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Special Guests Kristin Chenoweth She was brought up Baptist and began her singing career in church. She was so good at it she ultimately won a scholarship to the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadephia, after graduating from Oklahoma City University. In Philly she added an "in" to her original name, figuring Kristi might be a little light for opera. When she first arrived in New York she would say "hello" to everyone she met on the street. Made for a tiring day, she said, saying hello to 3,000 people. She has recently appeared on Broadway in "Charlie Brown," "Steel Pier," and
"Epic Proportions,"and Off-Broadway "A New Brain," "Scapin," and the
Encores production of "Strike Up The Band." She has won a Tony Award, a
Drama Desk Award, the Clarence Derwent Award and the Outer Critics Circle
Award. She's taking it all in stride, exactly as you'd expect from a former
Miss Oklahoma City University.
Odetta ODETTA was born in the South, in Birmingham in 1930, but she grew up in Los Angeles; she came to her music not through the usual folk process but through musical theater. She began performing at the Turnabout Theater in Hollywood as a teenager and was a music student at Los Angeles City College, and from there she joined the touring company of the musical Finian's Rainbow. Her folksinging debut came in 1950, at the Hungry i in San Francisco. She was in the Civil Rights march in Selma and in the 1963 and 1983 Washington marches. Her fabulous career has taken her around the world; she's been an inspiration to Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, Joan Armatrading, and to a lot of the rest of us. She has the Duke Ellington Fellowship Award from Yale University and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., and she's served as Artist-in-Residence at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Her latest of many albums is a tribute to Leadbelly titled Lookin' For A Home, on M.C. records. Vince Giordano He has 30,000 scores in his collection of vintage big band music, most of it from rummaging through musicians' basements during cross-country road trips and he's the archivist for Victor Company, now BMG Music, custodian to thousands of pieces going all the way back to 1901. He's performed at the Smithsonian, Carnegie Hall, the JVC Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center, and the Breda Jazz Festival in Holland; the Nighthawks have been booked for black-tie events at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, the New York City Ballet, the Waldorf Astoria, the Rainbow Room, the Carlyle Hotel, "21," and the Copacabana. You can see them at Monday and Thursday nights the Cajun Restaurant, Corner 8th Ave & 16th Street in Manhattan. Early reservations recommended. Vince Giordano: Bass Sax, Tuba, String Bass, Vocals ROB FISHER is known to longtime listeners of A Prairie Home Companion for his 1989-1993 tenure as music director and as conductor of the Coffee Club Orchestra, which he formed for the program. Fisher grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, where he started playing the piano at age 6. He went from pianist to assistant conductor at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and made his first major New York appearances as a conductor at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's concert revivals of the Gershwin musicals "Of Thee I Sing" and "Let Them Eat Cake." He has since conducted many musicals on Broadway and on tour, including "Me and My Girl" with Tim Curry, "A Threepenny Opera" with Sting, and "Chicago." As a pianist, he has played solo performances with orchestras around the country, and has played the music of George Gershwin at Carnegie Hall and at concert halls across the U.S. and around the world. Fisher has been the music director of the City Center's Encore! series since its inception in 1994. He was the artistic director for Carnegie Hall's 2-year Gershwin Centennial Celebration, and designed the 1997 spring series on Ira Gershwin. Last year, Fisher made his debut with the Minnesota Opera and conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 2 evenings at the Hollywood Bowl. |
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An Interview with Heather Masse
In a 2009 interview, Heather Masse tells us about her earliest influences, auditioning in a women's bathroom, and a few memorable moments from A Prairie Home Companion.
Old Sweet Songs: A Prairie Home Companion 1974-1976
Lovingly selected from the earliest archives of A Prairie Home Companion, this heirloom collection represents the music from earliest years of the now legendary show: 1974–1976. With songs and tunes from jazz pianist Butch Thompson, mandolin maestro Peter Ostroushko, Dakota Dave Hull and the first house band, The Powdermilk Biscuit Band (Adam Granger, Bob Douglas and Mary DuShane).
