The Culture Show Podcast

Just as cities were wrestling with America's history with slavery -- and the people and places tied to that past-- the legacy of Faneuil Hall came under scrutiny. Before slavery was abolished in Boston, slave auctions were held at Faneuil Hall. Artist Steve Locke proposed an installation to reckon with that. But after Boston’s NAACP chapter and others voiced their opposition to Locke’s proposal, h...

The plight of public defenders. How do seven beleaguered lawyers offset the burden of their Family Defense caseloads? And a fear that the judicial system won’t deliver justice? AND the burnout that seems to be careening their way? They eat lunch. This isn’t stress eating. In the comedic play “Lunch Bunch’ the midday meal is a gathering where breaking bread is an act of affirmation. Only an hour-lo...

Today marks the first anniversary of the unveiling of The Embrace on Boston Common. While the sculpture is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King and their fight for civil rights, the enormity of it is also a testament to the design and architectural teams behind it. It was crafted by MASS Design Group in partnership with artist Hank Willis Thomas. Jha D. Amazi, a Principal at MA...

The best things in life ARE free and in Boston, that includes the arts. This February Mayor Wu will launch a pilot, making a handful of arts and culture institutions free for Boston Public School students and their families. Could/Should this experiment become permanent? From there it’s a darker reality–in Massachusetts and beyond, natural history museums are reckoning with their collections of hu...

It’s been nearly a year since The Embrace literally changed the landscape of Boston and challenged all of us to think about the purpose of public art. Now that we’ve moved on from the immediate reaction to this towering tribute to the Kings, what is The Embrace a commitment to and how is it shaping Boston beyond Boston Common? Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston joins me. Fro...

The Boston Children’s Chorus is on a mission to give the city’s youth a voice by giving them the power to transcend social barriers by celebrating a shared love of music. Part of the mission includes the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Concert. Ahead of this year’s event at Symphony Hall, we’ll talk to the chorus’ Executive Director Andrés Holder. Then, it’s an entirely different performance...

It’s been nearly a year since The Embrace –the larger than life tribute to Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King–was unveiled on Boston Common. As we approach this anniversary, Tufts history professor Kerri Greenidge joins us to talk through the power of public art –how it can connect us to our history and introduce us to the people who have shaped who – and where – where–we are today. From th...

The pharaoh of the opera. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo has made a name for himself starring in the MET’s production of Akhenaten – earning a Grammy award along the way. He’s also figuratively found his voice and the freedom to have fun by collaborating with cabaret performer Justin Vivian Bond in their hit performance and accompanying album, “Only an Octave Apart.” Now Anthony Roth Costanzo...

They’ve attacked governments, utilities and retail…and now hackers are escalating their assaults on museums. A ransomware gang has targeted software, bringing down online collections along the way. Then, after only 24 hours in the public domain, the first iteration of Mickey Mouse goes to the dark side, starring in slasher films and horror games. We’ll look at what it means for him and other promi...

One of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic was the arts industry. By 2021 the prolonged closure cost Massachusetts close to 600 million dollars. Now that we’re on the other side of the shutdown, how are the arts sector and the creative ecosystem faring? Michael J. Bobbitt, head of the Mass Cultural Council, joins us for that and more. From there, a conversation about music as memory. The Bosto...

A Massachusetts marathon that might be more rigorous than Boston’s famed 26.2 mile road race - This is a 25-hour, non-stop epic endeavor where the equivalent of Heartbreak Hill is reading Herman Melville to a live audience at 2:00 AM, or even 3:00 AM. I’m talking about the annual Moby-Dick Marathon. Though it’s been centuries since a whaling ship sailed out of New Bedford, the literary legacy of H...

Director Igor Golyak, founder of Needham’s Arlekin Players Theater, was born in Ukraine. Understandably, themes of displacement and war are often woven throughout his work. Now Golyak is embarking on a play recounting horrific real-life events: the massacre of 1600 Jews in a small Polish town in the summer of 1941. Titled, “Our Class,”  it follows 10 Polish classmates — five Jewish and five Cathol...

Content warning - discussion of domestic violence Today on our week-in-review, it’s the ghost of Christmas future haunting Hollywood. Will the double feature that was the actors’ and writers’ strikes take a toll on the film industry in 2024? Then it’s the stratospheric rise and fall of actor Jonathan Majors – a conviction on domestic assault charges has brought down the action film A-lister. With...

