Podcasts

Now Thrive the Armorers: Armor in Shakespeare

This podcast was produced for the Folger Shakespeare Library. Although people associate “knights in shining armor” with the Middle Ages, most surviving armor actually dates to the period of William Shakespeare, a time when traditions inherited from the world of medieval chivalry were increasingly at odds with the changing realities of the Renaissance. Shakespeare’s works are filled with arms and armor both as literary images and as objects, evoking themes of knighthood, warfare, personal conflict, and honor.

History of the American Musical

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Part of the series “Putting It Together: Words and Music and Musical Theater,” produced for ArtsEdge at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. From the Indian Princess to Minstrel Shows to Vaudeville to Rent; a look at the trends and ideas that shaped American Musical theater. Narrated by Heather Nathans, Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Maryland.

Broadway and Social Commentary

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Part of the series “Putting It Together: Words and Music and Musical Theater,” produced for ArtsEdge at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Despite the admonishment “If you want to send a message, call Western Union,” American musicals have commented on social issues for as long as there has been a musical theater in America. Heather Nathans, Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Maryland takes us through the history of social commentary in the American Musical, from The Beggar?s Opera to Avenue Q.

The Elements of a Musical

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Part of the series “Putting It Together: Words and Music and Musical Theater,” produced for ArtsEdge at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A musical is not a cabaret show and it’s not an opera. It has distinct elements that must be present. In this piece Heather Nathans, Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Maryland explains what those elements are.

Musical Theater - Where To?

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Part of the series “Putting It Together: Words and Music and Musical Theater,” produced for ArtsEdge at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
As the rock musical gave way to the spectacle musical, shows like “Cats,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Starlight Express” came to rely less on story and more on technology. As a result, by the end of the 20th Century, musical theater was looking for a way to define itself. Heather Nathans, Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Maryland talks about the changes in musical theater in the last forty years and where musical theater appears to be headed.

Disney and the Musical

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Part of the series “Putting It Together: Words and Music and Musical Theater,” produced for ArtsEdge at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In an odd turn, the Broadway music — exported by Walt Disney to cartoons in the 1930s — was returned to Broadway by Disney in the 1990s. Heather Nathans, Associate Professor of Theater at the University of Maryland explains this transition.

Write Your Own Musical

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Part of the series “Putting It Together: Words and Music and Musical Theater,” produced for ArtsEdge at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This podcast instructs a young person in what to think about when writing his or her own musical. It includes excerpts from an interview with Stephen Schwartz who wrote “Pippin,” “Godspell” and “Wicked.” Narrated by Heather Nathans, Associate Professor of Theater at the University of Maryland.

The Mystery Behind the Mystery Play

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Part of the series “From an Ill-Spun Wool: The Second Shepherds’ Play and Early English Theater,” produced for the Folger Shakespeare Library. A look at recent literary detective work into the true origins of The Second Shepherds’ Play.

Medieval Mystery Plays

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Listen at the Folger Library website

Part of the series “From an Ill-Spun Wool: The Second Shepherds’ Play and Early English Theater,” produced for the Folger Shakespeare Library. Scholars Theresa Coletti and Barbara Palmer talk about the vast world of early English theater—a sprawling heritage that’s still too often overlooked

“What Space ‘Sounds’ Like”

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Part of the series “Arts/Space: Where Art & Outer Space Come Together,” produced for ArtsEdge at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For as long as people have been putting words to music, they have tried to make the music express what they are talking about. While the idea of “outer space” is relatively new, people have been writing about the stars and the moon forever. This piece looks at the many ways artists have depicted “space” in music. The piece is narrated by Roger Launius of the Space History Division of the National Air and Space Museum, and features Miles Hoffman, commentator for NPR’s Morning Edition, John Dennis, who created the music for Disneyland’s Space Mountain, and Jonn Serrie, the nation’s leading composer of music for planetarium shows.