Podcasts about Fitzgerald Theater

Jeremy Piven joins the show but quickly runs into audio issues, leaving him to deliver a comedic monologue. Jeremy is performing at The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul Saturday June 7th. You can hear Staci & Hutch LIVE 2-7pm on 94.5 KS95!!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What should you do if the food at the neighborhood potluck is BAD? Plus cases about shorts in the winter, TV volume, and washing car mats in the dishwasher! All recorded LIVE at St. Paul, MN's beautiful Fitzgerald Theater!We are on TikTok and YouTube! Follow us on both @judgejohnhodgmanpod! Follow us on Instagram @judgejohnhodgman!Thanks to reddit user u/EddieRayDesign for naming this week's case! To suggest a title for a future episode, keep an eye on the Maximum Fun subreddit at reddit.com/r/maximumfun! Judge John Hodgman is member-supported! Join at $5 a month at maximumfun.org/join!

Chad speaks out on who really cares about debt and spending in politics and the disgusting murder of a young Jewish couple in Washington DC last night. Later, actor/comedian helps us lighten it up with talk about his life, career, and coming to town soon for a standup comedy show at the Fitzgerald Theater.

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.Somebody Say HallelujahLinda Sloan of Hopkins, Minn., is the executive director for the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage. She predicts audiences will be on their feet at the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul this weekend, moved by “The Sound of Gospel: An Anthology Depicting the Rich History and Evolution of Gospel Music.”The play is written by Rev. William H. Pierce of 2nd Chance Outreach and directed by Academy Award-nominated artist Jevetta Steele, with musical direction by Grammy Award-winning artist Billy Steele. The all-ages show will be performed Saturday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. Linda says: I cannot say enough about this performance. It is amazing. When I went to the show a couple years ago, I was just blown away by the caliber of the talent and then the meaning of the songs. It's just a phenomenal show. You'll hear anything from spirituals to praise and worship. It is just an opportunity for individuals who maybe have never really experienced gospel to understand the roots, the roots of where it comes from and why it is spiritual music. It's so energetic. There are a couple little somber moments, because it is a history of gospel music, and there have been things in the past that maybe occur that required spiritual music. But for the most part, it's just one of those “toe-tapping, get-on-your-feet, clapping, as if you were in a Baptist church” shows. — Linda Sloan  A play about DREAMers navigating life Actor and singer Anna Hashizume of Minneapolis recommends seeing Frank Theatre's current production of the play “Sanctuary City,” about two undocumented teens growing up in Newark, N.J., post 9/11. She describes the play as a series of very short scenes performed by an outstanding three-person cast. The play runs in the intimate Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis through Feb. 23. Masks are required for the Feb. 7 and Feb. 16 performances. Frank Theatre, which mounted the play, specializes in works that spark conversation, and Anna says this show feels incredibly timely.Anna says: I know when [director] Wendy Knox first chose the play we didn't know the political climate that was going to be happening at this moment in time, but it is a very timely play for what is happening in our nation right now.  Theater has a lot of different functions. It can just be entertainment, which is also lovely at a time like this, but also being able to be educated and see different life experiences in front of your eyes in a relatively safe space can open something up in all of us. — Anna HashizumeA breath of spring Donna Winberg of Deephaven, Minn., loves to walk the trails at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, so she's been able to pop inside the visitor center to watch preparations for the Spring Flower show. The enchanted garden displays are now open to viewers with an Arboretum ticket daily through March 16.  In addition to the Spring Flower show, Donna recommends continuing through the Synder Building to the Conservatory, which is currently packed with orchids and tropical blooms, with a stop at the Rootstock Café for a bite to eat. Additional ticketed events include an Art Fair on Feb. 15 and 16, After Hours with Flowers and Afternoon Tea events. MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner is also a fan; see his pictures in a recent Updraft Blog here. Donna describes the scene: You'll be amazed when you see the huge tree trunks they've brought in there, and the mosses and the lichens and the mushrooms. It's just like a breath of spring, which we all need this time of year! What I really love is the local artist work that is incorporated into the displays. There'll be different artists coming in [through the course of the show.] [This week] there are mosaic glass birds and ceramic birds and all sorts of wonderful little fairy houses, bird houses. So you have to stand there and look at things for a while to have it all revealed to you, which is fun.— Donna Winberg

Jazz88's Patty Peterson talks to sax man, Boney James, about his new CD called "Slow Burn" and his tour, which brings him to the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul December 18th, 2024.

Today's Song of the Day is “Babylon” from Tamino's album Every Dawn's a Mountain, out March 21.Tamino will be performing at The Fitzgerald Theater on Friday, April 4.

Beloved children's author Kate DiCamillo published three new books this year: “Ferris,” “Orris and Timble: The Beginning,” and “The Hotel Balzaar.” She has two more coming next year — plus 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the book that started it all, “Because of Winn-Dixie.”She is a prolific writer, a lifelong reader and a delightful human. Which made her the perfect guest to close out Talking Volumes celebratory 25th season on Tuesday, Oct. 29. Talking Volumes: Kate DiCamillo No stranger to the stage at the Fitzgerald Theater, DiCamillo came with stories and quips. She and host Kerri Miller talked about the impact of Winn-Dixie on DiCamillo's life, what she knows now that she didn't know then, and how stories can change your life.It was an evening full of wonder and laughter. Singer-songwriter Humbird was the special musical guest. Click here.

Ten years ago a trio of writers and performers came together to form the Funny Asian Women Kollective, or FAWK. They have each embarked on theater and film projects since then, but their comedy work continues. And their Extra Quality Super Show is coming up next week at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. Two of the co-founders of FAWK, May Lee-Yang and Saymoukda Vongsay join MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about their work together and the upcoming program.

In Episode 23 of The Halloween Podcast, host Lyle Perez takes listeners on a chilling journey through the haunted history of Minnesota. From the infamous Wabasha Street Caves to the haunted Glensheen Mansion, the North Star State is filled with eerie tales of gangsters, tragic murders, and ghostly apparitions. Each location is rich in paranormal encounters and chilling stories, making Minnesota a must-visit for ghost hunters and history buffs alike. Featured Haunted Locations: The Wabasha Street Caves Address: 215 Wabasha St S, St. Paul, MN 55107 Once a speakeasy during Prohibition, the Wabasha Street Caves are haunted by the ghosts of executed gangsters who frequented the underground venue. Shadowy figures and cold spots are common, and paranormal tours are available for those looking to explore its darker past. The Palmer House Hotel Address: 500 Sinclair Lewis Ave, Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Known for its tragic history, the Palmer House Hotel is home to ghostly children and a former maid. Guests report eerie giggles, phantom footsteps, and chilling encounters in the hotel's most haunted rooms. The Fitzgerald Theater Address: 10 Exchange St E, St. Paul, MN 55101 Minnesota's oldest active theater, haunted by the spirit of a stagehand who died in an accident. Visitors often feel cold drafts and hear disembodied footsteps echoing through the orchestra pit and backstage. The Glensheen Mansion Address: 3300 London Rd, Duluth, MN 55804 Scene of a notorious double murder, the Glensheen Mansion is haunted by the ghost of Elisabeth Congdon and her nurse. Cold spots, whispers, and ghostly figures have been reported by visitors touring the mansion. The Greyhound Bus Museum Address: 1201 Greyhound Blvd, Hibbing, MN 55746 Built on the grounds of a former hospital and orphanage, this museum has its own haunted reputation, with apparitions of a nurse and a young girl wandering the exhibits. The Old Mounds Theater Address: 1029 Hudson Rd, St. Paul, MN 55106 A hotspot for paranormal activity, this theater is haunted by the ghost of a little girl named Mary, who loves to tug on costumes and giggle during rehearsals. The Soap Factory Address: 514 SE 2nd St, Minneapolis, MN 55414 A former factory turned art gallery, The Soap Factory is notorious for its haunted basement, where shadowy figures and unsettling whispers are often experienced. The St. James Hotel Address: 406 Main St, Red Wing, MN 55066 This historic hotel is home to the spirit of a former owner, Clara Lillyblad, and other ghostly figures who wander the halls and lobby. The Forepaugh Mansion Address: 276 Exchange St S, St. Paul, MN 55102 The tragic love story of Joseph Forepaugh and his maid, Molly, lingers in the halls of this Victorian mansion, where Molly's spirit is often seen gazing out the windows. The Lake Julia Sanatorium Address: Near Puposky, MN Once a tuberculosis hospital, this abandoned sanatorium is haunted by former patients. Visitors often hear coughing, footsteps, and the sound of hospital equipment moving in the empty building. Like Our Facebook page for more Halloween fun: www.Facebook.com/TheHalloweenPodcast ORDER PODCAST MERCH! Website: www.TheHalloweenPodcast.com Email: TheHalloweenPodcast@gmail.com X: @TheHalloweenPod Support the Show: www.patreon.com/TheHalloweenPod Get bonus Halloween content and more! Just for Patreon supporters! Check out my other show! Find it on iTunes - Amazing Advertising http://amazingadvertising.podomatic.com/ Keywords: Haunted Minnesota, Minnesota Ghost Stories, Haunted Locations, Paranormal Minnesota, Haunted America, Wabasha Street Caves, Palmer House Hotel, Fitzgerald Theater, Glensheen Mansion, Greyhound Bus Museum, Old Mounds Theater, Soap Factory, St. James Hotel, Forepaugh Mansion, Lake Julia Sanatorium Tags: #HauntedAmerica #GhostStories #MinnesotaHaunts #ParanormalPodcast #HauntedLocations #StaySpooky

