Jeff Lunden
Jeff Lunden is a freelance arts reporter and producer whose stories have been heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition, as well as on other public radio programs.
Lunden contributed several segments to the Peabody Award-winning series The NPR 100, and was producer of the NPR Music series Discoveries at Walt Disney Concert Hall, hosted by Renee Montagne. He has produced more than a dozen documentaries on musical theater and Tin Pan Alley for NPR — most recently A Place for Us: Fifty Years of West Side Story.
Other documentaries have profiled George and Ira Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Lorenz Hart, Harold Arlen and Jule Styne. Lunden has won several awards, including the Gold Medal from the New York Festival International Radio Broadcasting Awards and a CPB Award.
Lunden is also a theater composer. He wrote the score for the musical adaptation of Arthur Kopit's Wings (book and lyrics by Arthur Perlman), which won the 1994 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical. Other works include Another Midsummer Night, Once on a Summer's Day and adaptations of The Little Prince and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for Theatreworks/USA.
Lunden is currently working with Perlman on an adaptation of Swift as Desire, a novel of magic realism from Like Water for Chocolate author Laura Esquivel. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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A union representing 800 backstage workers began a publicity campaign today urging donors and government entities to withdraw support for the company because of a labor dispute.
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On Jan. 25, 1996, a new rock musical by a little-known writer, Jonathan Larson, gave its first performance. But that show almost didn't happen: Larson died of an aortic aneurysm early that morning.
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With his trademark suspenders and Brooklyn-accented baritone, King spoke with world leaders, celebrities, authors, scientists, athletes — everyone.
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Broadway star Rebecca Luker has died of complications from ALS. She and her husband also had COVID-19 earlier this year.
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A mainstay in Broadway musicals, her standout turn as Roxie Hart in Chicago in 1977 earned her widespread praise. She reprised the role in 1996 and won a Tony.
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Created by Pulitzer-winning composer Ellen Reid, Soundwalk lets visitors score their socially distanced walks around the park with an ever-changing, GPS-sensitive soundtrack.
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The magazine given out at theaters isn't just a program, it's a cherished souvenir. The publication has doubled down on its digital offerings, and to almost everyone's surprise, it's doing quite well.
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July 21 marks the centennial of the birth of violinist Isaac Stern. He was not only an acclaimed musician and advocate for the arts, but a devoted teacher who was a mentor to generations of musicians.
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Even before the age of social-distancing, composer and conductor Eric Whitacre had been leading an online chorus for a decade. Choir members say the connection they foster is more important than ever.
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For 30 years, Shetler Studios provided affordable space in New York's theater district for rehearsals, readings, classes and auditions. The owners can't afford to continue because of the pandemic.