Jeff Lunden

Saariaho isn't the first woman composer to stage an opera at New York's Metropolitan Opera — just the first in more than a century. Her opera, L'Amour de Loin, has its New York premiere this week.

Librettist Gene Scheer says the drama of George Bailey's life is "an operatic story." So he, along with composer Jake Heggie, turned It's a Wonderful Life into an opera.

Decades before he became a beloved children's book author, Theodor Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss) created a series of whimsical sculptures he called "Unorthodox Taxidermy."

When Falsettos first premiered in 1981, this frank, funny musical about gay, Jewish life in New York City was covering new territory. Now a revival is in the works, but will it still feel resonant in an age where gay rights have become mainstream?

The theater director's latest production was inspired by the civil war in Syria. It tells the story of Yudishtira, a prince who is overwhelmed by guilt after he wins a bloody war.

In 1969, an explorer and photographer named Loren McIntyre was dropped into the Amazon rainforest to try and make contact with a tribe called the Mayoruna. Now his story is headed to Broadway. The show uses binaural audio to play sounds of the rainforest in 3-D.

Neville Marriner died overnight at age 92. The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conductor was famous for his score to the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus.

Composer Missy Mazzoli wouldn't call Lars von Trier's film Breaking the Waves, a feminist project. But its portrayal of a woman's experience was part of what drew her to help reimagine it onstage.

"All art should be useful," Albee said. "If it's merely decorative, it's a waste of time." The Pulitzer-winning playwright of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? died Friday following a short illness.

One thousand singers gathered Saturday to perform a new work by Pulitzer winner David Lang. Reporter Jeff Lunden was one of them.

Percussionist Miles Salerni repeatedly auditioned to be a Fellow at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home, but was rejected. So he found another way in.

A new play chronicles the secret negotiations that brokered the 1993 Palestinian-Israeli peace accord. It's a thriller, says playwright J.T. Rogers: "The ticking clock is the dramatist's friend."

The avant garde director has two shows running off-Broadway and a musical opening in October. Though she's working on several different projects, she says there's always "a conversation" between them.

You might not know Marni Nixon's name, but you've probably heard her. Nixon dubbed the voices for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Deborah Kerr in The King and I.

Facing rising rents for rehearsal and performance spaces, artists are coming up with their own solutions.

Tony Awards host James Corden and the night's biggest winners paid an emotional tribute to the 50 lives lost in a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday morning.

Winners for the 70th Annual Tony Awards are announced Sunday night. Every year, NPR's Jeff Lunden talks to some of the hardworking people in the theater biz who aren't eligible for Tony nominations.

Born and raised in Detroit, Dominique Morisseau has written three plays about her hometown. Her latest explores the lives of auto workers struggling to keep their jobs during the 2008 economic crisis.

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.

It's not just Hamilton: Some of the season's biggest shows feature original pop scores, including two written by real-life pop stars Sara Bareilles and Duncan Sheik.