Monday, June 30, 2025
Seller has been a key behind-the-scenes figure for some of Broadway's biggest hits including, Hamilton and Rent, but he got his start on a much smaller scale. He looks back in a new memoir.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 05:06PMFriday, May 23, 2025
Strouse, who died May 15, wrote the music for musicals like Bye Bye Birdie, Annie, Applause, It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's Superman, and Golden Boy. Originally broadcast in 2002.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 03:18PMThursday, March 13, 2025
Fugard, who died March 8, was a white South African whose plays explored the consequences of Apartheid. He was later awarded a Tony Award for lifetime achievement. Originally broadcast in 19…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 02:03PMMonday, June 3, 2024
The Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical about three friends received seven Tony nominations. We talk with director Maria Friedman, who was a friend of Sondheim's, and actor Jona…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 12:06PMTuesday, March 12, 2024
The comic can pick up on the "micro bad mood" of whoever she's talking to. And when she wants her 3-year-old daughter to open up, she talks to her in the voice of Marcel the Shell with Shoes…
SOURCE: npr.org at 05:02PMTuesday, January 2, 2024
In his new biopic Maestro, Cooper was determined not to imitate the legendary Leonard Bernstein. Instead, the actor worked with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin to find his own rhythm.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 09:18PMFriday, June 30, 2023
Harnick, along with composer Jerry Bock, wrote the enduring music for Fiddler, as well as Fiorello and She Loves Me. He died June 23. Originally broadcast in 1988, 2004 and 2014.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 07:04PMWednesday, April 19, 2023
The new Broadway musical New York, New York includes Kander and Ebb's songs from Scorsese's 1977 film. We listen back to an '83 interview with Kander and Ebb, plus '91 and '15 interviews wit…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:54PMFriday, March 24, 2023
Linda Simpson performed in and chronicled the drag scene in the '80s and '90s, taking some 5,000 photos of performers. She calls Tennessee's anti-drag legislation "ridiculous."
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 03:18AMThursday, March 16, 2023
DuBalle says the legislators behind a new law criminalizing public drag shows don't understand the art: "They think that every drag performer is doing something hypersexual or obscene."
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 12:51PMSaturday, November 19, 2022
The Yiddish language production of the musical is back. Steven Skybell, who plays Tevye, and Joel Grey, who directed the original, explain the musical's resonance. Originally broadcast July …
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 05:03AMMonday, November 14, 2022
For years Copeland was told that her skin color, her body and her hair didn't conform to what ballerinas were supposed to look like. Her memoir is The Wind at My Back.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 03:32PMFriday, November 4, 2022
Porter won an Emmy for Pose, and a Tony for the Broadway musical Kinky Boots. In addition to performing, he's also a star on the red carpet. His memoir is Unprotected. Originally broadcast i…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 05:32PMFriday, October 21, 2022
The Tony Award-winning actor starred in the Broadway musicals Mame, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd, as well as the TV series Murder, She Wrote. Lansbury died Oct. 11. Originally broadcast in 2000.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 12:07PMMonday, July 18, 2022
Michael R. Jackson's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical is about a young Black gay musical theater writer named Usher, who works as an usher at a Broadway show — just like Jackson onc…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:54PMFriday, June 10, 2022
The Sound of Music star will soon be honored with the AFI's Life Achievement Award. In 2008 and 2019, she spoke to Fresh Air about growing up during WWII and performing in her parents' vaude…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 05:42PMFriday, May 27, 2022
In June, Lansbury will receive the Tony Award for lifetime achievement. The Murder, She Wrote star previously won Tonys for her performances in Gypsy and Sweeney Todd. Originally broadcast i…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:33PMSaturday, May 14, 2022
A decade ago, Costanzo had surgery that threatened to destroy his singing voice. Now he stars as a gender-fluid Egyptian pharaoh in the Met Opera's production. Originally broadcast Oct. 7, 2…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 01:36PMMonday, April 4, 2022
Alsop talks about the rejection she faced on the way to becoming the first woman to lead a major American orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony. She's now the subject of a new documentary, The C…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 04:24PMWednesday, February 9, 2022
Method acting is more than mining personal experiences to play a character — or physically transforming for a role. Author Isaac Butler traces the history of the technique in The Method.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 08:24PMWednesday, December 8, 2021
Brooks wrote countless edgy jokes over the years, but he doesn't regret any of them. He calls comedy his "delicious refuge" from the world. "I hide in humor," he says. His new memoir is All …
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 08:54AMFriday, December 3, 2021
We conclude our tribute to Sondheim by listening to archival interviews with collaborators and performers, including Stephen Colbert, James Lapine, Paul Gemignani and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 07:12PMThursday, December 2, 2021
We continue our tribute to Sondheim by listening back to a 2010 interview in which he shared the stories behind some of his most famous songs and gave his take on other great lyricists.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:48PMSondheim, who died Nov. 26, was the lyricist and composer who gave us Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and other shows. In 2010 he spoke about his writing process, from rhyming to finding the r…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:36AMSaturday, November 20, 2021
Twyla Moves, a documentary by PBS American Masters, tells the story of the legendary choreographer, who got her start performing on subway platforms in the 1960s. Originally broadcast April …
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 02:33AMSaturday, October 30, 2021
The noted sleight-of-hand artist, who died in 2018, was also a scholar of con games and oddities. This week, Sotheby's auctioned off part of Jay's 10,000-item collection. Originally broadcas…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 12:42AMTuesday, October 19, 2021
Fourteen years after his initial diagnosis, the Pose actor revealed publicly that he is HIV-positive. Porter says being open about his health status felt like a rebirth. His new memoir is Un…
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 09:06PMMonday, September 27, 2021
Platt frequently worries about the past and what's to come, but there's one place where his anxiety tends to subside. "Being on stage, for me, is kind of the antidote to that," he says.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:42PMTuesday, August 3, 2021
James Lapine worked with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Passion. In Putting it Together, he draws on interviews with Sondheim and members of the cast …
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 04:48PMFriday, May 14, 2021
D'Amboise, who died May 2, began dancing at 7 and joined the New York City Ballet at 15. He later founded the National Dance Institute, which teaches dance to children. Originally broadcast …
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 05:42PMThursday, April 8, 2021
Twyla Moves, a new documentary by PBS American Masters, tells the story of the legendary choreographer, who got her start performing on subway platforms and rooftops in the 1960s.
SOURCE: National Public Radio at 11:03PM 
