Performing Arts

Hard Cider, Chamber Pots And Leeches: Living Like A Founding Father

5:25pm July 04, 2016

River Donaghey, associate editor at VICE, spent four days living as people did in the 18th century. Donaghey tells NPR's Ari Shapiro that New Yorkers happily mistook him as an extra from Hamilton.

A Tribute To The Late American Composer Eubie Blake

9:00am July 04, 2016

Blake's music is featured in the Broadway revival, Shuffle Along. Our tribute features live performances of his songs and interviews with pianist Dick Hyman, among others. Originally broadcast in '98.

In District Merchants, Akeem Davis plays Lance, a freed slave who has a crisis of conscience when he learns his boss, Shylock, may have been involved in the slave trade.

Arts

This Shakespeare Reconstruction Sets 'Merchant' In Post-Civil War D.C.

6:34pm June 30, 2016

by Elizabeth Blair

In District Merchants, Shylock is still Jewish, but half of the other characters are freed slaves. The playwright says he was inspired but a reference to slavery in Shakespeare's original text.

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Broadway Chanteuse Barbara Cook: 'My First Memories Are Of Singing'

1:26pm June 27, 2016

After starring in Broadway shows like The Music Man and Candide, Cook struggled with addiction, then staged a successful second career as a cabaret singer. Her new memoir is Then and Now.

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Arts

A Grisly, Humorous Dissection Of Morality In 'Anatomy Theatre'

8:48am June 25, 2016

by Gideon Brower

It was once thought that evil resided inside the body. So murderers were dissected to find it. That macabre practice is the subject of a dark but funny new opera, "Anatomy Theatre."

Author Heidi Durrow gathers with festivalgoers to celebrate Mixed Remixed in 2015.

A Festival For Mixed-Race Storytellers — And Everyone Else, Too

5:39pm June 20, 2016

by Leah Donnella

The Mixed Remixed festival isn't just for folks who are multiracial. It's about connecting people from all over the world who aren't always seen as belonging together.

Lin-Manuel Miranda accepts the award for best book of a musical for Hamilton at the 70th Annual Tony Awards at the Beacon Theatre on Sunday.

On A Dark Day, The Tonys Double Down On Joy — And Pride

6:53pm June 13, 2016

by Glen Weldon

The shadow of a mass shooting in Orlando cast a pall over the 70th Annual Tony Awards broadcast, but host James Corden offered a spirited paean to "every Broadway would-be."

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Arts

Hamilton Wins 11 Tonys Out Of Its 16 Nominations

6:29pm June 13, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

Tony Awards host James Corden and the night's biggest winners paid an emotional tribute to the 50 lives lost in a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday morning.

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Michelle Gonzalez has been an usher for 11 years. She's the newly elected shop steward at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, home of the musical Waitress.

Arts

May I Help You Find Your Seat? We Sat Down With Broadway's Longtime Ushers

7:45am June 12, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

Winners for the 70th Annual Tony Awards are announced Sunday night. Every year, NPR's Jeff Lunden talks to some of the hardworking people in the theater biz who aren't eligible for Tony nominations.

Books
Arts

'Such A Magical Time': Harry Potter Fans Recall Growing Up Alongside Wizard

4:41pm June 07, 2016

by Neda Ulaby

A new play about Harry Potter, written by J.K. Rowling, begins previews this week with Harry as a grown up. Grown, too, is the "Potter Generation," the kids who were the first to read the books when they came out. Their experience — maturing alongside Harry — was unique.