NPR Topics: Performing Arts

ABBAWorld, How Can We Resist You?

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:00:00 -0500

The music of four small-town Swedes has endured for nearly 40 years. Now, a new theme park open in London extends the appeal of the 1970s supergroup to a new generation.

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Comedian Russell Peters Capitalizes On Indian Roots

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:01:00 -0500

As a small South Asian kid with a big mouth, Russell Peters found himself the victim of race bullying. To coax his bullies from rage to laughter, he used self-deprecating comedy. Decades later, he is still poking fun at his own ethnic quirks to disarm audiences, and in the process, he is becoming one of the highest-earning comedians.

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Stargazing At The Opera

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:00:00 -0500

The Hayden Planetarium in New York takes opera to the moon with a new production of Il Mondo Della Luna. Diane Paulus and Philip Bussmann talk about merging cosmos footage with music, how science can enhance the arts and the future of technology and theater.

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Obama 'The Musical' Opens In Germany

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:00:00 -0500

A new theater production Hope: The Obama Musical Story opened this week in Frankfurt, Germany. It tells the story, in song and dance, of America's first black president. It is likely to be a big success in a country where President Obama is still immensely popular.

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Pride And Privilege — And Prejudice — On Stage

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:51:00 -0500

In U.S. dramas, African-Americans are often limited to portraying impoverished characters, like slaves or street thugs. So Lydia Diamond wrote a play about the opposite: An extremely wealthy black family vacationing on Martha's Vineyard.

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Yes You Can — See The New Obama Musical

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:44:00 -0500

Theatergoers are packing a concert hall in Frankfurt, Germany, for a new musical about Barack Obama, but the show's creator says the production isn't just about the president.

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'Cult' Hero Mike Daisey: When The Dollar Is Almighty

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:09:00 -0500

The celebrated monologist is a man on a mission: To make audiences look a little differently at their relationship with their money. His solo show The Last Cargo Cult examines the American worship of wealth through the lens of a South Pacific religion that worships all things American.

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'Romeo And Juliet': Just As You Misremembered It

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

In a new off-Broadway production, Shakespeare's classic is retold through the fuzzy recollections of people who slept through English class. The play is more about how we remember — or thought we remembered — the greatest love story of all time, and less about who said what on that balcony or whatever.

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Can Afrobeat Musical 'Fela!' Move The Masses?

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:47:00 -0500

In 2008, the off-Broadway musical Fela! became one of the most talked-about shows in New York. Telling the life story of Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti, the show made the move to Broadway last month and opened to ecstatic reviews. But will this unconventional theater piece speak to a larger audience?

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Illusionist's Show Becoming A Pretty Slick Trick

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:00:00 -0500

Sleight-of-hand artist Ricky Jay is breaking in a new show. It's been playing Chicago and will open next week at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. It's even said to be on its way to Broadway. Host Scott Simon speaks with Jay about his new show, "Ricky Jay: A Rogue's Gallery."

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'Black Nativity' Shepherds Sing Michael Jackson Songs

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:00:00 -0500

The holiday brings out performing arts staples: Handel's Messiah, The Nutcracker, and Langston Hughes' Black Nativity. For years, theaters have transformed Hughes' original script — adding songs and changing settings. San Francisco's Lorraine Hansberry Theatre features shepherds singing Michael Jackson tunes, and an act set in a contemporary urban African-American church.

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Actor Tim Robbins On New Theater Economics

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Nearly 30 years ago, actor Tim Robbins started a theater in the Los Angeles area called The Actors Gang. They enjoyed success with their interpretation of classics like Ibsen and Chekhov, and with more contemporary performers like Danny Hoch and Eric Bogosian. But in the midst of the current economic recession, the board of directors suggested they stop productions. Robbins' response was to do just the opposite: he launched a series of performances to raise money and bring new audiences to the theater. The WTF Festival has been a huge success and has taught Robbins much about the developing new business models for live theater.

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In 'Race,' David Alan Grier Confronts Painful Issues

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0500

A new Broadway play from writer David Mamet has audience members shifting in their seats. It's about the prickly and painful issues that arise out of a legal case in which a wealthy white man is accused of raping a black woman. Actor David Alan Grier, who plays a lawyer, says Mamet is exploding the notion that America has moved past racism.

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'Little Night Music' Revival Keeps It All In The Family

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's classic A Little Night Music opens Dec. 13. And alongside its bold-name cast members — Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury — is Broadway newcomer Ramona Mallory. Her debut as the ingenue continues a family legacy: Her mother created the role in 1973, and her father played the character who falls for hers.

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