How a Rollicking New Play Came to Be
John Lithgow and Douglas McGrath take us inside the making of their new Off Broadway show
Anthony Bourdain’s Last Days, Revisited
How the chef’s biographer got past the guardrails of France’s Le Chambard hotel and into the room where Bourdain took his last breath
Murder, They Wrote
Mystery books past and present honor Queen Elizabeth II and the kingdom she leaves behind
Turning Point
Patrice Chéreau’s “Centennial Ring” at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976 changed history
Staff Picks
Don’t miss a look back at the 1920s’ most transfixing murder, the final installment of a three-part history of Napoleon, and a robust argument for prison reform
Mind Games
The New Yorker writer Rachel Aviv, whose debut book is out now, discusses mental illness in its many forms
Memories of Mantel
Hilary Mantel’s longtime editor remembers the singular talent and warm generosity of the writer who brought us the Thomas Cromwell trilogy
Night at the Opera
The little-known story of two British spinsters who saved dozens of Jewish musicians during World War II—and the Viennese star composer who helped them do it
Fernando Casablancas
The model and artist makes his TV debut in a reality show about downtown Manhattan’s creative class
Abbott and Costello Go to Bat Against Monkeypox
And the result is a comedy of errors
Their Back Pages
The Byrds invented folk rock and went on to become founding fathers of psychedelic rock, jazz rock, and country rock. A new book revisits the band’s mid-60s prime
The Dark Side of Social-Media Influencers
Plus: Is New York still the city that never sleeps?
The Last Laugh
Fawlty Towers could never be made today. But 47 years after it premiered, the show still perfectly captures a certain type of small-minded, social-climbing, xenophobic Englishman who is now all but extinct
Survivor, D.C. Edition
The new genre of books taking over Washington? Memoirs by Trump-administration survivors who tried to do their work in the midst of insanity
Incantation
Decaying film stock, the Song of Songs, and the seraphic soprano of Angel Blue
