn (from left), Larry Pine and Deborah Eisenberg make up the cast of The Designated Mourner. Written by Shawn and directed by Andre Gregory, the Public Theater show is a product of one of the longest collaborations in the history of the American theater. Joan Marcus/Courtesy The Public Theater hide caption

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Joan Marcus/Courtesy The Public Theater

Theater

Wallace Shawn: From 'Toy Story' Dino To Highbrow Playwright

Shawn has made a living playing comic, downtrodden characters like Rex, the green dinosaur in Toy Story. But in his free time, he has written a handful of intellectually demanding plays. New York's Public Theater is showcasing two of his works this year.

Wallace Shawn: From 'Toy Story' Dino To Highbrow Playwright

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Saturday

Preserving Balanchine's Ballet Legacy, 30 Years Later

Dancers perform George Balanchine's Serenade in a 2007 production staged by Francia Russell and Suzanne Schorer at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Maxim Marmur/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Maxim Marmur/AFP/Getty Images

Dance

Preserving Balanchine's Ballet Legacy, 30 Years Later

KUOW

Legendary choreographer George Balanchine's work came to define ballet for much of the 20th century. He died in 1983, but his work survived thanks to his disciples who have taken his dances to ballet companies around the world.

Preserving Balanchine's Ballet Legacy, 30 Years Later

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Friday

Philippe Petit: Why Is The High Wire Impossible To Resist?
Ryan Lash/TED

TED Radio Hour

Philippe Petit: Why Is The High Wire Impossible To Resist?

High-wire artist Philippe Petit tells the amazing story of his tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in 1974.

Philippe Petit: Why Is The High Wire Impossible To Resist?

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Tuesday

'Love's Labours,' Tuned Up And Playing In The Park

Daniel Breaker, a Juilliard-trained actor who's earned praise for roles as varied as Donkey in Shrek the Musical and the protagonist Youth in Passing Strange, gets to play a king in a new musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. Tammy Shell/The Public Theater hide caption

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Tammy Shell/The Public Theater

Theater

'Love's Labours,' Tuned Up And Playing In The Park

For the first time since the Tony Award-winning adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1972, New York's Public Theater is presenting a brand-new musical as part of the Shakespeare in the Park series. The team behind the hit Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson have adapted Love's Labour's Lost.

'Love's Labours,' Tuned Up And Playing In The Park

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Saturday

A Veteran's Piercing True Story Leaps From Page To Stage

The Long Walk, Brian Castner's memoir of PTSD and a difficult homecoming, will soon be an opera. YouTube hide caption

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YouTube

Deceptive Cadence

A Veteran's Piercing True Story Leaps From Page To Stage

Iraq vet Brian Castner wrote a memoir of post-traumatic stress disorder and a difficult homecoming. His book, The Long Walk, got good reviews. But Castner never expected that it would get turned into an opera in New York City.

A Veteran's Piercing True Story Leaps From Page To Stage

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Wednesday

Scalia V. Ginsburg: Supreme Court Sparring, Put To Music
iStockphoto.com

Law

Scalia V. Ginsburg: Supreme Court Sparring, Put To Music

Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have been friends for decades, but they're known for their differences when it comes to constitutional interpretation. In those dramatic clashes, recent law school graduate Derrick Wang heard an opera.

Scalia V. Ginsburg: Supreme Court Sparring, Put To Music

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Sunday

Broadway's 'First Date': A Greek Chorus Of Emotional Baggage

Krysta Rodriguez played Ana Vargas in the recently canceled backstage-on-Broadway TV series Smash, and Zachary Levi earned a fervent following in the title role of NBC's Chuck. Both performers have backgrounds in the theater, and they'll be together on Broadway this summer in the premiere of the musical comedy First Date. Matthew Murphy hide caption

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Matthew Murphy

Opinion

Theater

Broadway's 'First Date': A Greek Chorus Of Emotional Baggage

Turns out the nerd-turned-spy from the TV show Chuck can sing. Zachary Levi is rehearsing for his first role on Broadway — a new musical comedy called First Date, which also features Krysta Rodriguez, the star of another NBC program, Smash.

Broadway's 'First Date': A Greek Chorus Of Emotional Baggage

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Sunday

For Hannibal & Co., A Horrifying New Stage

Exorcistic, a rock parody inspired by a certain 1971 novel and the William Friedkin film made from it, showcases Merlin as a rapping priest inspired by Max von Sydow's Father Merrin. Above, the show poster for the musical's Los Angeles fringe production. David Haverty/Hollywood Fringe hide caption

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David Haverty/Hollywood Fringe

Theater

For Hannibal & Co., A Horrifying New Stage

One Los Angeles performer has played Dr. Hill in Re-Animator, Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, and now Father Merrin in The Exorcist. Did we mention he sings opera, too?

For Hannibal & Co., A Horrifying New Stage

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Saturday

Lillian Leitzel, The High-Flying 'Queen' Of The Circus

Aerialist Lillian Leitzel came from a family of performers. In 1905, she toured Europe as part of the Leamy Ladies circus attraction, which included Leitzel (far left), her aunts Tina and Toni Pelikan, her mother Nellie Pelikan, and Lily Simpson. Dean Jensen's collection/Courtesy Crown Publishing Group hide caption

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Dean Jensen's collection/Courtesy Crown Publishing Group

Author Interviews

Lillian Leitzel, The High-Flying 'Queen' Of The Circus

In the golden age of the circus, aerialist Lillian Leitzel captivated crowds around the world with her effortless, high-flying stunts under the big top. Dean Jensen's new book, Queen of the Air, chronicles Leitzel's difficult but glamorous life, and the lives of her performing family.

Lillian Leitzel, The High-Flying 'Queen' Of The Circus

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Friday

Friday

Thursday

To Be, Or Not To Be (Covered By The AP)

Sucks to be them? Avenue Q's Trekkie Monster (with puppeteers Jennifer Barnhart and Christian Anderson) became a Broadway star, but he got his start off-Broadway after a summer workshop at the O'Neill Theater Center. AP's decision to cut coverage of such feeder venues means a grimmer future for promising art and artists, writer Howard Sherman says. Carol Rosegg/via AP hide caption

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Carol Rosegg/via AP

Opinion

Pop Culture Happy Hour

To Be, Or Not To Be (Covered By The AP)

The Associated Press won't be reviewing dance, opera or off-Broadway shows anymore. Does it matter?

Tuesday

In NYC, A Play Festival Spotlights Stories Of Disability

Mary Theresa Archbold (left), Anita Hollander and Tiffan Borelli star in Bekah Brunstetter's Gorgeous, part of Theater Breaking Through Barriers' initial Some of Our Parts Festival in 2011. A third round of new short plays runs through June 28 at New York City's Clurman Theatre. Carol Rosegg/Theater Breaking Through Barriers hide caption

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Carol Rosegg/Theater Breaking Through Barriers

Theater

In NYC, A Play Festival Spotlights Stories Of Disability

Now in its third year, the "... Our Parts" festival at Theater Breaking Through Barriers runs through June 28. Here and across the country, artists with disabilities are making drama (and comedy) in illuminating ways.

Tuesday