Theater

Arts

Her senior recital was on historically censored songs. Then her school censored her

7:59am February 26, 2022

by Scott Simon

Scott Simon speaks with Friends University student Caitlyn Fox about the recital she was not allowed to perform on campus. It was comprised of songs that were banned from musical theater.

Actor Zero Mostel, center, who portrays Tevye in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," poses backstage with cast members after the play's opening performance at the Imperial Theatre in New York on Sept. 22, 1964. Maria Karnilova, who plays Tevye's wife, Gold

If Russia's invasion of Ukraine feels familiar, look to Broadway in the 60s

7:46pm February 25, 2022

by Bob Mondello

Why should Americans care about Ukraine? An answer from 1960s Broadway.

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Scottish theater troupe puts on a show and breaks Guinness World Record

5:42am February 23, 2022

The entire show — from learning lines, choreography, making costumes, etc., was completed in less than 10 hours. They started Sunday morning and put on Return to the Forbidden Planet that evening.

Arts

Atlanta Opera union fight could set independent contractor precedent

5:19pm February 20, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

Hair and makeup workers at the Atlanta Opera are looking to join a union. But the opera is arguing that the workers are independent contractors, and not employees.

Tariq Trotter portrays a scientist who has invented a machine that can turn Black people white in the off-Broadway musical Black No More.

Arts

A machine turns Black people white in the musical 'Black No More'

10:25am February 14, 2022

by Jeff Lunden

An off-Broadway show, based on a 1931 novel, explores the results when a scientist charges Black people $50 each to change their race with his new invention.

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Method actor Robert De Niro won the Oscar in 1981 for his performance as a retired boxer in Raging Bull.

Books
Arts

How the Method transformed film — and made acting more human

12:15pm February 09, 2022

by Terry Gross

Method acting is more than mining personal experiences to play a character — or physically transforming for a role. Author Isaac Butler traces the history of the technique in The Method.

Illustrator Peter Emmerich says he drew on both research and his own personal memories to draw people like Stephen Sondheim. "I put him in the book wearing what he was wearing when I met him," says Emmerich. "Because, like, I will never forget him in that

Books
Arts

Theater stars spring to life on the pages of 'B is for Broadway'

5:20pm January 29, 2022

by Jeff Lunden

A few years ago, a children's book called A is for Audra celebrated musical theater divas. Its creators have written a new book, B is for Broadway, celebrating theater from auditions to Ziegfeld.

Mrs. Doubtfire is one of the Broadway shows that reopened but then had to shut down for a while after cases of COVID spread among cast and crew.

Arts

Omicron hampers Broadway. Fewer tourists are there for just a score of shows

7:59am January 23, 2022

by Jeff Lunden

Tickets may be easier and cheaper to get for the plays that are still open. Some producers reopened until the virus raced through the cast and crew. Future productions are hard to see on the horizon.

Wake Forest receives grant to produce plays focused on social issues

10:24am January 18, 2022

by Neal Charnoff

Wake Forest University has received a grant to commission and produce two original plays to be presented during the 2024 National Black Theatre Festival.

Arts

Opinion: Remembering a friendship with Terry Teachout

11:14am January 15, 2022

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon remembers theater critic and playwright Terry Teachout, who died this week at the age of 65.

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