Performing Arts: Whats the Buzz from National Public Radio

Here is the latest Performing Arts buzz from NPR.

After Two Intense Dramas, Lupita Nyong’o Says She’s Ready For A Change
The actor is now starring on Broadway in Eclipsed, a searing story of young women held captive in Liberia. After that and 12 Years a Slave, Nyong’o says she’s ready for some lighter material.

Worldwide Celebrations On The 400th Anniversary Of Shakespeare’s Death
People are celebrating the Bard’s life and enduring legacy around the world. Here’s a look at how they’re doing it, and how you can get engaged.

I’m Not Sad About Prince, But Let Me Explain
I grew up in a conservative evangelical home in the Midwest. When Prince died and flashes of purple filled my social media feeds, I felt like an outsider watching a ritual I couldn’t fully join.

Shakespeare Saw ‘360 Degrees Of Humanity,’ And That’s Why He Endures
From actor David Tennant to artistic director Gregory Doran, Royal Shakespeare Company thespians reflect on the Bard’s legacy. Shakespeare is said to have died 400 years ago on April 23.

Everybody Has A Prince Story (Or Should). Here Are Ours
These stories are good for sharing any day, but they must be shared today, in honor of The Purple One’s passing.

Snacking In Shakespeare’s Time: What Theatregoers Ate At The Bard’s Plays
There were no dress circle lounges nor mezzanine bars 400 years ago. Back then, audience snacked on cold nibbles and ready-made street food from vendors they passed on their way to the performance.

Child Migrants’ Harrowing Journey Brought To Life On Stage
Shelter is a play based on interviews with Central American kids about the violence that drove them to migrate north, and the experience of living in limbo in the U.S. It opens this weekend.

Lin-Manuel Miranda Talks ‘Hamilton’: Once A ‘Ridiculous’ Pitch, Now A Revolution
When the Broadway musical’s creator said the life of Alexander Hamilton embodied hip-hop, people laughed. Now, he’s written a book about the national phenomenon with former critic Jeremy McCarter.

Central American Kids Recall Brutal Journey To U.S. In ‘Shelter’
Shelter is a play based on interviews with Central American kids about their harrowing experiences migrating north. NPR’s Code Switch team talks with the youth who inspired the play, the playwright and the actors about the production.

22 Years After Famous Firing, Kathleen Battle Returns To Metropolitan Opera
The opera singer Kathleen Battle is set to return to the Metropolitan Opera — 22 years after she was famously dismissed for “unprofessional actions.”

The Story Of Line 24: How Performing Artists Landed On The Tax Form
Many of the lines on tax forms like the 1040 seem oddly specific. Some are for farmers, some for divorcees, some for servicemen and women. Behind each of those we can see the process that shapes our tax code. NPR looks at one line — for performing artists — and how it came to be.

Defunct Chinatown Bus Line Celebrated By Performers, Ex-Riders
The Fung Wah bus was a cheap way to get between major cities in the Northeast. The Chinatown bus line was no-frills and unsafe. It’s no longer operating, but it holds some nostalgia for former riders.

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Musical Takes On Teen Behavior, Tangled In Social Media
A musical by Tony-nominated songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul opens Saturday in New York. “Dear Evan Hansen” is a comedy-drama about social anxiety and teen suicide in the age of social media.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: ‘Hamilton’
It’s Broadway’s current phenomenon, so we went to see it and report back on what it is, how it works, and whether we loved it as much as we wanted to. It’s our Hamilton show.

Dance, Dance, Revolution: When An American Fell In Love With Castro’s Spy Chief
A fairy-tale romance between a dancer from Connecticut and a young Cuban studying at Columbia turned into a political thriller — and resulted in the unlikely birth of a new art form in Cuba.

Have Five Hours To Spare? See Bolaño’s Epic ‘2666’ On Stage
Roberto Bolaño’s posthumous novel 2666 weighs in at over 900 pages — a challenging read, to say the least. Now Chicago’s Goodman Theater has adapted it to as a five and a half hour stage production.

Pen-Pal Passion Is Revived In Broadway’s ‘She Loves Me’
A revival of the 1963 musical She Loves Me opens Thursday on Broadway. Director Scott Ellis and lyricist Sheldon Harnick (whose Fiddler on the Roof is also back on Broadway) join Fresh Air.

‘Zimerican’ Playwright Danai Gurira Brings African Stories To American Stages
You may know Gurira as Michonne, the samurai sword-wielding zombie slayer on The Walking Dead. But she’s also an award-winning playwright and this week, two of her works are opening in New York.

Watching A Brown ‘Hamilton’ With A White Audience
The hit musical recasts the Founding Fathers as people of color engaged in rap battles. But on a recent night, ticket buyers largely looked the way Broadway audiences have always looked. What gives?

In Honor Of #InternationalWomensDay, A Playlist Of Ladies Who Rock
Check out the songs (and back stories) of women musicians from around the world.

‘1984’ On Stage: Big Brother Is Still Watching You
An award-winning London stage adaptation of 1984 has just transferred to the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. The actors say Orwell’s dystopian novel remains ominously relevant today.

Originals: How To Spot One, How To Be One
Adam Grant, author of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, tells us what makes an original, how parents can nurture originality in their children, and its potential downside.

