The Culture Show Podcast

“Forbidden Broadway,” is a Tony award-winning show that skewers Broadway musicals with love. It’s the brainchild of playwright and parodist Gerard Alessandrini.  Debuting in 1982, Alessandrini has created multiple iterations of  “Forbidden Broadway.” His latest  production is “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song. “ Alessandrini, a Needham native and founding father of the spoof “Spamilton”...

Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III discuss President Trump’s inauguration through the lens of arts and culture. They’ll also focus on what Trump’s presidency will mean for the arts and culture sector. From there we mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a conversation about The Embrace memorial and sculpture on Boston Common, which honors  Martin Luther King...

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:  the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision upholding a law requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the platform in order for the app to continue operations in the United States. What could this mean for the social media juggernaut...

In 1991 New England Law Professor Mary Joe Frug was murdered in Harvard Square. More than 30 years on, the case remains unsolved. Michael Cassidy was a prosecutor in Massachusetts when the  crime was committed. He’s been haunted by  the slaying ever since.  One way to grapple with it, write a legal thriller based on the case. His inaugural novel is titled “‘ When the Past is All Deception .”  He j...

Pianist and composer Barron Ryan joins “The Culture Show” ahead of his January 17th concert at the First Congregational Church in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His latest album is “There Arises Light in the Darkness.” To learn more about Barron Ryan’s concert go here . Tara Sellios is a Boston based artist whose  photographs highlight the beauty of the grotesque. Sellios creates still life vignettes f...

Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace Boston, joins The Culture Show to preview Embrace Boston’s Imari Paris Jeffries of Embrace honors MLK gala, which celebrates the legacies of outstanding civic, business, and community leaders in Boston and across the country. The gala is Sunday, January 19th, To learn more, go here . From there we get a preview of Le Prestige’s upcoming show at Li...

Choreographer Mark Morris   joins The Culture Show to talk about “The Look of Love,” which is an homage to the music of  Burt Bacharach. The show features music newly arranged by jazz pianist, composer, and Mark Morris Dance Group’s  musical collaborator Ethan Iverson. The show is a  fusion of dance and music with an ensemble of vocals, piano, trumpet, bass, and drums, led by singer, actress, and...

The Culture Show's co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III talk through the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up - Southern California is ablaze, and unprecedented wildfires  have spared no one. Hollywood celebrities  - from Billy Crystal to Paris Hilton – are  posting images of how the flames have destroyed their homes. Could their platform help...

The movie “Maria,” the biopic about the famed soprano Maria Callas, has received mixed reviews from movie critics. We want to know what someone familiar with opera thinks about the film. Enter Jane Eaglen , a Grammy-winning dramatic soprano who’s performed on the world’s greatest stages.  She joined The Culture Show for her take on “Maria.” Jane Eaglen is on the faculty at New England Conservatory...

The City of Lynn, Massachusetts, has opened an application process to select its inaugural Poet Laureate.  LaCrecia Thomson, Arts and Culture Planner for the City of Lynn. joins The Culture Show , to talk about how this endeavor will help to deepen Lynn’s cultural legacy.  The application process is open through January 31st. To learn more, go here . From there it’s artist and designer Beau McCall...

Tomasina Ray, Director of Collections at RMS Titanic Inc., joins The Culture Show with an overview of “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.”  The exhibition brings us  face to face with the dramatic maritime disaster. Visitors encounter artifacts from all manner of life aboard the Titanic, all recovered from the ocean floor.  “ Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition ,” is on view at The Castle at Park Plaz...

The New Bedford Art Museum in partnership with the New Bedford Free Public Library and Look North Gallery presents: “Arctic Voices,” an exhibition representing artistic responses to the arctic region across time and cultures. One of the featured artists, Betsey Biggs , joins The Culture Show   along with Suzanne de Vegh, executive director of the New Bedford Art Museum. The exhibition features Bet...

The Culture Show's co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III talk through  the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, Popeye the Sailor  is famous for his  catchphrase “I yam what I yam.”  Now he’s whoever you want him to be. Popeye –along with Heminginway’s “Farewell to Arms,” and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” are  among the thousands of cr...

