Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 528: The Radio Drama Episode
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
528: The Radio Drama Episode
Our most ambitious live show ever! We pulled together a massive team of theater pros at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Opera House—nearly 50 singers, actors, dancers and musicians. The result? Journalism turned into a Broadway musical, into opera. Mike Birbiglia, Sasheer Zamata, Stephin Merritt, Josh Hamilton, Lindsay Mendez, Lin-Manuel Miranda and others.
- Carin Gilfry explains how she once accidentally locked herself in a hotel closet, and because
today’s show is being broadcast from an opera house stage, Ira is able to take the story to a place
he never usually can.
(18 minutes)Act One: Lin-Manuel Miranda turns a piece of reporting we broadcast in 2012, into a 14-minute Broadway mini-musical, created by people who normally work on Broadway. (18 minutes) Act Two: Comedian Mike Birbiglia, his wife, and his cat take a trip together and meet some parasitic zombie mice. (10 minutes) Act Three: Joshuah Bearman tells a story that’s a sequel to his memorable episode about his mother and half-brother David. It’s done onstage as a play that’s structured like a radio documentary, with Josh Hamilton playing Joshuah, and James Ransone playing his brother. (17 minutes) Act Four: Comedian Sasheer Zamata stages a radio play, complete with sound effects and comedians Nicole Byer, Chris Gethard, and Frank Garcia Hejl. It’s a true story about a recent bus accident. (9 minutes)
Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org
This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.
View all episodes
By This American Life
4.5
8612586,125 ratings
Our most ambitious live show ever! We pulled together a massive team of theater pros at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Opera House—nearly 50 singers, actors, dancers and musicians. The result? Journalism turned into a Broadway musical, into opera. Mike Birbiglia, Sasheer Zamata, Stephin Merritt, Josh Hamilton, Lindsay Mendez, Lin-Manuel Miranda and others.
- Carin Gilfry explains how she once accidentally locked herself in a hotel closet, and because
today’s show is being broadcast from an opera house stage, Ira is able to take the story to a place
he never usually can.
(18 minutes)Act One: Lin-Manuel Miranda turns a piece of reporting we broadcast in 2012, into a 14-minute Broadway mini-musical, created by people who normally work on Broadway. (18 minutes) Act Two: Comedian Mike Birbiglia, his wife, and his cat take a trip together and meet some parasitic zombie mice. (10 minutes) Act Three: Joshuah Bearman tells a story that’s a sequel to his memorable episode about his mother and half-brother David. It’s done onstage as a play that’s structured like a radio documentary, with Josh Hamilton playing Joshuah, and James Ransone playing his brother. (17 minutes) Act Four: Comedian Sasheer Zamata stages a radio play, complete with sound effects and comedians Nicole Byer, Chris Gethard, and Frank Garcia Hejl. It’s a true story about a recent bus accident. (9 minutes)
Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org
This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.
More shows like This American Life
View all
Radiolab
44,013 Listeners
Freakonomics Radio
32,075 Listeners
Fresh Air
38,470 Listeners
Criminal
37,456 Listeners
Hidden Brain
43,540 Listeners
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
38,736 Listeners
The Moth
27,232 Listeners
Invisibilia
21,636 Listeners
99% Invisible
26,162 Listeners
Snap Judgment
11,617 Listeners
Heavyweight
17,559 Listeners
The Daily
112,430 Listeners
Throughline
16,249 Listeners
The Ezra Klein Show
16,106 Listeners
The Retrievals
10,266 Listeners