Oscars 2016: Follow Along With NPR’s Live-Blog
When the stars take the stage at the Academy Awards, NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour crew will be tweeting all the action. Check here throughout the night for their reactions and news on the winners.

As A Japanese Mountain Village Shrinks, So Do Its Prospects For Kabuki
For more than 300 years, children have performed kabuki, Japan’s classical theater, in the village of Damine. But as residents age or leave for cities, Damine is running out of young performers.

Family Drama Meets Existential Horror In ‘The Humans’
On its surface, the play sounds pretty ordinary: A young woman and her boyfriend have her family over for Thanksgiving dinner. Then things start to get weird.

Misty Copeland Achieves #SquadGoals In The Documentary ‘A Ballerina’s Tale’
Misty Copeland talks body image, ballet, and blackness in the new PBS documentary A Ballerina’s Tale.

‘Scalia/Ginsburg’ Opera Commemorates Sparring Supreme Court Friendship
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Justice Antonin Scalia were ideologically at the opposite ends of the Supreme Court bench. Despite their dissenting opinions, they were also great friends. And their arguments with each other were put to an opera.

‘Trapped In Time,’ The Last Showgirl Revue On Vegas Strip, Will Close
With its elaborate headdresses, colorful sequined gowns and statuesque dancers, Jubilee was the classic Las Vegas show. But times and tastes change, and the last performance will be on Feb. 11.

To Sorkin A Mockingbird: Screenwriter Will Adapt Novel For Broadway
How will Aaron Sorkin’s rapid-fire dialogue fit with Harper Lee’s tale of racism and justice in the South?

Why Do Theater? Every Year, International Festival Looks For Answers
Organizers of Under the Radar regularly search the globe for cutting-edge theater that is urgent and relevant. This year’s festival features works from Rwanda, the U.S. and Japan.

Years After Its Curfew Killed Theater, Ghana Gets A Second Act
Back in the ’80s, Ghanaian theater went dark under military curfew. Now, a dapper businessman-turned-playwright is leading an onstage revival — and doing it with a sense of humor.

’60s ‘Dish’ Maggie Smith Says, ‘That Was Never Me’
“It must be lovely to be beautiful, but that’s a really difficult thing to lose,” says Smith, now 81. Best known in the U.S. for her role in Downton Abbey, she’s now starring in The Lady in the Van.

‘Fiddler’ Songwriters Discuss Putting Themselves In The ‘Soul Of The Characters’
Together Sheldon Harnick and the late Jerry Bock wrote the songs for the Broadway show Fiddler on the Roof. Both men spoke to Fresh Air in 2004; Harnick spoke to Fresh Airagain in 2014.

‘Glory Of The World’ Is More Wacky Birthday Party Than Traditional Play
The play celebrates Catholic monk Thomas Merton’s 100th birthday. But it isn’t really about Merton — it’s about human complexity, and at times the action resembles the film Animal House.

In ‘Sweat,’ Adapting To Change Is The Hardest Work Of All
Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage spent two years visiting Reading, Pa., to research her new play. Sweat explores how industrial decline affected workers in the former steel and textile town.

From Streets To Stage, Two Dance Worlds See Harmonization And Chaos
When a San Francisco-based choreographer decided to take turf dancers off of the streets and trains of Oakland and put them on stage with ballet dancers, chaos ensued. Until she let them all improv together.

Young Theater Fans Find Their Tribe At The First Ever BroadwayCon
For one 14-year-old fan, BroadwayCon was a chance to meet people who understand her theater obsession. “We can share what we love,” she says.

Can’t Buy A Ticket To That Concert You Want To See? Blame Bots
A report from New York’s attorney general points to abusive practices in the market for live-event tickets on sites such as StubHub. Computer programs snap up seats faster than humans can.

From Football To Opera: Singer Morris Robinson Takes Center Stage
Once Morris Robinson dreamed of fame on the football field. Now, he’s moving audiences across the world with the power of his voice, and changing the face of opera.

At 42, Matthew Rushing Might Just Be The Peyton Manning Of Dance
Dancers typically retire at a relatively young age. Rushing, however, is still going strong — and he’s about to kick off a 20-city tour.

‘We’re Mostly Republicans’: New Hampshire Voters Explained By ‘Our Town’
After NPR’s Bob Mondello used The Music Man to help explain the Iowa caucuses, he wished there was a musical of Our Town so he could do the same for New Hampshire. It turns out there is one.

At 82, Broadway ‘Master Of Ceremonies’ Joel Grey Says, ‘Life Seems Full’
Grey explains how he brought his decadent Cabaret character to life on both the stage and screen, and reflects on coming out as gay after years of living closeted. His memoir isMaster Of Ceremonies.

American Musicals Are So Popular In Paris, They’re Coming Back To The U.S.
French audiences have flocked to Paris productions of American musicals like Kiss Me, Kate, which closes this week. France’s versions of some of these plays are also being exported back to the U.S.

Video: UCLA Gymnast Sophina DeJesus Whips, Nae Naes And Slays
The viral video of DeJesus’ routine doesn’t show an athlete dominating in a traditionally white sport despite her race. She’s an athlete celebrating her identity in the sport she loves.