Theater

Okieriete Onaodowan had to learn both accordion and piano to play the role of Pierre in Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. He ends his run on the show in mid-August.

Arts

There's No Easy Answer For Why 'The Great Comet' Is Closing

6:09pm August 09, 2017

by Elizabeth Blair

Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 received rave reviews and 12 Tony nominations, the makings of a Broadway hit. Now, it's closing, in part because of a controversy over casting and race.

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Bruce Springsteen, performing at New York City's Madison Square Garden in November 2013.

Bruce Springsteen Is Headed To Broadway For An Intimate Series Of Performances

10:31am August 09, 2017

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The Boss has announced a limited, intimately scaled music-and-words show at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre, running in October and November.

Barbara Cook performs at the 120th anniversary of New York's Carnegie Hall in 2011.

Barbara Cook, Tony Award-Winning Actress And Singer, Dies At 89

4:31pm August 08, 2017

by Jeff Lunden

Cook became famous for her parts in Leonard Bernstein's Candide and Meredith Willson's The Music Man. Then, when Broadway roles became scarce, she reinvented herself as a concert and cabaret artist.

Arts

Our Backstage Pass Takes Us To The Wings Of London's Globe Theatre

8:27am August 08, 2017

by Petra Mayer

If all the world's a stage, and men and women merely players, there must be somewhere to stash the scenery and change your costumes. What's it like in the wings at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre?

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Poetry Of Failure Comes To Life At Chicago's 'Baudelaire In A Box'

6:47pm August 05, 2017

by Dan Weissman

This weekend in Chicago, a small theater troupe with a big resume will present all of the poems in Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Mal" — sung by more than 50 performers from around the world.

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Fresh Air Remembers Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright And Actor Sam Shepard

2:33pm August 04, 2017

Shepard, who died Sunday, penned more than 55 plays, including Buried Child. His breakthrough film role was as astronaut Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff. Originally broadcast in 1998.

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Arts

Actor Ed Harris Says Sam Shepard Was 'Iconically American'

10:17am August 01, 2017

Playwright/actor Sam Shepard died Thursday at the age of 73. Actor Ed Harris worked with him on many different project on the stage and screen; he offers his memories.

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Arts

Sam Shepard, 'Poet Laureate Of America's Emotional Badlands,' Dies At 73

1:44pm July 31, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

A Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated actor, Shepard cut a towering presence in theater and cinema. He died last week of complications from ALS, a family spokesman says.

J.M. Barrie, at work at his desk in an undated photograph.

Books
Arts

Madcap 'Sit-Com' From Peter Pan's Creator Finally Sees The Light Of Day

11:27am July 28, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

J.M. Barrie penned The Reconstruction of the Crime with E.V. Lucas — but the play was never performed in his lifetime or the 80 years since. Now, the tale of mistaken identity is getting published.

Hamilton-inspired cupcake toppers. It was only a matter of time before fans of the Broadway hit sought out culinary tributes to their most treasured folk hero.

Feeling 'Young, Scrappy And Hungry'? Have A 'Hamilton'-Inspired Meal

3:21pm July 24, 2017

by Kristen Hartke

It was only a matter of time before fans of the Broadway hit sought out culinary tributes to their most treasured folk hero. Here are historically minded ideas to eat like the Founding Father.