Performing Arts

Dancers from The American Ballet Theatre perform Robbins' ballet Fancy Free in 1946.

Arts

'Jerome Robbins 100' Is A Centennial Celebration Of Timeless Choreography

5:26pm May 03, 2018

by Jeff Lunden

Robbins directed and choreographed many of Broadway's biggest hit musicals, including West Side Story. Now, New York City Ballet, the company he helped co-found, is throwing a festival in his honor.

Music is integral to Arena Stage's Snow Child, and actors sometimes join the house band on their own instruments.

'Snow Child' Conveys Alaska's Wild Magic In Musical Form

5:14pm May 02, 2018

by Lynn Neary

Eowyn Ivey's novel about a Alaskan homesteaders longing for a child — and the magical snow girl who appears to them — has been reimagined as a bluegrass-infused musical.

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Saudi women jog in the streets of Jeddah in March. The government is encouraging greater participation by women in sports.

'Culture Shock Within Their Own Country': Saudis Come To Grips With Swift Changes

1:43pm May 02, 2018

Activities once forbidden — cinema, music, women driving — are now OK. It makes some Saudis nervous. "I talk to younger people, they are happy with it," says a Saudi woman. "But older people are not."

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Actor Leslie Odom Jr. attends the 2018 Tony Awards Nominations Announcement on May 1, 2018. in New York City.

Books
Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Talking 'Hamilton' And 'Failing Up' With Leslie Odom Jr.

9:00am May 02, 2018

by Linda Holmes

Broadway's original Aaron Burr sits down to talk about his new book, how it feels to hear ugly things about your career, and what he wants to do now that he couldn't before.

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Actors Leslie Odom Jr. and Katharine McPhee announced the nominations for the 2018 Tony Awards on Tuesday in New York City.

So Fetch: 'Mean Girls,' 'SpongeBob' Net The Most Tony Award Nominations

5:54pm May 01, 2018

by Camila Domonoske

The new musicals, based on a movie and an animated TV show, earned 12 nominations each. Angels in America, The Band's Visit and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel each received 11.

Actors rehearse a dance scene for the 1968 London production of the musical Hair.

Arts

'Hair' At 50: Going Gray, But Its Youthful Optimism Remains Bouncy And Full-Bodied

4:43pm May 01, 2018

by Bob Mondello

Bob Mondello says the musical looked — and sounded — much different from anything Broadway had ever seen and helped secure a place for rock music on the Great White Way.

Puerto Rican Comedy Troupe Aims To Lift Up Spirits Of Those Living On, Off The Island

10:17am April 30, 2018

by Adrian Florido

Popular Puerto Rican sketch comedy group Teatro Breve has been touring the U.S. mainland with a hilarious take on how Puerto Ricans living off the island dealt with Hurricane Maria.

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Arts

'Carousel' Returns To Broadway

7:54am April 28, 2018

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel returns to Broadway for the first time in more than two decades. NPR's Scott Simon talks to opera star Renée Fleming, who has two showstoppers in the musical.

Mel Brooks' office is lined with awards — he's in the elite EGOT club, having won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

Mel Brooks Says It's His Job To 'Make Terrible Things Entertaining'

3:46pm April 26, 2018

by Susan Stamberg

Brooks, 91, has made a career of poking fun at topics that normally wouldn't make you laugh. "The comedy writer is like the conscience of the king," Brooks says. "He's got to tell him the truth."

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Allan Monga, a Deering High School junior, won Poetry Out Loud contests at school and at the state level. He was initially denied entry to the national competition because he's an asylum seeker and not a U.S. citizen.

Asylum-Seeking Student Says Nothing Can Stand Between Him And Poetry

6:13pm April 24, 2018

by Ari Shapiro

Allan Monga of Portland, Maine recently won the right to compete in the national Poetry Out Loud festival. He was initially barred because he's an asylum seeker and not a U.S. citizen.

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