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Program01-09-09-A
To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio
Mel Brooks' play "The Producers" is Broadway's biggest
hit in years, but it's not for everyone – not at a hundred bucks
a ticket. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, does
theater still matter? We'll talk with playwright Wendy Wasserstein
and critic Frank Rich. Also, Samuel Beckett's muse - actress Billie
Whitelaw.
SEGMENT 1:
Playwright Wendy Wasserstein ("The Heidi
Chronicles," "Isn't It Romantic") has a new book of essays, "Shiksa
Goddess." She tells Anne Strainchamps she grew up going to the
theater and wanted to be sure others got the same opportunity.
So she got a grant to bring several high school kids from the
Bronx to Broadway and talked with them about their experiences.
Also, John Eisner, producing director of New York's Lark
Theatre Company, and Daphne Greaves, a playwright who's
had several pieces developed there, tell Steve Paulson that the
Lark is a "research and development" theater company, and explain
how it helps writers. And we hear excerpts from two plays.
SEGMENT 2:
For years, Frank Rich was chief drama critic
for the New York Times, where he's now an op-ed columnist. He's
written a memoir - "Ghost Light." Rich tells Jim Fleming that
the Broadway musicals of his childhood were all about dysfunctional
families and helped him cope with his own difficult family situation
- his parents were divorced and his stepfather loved theater,
but was occasionally abusive.
SEGMENT 3:
Billie Whitelaw was
Samuel Beckett's favorite actress and appeared in his plays for
over twenty years. She tells Steve Paulson she never understood
the plays but thinks Beckett's a genius. And she describes some
of the bizarre physical challenges the roles posed: in "Not I"
she was strapped to a chair with only her mouth lit while she
delivered a sixteen minute speech as fast as she could. And we
hear some examples.
Cassette copies are available
at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 02-10-06-A.
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Books:
- Frank Rich,
Ghost Light: a memoir (Random House)
- Wendy Wasserstein, Shiksa Goddess
(Or, How I Spent My Forties) (Knopf)
Music:
- Opening Night
from The Producers Original Broadway Cast Recording
with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick(Sony)
- Piano Lesson from The Music Man
Cincinnti Pops - Erich Kunzel (Telarc)
- Buena Vista Social Club from Buena
Vista Social Club (World Circuit/Nonesuch)
- If Momma Was Married, Everything's Coming
Up Roses and Overture from Gypsy Original
Cast Recording With Tyne Daley (Elektra/Nonesuch)
- Goodbye! and Overture from The
Producers Original Broadway Cast Recording with Nathan
Lane and Matthew Broderick(Sony)
Distribution dates:
Also this week: Hour 1: Reviving
Politics
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Questions and comments can
be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org
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