This week, the gals get lit talking about one of their favorite spirits. Topics include eyeball ingestion, a really ominous chessboard, and one very barbaric barber. Mix up a greyhound, cut your own hair, and tune in for Vodka Crimes. For a full list of show sponsors, visit https://wineandcrimepodcast.com/sponsors Join Lucy & Amanda at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, MN on SATURDAY, September 21, 2024. In-person tickets: https://www.axs.com/events/649219/wine-crime-podcast-tickets?skin=fitzgeraldtheater Livestream tickets: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/12345789  

This month, Em Schulz of And That's Why We Drink joins the gals to discuss expelled intestines, competitive eating, screaming mummies, nocturnal clowns, the dangers of combat boots, and the one thing you probably shouldn't buy with an insurance payout. Tune in for September's episode of Gossip at the Corpse Cart! For a full list of show sponsors, visit https://wineandcrimepodcast.com/sponsors Do you have your tickets yet for Wine & Crime LIVE at the Fitzgerald Theater? In-person Tickets: https://www.axs.com/events/649219/wine-crime-podcast-tickets?skin=fitzgeraldtheater Virtual Tickets: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/12345789

Get feral at the Fitzgerald with the Wine & Crime Gals! Join Lucy and Amanda LIVE at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, MN on Saturday, September 21st! Tickets are ON SALE NOW!! This is a show you don't want to miss. https://www.axs.com/events/649219/wine-crime-podcast-tickets?skin=fitzgeraldtheater Unable to join us live in Saint Paul, MN? Stream Wine & Crime LIVE from the Fitzgerald wherever you are by getting your Crowdcast livestream tickets! https://www.crowdcast.io/c/12345789 (Pssst…PATREON supporters get a special $5 off their Crowdcast livestream purchase with a special promo code listed on our Patreon channel.)

This week, the gals trek to the Electric City to unearth a couple of cruel crimes. Topics include a pizza shop robbery gone very wrong, a body in broad daylight, and 30,000 pounds of bananas. Get yourself a beautiful bottle of Dark Angel from Cellar Beast Wine, skip the intro music, and tune in for Scranton Crimes. For a full list of show sponsors, visit https://wineandcrimepodcast.com/sponsors   Join the Gals LIVE at the Fitzgerald in Saint Paul, MN on Saturday, September 21st: https://www.axs.com/events/649219/wine-crime-podcast-tickets?skin=fitzgeraldtheater Can't join at the Fitzgerald Theater? Get your Wine & Crime LIVESTREAM tickets for the Fitz show on Crowdcast: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/12345789  

Today's Song of the Day is “There She Goes” from The Cactus Blossoms' album Every Time I Think About You, out August 30.The Cactus Blossoms will be performing at the Fitzgerald Theater on Friday, September 13.

What do you do when you find a spider in the house? Are bananas ever round? How do you deal with an outdoor cat taunting your indoor cat? Is Duck Duck Gray Duck a real game? Rulings on these disputes and more this week on the podcast! Recorded LIVE in St. Paul, MN at the Fitzgerald Theater. With special guest Kevin Murphy!We are on TikTok and YouTube! Follow us on both @judgejohnhodgmanpod! Follow us on Instagram @judgejohnhodgman.Thanks to reddit user u/humphrey_the_camel for naming this week's case! To suggest a title for a future episode, keep an eye on the Maximum Fun subreddit at maximumfun.reddit.com!

MPS Voices and Jazz88 host Olive Norvell recently connected over ZOOM with Kamasi Washington in anticipation of Washington's new album, Fearless Movement, and his upcoming show at the Fitzgerald Theater on May 11. They discussed his new record, his passion for music, his experience in scoring films and his feelings about pasta in general and spaghetti in particular.

MPS Voices and Jazz88 host Olive Norvell recently connected over ZOOM with Kamasi Washington in anticipation of Washington's new album, Fearless Movement, and his upcoming show at the Fitzgerald Theater on May 11. They discussed his new record, his passion for music, his experience in scoring films and his feelings about pasta in general and spaghetti in particular.

Today's Song of the Day is “Get In The Water” from MAKR AN ERIS' album ME 2, out now.MAKR AN ERIS will be performing with jeremy messersmith and KC Rae for The Current's Minnesota Music Month at the Fitzgerald Theater on Thursday, April 25.

Today's Song of the Day is “The New York Times Crossword Puzzle” from Jeremy Messersmith's album Live At The Bryant Lake Bowl.Jeremy Messersmith will be performing at the The Fitzgerald Theater on Thursday, April 25.

Dave Schrader begins the hour with a conversation about Krispy Kreme teaming up with McDonald's. We also discuss proper birthday party RSVP etiquette and Dave's annoyances in dealing with iPhone owners as a Samsung user. Plus, paranormal researcher Dustin Pari of Ghost Hunters joins to share about some memorable things he's encountered and what to expect at his stage show coming to the Fitzgerald Theater next week.

Paranormal researcher Dustin Pari of Ghost Hunters joins Dave Schrader to share about some memorable things he's encountered during investigations and what to expect at his stage show coming to the Fitzgerald Theater next week.

Viet Thanh Nguyen has a critical mind. He's critic of populist politics. He's a critic of history. He's a critic of the country where he was born, Vietnam, and he's a critic of the country he calls home, the United States. He's even a critic of his own memories. But Nguyen says his captious lens isn't meant to blister. It's simply meant to reveal truth. And if you write truthfully, you will likely offend. Talking Volumes with Viet Thanh Nguyen Nguyen joined host Kerri Miller on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater for the third conversation in the 2023 Talking Volumes season. Their discussion was candid and eloquent, poignant and funny, as they talked and shared photos from Nguyen's new memoir, “A Man of Two Faces.” Photos Shared at Talking Volumes They were joined by musician D'Lourdes, who sang two songs off their new EP, “softer, for now.”Guest: Viet Thanh Nguyen won the Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for his novel, “The Sympathizer.” His new book, “A Man of Two Faces” is an unconventional memoir that combines his own story of being a Vietnamese refugee with larger themes of colonization, war and perceptions about America. Use the audio player or video player above to listen to the conversation.Don't miss a conversation! Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS.Love books? Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

A listener gets caught up in misinformation from a potential oil schill. A new study of real world trucking companies gives new hope to battery-electric long-haul trucking. Brian's electric drive trip to see the Judge John Hodgeman Podcast in the U.S. midwest. How the solar eclipse affected solar electricty. From St Paul, MN and Regina, Canada. Judge John Hodgman at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul Minnesota Safety Last at the Fargo Theater in North Dakota Electric drive trip through Minnesota to see John Hodgeman James's air purifier set off by the refinery toxins nearby Solar output eclipsed by the solar eclipse E-bike ruling in the E.U. Letters: caught in a web of youtube manipulation by an oil applogist New Zealand backtracks on clean grid 7 billion in funding for 7 regional hydrogen hubs Letters: hydrogen long haul trucking and criticism of the podcast The Lightning Round The Clean Energy Show is released every week so be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get new episodes delivered to you free! Support the Show Make a small donation to our podcast today! PayPal Donate!https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VMDCRPHLNR8YE E-transfer: cleanenergyshow@gmail.com Thanks for listening to our show! Consider rating The Clean Energy Show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to our show. Our Store Visit our T-Shirt and Merch Shop! https://my-store-dde61d.creator-spring.com Contact Us! Email us at cleanenergyshow@gmail.com Follow us on TikTok! @cleanenergypod  Check out our YouTube Channel! @CleanEnergyShow Follow us on Twitter or Threads @CleanEnergyPod James Whittingham https://twitter.com/jewhittingham Brian Stockton: https://twitter.com/brianstockton Leave us an online voicemail at http://speakpipe.com/cleanenergyshow Copyright 2023 with some rights reserved. You may share and reproduce portions of our show with attribution. All music is copyright with all rights reserved.  

