Sondheim, who turned 90 on March 22, composed the music and lyrics for Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Company and other shows. He spoke about his career in musical theater in this 2010 interview.
McNally, who died March 24 due to complications related to COVID-19, won Tony awards for Love! Valour! Compassion!, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime and Master Class. Originally broadcast June 1993.
McNally had suffered from lung cancer and pulmonary problems. He won his first Tony Award for Kiss of the Spider Woman. He also won Tonys for Love! Valor! Compassion!, Master Class and Ragtime.
High school musicals are canceled around the country over coronavirus concerns. Broadway star Laura Benanti asked disappointed high school singers for the next best thing: performance videos.
Arts and cultural events and institutions across the country are announcing cancellations and closures, including SXSW in Austin, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
When playwright Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band premiered off-Broadway in 1968, it was the first realistic, mainstream portrayal of gay men on stage. Crowley won a Tony Award for it.
A new play tells the story of the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia. Songwriter Steve Earle used it as a creative challenge to write his forthcoming album, Ghosts of West Virginia.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Shereen Pimentel and Isaac Powell, who play the lead roles in West Side Story, about this latest revival that's set in modern day New York.
A Soldier's Play tells the story of a murder in an African American unit of the U.S. Army after World War II. It premiered in 1981 and soon after won a Pulitzer Prize. Now, it's finally on Broadway.
Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher is known for adding surprising twists to classic American musicals and dramas. He says when reviving productions you have to ask: "Why are you doing it right now?"
The movement coach has taught at Juilliard for 50 years. Stars of stage and screen credit him with helping them create physically demanding roles by manipulating their bodies.
This week, we're listening back to some favorite Fresh Air interviews from the past decade. In 2011, Terry Gross spoke to the creators of South Park about their Broadway hit.
This week, we're listening back to some favorite Fresh Air interviews from the past decade. Terry Gross spoke to Miranda in 2017 about how his "mixed tape" musical came together.
Before Hamilton, Miranda was known for writing the music and lyrics for 2008's award-winning Broadway musical In the Heights. A movie version, starring Hamilton's Anthony Ramos, comes out June 26.
Tina playwright Katori Hall and star Adrienne Warren have plenty to say about working with the star, depicting domestic violence and learning to sing in a new voice.
In what turned out to be playwright Edward Albee's last produced new play, he explored the personality of sculptor Louise Nevelson. "Occupant" is being performed at Washington, D.C.'s Theater J.
Maria by Callas weaves together performance clips, home movies, interviews and poignant diary excepts to present an intimate portrait of the singer in her own words.
Sometimes life imitates art. In a production of Fiddler on the Roof, which contains a meddling matchmaker trying to get couples together, the two real-life leads have fallen in love.
As usual, the more than two dozen winners in 2019 span a range of fields, from fiction and cartoons to neuroscience and theoretical geophysics. Now they've got one important accolade in common.
Tony Award winner Phyllis Newman died Sunday at age 86. She won the award for her role in 1962's Subways Are For Sleeping. She also appeared on TV, as an actress and quiz show panelist.
