Arts & Life

In The Front Runner, Hugh Jackman plays Gary Hart, whose 1987 presidential campaign was swiftly derailed by reports of an extramarital affair.

What 'The Front Runner' And Gary Hart Tell Us About Political Theater Today

11:09pm November 30, 2018

by Audie Cornish

Matt Bai and Jay Carson wrote the screenplay of a new drama about the swift 1987 downfall of the Democratic presidential candidate — an event Bai says has a "direct throughline" to President Trump.

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Ricky Jay performs his show Ricky Jay & his 52 Assistants at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles in 1996.

Arts

Ricky Jay Remembered, From The Wings: An Assistant's Thoughts On The Late Magician

6:14pm November 30, 2018

by Chris Klimek

Critic Chris Klimek offers a remembrance of the late illusionist, author and actor Ricky Jay, for whom he worked as a personal assistant over a decade ago.

Arts

Remembering Master Magician And Sleight-Of-Hand Artist Ricky Jay

12:40pm November 30, 2018

by Terry Gross

Jay, who died Sunday, was an avid scholar of con games and could make cards disappear and reappear in ways that seemed impossible. He spoke to Fresh Air in 1987, 1998 and 2002.

First-time actress Yalitza Aparicio plays Cleo, the live-in housekeeper and nanny of a middle-class Mexican family, in Roma.

Arts

Overly Orchestrated 'Roma' Is An Epic Of Everyday Life In Mexico

12:40pm November 30, 2018

by Justin Chang

Critic Justin Chang says the immaculate staging of Alfonso Cuarón's new film is both an asset and a liability: "There's something curiously showy about the unshowiness of Roma."

Michelle Wolf appears on Ask Me Another at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York.

Arts

Michelle Wolf: Doing It For The People

11:38am November 30, 2018

Comedian Michelle Wolf chats about her work on Wall Street, her career in comedy, and her performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Then, she plays a game with Amber Ruffin.

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Amber Ruffin appears on Ask Me Another at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York.

Arts

Amber Ruffin Says What!?

11:38am November 30, 2018

Comedian Amber Ruffin discusses her work on Late Night with Seth Meyers, imbibing on Drunk History, and writing a musical about bigfoot. Then, she plays a game about cryptids.

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Here We Come A-Shambling: Ella Hunt plays Anna, a young woman caught in a zombie outbreak that's got a good beat and is easy to dance to, in Anna and the Apocalypse.

Arts

Teens Sing Their Guts Out In The Scottish Zombie Christmas Musical 'Anna And The Apocalypse'

5:01pm November 29, 2018

by Scott Tobias

The debt John McPhail's tuneful horror comedy owes to Shaun of the Dead proves too deep to clamber out of, but the songs are fun and Ella Hunt's feisty lead performance is charming.

Into the woods and out of the woods and home before dark: Luna (Julia Jedlikowska) strays off the path in Sicilian Ghost Story.

Arts

In 'Sicilian Ghost Story,' A Boy Goes Missing — And A Girl Goes Searching

5:00pm November 29, 2018

by Ella Taylor

In this haunting, lyrical Italian film, the true story of a horrific mob-related kidnapping is couched within "a love story [that unfolds] in a fairy tale more Grimm than Disney."

Tom Schiller plays artist Kurt Barnert, a character modeled on Gerhard Richter, in this old-fashioned melodrama from writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.

Arts

'Never Look Away' Glibly Examines The Intersection Of Art And Autobiography

5:00pm November 29, 2018

by Mark Jenkins

Tom Schilling plays a German painter clearly modeled on Gerhard Richter in this melodrama about the lingering costs of war and the ways they inform both art and artist.

"Drawing has made it possible for me to stay close to Joy when she is no longer here," Jonathan Santlofer writes in his memoir, The Widower's Notebook.

Books
Arts

Author And Artist Illustrates Life After A Sudden Death In 'Widower's Notebook'

2:39pm November 29, 2018

by Terry Gross

When Jonathan Santlofer's wife died five years ago, he was thrown into a "fugue state" of grief. Sketching her portrait from old photographs has helped him stay close to her.

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