When Dr. Abraham Verghese released his debut novel in 2009 it was an literary marvel. “Cutting for Stone” captivated readers, sold more than 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for two years. Readers had to wait 14 years for another book by Verghese, but by all accounts, his new novel was worth the wait. Oprah Winfrey named it a book club pick, called saying it was “one of the best books I've read in my entire life — and I've been reading since I was three!” Talking Volumes with Abraham Verghese, ‘The Covenant of Water' It was a pleasure to have him kick off the 2023 season of Talking Volumes. Dr. Verghese joined host Kerri Miller on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater the evening of Sept. 14 and talked about redemption, inspiration, how his “day job” as a doctor informs his writing (and vice versa) and why his belief in the essential goodness of humanity is core to his novels. Their conversation was complimented by Kerala folk music played by local musician Nirmala Rajasekar, who was joined onstage by one of India's premier percussionists, Thanjavur Murugaboopathi.Guest: Dr. Abraham Verghese is a physician and professor at the School of Medicine at Stanford University. He is also a best-selling author. His latest novel is “The Covenant of Water.” Use the audio player or video player above to listen to the conversation.Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Minnesota writer William Kent Krueger is a fan favorite, thanks largely to his series of crime novels featuring private investigator Cork O'Connor. Krueger joined host Kerri Miller in Duluth earlier this week for a special spring edition of Talking Volumes. You'll hear that conversation on Friday. So it's only fitting that this week's archive is Krueger's last appearance on the Talking Volumes stage. He was at the Fitzgerald Theater in 2021 to discuss his book, “Lightning Strike.” Guest: William Kent Krueger is a prolific author, known best for his Cork O'Connor mysteries set in Northern Minnesota. Use the audio player above to listen to the conversation. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Patricia Anderson of Rochester is a choral director who teaches voice. She is excited about a forthcoming concert by Resounding Voices Chorus, “a wonderful organization that is part of a growing worldwide movement to improve the lives of people living with some sort of dementia and with their support partners through musical participation.” She explains that artistic director Suzy Johnson ”gets a wonderful mix of music … and then she arranges them so that they really fit very well with the people that are singing in the choir.” The concert is called “Rain or Shine” and will take place May 14 at Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Rochester. Louise Robinson of Minneapolis has a career managing professional dance companies in Minnesota. “I grew up in Winona in the 60s and never imagined finding a connection with the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam,” she says. “But years ago, my paths crossed with Ranee Ramaswamy, artistic director of Ragamala Dance here locally, and I have been captivated by the form ever since.”  Don't see video? Click here Saturday the Fitzgerald Theater will host Ragamala's Dance Company's “guru” (as they describe her on their website), Indian dancer and choreographer Alarmel Valli. “Miss Valli's style of Bharatanatyam is particularly emotional in its intentions and fluid in its movement style,” Robinson says. “Her performances are captivating, and that's not easy to command a stage for an entire evening as a solo performance. But that's her forte.”

