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Theater
25 Years Strong, 'Phantom Of The Opera' Kills And Kills Again
January 27, 2013 Invited guests packed the Majestic Theater on Saturday night to celebrate the longest-running Broadway musical ever. Times have changed, but the Phantom, that tortured genius who haunts the Paris Opera House, creating havoc and causing the chandelier to fall, has endured.
Theater
A Cooler Roof For A New 'Cat'
January 17, 2013 A Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' iconic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof may feature big names, but it aims for a quiet kind of authenticity. Director Rob Ashford asked his cast to take their characters off the pedestal of dramatic history and put them back in the scene.
Theater
'Adventure Hour' Is A New Take On Old-Time Radio
January 10, 2013 The Thrilling Adventure Hour is both an update and an homage to old radio dramas. Created eight years ago by college friends Ben Blacker and Ben Acker, the pseudo radio show features actors reading from scripts in front of a live nightclub audience.
Theater
Bobby Cannavale, At Home On Broadway
January 9, 2013 The actor, who's currently starring in Glenngarry Glen Ross opposite Al Pacino, has been acting for the stage since he was a teenager in Union City, N.J. "It was the only thing I ever wanted to do, really," he says.
Theater
A Vet's Haunted Homecoming In 'Water By The Spoonful'
January 8, 2013 Quiara Alegria Hudes' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama opens off-Broadway on Tuesday. The play is the second in a trilogy focused on an injured Iraq veteran named Elliot — a character based on Hudes' cousin. "I just remember the instant I saw him, there was just something changed in his eye," she says.
A Way Without Words: Mummenschanz Mimes Celebrate 40
January 6, 2013 WBURThe experimental Swiss mime troupe took Broadway by storm in the 1970s. Now the masked performers are bringing their hard-to-describe characters back to the U.S. for a five-month national tour celebrating the troupe's 40th anniversary.
Spirit Of The Season
Broadway's Profit-Turning, Crowd-Pleasing Christmas Story
December 21, 2012 With hordes of tourists descending on New York for the Christmas season, Broadway is looking to turn a profit — by staging limited-run holiday musicals like A Christmas Story and Elf. But with production costs so high, how can these shows make money back? The answer, it turns out, is complicated.
Theater
'Pullman Porter Blues' Travels Back In Time
December 6, 2012 NPR's Michel Martin speaks with actor Larry Marshall and playwright Cheryl West about Pullman Porter Blues, a play that tells the story of three generations of African-American railway porters in 1937.
Hispanics Call For Kennedy Center Honors
December 1, 2012 After 35 years and 186 artists, only two honorees have been Hispanic — Placido Domingo in 2000 and Chita Rivera in 2002. "When you paint that picture and you leave the Latino artist community out of it, there's a huge hole," says Felix Sanchez, president of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts.
Deceptive Cadence
The Peony Pavilion: A Vivid Dream In A Garden
November 30, 2012 Peony Pavilion is one of China's most famous operas, but uncut performances of this romantic 16th century work can take more than 22 hours. An adapted version of the dream-like opera will take place at the Metropolitan Museum.
Around the Nation
Kennedy Center's New Organ No Longer A Pipe Dream
November 27, 2012 The old organ was in bad shape and beyond repair. Now, after more than two years of construction and installation, a new organ has arrived and will make its debut on Nov. 27.
Princess Marty Is A Smarty If She's At A Child's Party
November 24, 2012 Her highness — known outside the big dress as Mary Alice LeGrow — is a professional party princess. She uses her best princess voice and dresses up in full regalia to charm children. But life in the kingdom isn't all candy and sugarplums; it takes a lot of muscle to be a princess.