On this new 3rd and Fairfax podcast from the Writers Guild, Monique Sorgen has an hour-long conversation with Erin Cardillo & Richard Keith about their new series Life Sentence. They talk about being a writing team, acting, and improv. The show stars Lucy Hale (formerly of Pretty Little Liars) and tells the story of a young woman who has been living for years with the knowledge that she has a terminal illness -- and then discovers that she's not going to die soon, but has her full life ahead of her, and she has to adjust everything she has prepared for, and hasn't prepared for.
I post this also for a personal reason. One of my oldest friends since childhood, John Kretchmer, was hired to be a producer and director on the series. So, there you go...
0 Comments
This is the least-known of our 4th of July songs today. And it's actually not about Independence Day at all, but the title, "Freedom," fits well-enough, though it's more related to the Civil War. It comes from the musical, Shenandoah, that was based on the movie with Jimmy Stewart. The show was a big hit after opening in 1975, running 1,050 performances, about 2-1/2 years. It had music by Gary Geld, with lyrics by Peter Udell, and oddly was a bigger hit than the previous show the two men had done which they're best-known for, Purlie. Shenandoah starred John Cullum, who won a Tony Award for his performance as Best Lead Actor in a Musical. Three years later, he won his second Best Lead Actor Tony for On the Twentieth Century. (Among his many stage appearances and Tony nominations, he also appeared in a small role in the original production of Camelot), But for all his stage work, Cullum is probably best-known for playing 'Holling Vincoeur' in the TV series, Northern Exposure. This song features two other cast members, Donna Theodore and Chip Ford. And it's one I've always especially liked from the show -- in part because it's a fun song, but also I happen to love counter-point and harmony, and this has a lot of the latter. As we head into the Fourth of July holiday, we gave our operators the evening off, so here's a bonus Piano Puzzler. This bonus contestant (though he may not think of himself that way...) is William White from Portland, Oregon. I got the hidden song pretty quickly, though it may not be terribly familiar to everyone, but it's not an unknown song. As for the composer style, it's one of those I just toss coins in the air and guess -- though as the contestant was analyzing how he came to his guess, his words suggested another composer to me, so I switched moments before he made his guess...and that was it.
Peter Sagal's guest contestant on this week's NPR quiz show, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! is comedian Eddie Izzard. Among other things, they talk about him doing his comedy act in four different languages, which is quite an impressive achievement.
This week's contestant is Eli Robbins from Peachtree City, Georgia. I was able to get the composer style quite easily, which is rare for me. Both the contestant and host Fred Child were stumped as for the hidden song -- as was I. That's because it is SO well-hidden. With a hint and bringing it out more the second go-round, the contestant got it -- but I still couldn't hear it. Only when composer Bruce Adolphe played it all through for a third time, was I able to focus it on it.
This is a special edition of our "Not My Job" segments that we post here from the NPR quiz show, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! In part that's because it's from the archives, aired a decade ago, originally broadcast on March 27, 2007. It's also much longer than most of the "Not My Job" segments -- almost twice as long, in fact. And it's probably the most-famous of them all. I wasn't sure I'd be able to find it...but happily, I did. If you don't usually listen to these, for some reason known only to you, make an exception this week.
Host Peter Sagal's guest contestant here is none other than -- okay, are you ready? -- Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. No, really. Not the sort of contestant you generally find on radio quiz shows. His sister-in-law was a fan of the program and nagged him to appear, and finally he relented. And the show makes the most of it. The interview, as I said, is long -- usually these pieces run about 9-10 minutes. This lasts for 17 minutes. And it's a joy all the way through. And often very funny. (Earlier, I had written about hearing this broadcast live, and my recollection of a story he told about baseball. My recollection is incorrect. He doesn't tell it here, and he was born after the even occurred, so clearly my memory is pretty bad on this point.) All rise... |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|