This week on the blog, a podcast interview with Noah Diamond and Jim Cunningham, talking about the pleasures and perils of playing Groucho Marx.LINKSA Free Film Book for You: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/cq23xyyt12Another Free Film Book: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/x3jn3emga6Fast, Cheap Film Website: https://www.fastcheapfilm.com/Noah Diamond website: https://www.noahdiamond.com/“Gimme a Thrill: The Story Of "I'll Say She Is," The Lost Marx Brothers Musical” -- https://tinyurl.com/28ftau5eEli Marks Website: https://www.elimarksmysteries.com/Albert's Bridge Books Website: https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com/YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BehindthePageTheEliMarksPodcast***Noah Diamond Transcript JOHNLet's go back to the beginning. We'll start with Noah and then go to Jim. What's your earliest memory of Groucho Marx or the Marx Brothers? NOAHWell, for me, it started in a kind of roundabout way, when I was a very little kid. Before I could even read, I was really interested in books. And I had my collection of Dr. Seuss, and all the books that would be read to me. But what I really liked to do was go downstairs where my parents had, in the living room, bookshelves lining the walls. And their books were really interesting to me. I just knew there were secrets there, you know? They had like big art books and books of poetry and maybe my first experiences with words were looking at the spines of the books in the living room. And one of the books they happen to have was then fairly recent book, Joe Adamson's Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo, which is, I think most Marx Brothers fans would say it's the best loved book about them, certainly and I think the best written. That book came out in 1973. So, it's 50 years old this year and for some reason, as a tiny kid, that was a book that I took off the shelf. It was interesting that it had silver lettering on the spine and little icons, a harp, and what I would come later to recognize as a Chico hat. “Oh, look, this is interesting.” And I started looking through it, and I saw all these pictures. And the photographs of the Marx Brothers were just something to grapple with and it seemed a little familiar to me. My world was the Muppets and Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak. The Marx Brothers appeared in these photographs, like there was some continuity there and I also found them a little scary. Groucho in particular, that's quite a face for a child to reckon with. So, that was a book that I looked at a lot when I was just little more than a baby. I wouldn't really see the Marx Brothers in their movies until I was 12. Partly that's because, I'm just old enough to have had a childhood where it wasn't so easy to find old movies. And I sort of had to wait for home video to come along. And when it first came along, it's not like all 13 Marx brothers' movies were at the local Blockbuster.It was that that journey, that constant searching for things that characterized life in the analog world. So, it was very gradual in between those two times.Rather than blow your whole episode on this answer: in between the very little boy looking at pictures in Joe Adamson's book, and the 12-year-old finally, like seeing Duck Soup, and a Night at the Opera on video, there were many years where the Marx Brothers always seemed to be right around the corner. I would encounter them in Mad Magazine, or adults I knew might refer to them. And I sort of came to understand that the nose and moustache and glasses had something to do with Groucho. I was aware of them as a kind of vapor increasingly during those, I guess, nine or ten years between discovering the book and seeing the films. JOHNJim, how about you? Where did you first encounter them? JIM I was an enormous and still am a Laurel and Hardy fan. There was a local television show here in the Twin Cities where I live on Sunday mornings, hosted by a former television child's television host named John Gallos who played Clancy the Cop. And so I came to the Marx Brothers, kind of grudgingly because I was such an enormous and still am Laurel and Hardy fan, that I poo pooed the Marx Brothers for many, many years. I started watching Laurel and Hardy as a little kid. I mean, 7, 8, 9 years old. Every Sunday morning, I would rush home from church and plop down in front of the TV to watch Laurel and Hardy. They were sort of my comedic touchstones, if you will. And then the Marx Brothers were kind of off to the side for me. And I went to the Uptown Theater, John, here in the Minneapolis area … JOHN You crossed the river from St. Paul and came to Minneapolis, you must have really been interested. JIMOh, I only go across the river for work. This was a point where I was not working yet. And I saw a Night at the Opera and you know, was convulsed and then devoured everything I could get my hands on after that. The Marx Brothers were eye opening for me, just in terms of oh my gosh, this whole thing is so different. I was reading in your book that Frank Ferrante said “I was raised by Catholic nuns and I wanted to sort of do to the Catholic nuns would Groucho would do to Margaret Dumont.” And I was like, well, that's exactly right. Because I too was raised by Catholic nuns, and that sort of energy was really attractive to me as a sophomore in high school. And so I fell in love with them. And then, you know, anything I could get my hands on, I watched and read and loved them to this day. I still love Laurel and Hardy quite a bit too. JOHNOkay. Noah, this is just my own experience and I'm wondering if you guys have had the same thing: that entering the world of the Marx Brothers was actually a gateway to a whole bunch of other interesting stuff. I mean, you get into the Algonquin table, you get Benchley, and Perlman and into other plays of Kaufman. And you know, you're reading Moss Hart, and all sudden you look at the New Yorker, because, you know, he was there. I mean, did you find that it sort of was a spider web? NOAH No doubt about it. Yeah, that's very true. It's learning about them biographically and the times they lived in, the circles they traveled in; and partly it's in order to understand the references in their films. That's one of the great things about sophisticated verbal comedy: it's an education, and particularly if you're a kid. So, yes, through comedy and show business in general and the Marx Brothers in particular, I learned, I hesitate to say this, but probably just about everything else I know from following tributaries from the Marx Brothers. JOHNDo you remember the first time you performed as Groucho? NOAHThe first time I played Groucho in front of an audience was in a talent show, a school talent show in, I think seventh grade. I performed with my brother and sister as Harpo and Chico. They're both a little younger than me and by the time we became the Marx Brothers, they were so accustomed to involuntary service in my stock company. They were veterans by that time, they had done living room productions of Fiddler on the Roof where they had to play everyone but Tevya. And we did the contract routine from A Night at the Opera, with a little bit of Harpo stuff thrown in. JOHNOkay. Fantastic. Jim, how about you: first time as Groucho in front of an audience? JIM The first time in front of an audience as Groucho was really the first time I played Groucho. Just as I have a deep and abiding love and respect for the art of magic (and want to see it, want to read about it), I don't want to perform it. Because it is a thing in to its unto itself and if you do it poorly, it's horrible. So, I love to see it. I just don't love to perform it. And I felt the same way about Groucho. So, I went kind of kicking and screaming, to a staged reading of The Coconuts that Illusion Theater did. We really just carried our scripts because there was just a couple three rehearsals, but we read the whole thing and sang some of the stuff that was in it. And then that morphed from there into an actual production of The Coconuts and we did it both at the illusion theater in Minneapolis, and then it moved to the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. When the Marx Brothers performed there, I think it was called The World theatre. So, I love that kind of thing. I love standing where Wyatt Earp stood or standing where William Shakespeare stood. And so, to be doing a play that Groucho did on a stage that Groucho did it. I should have gotten out of the business right then. I should have said it, I've done it. What's left? JOHNExcellent stories. Noah, have you ever done The Coconuts or Animal Crackers? NOAHI haven't done The Coconuts. I would love to. Animal Crackers … One of the subsequent childhood Groucho appearances was when I was 14 years old. I had a relationship with this community theater. At this point, I was living in South Florida. I spent the first part of my life in Connecticut, and then lived in South Florida when I was a teenager and New York since I grew up. And this was in the Florida years. There was a local theater in a town called Coral Springs, it's not there anymore, but it was called Opus Playhouse. And it was a great place that helped me a lot and gave me a chance to put on shows and learn how to do things. And I just wanted to do Animal Crackers. So, I did a bootleg production completely unauthorized. I didn't even have the script. I just wrote the movie down line by line to have a script of Animal Crackers. And so I've sort of done it. But you know, I really shouldn't put that on my resume as I was 14 and... JIMIt counts for me. Anybody who's willing, as a 14-year-old, to go line by line through a movie and write it down, you did the show in my book. NOAH That just shows the desperate measures we had to take in those days. There was no internet. Little kids writing down movies, you know? JIM Exactly. JOHNIt's charming. It's absolutely charming. So, what is it Noah that draws you to play Groucho? What is it about that guy? NOAH Yeah, what is it? I know, it's funny. ‘What is it about Groucho' is a question we can grapple with forever, even aside from the question of why try to be him? I think one thing that definitely true is that as soon as I saw the Marx Brothers and heard his voice and watched him moving around and interacting, the urge to be him, or at least to behave like him, was immediate. I mean, it was right there. Now, I was already a kid who was a little ham and a performer and would be inclined to find my role in anything, anyway. But nothing, no character other than myself, ever grabbed me the way Groucho did or ever has, really. And I think part of it is what you mentioned, Jim, that Frank Ferrante has said, part of it is the instinct to rebel against authority. And that's unquestionably part of the Marx Brothers act, and a big part of the Marx Brothers appeal I think to kids. But I think it's a little more like watching a great violin player and deciding you want to play the violin. It just seemed to me that, as far as embodying a character and getting laughs and singing songs, nobody ever did it like him. Nobody ever seemed to be speaking directly to my sense of humor and my sensibility. I just wanted to talk in that voice. I wanted to play that instrument. JOHNJIM, what about you? JIM Nothing. Really, truthfully, I did not want to do it. I still don't want to do it. But I would do it again tomorrow, if somebody asked.I think trying to find your way to entertain an audience through somebody else is tricky for me. I'm better at playing me than I am at playing anybody else. And so the desire to play Groucho, I have sort of put it inside me, and I have an eye on it all the time. I use Groucho's sensibility without the grease paint, and I'd like to believe that I do. I'm certainly not in Groucho's league. Laurence Olivier said it: steal from everybody, and no one will know. And so I have, but the desire to put on the grease paint and wear the frock coat is akin to me saying, I want to do a magic show. I just I love to go to a magic show. I love to watch a Marx Brothers movie. But I'm really kicking and screaming to play him again, because the mantle is so huge and heavy and I don't think that I'm particularly serviceable as GrouchoIt wasn't until we were halfway through the run of The Coconuts when a light bulb went off in the dressing room, while I was putting on the makeup: there's a difference between being faithful to the script of The Coconuts and what we learned, and being faithful to the Marx Brothers sensibilities, if that makes sense. There's the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law.About halfway through that run, I started doing things that I felt were more attune to the spirit of the Marx Brothers, then the letter of the script. So, I was calling other actors onto the stage. I was going out into the audience, I took a guy out and put him in a cab one night. That sort of anarchy that people talk about when you read about the Marx Brothers in their heyday, about Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in their heyday: I don't know what's going to happen and I want to be there because of that.And for all I know, it was the exact same show night after night after night, and they just gave the impression that it was crazy. But that idea for me still percolates. This the idea of, am I creating a museum piece or am I trying to, in some way, channel that anarchy for an audience? The other show that I do that has some relevance here is we do a production of It's a Wonderful Life, at Christmas time, as a live radio play. And that too: what am I doing? Are we trying to capture the movie or are we creating something different? So, finding that sort of craziness is what I was most intrigued by and still am. NOAH There's not a lot of roles like that. If you're playing one of the Marx Brothers in Coconuts or Animal Crackers, or I'll Say She Is, it's not the same as playing Groucho Marx in a biographical piece about his life. Nor is it like playing Sherlock Holmes, a very familiar character, where there is room to make it your own. I suppose people have done that with Groucho, too. But generally, if you're in a production of one of the Marx Brothers shows, the assignment is to try to make the audience feel like, if they squint, maybe they're watching the Marx Brothers. JOHN Noah, when you tackled the formidable and important task of recreating, resurrecting, bringing back to life, I'll Say She Is, were you having that same sort of thing Jim was talking about? Balancing the reality of what may have happened against you don't really know for sure and the spirit of it? How did you approach it? But first, why did you pick that show? And then how did you bring it back to life? JIMCan I back up? Because the three of us at this table are enormous Marx Brothers fans. So, if you say I'll Say She Is, we have a frame of reference. But people listening to this may go, ‘what the hell is I'll Say She Is?' So, can you start with that? Can you start with what is I'll Say She Is and how did you come to it, because I think for the layman who's not a huge Marx Brothers fan, they don't even know what we're talking about. NOAH Yes, absolutely. In a nutshell, the Marx Brothers, although primarily remembered for their movies, were already halfway through their career by the time they ever made a film. Most of their lives were spent on stage. They had a long period in vaudeville, and then in the 20s, they became Broadway stars. And that was really the beginning of the Marx Brothers as phenomenon we would recognize. They did three Broadway musicals. The first was I'll Say She Is, a thinly plotted revue, and the second was The Coconuts, and the third was Animal Crackers. By the time they were making talkies, they had these two very prestigious vehicles, Coconuts, and Animal Crackers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Riskin, with scores by accomplished composers, Irving Berlin and Kalmer and Ruby. And there was no question but that those would be the first two films.And as a result, I'll Say She Is just kind of faded into history. It was the show they'd never made it into a movie and no script survived or at least no complete, intact script survived. So, if you were a kid like all the Marx maniacs out there, reading every book you can get your hands on and learning everything you could about the Marx Brothers, I'll Say She Is just had a sort of intrigue about it. What was that show? Everyone knew from those books that the highlight of the show was the Napoleon scene in which Groucho played Napoleon and the other brothers played the various consorts of Josephine, who are always materializing every time he turns his back. And that scene was touted as like, that's really the arrival of the Marx Brothers. That was the essence of them, before they ever met George S. Kaufman. It's just such a tantalizing thing if you love them.I think—because I love the theater and I love musical theater—a lot of my other interests are also right in the bullseye of I'll Say She Is: Broadway, New York City history. I'm a big fan of the culture of the Jazz Age in the 1920s. And this was just so appealing to me. So, every time a new book about the Marx Brothers would fall into my hands, the first thing I would do is look up I'll Say She Is in the index and read all the associated stuff first. I just had a little obsession about it. In The Marx Brothers Scrapbook, which is a book I'm sure familiar to both of you and many of the fans, that book reprints the entire opening night program from I'll Say She Is on Broadway. When I was 12 years old, I took that book to the library and photocopied it, and cut out the pages, and made myself a little program so that I could pretend that I had seen I'll Say She Is. Fast forward many years, and I'm an adult doing theater in New York. My wife and collaborator, Amanda Sisk and I were doing political satires, writing these musicals that would be ripped from the headlines. And we did that for a long time before realizing that the time it takes to develop a musical is too long for topical material, so we could never really perfect our work. And we decided to stop doing those shows, which were a bit of a dead end for us creatively. And I found myself after many years of doing one thing trying to figure out, well, what's my thing going to be now?And I think it was probably inevitable that I would just sort of go home to the Marx Brothers. ‘Well, let's do a Marx Brothers show. I haven't done that in a while, you know?' I don't know, it seems a little bit silly to call something so unlikely, inevitable, but I just think I was hurtling toward it from the day I picked up Adamson's book when I was three or four years old. JIM It had to have been both a joyful and frustrating experiences as you tried to recreate something that doesn't exist. The Napoleon sketch: we did a version of that Napoleon sketch. The only line I can remember from that Napoleon sketch was, “I'll be in Paris tomorrow, don't wash.” That's the only line I can remember from the entire show. I think of that. Was it super fun or was it super frustrating? Or was there a combo? What was that like? NOAHIt was fun. I mean, writing is always a combination of both of those things. Stephen Sondheim once called it agonizing fun. That's kind of what almost any writing process is. This one, I wouldn't have taken on the idea of doing I'll Say She Is if enough of it didn't survive and how much of it seemed to have survived. Before my research, I think what I was really thinking is that I would maybe try to write a book about I'll Say She Is, and maybe figure out some way to do the Napoleon scene on stage. But realizing that it could be a show again, that happened kind of slowly as material started to accumulate. Yes, the Napoleon scene has survived and that's been known for a long time. Also, the first scene of I'll Say She Is is one that's familiar to Marx Brothers fans, because