A story of a true underdog.  Ricky the rescue chihuahua goes to Broadway for the role of a lifetime:  playing Bruiser –  the canine costar of  Elle Woods, the rich ditz who charms her way through “Legally Blonde: The Musical.”   Ricky  might be small, but he steals the spotlight for a two-year run. Now “Legally Blonde” has landed in Boston. We’ll talk to Animal handler and actor, Brian Michael Hof...

What does it mean to be at sea? Literally, it means to be away from land. Figuratively it means to  have no path. It means confusion and  disorientation. This is what is captured in a 1915 Japanese work of art  by Hashio Kyoshi. Titled “Morning Sea” It’s a silk on silk embroidery of waves– these are aggressive, savage waves that  create  a sense of total turbulence. Writer Gish Jen describes the e...

Is the action film “Die Hard” a Christmas movie? Though there  are some Yippee Ki NAY sayers – from  film critics to Christmas traditionalists–  there’s a case to be made that it is.  Sure, there are explosions, terrorists and  gunfire – BUT it does take place on Christmas Eve and Bruce Willis’s hero cop wants nothing more than to bring his family together for the holidays. There are even Santa jo...

For his newest work, Playwright Lloyd Suh relied on maternal instincts. His works often take place during pivotal moments in Asian American history – examining the immigrant experience and how history exact can take a toll across culture generations. So for this one, he had long conversations with his mom. They surface in his comedy “The Heart Sellers,” where two young housewives grapple with the...

Today on our week in review: Is Netflix going the way of Neilsen?   The streaming  service has been described as a “black hole” for keeping its viewership data under wraps. But the battle for transparency became a key issue during the Hollywood strikes.  Now, in a first for Netflix, they’ve released reams of of data on thousands of titles and the billions of hours that people spent watching it all...

We are steeped in American history, marking the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Fed up with the tyranny of taxation without representation, American colonists took matters into their own hands–literally: tossing three shiploads of tea into Boston Harbor. The theatrics alone–the vision of angry patriots hurling 90,000 pounds of cargo overboard–has made it one of THE most celebrated rebel...

Coming up on The Culture Show, the extraordinary events of a Christmas truce between Germany and the Allies during World War  I  come to life in the musical “All is Calm”   We talk to the creative team at Greater Boston Stage Company who have made this a holiday tradition. Then it’s everything you need to know about the live music scene. Edgar B. Herwick III leads a roundup of performances in and...

Much of Alex Edelman’s comedy springs from his Jewish upbringing. He takes on Jewish identity, bigotry and ignorance–but there’s no malice in his material. Instead the Brookline native uses humor to process and even dismantle the complexities and the hate that plague our world. His recent Broadway hit, “Just for Us”--was inspired by his experience of attending a white nationalists meeting. Amid a...

It’s a modern spin on a fairy tale classic: The Urban Nutcracker. By mixing hip-hop, streetscapes, and strains of Duke Ellington –all of it propelled by the heartbeat of Tchaikovsky– choreographer Tony WIlliams has created a contemporary classic. We’ll talk to him and Drag artist Patty Bouree about this holiday season’s production. And local art curator Pedro Alonzo gives us the lowdown on produci...

It’s our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, pioneering  producer Norman Lear.  He dismantled TV’s nuclear family, taking on radioactive topics instead  – bigotry, abortion, poverty, politics—all of it was up for grabs and it landed lots of laughs along the way.  We’ll look at how his slew of successful sitcoms revolutionized Television–and changed the way we see ourselves. Then it’s time f...

I’m Jared Bowen. This is The Culture Show.  First up, what do you call three lost souls left on a prep school campus during the holidays? The holdovers. That’s also the title of Alexander Payne’s new film.  Set in the 1970’s, Paul Giamatti plays a scrooge-like New England teacher–stingy with good grades and generosity. But over the winter holiday break, his heart thaws –slightly –and he forges an...

First up,  we remember the titan of  TV: Norman Lear.  He not only changed television , he changed the way we see ourselves by doing away with the traditional sitcom that idealized the nuclear family–instead finding humor in the messiness of life. From “All in the Family to Maude.”  From there, MassArt is celebrating its 150th anniversary by celebrating others with the inaugural Common Good Awards...