Accessibility links
Performing Arts News, interviews, and commentary on theater, the arts, music, and dance.

Performing Arts

Friday

Theater

Broadway shows are more expensive than ever to make, but audiences aren't showing up

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Boris Kachka about the dynamics of Broadway today. Kachka has a look behind the curtain in his piece for Vulture, headlined "We've Hit Peak Theater."

Broadway shows are more expensive than ever to make, but audiences aren't showing up

Listen · 5:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1252233147/1252233148" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

In honor of Mother's Day, here's 'Mother Play' — which gestated for 40 years

Playwright Paula Vogel is known not just for her work on Broadway — but for the generations of famous playwrights whose careers she has nurtured. Above, Jessica Lange in Paula Vogel's Mother Play. Joan Marcus/Second Stage hide caption

toggle caption
Joan Marcus/Second Stage

Theater

In honor of Mother's Day, here's 'Mother Play' — which gestated for 40 years

Playwright Paula Vogel is known not just for her work on Broadway — but for the generations of famous playwrights whose careers she has nurtured. Mother Play is about her own mother.

In honor of Mother's Day, here's 'Mother Play' — which gestated for 40 years

Listen · 5:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1250547891/1250805152" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Eurovision 2024: Here are the songs with the best shot at glory

Switzerland's Nemo rehearses "The Code" before the second semifinal. Jessica Gow/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty hide caption

toggle caption
Jessica Gow/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Eurovision 2024: Here are the songs with the best shot at glory

Another year, another glitter-filled spectacle known as the Eurovision Song Contest. The Grand Final airs Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET on Peacock in the United States.

Eurovision 2024: Here are the songs with the best shot at glory

Listen · 3:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1249696930/1250402936" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
One of opera's greatest hits gets a new and happy ending in Washington

Speranza Scappucci conducts singers on stage and the orchestra in the pit for the Washington National Opera's production of Turandot. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Keren Carrión/NPR

One of opera's greatest hits gets a new and happy ending in Washington

Giacomo Puccini's final opera Turandot gets a brand new ending premiered in Washington, with music by a composer known for video game tunes and a librettist who produced 'Succession'

One of opera's greatest hits gets a new and happy ending in Washington

Listen · 7:14
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1250136482/1250136483" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Why Jenny Slate sometimes feels like a 'terminal optimist'
NPR

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

Why Jenny Slate sometimes feels like a 'terminal optimist'

Welcome to Wild Card with Rachel Martin. In this first episode, Rachel talks to Jenny Slate, known for her roles in Obvious Child, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Parks and Recreation. Jenny opens up about whether fate brought her to her husband, what she's sacrificed for motherhood and what's so special about margarine and white bread sandwiches.

Why Jenny Slate sometimes feels like a 'terminal optimist'

Listen · 29:41
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1244130675/1248493676" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

English actress Judi Dench at a dress rehearsal of 'Hamlet', making her London debut as Ophelia in 1957. Bob Haswell/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Bob Haswell/Getty Images

Consider This from NPR

Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

Dame Judi Dench has played everyone from the writer Iris Murdoch to M in the James Bond films. But among the roles the actress is most closely associated, are Shakespeare's heroines and some of his villians.

Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

Listen · 11:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198911369/1248254992" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Tuesday

Author Interviews

Judi Dench on a career and friendship forged by Shakespeare

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Judi Dench and director Brendan O'Hea about their new book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent and a career and friendship forged by the Bard.

Judi Dench on a career and friendship forged by Shakespeare

Listen · 8:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1246682911/1246682912" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Theater

'The Crown' creator Peter Morgan tackles Putin's Rise to Power in new play 'Patriots'

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with playwright Peter Morgan about his Broadway production of "Patriots," a play about the rise of Russian oligarchs, Vladimir Putin, and the downfall of the USSR.

'The Crown' creator Peter Morgan tackles Putin's Rise to Power in new play 'Patriots'

Listen · 8:12
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1246682960/1246682961" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Conductor Andrew Davis, who headed orchestras on 3 continents, dies at 80

Conductor Andrew Davis, right, raises his arms as he takes a bow, accompanied by Renee Fleming, and Peter Rose, center, during the final dress rehearsal of Richard Strauss's Capriccio in the Metropolitan Opera at New York's Lincoln Center, March 25, 2011. Richard Drew/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Richard Drew/AP

Obituaries

Conductor Andrew Davis, who headed orchestras on 3 continents, dies at 80

Davis led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Britain's Glyndebourne Festival, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

Saturday

Theater

'Cabaret' comes back to Broadway starring Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin

NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, who star in the new Broadway revival of "Cabaret."

'Cabaret' comes back to Broadway starring Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin

Listen · 10:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1246083026/1246083027" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside

To help the group feel like a band, Will Butler had them open for him in Brooklyn. Julieta Cervantes/Stereophonic hide caption

toggle caption
Julieta Cervantes/Stereophonic

Theater

A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside

Stereophonic, a new play on Broadway with music by Arcade Fire's Will Butler, tracks the volatile creation of a rock and roll album over the course of a year in the 1970s.

A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside

Listen · 5:16
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1245596962/1245972874" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

An argument for the art of whistling

Molly Lewis, photographed by Shervin Lainez Shervin Lainez hide caption

toggle caption
Shervin Lainez

It's Been a Minute

An argument for the art of whistling

Some of us whistle while we work, but what happens when your work is whistling? This week, host Brittany Luse is joined by professional whistler, Molly Lewis. Lewis' catalogue spans across the film and music industries, from features on the Barbie soundtrack to performances alongside Karen O. From NPR's New York Bureau, Brittany sits down with Lewis to talk about the world of competitive whistling, how she hones a craft many people see as fidgeting, and why older generations are more likely to whistle. This episode also features a special live performance with songs from Lewis' new album, On The Lips.

An argument for the art of whistling

Listen · 25:11
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197956302/1245189129" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life

Amber Iman and Eden Espinosa in Lempicka. Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman/Lempicka hide caption

toggle caption
Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman/Lempicka

Theater

'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life

Once the toast of 1920s Paris, Tamara de Lempicka's story is now on Broadway. She was a modernist art deco artist who's better known in Europe than in the U.S.

'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life

Listen · 5:04
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1244302875/1244644882" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript