A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media

Special Guests
Saturday, September 13, 2008

Tony Roberts

Since his 1962 Broadway debut in Something About a Soldier, Tony Roberts has appeared in dozens of plays, on Broadway and elsewhere — Barefoot in the Park, Don't Drink the Water, Promises, Promises, Endgame, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and Victor/Victoria, to name just a few, and he earned Tony Award nominations for How Now, Dow Jones and Play It Again, Sam. He is currently playing a dual role — Danny Maguire and Zeus — in Xanadu at the Helen Hayes Theater. The musical is based on the 1980 movie starring Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John. His film credits include Annie Hall, Play It Again, Sam, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Serpico and Amityville. Roberts grew up in New York City and it is still his home base.

Robin & Linda Williams

Singing the music they love — be it bluegrass, folk, old-time, or acoustic country — Robin and Linda Williams have carved out a three-decade career that has taken them from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, the Grand Ole Opry to Austin City Limits, Music City Tonight to Mountain Stage. They've have written dozens of terrific songs, ones that have been covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, Tim & Mollie O'Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Black, Kathy Mattea, and The Seldom Scene. Robin and Linda's first album came out on a small Minnesota-based record label in 1975, the same year they debuted on A Prairie Home Companion. Recent recordings include Deeper Waters and The First Christmas Gift, both on Red House Records.

Walter Bobbie

At the University of Scranton, Walter Bobbie thought he'd be an accounting major. Thank goodness he came to his senses. These days, he's an award-winning director known for his work on Chicago (for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award), Sweet Charity, Footloose, High Fidelity and other productions. After graduate school at Catholic University, Bobbie hit New York, where he did four or five shows before landing a role in the original cast of Grease in 1972. He acted in other plays, including Guys and Dolls, Assassins, Anything Goes and Driving Miss Daisy, and in movies and television shows like The First Wives Club, "Hill St. Blues" and "Law & Order." He was artistic director of New York City Center's Encores!, where he directed Fiorello!, Chicago, Tenderloin and Golden Boy. He has also directed for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Sundance, the O'Neill Center and Goodspeed Opera House. His stage adaptation of Irving Berlin's White Christmas is in its third season, with productions in Minneapolis, Detroit and the United Kingdom.

Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth is from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and how could a city with a poetic name like that not send an artist off to Broadway. She was dancing as soon as she could walk, and her mother remembers her singing herself to sleep. Kristin said, "When I was about 4 we were watching ballet on TV, and I said, 'I want to do that.' My mom went, 'What?'"

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.

Rob Fisher

For four seasons conductor and pianist Rob Fisher headed up the Coffee Club Orchestra on Garrison Keillor's American Radio Company, and he remains a frequent Prairie Home Companion guest. He served as music director and conductor of the Encores! series at New York City Center from its inception in 1994 through 2005, and he was the original conductor and music director for Chicago and its Grammy Award-winning cast album, and supervisor of Chicago companies around the world. In 2001, he conducted the PBS broadcast of Sweeney Todd, with Patti LuPone, George Hearn and the San Francisco Symphony. As guest artist, he has led the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Atlanta, Virginia, Colorado, Baltimore and National symphonies, among others. Fisher regularly creates evenings for the Lyrics and Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y, and he is currently providing musical direction and vocal arrangements for the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The Apple Tree.

Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks

Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks are renowned on the New York scene for their commitment to preserving and authentically presenting 1920s jazz. Each piece they perform is inspired by, and arranged from, original recordings from greats of the era. The Nighthawks are Vince Giordano, Andy Stein, Brad Shigeta, Mark Lopeman, Dan Levinson, Dave Brown, Randy Sandke, Dan Block, Peter Yarin, Mark McCarron and John Gill. They were recently featured in the movie The Aviator and can be heard every Monday and Tuesday at Charley O's Times Squre Grill on Broadway and 49th.

Maude Maggart

(Accompanied by Lanny Meyers) Maude Maggart's cabaret career got started at The Gardenia Room in Los Angeles. It was here that she began to explore the world of America popular song, a hallmark of her cabaret act today. Her latest release is With Sweet Despair on the SMAX label. You can see Maude perform live in the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel every Monday through June.