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Comedian Billy Crystal is known for his gift for improv and impersonation. He credits his ease with riffing to lessons he learned as a child from jazz greats. For Intersections, a series on artists' influences, NPR's Susan Stamberg reports.

Indian actor Roshan Seth's latest role is in the short film Cosmopolitan, broadcast this month as part of the PBS series Independent Lens. Seth plays the part of a first-generation Indian living in the New York suburbs. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and Seth.

Jeff Lunden samples the opinion of hotel concierges in New York's theater district about the shows up for Tony Awards.

In an effort to encourage a broader range of entries from American composers, administrators of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize have decided to expand their definition of "serious" music. Since 1943, the Pulitzer Prize for music has been awarded exactly once to either a jazz composition, musical drama or film score. Hear NPR's Steve Inkseep and Pulitzer Prize Administrator Sig Gissler.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

A manuscript donated to the Library of Congress sheds new light on the last days of Nathan Hale, an American spy hanged by the British during the American Revolution. Penned by a writer sympathetic to the British, the document suggests Hale inadvertently revealed his mission to a British spy. Hale was executed on Sept. 22, 1776. Hear James Hutson of the Library of Congress.

The 2003 Nobel Prize for literature is awarded to South African novelist J. M. Coetzee. He's the fourth African writer to win the prize in the last 40 years. Hear NPR's Neda Ulaby.

Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan reviews the movie Mystic River, starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon and Lawrence Fishburn.

Dutch architect and Pritzker Prize laureate Rem Koolhaas's first U.S. project opens to the public Saturday in Chicago. The student center at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) campus has bright orange glass and a stainless steel tube on top that the Chicago elevated train passes through. Edward Lifson of Chicago Public Radio reports.

Two regular New Yorker contributors who specialize in lighter pieces talk about following in the footsteps of the magazine's legendary humorists and wits. Hear NPR's Scott Simon, screenwriter Paul Rudnick and author Susan Orlean.