Performing Arts

Edgar Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen is on display at the National Gallery of Art until Jan. 11.

Arts

'Little Dancer' Musical Imagines The Story Behind Degas' Mysterious Muse

11:31am October 20, 2014

by Susan Stamberg

Ballerina Marie Van Goethem started modeling for Edgar Degas around 1878 and inspired his statue Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. But history lost track of her after she left the Paris Opera.

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Wendy Whelan, 47, principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, will retire Oct. 18 after 30 years with the institution.

Arts

Poetry In Motion: Prima Ballerina Retires After 3-Decade Career

10:27am October 17, 2014

by Nina Gregory

Wendy Whelan, 47, will give her final performance with the New York City Ballet on Saturday. NPR spent time with the dancer as she prepared for her goodbye.

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Neil Patrick Harris has hosted the Tony Awards four times.

Books
Arts

What's It Like To Be Neil Patrick Harris? He Gives You Options

1:01pm October 14, 2014

The actor says he's been able to do a lot of different things in his life, including his role as Doogie Howser. So when he sat down to write a memoir, he made it a "Choose Your Own Adventure."

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Young Mike (Joseph Carlson) antagonizes Mike (Michael Patrick Thornton) during a physical therapy session with Jerry (James Whalen).

Sports
Arts

Play, Ball: A Theatrical Look At The 'Beauty And Brutality' Of Football

10:15am October 10, 2014

by Elizabeth Blair

In the new play Colossal, a former football player, paralyzed after taking a bad hit during a game, reflects on his glory days and his struggles as a gay man in the macho culture of football.

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Arts

'This Impromptu Dance': Geoffrey Holder's Son Tells One More Story

11:52am October 09, 2014

by Leo Holder

Dancer, choreographer, director, actor and painter Geoffrey Holder died Sunday. His son, Leo, writes about the remarkable last night he spent with his father.

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash on The CW's The Flash.

Arts

'The Flash' And 'Gotham' Succeed By Taking Comic Book Stories Seriously

2:24pm October 08, 2014

by Eric Deggans

As The CW's new superhero series The Flash debuts tonight, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans notes the best new broadcast dramas of the fall season are based on comic book stories.

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Arts

Broadway Veteran Marian Seldes Dies At 86

1:52pm October 08, 2014

by JeffLunden

Seldes was a distinctive presence on Broadway performing in the works of Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee among others. She won a Tony Award in 1965.

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The cover of Cameron Esposito's Same Sex Symbol.

Arts

Cameron Esposito And The Comedy Of Confidence

10:58am October 08, 2014

by Linda Holmes

In a new comedy album, Cameron Esposito covers strip clubs, her attraction to "women in crisis," her awkward youth, and her bone-deep comfort in her own skin.

Alex Sharp stars as 15-year-old Christopher in the theater adaptation of Mark Haddon's 2003 novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Books
Arts

The Unadaptable 'Curious Incident' Gets A Stage Adaptation

12:37pm October 07, 2014

by Jeff Lunden

Author Mark Haddon never imagined The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time would work as a play — he judged his writing by its unadaptability. But now it is one, and critics are loving it.

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Kathryn Hunter, Jared McNeill and Marcello Magni star in The Valley of Astonishment.

Arts

Seeing Neurological Patients As Characters, Not Case Studies

1:51pm October 05, 2014

by Jeff Lunden

Legendary theater director Peter Brook is working on a new play centered on people with unusual conditions — like synesthesia, extraordinary memory or the inability to sense their own bodies.

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