it was an old vaudeville piece that they filmed in 1931. The theatrical agency scene. [Audio from the Clip] NOAH So, those are two big pieces of material were a given. And then as for the rest of it, I became aware, by relying on the work of other researchers, that there was a type script I'll Say She Is at the Library of Congress. Also, another slightly different one at the American Musical Theatre Institute run by Miles Kruger. And I was able to get my hands on the type script. Now it is on one hand, it's the script of I'll Say She Is. That isn't quite that what it is, though. It's a 30-page document that they went into rehearsal with. And, you know, going into rehearsal with the Marx Brothers, it's an outline with dialogue. It's what we would now refer to as a treatment. and there is some dialogue in it, some of which is recognizable from later Marx Brothers projects. Some of it is very sketchy. Of course, almost everything Harpo does is merely indicated: stage directions like, Harpo business, or sometimes, business with hat. But this provided something like 20% of the dialogue and the continuity for I'll Say She Is. There were no lyrics in it, but it did specify where the songs would fall. So, my first attempt to write a script for this was a combination of material from that type script and things learned from the playbill, from reading every account of I'll Say She Is I could find in books and interviews. And then I started to search old newspaper archives, which was just getting easier to do at this time. I was embarking on this sort of major I'll Say She Is research period around 2010 and it was just starting to be possible to read decades worth of old newspapers on the internet. It's gotten much easier since then. So, by reading every review I could find FROM every city I'll Say She Is had played in 1923, and 1924, and 1925, I started to realize there's material here. There's reviews that quote dialogue or describe scenes that aren't in the type script and that I didn't know about before and maybe nobody did (unless they've read this copy of the New York Clipper from 1924). And some of the songs from the original I'll Say She Is were published in 1924 and it was fairly easy to get my hands on those. But that represented only about half the score, maybe a third of the score. A number of the original songs remain missing. And of those, I did manage to find a couple. And to fill in the gaps, I found other songs written by the same people. Will Johnstone was the lyricist (Marx Brothers fans will know him as a screenwriter on some of their later films) and his brother Tom Johnstone wrote the music. Well, the Johnstones also wrote six or seven other Broadway shows during the same period. So, I was able to find some of those songs and interpolate them and do a sort of general polish on the lyrics on the surviving lyrics.When I was bringing in other songs, sometimes I would write the lyrics. I know there was a song here, and I know what it was about. So, I'll write a lyric about that and whenever I had to do that kind of thing, where I would invent something to fill a gap, I would always try to do it very conscientiously, by relying on what I knew about the Marx Brothers act up to 1924. And also by immersing myself in Will Johnstone's writing. He's an interesting, very unsung artist too; he was a very prolific newspaper writer and cartoonist and did a little bit of everything. So, by reading everything I could get my hands on by Johnstone, it made it a little easier to write what he would have written for them. JOHNThat's just fascinating. JIM It really is. The whole thing to me is it's so titillating and so exciting that even though I say I never really want to do Groucho ever again, if you said, I'm gonna send you a copy of I'll Say She Is, I produced that. I'd be in that. I put that up right now. NOAHIt could happen, Jim. I think what you said earlier, Jim, about playing Groucho, you feel like there's this mantle of greatness that is, is impossible to live up to. I feel that way too. It is impossible. I mean, playing Groucho on stage, you're kind of making a deal with the audience, like, ‘Hey, we both know, I'm not him. I'm not. Nobody will ever be that good at doing that. But if you'll meet me in the middle, I think I can fool you for a minute.' It becomes a sense of responsibility. And it's the same thing with reviving, I'll Say She Is. If we're gonna put that title on a marquee, and charge people money to see it, boy, this better be the very best we can do. JOHNSo, once you started reconstructing I'll Say She Is, were you always planning on putting it on its feet? NOAH Well, probably, the answer is definitely yes. I think the question is, would I have admitted it to myself early on? I do remember nibbling around the edges of it for a while before looking at squarely in the face and saying, ‘We have to do this.' We have to do this on stage for that very reason: because it is so daunting. It's daunting to produce a big musical, even without all the baggage and the history and responsibility of the Marx Brothers and I'll Say She Is. JIM I looked at the pictures of your production and was flabbergasted at the cast and how big the cast is, and the costumes for the cast. It was like, this is a big deal. NOAH One thing that was very lucky—because of the nature of the project, and because it's so interesting and historical—it attracted a lot of really talented people, all of whom worked for much less than they deserved. We have done it twice at this point: the Fringe Festival production in 2014 was the first, full staging and the book Give Me a Thrill is current through that production. Then in 2016, we did an Off-Broadway production, which was larger and fuller and ran longer and was even more fully realized. There will be a new edition of a book covering that production. But even that is now some years ago.There is in the future, I think for an even bigger, even more 1924-faithful I'll Say She Is. And I also think there may be a lightweight version of I'll Say She Is. I think we may experiment with that, saying, ‘Oh, okay, it's a 1920s revue. It has a line of chorus girls. It's spectacular. But what if we did to it what Marx Brothers fans often want to do to the film's and just boiled it down to just the Marx Brothers gold and do an I'll Say She Is Redux?' There two licensable versions of Animal Crackers. There's a small cast multiple role kind of version, and then there's the big full musical. JOHNIt's like the Teeny Sweeney. The idea of you offering and creating a version that would be a little easier for most theaters to do. I think is really a smart idea. JIMKnowing the Marx Brothers, and knowing Coconuts and Animal Crackers, because of course, they're enshrined in celluloid and we can look at them whenever we want. There's a story to both of those things, loose as it may be. I wouldn't say either The Coconuts or Animal Crackers were a revue. Is the same true of I'll Say She Is? Is it a revue where we're just going from sketch to sketch to sketch or song to song to sketch, and they're not connected by a through line the way Coconuts or Animal Crackers are? NOAHIt's an interesting question and the answer is kind of both. One thing that has happened is I think the word revue is now understood more narrowly than it was in the Marx Brothers day. When we use the word revue now, we generally mean exactly what you're describing: a variety kind of evening, with a series of unrelated sketches or songs. But the truth is in the 1920s, particularly, revues tended to have either thin plots or themes that tied them together. And that's exactly what distinguished a Broadway review or what would have been called rather snootily, a legitimate revue. That's what distinguishes it from vaudeville, which really was one act after another and what the third on the bill does on stage has nothing to do with the content of what was second on the bill. A lot of these Broadway revues, including the Ziegfeld Follies, they would be built on themes or plots. An example would be As Thousands Cheer, Irving Berlin's famous revue. It doesn't have a plot that runs all the way through it, but each piece is based on a news story of the day. It's not just a collection of songs. In the case of I'll Say She Is, it was a thinly plotted revue. And the thin plot is: a bored heiress is looking for thrills. That's the plot. It makes Animal Crackers look very sophisticated. It begins with a breaking news that a society woman craves excitement, she has promised her hand, her heart, and her fortune to whoever can give her the biggest thrill. Very saucy stuff. So, each scene or musical number in the show is vaguely an attempt to give her a thrill. It's kind of like a clothesline. You can hang anything on it. So, the Napoleon's sketch—in the context that was provided for it in 1924—is a fantasy sequence where the ingenue fantasizes that she's in the court of Napoleon. That's the attempt of the hypnotist to give her a thrill. In order to make the show a little more compact and a little more accessible, in my adaptation I did nudge it a little closer to being a book show. I did I strengthen the plot a little bit. I just added some reinforcements, some undergirding to the plot. And some things in the show that weren't connected to the plot, but could have been, I made some little connections there. And also, some of the sequencing was a little perverse in terms of how the evening built. So I thought, with the help of many people who worked on the show with me, but I'll mention Travest-D and Amanda Sisk, who had a lot to do with the development of the script, we figured out that the Napoleon scene really should go at the end of Act One. And the courtroom scene should go at the end of Act Two. And other little concessions like that to make a contemporary audience feel some sense of satisfaction. JOHNYou both do such a nice job of Groucho—even though one of you has to be dragged into it kicking and screaming. What is, from your experience, what is the hardest part of being Groucho on stage? NOAH Well, for me, the most challenging part is the physical performance. That's the part I work on the most. When I see video of myself as Groucho, that's the part—if I notice things to improve on next time—they're usually physical things. I think that may have something to do with my particular skill set. I'm very comfortable vocally. I like my vocal version of Groucho and it sounds the way he sounds to me. I generally feel confident with that, although off nights do happen. But physically, being him physically, partly because he was so verbally overwhelming, we often overlook what an interesting and unusual and brilliant physical performer, Groucho Marx was. I can't think of anyone who moved the way he moved. Both his physical body was unusual, his shape, and the way he—especially in the early films—he like has no gravity. He's sort of weightless.There is a tendency to make him too manic and to try to match his impact by being loud and fast and very abrupt in your movements. Or overly precise. He wasn't that precise, actually. He was pretty sloppy in the way he moved. But there was a grace in all that sloppiness…The difficulty of putting it into words—that you're experiencing with me right now—is part of where the challenge is. There are times when I feel good about the physical performance, and I nail something, a move of his that I've been working on. But I think that's the part that's the most challenging. JOHNOkay, Jim, how about you? What did you find most challenging? JIM You know, what I found most challenging is dealing with the mantle of Groucho. Not just the audience's expectations of what that means, but more problematic, my own belief system, about what I'm capable of, and how far short of what the man was and did on stage my version of him is.So for me, I always had to really kind of get myself ramped up in order to believe that, okay, I'm going to go on, I'm going to do this. And it was a constant battle for me every night before I would go on. Am I capable of this? Is there anything about this that's even moderately entertaining for an audience? And I just couldn't get by that and I still can't, you know, I still can't get that out of my head. Now, I separate that for a second and set it aside with It's a Wonderful Life. I'm very happy with what I've achieved in It's a Wonderful Life. Very happy with, what I've done, me personally, and the show in general. But my performances, I'm very happy and satisfied with them and I'd love to do them and can't wait till December comes around so I can do it again. But the Marx Brothers thing is that there's a fear factor, I guess that I'm going to let him down in some way and I can't help but let him down. There's a certain love and respect I have for him, in the same way that I have love and respect for magic, that I just don't want to be a bad Elvis impersonator. You know what I mean? That's what I don't want to do. There's a big difference between Elvis and the best Elvis impersonator and you can have joy in both. But, you know, Groucho is so far—and nothing against Elvis, please. If you're listening to this podcast, and you think I'm about to diss Elvis, you're right. But I don't mean it that way. There's a vast difference between what Groucho was on screen and what Elvis was on screen. Elvis could sing. Groucho could do anything. And that's the difference, and I can't do anything. I can barely sing. I'm lucky enough to have done it and I'm happy to have done it and when people talk to me about it. ‘Oh, I saw you was Groucho. You were excellent.' And I want to say, ‘Apparently, you don't know the Marx brothers. I wasn't.' NOAH That's a very Groucho response, that hey, you are great in that show, and you have no taste, you know? JIM That's exactly right. JOHNWell, I could do this all night, but we're not going to do that. I want to just wrap up with a couple Speed Round questions, kind of general Marx Brothers questions. Noah, do you have a favorite of the movies? NOAH Animal Crackers, because I think it's the closest we can get to seeing them as a stage act at the peak of their powers. JOHNOkay, do you have a favorite scene? NOAHYes, I feel guilty because my favorite Marx Brothers scene only has one Marx Brothers in it and I I love Harpo and Chico and I even love Zeppo. I have to say that, but my favorite scene is the strange interlude scene in Animal Crackers. [Audio from the Clip] JOHNTo have been there live, to watch him do that, to see him step forward. I would rank that very high for my favorite scene. Jim, do you have a favorite movie and a favorite scene? JIMYeah, I think so. Largely because it was my first experience of the Marx Brothers, nothing for me compares to a Night at the Opera. If I am clicking around and Night at the Opera is on, we stopped clicking and that's what it is. And anybody who is in the house, my wife or the kids, I'm sorry, but you'll either have to find another TV or go out to play, because this is what we're going to be watching for a while And you know the line of Groucho's, what happened? [Audio from the Clip: “Oh, we had an argument, and he pulled a knife on me so I shot him.”]. JIM That right there. When I heard that the first time, I was afraid I'd have to leave the theater. I started laughing so hard, and I couldn't come back from it. It just kept coming to me. I kept thinking of that well past it and was giggling about it and so that whole ‘belly up, put your foot up here.' That whole thing to me is as good as it gets. JOHNOne other little alley, I want to go down. There's another great book and Noah, if I get the title wrong, please correct me. Is it Four of the Three Musketeers? NOAH Yes. JOHNWhich tracks in exhausting detail, every stage appearance of their stage career. As you look through it—we're all getting older, all three guys—you begin to realize the weird gap or you think something was a long time ago and it turns out it wasn't. I was born in 1958 and realized just recently that Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was made a mere 10 years before I was born. The Marx Brothers on stage in the 20s, or late teens and 20s, they're traveling everywhere in the country. They came to Minneapolis a lot. They went to Duluth a lot. And, you know, a mere 40 years before I was born, I could have gone and seen them. So, my question to you guys is: you have a chance to see the Marx Brothers live on stage in that era. What is your pick? What do you go see? You have a time machine. You can go you can go see one thing or two. I'll give you two, because I have two. NOAHWell, I'm glad. I'm glad you're given me two, because the obvious answer is I'll Say She Is and.... JIM That would be my answer too. JOHN Bring your iPhone and hit record. Yeah. NOAH Yeah, right, bootleg it. Nobody knows what an iPhone is anyway. Exactly. JIM And then you just go right back to what you did as a 14-year-old line by line. JOHNOkay. So, your second choice after the obvious, I'll Say She Is? NOAH I guess it would be to see some of the even earlier stuff, satisfying the urge to see them at their best on Broadway. You know, there's a lot of curiosity about the act up really up to 1920. In 1920 or 21, there's a big change. That's when Groucho painted the moustache on and drops the German or sometimes Yiddish accent he had been using before. Harpo and Chico evolved more subtly, but in a sense, they were all playing somewhat different characters in the early vaudeville tabs. So I guess I would want to see Home Again, which was their vaudeville tabloid, that carried them through the World War One years and beyond. JOHNJim? JIMAnything vaudeville. The school sketches that they did. I'd see anything. It wouldn't matter to me. If I could get back there, I'd go every day. John, you and I were talking about Robin Williams and being the greatest improviser of all time, and the quote that you said was, somebody had said, “see the eight o'clock show, then see the 10 o'clock show, and we'll talk.” And to me, that's interesting. I would kill to, you know, follow them on the road, like Bruce Springsteen, and just see how much of it really is the same. In the same way that I'm tickled, when somebody says to me, ‘How much of that did you just make up on the spot?' None of it. Essentially, none of it did I make up on the spot. I'd like to see how much of what they did day to day was exactly the same and how much of it was, ‘today, I'm going to do this for no reason at all' and I'd like to see how much of that is different. JOHNYou know, my two choices kind of fall within that. One is the day that Chico's daughter didn't go to the show, and she came home, and Chico thought she'd gone to it and he said, ‘What did you think?' And she said, ‘What do you mean?' And he said, ‘Harpo and I switched roles.' And I know it's weird: if you had like one chance to go see the Marx Brothers, you're gonna go see them do the role they're supposed to do. But it's just fascinating when you think about it. The other one is when Groucho was sick and Zeppo stepped in and if I'm quoting Susan Marx's book correctly, the reaction was so strong towards what Zeppo did that Groucho got healthy really fast and came back. But Zeppo was really, really good. We do have the agent sketch, so you get a sense of what they were like on stage. You do get that. But the idea of seeing, I can easily see Zeppo doing Groucho. But Chico doing Harpo and vice versa? I realize that if I have a time machine, I should go back and do something more helpful for the world. But at that same time, I want to stop by and see that one show where they switched. JIM That you'll do that on your lunch break. While you're stopping World War Two, on the way home, swing by and see that show. You've earned it. NOAH That's a good answer. JOHNYeah. Noah, thank you so much for chatting with us. JIM Just a delight. Thank you so much. I had a great time talking to you. NOAHIt's been a pleasure, fellas. Thank you for having me on.