Curt DiCamillo joins The Culture Show to talk about his new book “ A British Country House Alphabet ,” which explores intriguing historical events tied to country houses in the UK, with stunning illustrations. Three volumes in total, the first covers the letters A through H. Curt DiCamillo is an American architectural historian and a recognized authority on the British country house. He is also th...

The three-time US Poet Laureate  Robert Pinsky has been lauded as one of the last civic poets. Yes, he’s an esteemed professor and renowned critic of poetry,  but he is first and foremost a poet’s populist. It has been his mission to bring poetry to the people and the people to poetry . Robert Pinsky joins The Culture Show to discuss a new collection of work called: “Proverbs of Limbo.”  From ther...

Coinneach MacLeod is better known as The Hebridean Baker. His simple living, Scottish accent, and photographs of Scotland’s rugged landscape have made him an international bestseller. And then there are his bakes.  He joins us to talk about his latest cookbook, “ The Hebridean Baker at Home ” From there, we head to the North End to find out what makes a perfect meatball and if it’s served with gra...

Today we cross into the underworld by way of “Eurydice.”  It’s a hell raising opera, truly.  With music by Matthew Aucoin and based on the play “Eurydice,”  by Sarah Ruhl, it’s a retelling of the myth of  Orpheus, from the perspective of his bride. In this adaptation we follow Eurydice’s descent into the underworld, where her encounters are humorous, and heartbreaking–especially when she reunites...

Ben Shattuck’s  latest book,  “The History of Sound,”  is an extraordinary collection of interconnected stories that examine the lives and landscapes of New England.  From a farm on Nantucket to the orchards of Hattfield and Barnstable to  a logging camp in New Hampshire, Shattuck spans centuries in these haunting, tender and often humorous stories.  From there, artist Alex Buchanan, a Coast Guard...

Today on The Culture Show ,  the one-man media conglomerate: Matt Farley.  For him quality IS quantity. The Danvers based singer-songwriter is prolific. He’s written, produced and recorded more than 25,000 songs. He also makes movies, hosts  podcasts and writes books.  Then, it’s music to environmentalists’ ears. We check in with Adam Gardner. The  lead singer of Guster is also leading the way to...

It’s a story for the past, present  and future: Charles Dickens’  “A Christmas Carol.”  Though it was a reflection of Dickens’ times, the struggle between selfishness and  selflessness endures. In Ebeneezer Scrooge, Dickens created both an an tagonist and pro tagonist  who went from being a covetous curmudgeon to a repentant man. Today we’re serving up two scoops of Scrooge  with actors David Coff...

Today on The Culture Show Jared Bowen, Edgar B. Herwick III and Callie Crossley are decking the airwaves this hour with a holiday spectacular. First up, the 1946 classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  It’s a film about second chances. It’s a film about gratitude. It’s also a great romance story. In Mr. Potter we have one of the best villains in cinematic history. And along the way we get a lesson in b...

Dwight Ritcher and Nicole Nelson make up the critically acclaimed, genre-defying band DWIGHT & NICOLE .  They trace their musical roots through blues, R&B, and soul with a little roots rock, alternative, and Americana sprinkled in. On New Year’s Eve they'll take the stage at Regattabar to perform hits from their acclaimed album, “ The Jaguar, The Raven, and The Snake .” Dwight & Nicole...

Today 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, Boston City Hall. Whether you think it’s a masterpiece or a monstrosity, the Boston Landmarks Commission has voted to recognize one of the city’s most iconic and controversial structures  as an historic landmark. But that’s not set in conc...

Ayodele Casel is a trailblazing tap dancer and choreographer.  Her tap dancing is at once percussive and poetry in motion. She joins The Culture Show to talk about the world-premiere production,  “Diary of a Tap Dancer.”  It  traces her  life  – from her first steps in the Bronx and Puerto Rico– and  along the way it celebrates the extraordinary and often-overlooked women dancers who broke the tap...

Today on The Culture Show Mary Grant, President of MassArt, joins us for our recurring feature “AI: Actual intelligence,” where we tap into the most interesting thinkers in our region whose insights and observations are totally original and algorithm free.  This month we discuss stories at the intersection of art, society and education, from a recent  study on the brain benefits of seeing real wor...