The Culture Show Podcast

The  new baroque opera “The Seasons,” is making its world premiere in Boston. It was conceptualized by Anthony Roth Costanzo and playwright Sara Ruhl who joined The Culture Show for an overview. The Seasons Is set in the near future when the seasons are out of order and extreme weather upends the life and aspirations of a group of artists who’ve escaped the city for a creative retreat on a remote...

Craig Ferguson, the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning actor, writer, producer, director and comedian  joins The Culture Show to talk about his “Pants on Fire” tour, which brings him to Boston for a show at The Wilbur on March 13th. To learn more go here . From there Mark Anastasio,  Program Manager & Director of Special Programming at Coolidge Corner Theatre, joins The Culture Show for an overvie...

Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, James Bennett II and Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up,  Lin-Manuel Miranda cancels “Hamilton’s” upcoming run at the Kennedy Center amid leadership and ideological changes.  From there it’s a look at a freedom of speech issue as the publisher of the romance novel series “Sparrow a...

Award-winning poet Tiana Clark   joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest collection of poems, “Scorched Earth.” Tiana Clark will be at a book event March 6th at 7:00 at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition. To learn more, go here . From there Brian Harrington joins The Culture Show . He’s the owner and operator of PopUp Bagels in the Seaport District, which will soon expand into Somerville...

James Parker, a staff writer at “The Atlantic,” joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest piece “ When Robert Frost was Bad .”  James Parker runs the Black Seed Writers Group—a weekly writing workshop for homeless, transitional, and recently housed writers–and he edits  “The Pilgrim,” a literary magazine from the homeless community of downtown Boston. His latest book is “Get Me Through the N...

Reginald Dwayne Betts is an award-winning  poet, a lawyer and founder of Freedom Reads, a first of its kind organization working to transform access to books in prisons. He joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest book “ Doggerel: Poems .”  From there comedian, actress and singer-songwriter Margaret Cho joins The Culture Show to talk about her new album “Lucky Gift,” and her “Live and Livid...

Joyce Kulhawik joins The Culture Show for an Oscars recap with her take on the snoozers, snubs and surprises.  Joyce Kulhawik is a Culture Show contributor, Emmy-award winning arts and entertainment reporter and president of the Boston Theatre Critics Association. You can find her reviews at Joyce’sChoices . From there, Admiral James Stavridis . He led NATO's global operations from 2009 to 2013 as...

Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, the return of the Fyre Festival. Notorious for scamming people the first time around, it’s back selling tickets that range between $1,400 and $1.1 million.  From there it’s the legacy of Soul and R&B icon Roberta Flack,reflecting on the versatil...

Boston’s high-octane New Orleans-inspired brass band, Revolutionary Snake Ensemble , is celebrating Mardi Gras with a show this Saturday at Scullers.  Musician, composer and founder of Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Ken Field, and acclaimed trumpeter Jason Palmer join The Culture Show for a preview.  From there the new director of the MIT Museum , Michael John Gorman, joins The Culture Show to talk...

Art and science converge in the exhibition “ Nebulae: The Universe Unveiled ,” on view at the New Bedford Art Museum through March 9th.  Six NASA photographs from the Webb and Hubble telescopes are on display with works by artists who have either been directly inspired by the NASA photographs or inspired by the marvels of the night sky.  Suzanne de Vegh, Executive Director  of  The New Bedford Art...

Max Hodge’s, CEO of The Shed in New York City and Alex Poots, Artistic director at The Shed, join The Culture Show to talk about the innovative arts and culture venue and their current exhibition “ Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy ,” which is open through March 16, 2025. From there artist Jay Critchley joins The Culture Show to talk about his exhibition, Jay Critchley: Democracy of the Land, Inc., FLA...

Megan Marshall, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, has long been revered for her storytelling  skills and deep insights into historical figures, such as the poet Ellizabeth Bishop,  and Margaret Fuller, the 19th century journalist and celebrated intellectual of her time.  In her latest book,” After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart ,” Megan Marshall takes a turn at...

Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over this latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, hundreds of artists protest new National Endowment for the Arts restrictions,  asking the NEA  to reverse policy changes made in response to executive orders issued by President Trump. From there, it’s the JFK Library and Museum, which was forced t...

Comedian, television host, advocate and New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Handler joins The Culture Show to talk about her forthcoming book “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” It’s a collection of hilarious and heartfelt essays that detail what it took for her to become the woman she always wanted to be. It’s in bookstores on February 25th and is available for preorder on her website . On Febru...

Recently a rare violin crafted in 1714 by Antonio Stradivari during his renowned “Golden Period” fetched  $11.3M at Sotheby’s New York with the proceeds benefiting New England Conservatory. The funds will be used to establish the largest named endowed scholarship in support of future generations of musicians. The result places the violin among the most valuable musical instruments ever sold at auc...

Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston , joins The Culture Show to talk about what it means to honor Black History Month amid President Trump’s DEI rollbacks. From there Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, joins The Culture Show for a preview of their upcoming production of “ Swan Lake ,” which is onstage at the Citizens Opera House February 27th through March 16...

“New York Times” bestselling author Joseph Finder joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest book, “The Oligarch’s Daughter,” which tells the story of Paul Brightman, a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. The suspenseful thriller takes us into the worlds of global intelligence, Wall Street and Russian Oligarchs. Fr...

 Culture Show co-hosts Edgar B. Herwick III, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up,  President Trump purges  the Kennedy Center and appoints himself Chair of the Board. From there, it’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which just unveiled its list of the 2025 nominees. Patti Smith announces a sprawling tour schedule to mar...

Amor Towles.  The bestselling author of “Rules of Civility,”  “A Gentleman in Moscow,” and “The Lincoln Highway,”  jins The Culture Show to talk about his new bestseller, “Table for Two” From there, we get an inside perspective on how Notre Dame was rebuilt. Vermont timber framer Will Gusakov, owner of Goosewing Timberworks ,  was among the international craftspeople tapped to work on  the cathedr...

Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic for The Washington Post, Sebastian Smee joins the Culture Show to talk about his new book, “ Paris in Ruins ,” which  takes us to 19th century Paris, where the horrors of government corruption, civil war, and rampant destruction were beyond brutal. Smee also details how it created a generation of  artists  who responded to the despair by using vivid colors and swi...

Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy  discusses his film  “Small Things Like These,”  which he produced and starred in. He also gives us a preview of the Peaky Blinders movie. From there, Annette Gordon-Reed. She’s an historian, lawyer and Pulitzer-prize winning writer. Her latest book, “On Juneteenth,” explores the holiday commemorating the day Union troops announced the end of slavery in Texas.  F...

Actor and author Marianne Leone joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest book, “Five-Dog Epiphany: How a Quintet of Badass Bichons Retrieved Our Joy,”   From there New Bedford poet Erik Andrade joins The Culture Show to talk about poetry as activism. Erik Andrade is an award winning spoken word poet. Recently his work was included in “Black Fire This Time Vol. 2,”  a groundbreaking antholog...

Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, Emilia Pérez.  Two weeks ago the movie seemed destined for Oscars gold with 13 nominations. Now leading actress Karla Sofía Gascón’s Academy Award campaign is in tatters amid a string of controversies that has Netflix  distancing itself  from he...

Chelsea Spear, the poet with the golden ukulele joins The Culture Show for an in studio performance and to talk about her latest endeavor. She is the creative force behind the ukulele power pop project “Travels with Brindle” Her latest  album, “No. 1 in Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle,” will be released on March 7th. On February 7th she drops her title track followed by a single release party...

Filmmaker Bruce David Klein discusses his latest documentary “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.”  Its Boston premiere is February 7th at the Regent Theatre in Arlington. Bruce David Klein will be there for a Q and A. To learn more about the event go here . From there Mahesh Daas , president of Boston Architectural College, joins The Culture Show for his recurring feature “AI: Actual in...