Arts

Performing Arts

Fridas for Everyone

The face that sold a million mugs returned to museums and the operatic stage this spring, as if there was a yearning to reconnect with the real Frida Kahlo.

August 20, 2026 issue

Arya Roshanian

Nowhere to Hide

The languid melodies of Vincenzo Bellini’s operas look simple and spare on the page, but they are exacting, even merciless for singers.

June 25, 2026 issue

Martin Filler

Tunnel of Love

The Met’s new Tristan und Isolde was a vocal triumph for Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres, but Yuval Sharon’s staging only fitfully captured the essence of Wagner’s masterpiece.

June 11, 2026 issue

Larry Wolff

Opera in Ragged Times

Scott Joplin’s luminous musical parable on the evils of ignorance is uncannily attuned to the present moment.

May 16, 2026

James Romm

Vengeance Is Theirs

In Shakespeare’s most infamous play, a disordered Roman state becomes the backdrop for nihilism, bloodshed, and scrambled moral hierarchies.

April 26, 2026

Anika Banister

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams

For six decades, Yoko Ono’s art has considered how we should live with ourselves and one another in an unknowable, painful world.

January 25, 2026

Frances Wilson

Mommie Dearest

In Liza Minnelli’s riveting memoir, the ghost of Judy Garland is felt on every page.

May 28, 2026 issue

Matthew Aucoin

A Taste of Infinity

With his commitment to impractical and borderline impossible projects, the composer Dylan Mattingly has created a welcoming, abundant, sun-drenched musical landscape.

August 20, 2026 issue

Theater & Dance

Alisa Solomon

‘Take that Phony Dream and Burn It’

The latest Death of a Salesman shows how America’s empty promises can turn hope into reactionary ressentiment.

July 29, 2026

Larry Wolff

Opera in Ragged Times

Scott Joplin’s luminous musical parable on the evils of ignorance is uncannily attuned to the present moment.

May 16, 2026

James Romm

Vengeance Is Theirs

In Shakespeare’s most infamous play, a disordered Roman state becomes the backdrop for nihilism, bloodshed, and scrambled moral hierarchies.

April 26, 2026

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are inspired casting to lead Waiting for Godot, but the Broadway production amounts to Beckett with emotional subtitles.

November 8, 2025

Joan Acocella (1945–2024)

Joan Acocella

Joan Acocella

Dancing for Balanchine

October 11, 1990 issue

Joan Acocella

On Tap

June 6, 1996 issue

Joan Acocella

The Neapolitan Finger

December 21, 2000 issue

Joan Acocella

The Elmore Leonard Story

September 24, 2015 issue

Joan Acocella

Crotch Shots Galore

May 24, 2018 issue

Joan Acocella

From Russia, with Love

May 25, 2023 issue

The Latest

Nicole Rudick

‘I Don’t Want Dead Art’

From downtown New York to rural Louisiana, Tina Girouard used her performances and installations to model open forms of communal life.

August 22, 2026

Alisa Solomon

‘Take that Phony Dream and Burn It’

The latest Death of a Salesman shows how America’s empty promises can turn hope into reactionary ressentiment.

July 29, 2026

Philip Clark

The Grain of the Note

For the composer Liza Lim, voices and instruments alike are materials to be fractured, strained, and pushed to the edge.

July 5, 2026

Matthew Aucoin, in conversation with Jarrett Earnest

Matthew Aucoin on Opera, Music Criticism, and Poetry

Episode 16 of Private Life

June 11, 2026

Andrew Katzenstein

‘Not Insane!’

The Firesign Theatre, a comedy group formed in the 1960s, created surreal albums that mixed satire and science fiction, and inspired a generation of misfits.

April 9, 2026 issue

Marina Harss

Alexei Ratmansky’s Leap of Faith

Having wrested himself from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, the great choreographer has sought to remake himself and his work in Denmark.

March 12, 2026 issue

Andrew Katzenstein

Bamfordtown

Maria Bamford’s wild and constantly inventive stand-up style relies on her never flinching from the most difficult realities.

January 15, 2026 issue

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are inspired casting to lead Waiting for Godot, but the Broadway production amounts to Beckett with emotional subtitles.

November 8, 2025

Geoffrey O’Brien

The Escape Artists

Mason Bates’s operatic adaptation of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay condenses the encyclopedic novel into a story about two outsiders caught between the harsh reality of World War II and their success as creators of a comic book superhero.

November 6, 2025 issue

Francesca Wade

‘One Being Dancing’

In her latest performance, the eighty-five-year-old dancer and choreographer Lucinda Childs takes up one of her great influences: the work of Gertrude Stein.

October 10, 2025