Musicals

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Stephen Sondheim's "Passion."

From the Metropolitan Opera, soprano Dawn Upshaw. She has a new recording of Broadway showtunes, called "I Wish It So." It includes lesser known works by Marc Blitzstein and Kurt Weill as well as songs by Sondheim and Bernstein. Upshaw has played more then 20 roles at the Met, including the current "The Marriage of Figaro" and the recently completed "Idomeneo," both by Mozart.

Actor and playwright Vernel Bagneris and pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen perform selections from their show, "Jelly Roll Morton: A Me-morial," with music written by Morton, and a script taken from Library of Congress tapes of Morton from 1938. The New Yorker calls it, "an experimental study, done within a traditional Broadway-musical framework, of the life and death of a black misanthrope. . . a psychomusical." This concert was first broadcast in 1992.

Songwriter Stephen Sondheim. Last fall he gave a talk at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. We broadcast that talk. Sondheim's latest work, "Passion," opens tonight.

Academy Award winning writer-producer-director James Brooks. Brooks will discuss his new movie, "I'll Do Anything," a romantic comedy about a struggling but talented Hollywood character actor, played by Nick Nolte.

Classical Music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of Leonard Bernstein's "On the Town" and the television concert of the same show. (Deutsche Grammophon).

T.V. critic David Bianculli reviews the musical "Gypsy," starring Bette Midler.

Critic David Bianculli reviews an unusual departure PBS' Great Performances: a production of "PsychoDerelict", the new multi-media composition by the rock and roller, Pete Townsend.

Pete Townsend. In the 1960's he made waves as the lead guitarist in the British rock group The Who. He was world famous for smashing guitars during concerts. Now, years after The Who split up, Townsend is busy with solo projects. "Tommy," the rock opera he wrote for The Who in 1969, is on Broadway. His latest album is called "White City."

Singer and actress Barbara Cook. Since the 1950's Cook has been in countless Broadway musicals--"Oklahoma", "The King and I", and Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" to name a few. She's been called a "no nonsense singer...able to thrust with gentility of tone." Cook has a new album--her first in five years--called "Dorothy Fields: Close as Pages in a Book." She won a Tony Award for her part as "Marian the librarian" which she originated in "The Music Man."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "Back to Broadway," Barbara Streisand's new album of show tunes.

Stephen Schiff reviews Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the original cast recording for Roger & Hammerstein's "South Pacific." (on Sony).

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the original cast recording of the Broadway show "The Who's Tommy."

McNally is best known for the script he wrote for "Kiss of the Spider Woman," based on the Manuel Puig novel which was made into a movie and has recently been made into a Broadway musical. His newest play is, "A Perfect Ganesh." McNally helped develop Off- and Off-Off Broadway in the early 70s.

Behind the scenes during the golden age of the Broadway musical: Susan Loesser, daughter of Frank Loesser, composer of the classic songs "Heart and Soul" and "Baby It's Cold Outside". He also wrote the score for "Guys and Dolls" which is now being revived on Broadway. Loesser's new memoir of her father is called "A Most Remarkable Fella."

As part of a retrospective of his work by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, The Department of Cinema Studies at Tisch School of the Arts presented "An Evening With Martin Scorsese," a wide-ranging question and answer session taped live before an audience at New York University. We play portions of this discussion, where Scorcese examines the art of cinema and his own body of work.

Music archivist Joseph Weiss recently wrote the liner notes on "An Evening With Frank Loesser," a CD featuring the late Broadway composer performing his own songs.

Newman joins Terry in the studio for music and conversation. Known for his satiric songs, he has sung from the perspective of a racist, a rapist and even God in songs like "Suzanne" and "Rednecks." He is currently working on a musical based on "Faust."

Actor and playwright Vernel Bagneris and pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen perform selections from their show, "Jelly Roll Morton: A Me-morial," with music written by Morton, and a script taken from Library of Congress tapes of Morton from 1938. The New Yorker calls it, "an experimental study, done within a traditional Broadway-musical framework, of the life and death of a black misanthrope. . . a psychomusical."