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Music critic Will Hermes takes a listen to the new record from R.E.M., Around the Sun. The band has been making quieter, more introspective, records since drummer Bill Berry left the group in 1997.

Team America: World Police is a new spoof of action adventure films starring puppets. It's the work of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated TV show South Park. David Edelstein offers a review of Team America.

Hearings this week considered whether the nearly bankrupt Barnes Foundation will be allowed to move the private art collection to a new museum in downtown Philadelphia. The collection's late donor had stipulated that the art remain in a suburban location. Museums and collectors wonder what the case might mean for future donations. Joel Rose of member station WHYY reports.

Opera singer Robert Merrill died this weekend, at his home in New Rochelle, New York. The baritone sang with the Metropolitan Opera for over 30 years. He also helped introduce opera to a wider audience, with regular appearances on talk shows, and at Yankee Stadium, singing the national anthem. NPR's Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr has an appreciation.

For most of the 17th century, women were banned from the English stage and key Shakespearean characters such as Juliet and Ophelia had to be played by men. But in 1660, everything changed. NPR's Bob Mondello says the new movie Stage Beauty is about the moment when women were first allowed to act -- and some exceptional female impersonators found their lives turned upside down.

While the statewide mask mandate will end for vaccinated residents, that doesn't mean everyone in the state will be able to remove their masks indoors — even if they've gotten the shots.

Commentator Andrew Chaikin reviews a new DVD set called Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond. Although Disney made the Tomorrowland episodes in the 1950s, today's viewers can still appreciate the sense of wonder.

Just after World War II, a novel container started appearing on the shelves of America's stores: unspillable Tupperware. But profits were stale until a sales force of women began selling Tupperware at home parties. A new film documents Tupperware's early history, and its impact on American culture. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, the documentary's producer, writer and director.

For most of the 1980s, Naomi Judd and her daughter Wynonna were the top country music duo. In the late 1990s, Judd was diagnosed with hepatitis C and told she had just a few years to live. Judd documents her miraculous recovery, and offers advice to others with the disease, in her new book, Naomi's Breakthrough Guide: 20 Choices to Transform Your Life. NPR's Bob Edwards speaks with Judd.

Actress Frances Conroy plays Ruth Fisher in the HBO series Six Feet Under. At 50, she's found the prime role in a career that has spanned the stage and the big screen in addition to television. Conroy speaks with NPR's Susan Stamberg.