Performing Arts

Arts

Illustrator Maira Kalman Moving To The Stage With Choreographer John Heginbotham

9:30am December 26, 2017

by Jill Kaufman

Kalman is collaborating on a stage work with choreographer John Heginbotham. The piece is based on The Principles of Uncertainty, and is all about living while knowing you're going to die.

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Father Herring performs with dancers during Sitka's Nutcracker ballet in Alaska.

Arts

'The Nutcracker' With An Alaskan Twist

8:11am December 23, 2017

by Emily Kwong

In Sitka, the local production of The Nutrcracker is uniquely Alaskan. Father Herring replaces Mother Ginger; the Mosquito Queen reigns instead of the Mouse King.

In "Gardens Speak," visitors lie in graves 10 at a time, listening to recorded stories of those killed in the Syrian uprising.

Stories Of Syria's Uprising, And Its Backyard Funerals, In 'Gardens Speak'

5:20pm December 10, 2017

by Greg Allen

In Miami Beach, visitors were lying down in freshly-dug graves 10 at a time. It was part of Tania El Khoury's interactive artwork, which tells the tales of people killed in Syria's civil war.

Danny Skinner portrays Patrick Star and Ethan Slater is SpongeBob SquarePants in SpongeBob SquarePants, the musical.

Arts

SpongeBob's Bikini Bottom On Broadway — And In Danger

7:56am December 09, 2017

by Scott Simon

The SpongeBob SquarePants musical is directed by Tina Landau. Even in the face of a dangerous volcano, she says SpongeBob "really reminds us to experience each moment with joy."

Arts

Kennedy Center Celebrates Latest Honorees, But Without The First Family

5:14am December 04, 2017

by Elizabeth Blair

Lionel Richie, Gloria Estefan, hip-hop pioneer LL Cool J, Norman Lear and dancer Carmen De Lavallade are this year's Kennedy Center Honorees. Not present, the president and first lady.

Complexity Of Touring With Rosewood Instruments May Soon Be Eased

4:41pm December 01, 2017

by Robert Benincasa

Complex regulations around the material, including a confusing permit process for musicians, may be much easier to navigate after a meeting today in Geneva.

Cellos are lined up backstage at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra before a Nov. 8 rehearsal of Schubert's Ninth Symphony. The CITES Rosewood regulations have made some musicians apprehensive about taking instruments containing the wood across international

The Tree That Rocked The Music Industry

12:10pm November 30, 2017

by Robert Benincasa

This year, new international regulations on rosewood have reverberated through the music industry, costing tens of millions in lost sales and extra administrative costs.

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In The Wolves, characters are known only by their jersey numbers. Playwright Sarah DeLappe says she wanted to portray them "not as daughters, not as girlfriends, not as sexual objects, but as athletes."

Arts

Like A War Movie, But 'On A Planet Of Teenage Girls'

8:19am November 18, 2017

by Jeff Lunden

Sarah DeLappe's play The Wolves, which opens in New York on Monday, follows an elite soccer team of young women as it prepares for its own battles.

Arts

Three Generations Of Actresses On How Ageism Affects Women In Hollywood

5:14pm November 17, 2017

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with actresses Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith and Dakota Johnson about how the opportunities for women in Hollywood have changed over the generations.

Katrina Lenk's and Tony Shalhoub's characters have an almost-romance in The Band's Visit.

Broadway's 'The Band's Visit' Tells A Story Of Common Ground Between Cultures

8:07am November 11, 2017

by Jeff Lunden

Songwriter David Yazbek knew he wanted to write a musical that fused his two cultural backgrounds and avoid the tired stories about tribal conflict.