Performing Arts

Adrienne Warren and company perform "I'm Just Wild About Harry" in the musical Shuffle Along, one of five shows Scott Rudin is currently producing on Broadway.

Arts

Broadway Producer Scott Rudin: 'I'm A Complete Product Of Mentorship'

7:25am June 07, 2016

Rudin, who started in theater at age 15, owes a lot to the producers who taught him his craft. "They were giants," he says. All five of Rudin's current shows have been nominated for Tony Awards.

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Arts

Chicago's Fine Arts Building Has 10 Floors But Innumerable Stories

6:05am June 07, 2016

On a prime block of Chicago's Michigan Avenue stands the Fine Arts Building. Producer and violinist David Schulman takes us on an audio tour with the people who know the building the best.

British Playwright Peter Shaffer, Who Wrote 'Equus,' Dies At 90

6:08pm June 06, 2016

by Bob Mondello

Playwright Peter Shaffer has died. He was best known for Equus and Amadeus, both of which became movies.

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Arts

In 'The Dresser,' Anthony Hopkins Brilliantly Comes Undone

4:29pm May 30, 2016

Anthony Hopkins says his turn as an aged and increasingly faulty actor performing King Lear in a small theater during World War II is one of his favorite roles in a career full of memorable ones. He stars in the BBC adaptation of the play, The Dresser, along with Ian McKellan. Hopkins, who seized pop culture fame in 1991 for his portrayal of the psychopathic psychiatrist Hannibal Lector, started his career in the British theater and has no sense of lingering romance about it.

Arts

From Broadway To TV, An Actress' Death Takes Us Down Cultural Rabbit Hole

10:28am May 29, 2016

Beth Howland died in December at age 74. One of her best known roles, was as the original Amy in Stephen Sondheim's "Company." Looking into her past can lead you down a pop culture spiral.

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Taylor Swift, a pop star who is extraordinary for reasons entirely unrelated to white nationalism.

Taylor Swift, Aryan Goddess?

3:19pm May 27, 2016

by Leah Donnella

Haters (of a multicultural society) gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Meanwhile, Swift will continue to bask in her utterly unremarkable whiteness.

Candice Hoyes uses her surrounding for inspiration — and New York City has no shortage of interesting sights.

Candice Hoyes Sings Blackness, Womanhood And History On Her New Jazz Album

4:24pm May 23, 2016

by Leah Donnella

When Candice Hoyes sings, she's channeling a legacy of black women in jazz. Her debut album, On a Turquoise Cloud, celebrates the genre's storied roots.

Arts

Archaeologists Find Early Shakespeare Theater Was Rectangular

10:33pm May 21, 2016

Archaeologist Heather Knight tells NPR's Scott Simon about how the Curtain Theatre, where Shakespeare staged early plays, was rectangular and not round.

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Lynda Gravatt plays Faye, a shop steward who has spent her life working for the auto factory, but is now living in her car.

Arts

After Factory Layoffs, The 'Skeleton Crew' Is Left Behind

7:24pm May 20, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

Born and raised in Detroit, Dominique Morisseau has written three plays about her hometown. Her latest explores the lives of auto workers struggling to keep their jobs during the 2008 economic crisis.

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Arts

From Walter White To LBJ, Bryan Cranston Is A Master Of Transformation

1:48pm May 20, 2016

After five seasons as Walt on Breaking Bad, Cranston reinvented himself as Lyndon B. Johnson in the play (and now the HBO film) All the Way. Originally broadcast March 27, 2014.

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