Today's Song of the Day is "Really Really Light" from The New Pornographers' album, Continue as a Guest, out March 31st.The New Pornographers will be performing at the Fitzgerald Theater on Wednesday, May 3rd.

Dani Shapiro knows a thing or two about family secrets. Her early novels center around identity and family history. Her 2019 memoir, “Inheritance,” beautifully chronicles what happened after she discovered, at age 54, that the man she considers her dad was not her biological father. That discovery spawned a popular podcast that just kicked off its eighth season, “Family Secrets,” which features guests who've also stumbled across a family secret. So it naturally flows that her new novel, “Signal Fires,” returns the to same theme. This time, a secret both bonds and cripples an entire family. Shapiro skillfully follows the Wilf's outward success and inward disintegration as she hops through time, playing with ideas of change, shame, grief and interconnectedness. Those same themes anchor the discussion she and MPR News host Kerri Miller had at Talking Volumes. Shapiro was on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater on Oct. 28 for a thoughtful and insightful conversation about regret, shame, seasons of life — and how she has become a beacon for secrets of all kinds. Also on stage for this third Talking Volumes event: musical guest Jourdan Myers. Guest: Dani Shapiro is a bestselling novelist and memoirist and host of the podcast Family Secrets. Her new novel, “Signal Fires,” was released Oct. 18. To listen to a lightly edited version of the Talking Volumes conversation, use the audio player above. You can also watch the full event via the embedded video, or look for it on YouTube. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Today's Song of the Day is "666" the new single from Jeremy Messersmith, out now.Jeremy Messersmith will be performing at the Fitzgerald Theater on Saturday, October 29th.

Celeste Ng's “Little Fires Everywhere” was a best-selling novel, even before it became a hit series for Hulu. Her new novel, “Our Missing Hearts,” is also receiving critical acclaim. It delves into the power of intellectual freedom in an authoritarian world and the strong bonds of family in a society steeped in fear. This week, on Big Books and Bold Ideas, you'll hear Ng on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater with host Kerri Miller for the second Talking Volumes event of 2022. They were joined by musical guest, Meghan Kreidler.

In 2020, author Sarah Broom joined the pandemic season of Talking Volumes by talking via Zoom with host Kerri Miller about her book “The Yellow House.” The memoir, which speaks poignantly of the pull of home and family against the backdrop of a shotgun house in New Orleans East, was hailed as both brilliant and haunting. Enjoy this interview as you get ready for this coming Friday's Big Books and Bold Ideas, which will feature novelist Celeste Ng on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater for the latest Talking Volumes conversation. Guest: Sarah M. Broom is the New York Times best-selling author of “The Yellow House,” which published in 2019. To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.  Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations. 

Writers come to the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul from all over the world for Talking Volumes. The experience is always intimate and energetic. But hometown authors might have the most fun. For this special edition of Big Books and Bold Ideas, host Kerri Miller takes a look back at some of her favorite on-stage conversations with Minnesota writers. They include Dessa, who appeared at Talking Volumes in 2018 to talk about her memoir, “My Own Devices,” William Kent Krueger, who was the finale guest in 2021, and Kate DiCamillo, who also appeared in 2021 and brought the house down several times with her witty banter. You can still get tickets to the 2022 season of Talking Volumes. Karen Armstrong kicked it off in September. Coming up later this month and in November: Celeste Ng, Dani Shapiro and Ross Gay. Guests: Dessa is a singer, rapper and writer based in Minneapolis. Her memoir, “My Own Devices,” was published in 2018. William Kent Krueger is an novelist and crime writer, best known for his series of novels featuring Cork O'Connor, which are set mainly in Minnesota. Kate DiCamillo is an award-winning storyteller for both children and adults. She lives in Minneapolis. To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.  Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations. 

Maggie O'Farrell's last novel, “Hamnet,” the fictional story of William Shakespeare's son who died at age 11, was an international best-seller. Her new novel, “The Marriage Portrait” also delves into history. O'Farrell was struck by Robert Browning's poem, “My Last Duchess,” which itself was inspired by a painting of a young Italian woman who died in 1561, at the age of 16, just a year after she was married to the Duke of Ferrara. But did she die? Or was she poisoned? “The Marriage Portrait” reminded us of Lauren Groff's 2021 hit, “Matrix,” set in medieval France. So for this week's deep track, we thought we'd bring you the Talking Volumes interview MPR News host Kerri Miller did with Groff on the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater last year, where Groff describes the history, the art and the music that inspired her writing. Guest: Lauren Groff is the author of six books. “Matrix” is her most recent, released in 2021. To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Maggie O'Farrell's last novel, “Hamnet,” the fictional story of William Shakespeare's son who died at age 11, was an international best-seller. Her new novel, “The Marriage Portrait” also delves into history. O'Farrell was struck by Robert Browning's poem, “My Last Duchess,” which itself was inspired by a painting of a young Italian woman who died in 1561, at the age of 16, just a year after she was married to the Duke of Ferrara. But did she die? Or was she poisoned? “The Marriage Portrait” reminded us of Lauren Groff's 2021 hit, “Matrix,” set in medieval France. So for this week's deep track, we thought we'd bring you the Talking Volumes interview MPR News host Kerri Miller did with Groff on the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater last year, where Groff describes the history, the art and the music that inspired her writing. Guest: Lauren Groff is the author of six books. “Matrix” is her most recent, released in 2021. To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Talking Volumes returned to the Fitzgerald Theater in person on Sept. 14 to kick off the 2022 season. MPR News host Kerri Miller was joined by scholar and writer Karen Armstrong to discuss her new book, “Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World.” In this uncharacteristically short but powerful book, Armstrong pierces the modern veil of busyness and technology and lures us back to a sense of wonder with the world around us. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the world's religious traditions, she vividly describes nature's central place in spirituality across the centuries. In doing so, Armstrong shows modern readers how to rediscover nature's potency and form a connection to something greater than ourselves. Guest: Karen Armstrong is a scholar and the author of numerous books on religion, including “The Case for God,” “A History of God,” “Islam,” and “Buddha.” Her new book, released Sept. 2022, is “Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World.” To listen to a lightly edited version of the Talking Volumes conversation, use the audio player above. You can also watch the full event via the embedded video, or look for it on YouTube. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Karen Armstrong entered a convent when she was 17. When she was last on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater, in 2019, she said she treated getting into heaven like getting into the University of Oxford. “My early experience of religion — both before I became a nun and during it — was all about me,” said Armstrong. “[It was] about my feelings about the Lord, my meditations and my progress, and was I going to be a good nun or was I going to get into heaven? Lots of times I doubted that.” Armstrong and her peers were told not to focus on the outside world, but to look inward instead. She laughed while remembering one notable exception, during the Cuban missile crisis. They were warned about the threat of war, but were never told that the threat was over. “For three weeks, we were sort of scanning the horizon for mushroom clouds until eventually one of us had the courage to say, ‘What happened about Cuba?'” She left the convent decades ago, but has spent several years closely examining religion. In 2019, she published “The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts,” in which she examined what value holy texts can have for us today. Her new book is “Sacred Nature: Restoring our Ancient Bond with the Natural World,” and she'll discuss that with host Kerri Miller Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. on stage at the Fitz. Can't make it to the show? Look for an edited version of their conversation on Big Books and Bold Ideas on Friday. Guest: Karen Armstrong is the author of numerous books on religious affairs, including “The Case for God,” “A History of God,” “The Lost Art of Scripture” and many others. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

In the fall of 2012, Kerri Miller finally welcomed Dr. Abraham Verghese to the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater. She had wanted to talk to him for years, at last securing him for a Talking Volumes discussion about his novel, “Cutting for Stone.” He was worth the wait. Dr. Verghese told Miller that his work as an internist at Stanford only adds to his writing sensibilities, quoting the author Dorothy Allison: “Fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world lives." He added, "I think I succeeded in this novel in telling a kind of truth that resonates for readers." The conversation was shared on the radio in 2013. As we anticipate this Friday's Big Books and Bold Ideas discussion with Marie Myung Ok-Lee about her novel set in northern Minnesota that follows a physician grappling with changes to rural medicine, please enjoy one of Miller's favorite conversations of all time. Guest: Dr. Abraham Verghese is a physician and a best-selling author. To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.  Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Novelist Marlon James is out with the second novel in his fantastical trilogy. It's called “Moon Witch, Spider King,” and host Kerri Miller will talk to him about it at noon Friday as part of Big Books and Bold Ideas. In the meantime, we thought you might be intrigued to listen to their 2019 conversation at the Fitzgerald Theater. They talked about “Black Leopard, Red Wolf,” and he described what it meant to set the series in pre-colonial Africa, immerse himself in African lore and mythology, and draw from his own childhood in Jamaica. Use the audio player above to listen to the conversation. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.  

The New York Times bestselling author of “This Tender Land” joined host Kerri Miller at the Fitzgerald Theater for the finale of this season's Talking Volumes.

The New York Times bestselling author of “This Tender Land” joined host Kerri Miller at the Fitzgerald Theater for the finale of this season's Talking Volumes.

You know him from his many years on the popular TV show "Who's Line Is It Anyway?"  Now, people will get the chance to see improv comic Colin Mochrie in person.  He and fellow "Who's Line" talent Brad Sherwood will be at the Fitzgerald Theater next week for one rollicking show.  Mochrie joins the show to talk about how he got into this business of creative comedy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

St. Paul, formerly known as Pig's Eye, is the venue for our next... venue. The Fitzgerald Theater got it's namesake from the famous writer born in St. Paul, but it's stories are much scarier than the disillusionment with the jazz age. Join Lisa, Jake, and Davis as we explore this wine-riddled ghosts of this theater.The ownership has changed throughout the years. The names have changed throughout the years. The ghosts have remained the same. Lear about Ben and Veronica. Learns about a fake plaster ceiling, all while being entertained and laughing. You can't get this anywhere else.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/tppp)

Dayna Frank is President and CEO of First Avenue Productions, Minnesota's leading independently owned and operated concert venue and promoter. Dayna has expanded the business beyond its star-adorned walls to include the Fine Line, the Turf Club, the Palace Theatre, and the Fitzgerald Theater. She is currently working with the public to develop a Community Performing Arts Center on the Mississippi riverfront. Dayna is a founding Board Member of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), working to secure financial support to preserve the national ecosystem of independent venues and promoters. Dayna is a strong LGBTQ+ advocate, a 2018 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and a firm believer in community building through live music.

Meg is back with a few less teeth and a brand new story, covering the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN! Rose tells a few tales of the thick, beefy Minnesota Dogman, and Anna dives into theories about the infamous sinking of the Titanic (dives in, get it?). Can you count how many times the girls say "daddy" during this episode? Please don't tell us if you do.

The Fitzgerald Theater is located in the historic downtown section of Saint Paul, Minnesota at 10 Exchange St E. While no formal paranormal investigations have occurred here, the theater is reportedly haunted by two ghosts: Ben, who was probably a stage hand at the theater, and Victoria, who just loves to perform. So join us this week as we talk about the history of this haunted theater and also some of the spooky things people have experienced here! And as always, stay safe out there. With love, Saaniya and Maddie x Sources: https://ghost.hauntedhouses.com/minnesota_saint_paul_fitzgerald_theater# https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=0dcb8627e9e14a36b9f03d1c46282b52 https://www.minnesotahauntedhouses.com/real-haunt/fitzgerald-theater.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzgerald_Theater https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpTGrqGK5nM https://www.twincities.com/2015/10/25/10-haunted-st-paul-sites-halloween/ https://lakeminnetonkamag.com/ghost-search-fitzgerald

Things get spooky as we explore the Fitzgerald Theater in st. paul, Minnesota and Whisper Estate in Mitchell, Indiana. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

TTFA is live from the historic Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul, MN! Featuring conversation with writer/rapper/entrepreneur Dessa, who took to science to overcome a bad love. And with comedian Alyssa Limperis, whose father died of glioblastoma. So funny! Plus, music from the amazing composer of our theme song, Geoffrey Wilson.

TTFA is live from the historic Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul, MN! Featuring conversation with writer/rapper/entrepreneur Dessa, who took to science to overcome a bad love. And with comedian Alyssa Limperis, whose father died of glioblastoma. So funny! Plus, music from the amazing composer of our theme song, Geoffrey Wilson.

TTFA is live from the historic Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul, MN! Featuring conversation with writer/rapper/entrepreneur Dessa, who took to science to overcome a bad love. And with comedian Alyssa Limperis, whose father died of glioblastoma. So funny! Plus, music from the amazing composer of our theme song, Geoffrey Wilson.

TTFA is live from the historic Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul, MN! Featuring conversation with writer/rapper/entrepreneur Dessa, who took to science to overcome a bad love. And with comedian Alyssa Limperis, whose father died of glioblastoma. So funny! Plus, music from the amazing composer of our theme song, Geoffrey Wilson.

Nora is back from her honeymoon with a special announcement – TTFA is doing a live show!! (Plus this week's episode will be out on Wednesday – so stay tuned!) TTFA LIVE!!! In person!! Hear us perform an episode right in front of your face! November 17, 2017 at the historic Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN. With musician and writer Dessa, comedian Alyssa Limperis, and Geoffrey Wilson -- the amazing writer of the TTFA theme song! Find out more info and get tickets (starting Tuesday, September 19) at www.fitzgeraldtheater.org.

Carol Jackson discusses 10 tips for your post-show discussion. She talks about the benefits of post-show discussions, how to organize them, and the best ways to get the audience involved. Carol is the co-founder of Minnesota Theatre Love. Carol and her sister Julie started the blog in 2014 with the goal of highlighting all of the amazing theatres in the Twin Cities. In the past three years, they have written over 230 posts about must see shows and marketing strategies. In the 90s, Carol worked in the box offices at the Fitzgerald Theater and Park Square Theatre for over a decade. She is currently a librarian at the Ramsey County Library in St. Paul. Show Notes: Website - http://www.mntheaterlove.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mntheaterlove/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/MNTheaterLove Email - mntheaterlove@gmail.com Download the 10 tips here: https://wellattended.com/blog/049-10-tips-post-show-discussion-carol-jackson/ - Download our free marketing resources at https://wellattended.com/resources

Carol Jackson discusses 10 ways to make your website patron friendly. She talks in detail about what information you need on your site, how to make navigation easy, and how to make people want to see your shows. Carol is the co-founder of Minnesota Theatre Love. Carol and her sister Julie started the blog in 2014 with the goal of highlighting all of the amazing theatres in the Twin Cities. In the past three years, they have written over 230 posts about must see shows and marketing strategies. In the 90s, Carol worked in the box offices at the Fitzgerald Theater and Park Square Theatre for over a decade. She is currently a librarian at the Ramsey County Library in St. Paul. Show Notes: Website - http://www.mntheaterlove.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mntheaterlove/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/MNTheaterLove Email - mntheaterlove@gmail.com Download the 10 Ways to Make Your Website Patron Friendly: https://wellattended.com/blog/045-10-ways-make-website-patron-friendly-carol-jackson/ - Download our free marketing resources at https://wellattended.com/resources

“Anytime I want to feel better I just need a stage.” On this episode, singer/songwriter Katy Vernon talks about depression, her fairly new relationship with sobriety, how she went from writing songs in her head to process life to being an actual artist and what parenting is like for someone who lost both parents before adulthood. Born and raised in London, UK, Katy now calls Minnesota home. She has written songs for as long as she can remember and is always happiest when she's singing, even when dealing with some pretty tough challenges. Katy's debut solo release was ‘Before I Forget'. This was both a tribute to her parents, whom she lost as a teen, but also an embrace of her new solo direction after discovering the ukulele and the songwriting it inspired. In a deliberate effort to use her writing to move beyond the grief and sadness of her earlier work Katy wrote the song ‘Pearl' which she released as a single prior to this full length release. Each song on ‘Present' is an exploration of the effort to embrace the here and now. Exploring the realities of life, the good and the bad, without being numbed or sugar coated. Katy Vernon has also used her enthusiasm and knowledge of the local ukulele scene to organize and perform at her successful Annual Uke Fest Concert, now expanded to a two night celebration and fundraiser benefitting Arc GTC. Katy has been featured on TPT's Almanac, WCCO's Women Who Rock, The Current, KFAI, and more.  In addition to clubs and festivals she has performed at venues including The Guthrie, The Cowles Center with the James Sewell Ballet, and even the Fitzgerald Theater with Garrison Keillor!  

A special preview of last week's show at The Fitzgerald Theater featuring two classic songs from the Twin Cities' own (and Live Wire favorites) The Jayhawks. The Jayhawks If there is an OG of American alternative country-rock bands, it’s The Jayhawks. Emerging from the Twin Cities more than 25 years ago, this highly influential quartet has released 8 studio albums, and their 9th, produced by R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, drops later this year.

We're transporting you to the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul for a segment from a recent live show: Cats vs. Dogs. In this very important debate, producers Marc Sanchez and Sanden Totten try to get the bottom of our feline friends' mysterious behavior. Plus: The mystery sound!

This week, it’s a special live(ly) edition of the DPD, recorded at the historic Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. Comedian Michael Ian Black comes bearing terrible casseroles and terribly funny etiquette advice… Rocker Angel Olsen plays the lights out… Acclaimed novelist Marlon James remembers the time when his inner diva took center-stage, then introduces […]

In this week's show, recorded at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, play games about famous sets of twins, grammatically-incorrect song lyrics--and did you know that James Bond also has a “license to grill”? Pun alert! Our V.I.P. is the woman who helped add 13 hours of marathon-watching to our schedules: Piper Kerman. She's the author of Orange is the New Black, the memoir that inspired the hit Netflix series about life in a women's prison. Plus, two Mystery Science Theater 3000 veterans riff on bad movies.

On this week's program, we get a haunting visit from the ghost that haunts the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul. If you listen closely, you can almost hear him attempt to do standup comedy. Also, a look inside Mitt Romney's tax returns. Yes! In the wake of his electoral defeat, he has released them only to us. What? Why wouldn't he? And a chat with Julia Sweeney about how Wits -- yes, this very program -- led her to reassess her literary career and her daughter's taste for fame.

We had a great send-off at the Fitzgerald Theater on Dec 11, and many of our long standing characters took a final bow. We'll hear those moments from Bud Buck and Captain Billy, Nephew Thomas and Wally of Intimida - all of them beloved and make believe - along with, arguably the funniest character of all, who just happens to be a real person. The mayor of St. Paul – Chris Coleman. The hilarity is about to begin for one final time.

This time, a bit of a departure. The Morning Show is ending. We're having a big final broadcast at the Fitzgerald Theater and next week you'll get a sampling of that last show. This time, some of the interviews Jim Ed and I did with our MPR colleagues as we became news for just the briefest of moments. Our fifteen minutes of fame begins now.

This time, an encore for our re-telling of the classic Christmas story, "It's a Wonderful Life." When we first did this for a live audience at the Fitzgerald Theater in 2003, it was an episodic parody in four parts. In 2006 it was presented for the first time as a podcast in two parts. Now, for the first time ever, the whole thing is united as a single, stunning, radiophonic experience. What am I getting for Christmas? Extra time, to bring you an uninterrupted version of wonderful, it's a life.

Before a live audience at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, Krista reads from her book, “Speaking of Faith.” She traces the intersection of human experience and religious ideas in her own life, just as she asks her guests to do each week. Krista reflects on her adventure of conversation across the world’s traditions — and on the whole story of religion in human life, beyond the headlines of violence. See more at onbeing.org/program/remembering-forward/160

Before a live audience at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, Krista reads from her book, “Speaking of Faith.” She traces the intersection of human experience and religious ideas in her own life, just as she asks her guests to do each week. Krista reflects on her adventure of conversation across the world’s traditions — and on the whole story of religion in human life, beyond the headlines of violence.