All Of It with Alison Stewart

Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori is one of the most celebrated artists working in theater today, with credits that include "Caroline, or Change," "Fun Home," "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "Shrek the Musical" and "A Free Man of Color." She joins us to discuss her incredible year, with shows like "Caroline, or Change," "Kimberly Akimbo," and her role as development music consultant and supervising vocal producer on the new "West Side Story" film.

Filmmaker Jessica Beshir makes her feature-length debut with the documentary, "Faya Dayi." In the documentary Beshir returns to her birthplace, Ethiopia, to explore the world around 'khat,' a stimulant leaf, that is both culturally and religiously significant, but also the country's biggest cash crop. Beshir joins us to discuss the documentary, fresh off it earning a spot on the 2022 Oscar's Best Documentary Feature shortlist.

"Faya Dayi" is available to stream on the Criterion Channel.

WNYC planning editor Kate Hinds joins us for her ongoing series, “Kate Has a Plan,” to discuss the stories the newsroom is following this week.

A new year may just be the right time for a new gig. As a part of our new 'Taking Care of You in 2022' series, Rob Barnett, headhunter and author of Next Job, Best Job: A Headhunter's 11 Strategies to Get Hired Now joins us to talk tips to get your resume noticed, plus we'll take listener calls.

At the onset of the pandemic and into the extended lockdown, France became captivated with a novel. The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier, was published in the summer of 2020, and since has sold over a million copies in France. The book tells the story of an Air France flight from Paris to New York, but not everything goes smoothly... Recently, the book made it's U.S debut, translated into English by Adriana Hunter. Le Tellier speaks with us about the novel.

There are lots of events to look forward to, look out for, and just be aware of in the New Year, from the Winter Olympics to the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's reign in England. For a special 2022 Review/Preview, we are joined by journalist Masha Goncharova, who walks us through her list of "Events to Shake, or Gently Rattle, the World in 2022," published in the New York Times.

As more and more Broadway stars test positive for COVID-19, understudies have had to step in to keep the lights on and the show going. Journalist Alexis Soloski joins us to discuss her reporting for the New York Times, "On Broadway, Newly Vital Understudies Step Into the Spotlight." We also take some calls from our listeners who may be understudies themselves.

The latest film directed by George Clooney is "The Tender Bar," starring Ben Affleck and based on the memoir of the same name by J.R. Moehringer. Both the film and memoir tell the story of a young J.R., who found a sense community at a local bar after his father left the family before he could remember him. Moehringer, who is also an executive producer of the film, joins us to discuss. "The Tender Bar" is in select theaters now and will be available to stream on Amazon Prime on January 7.

[REBROADCAST FROM November 5, 2021] Canadian roots musician Allison Russell has been a member of several bands, including Po’ Girls, Birds of Chicago, and Our Native Daughters alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, and Leyla McCalla. Earlier this year, she released her debut solo album, Outside Child, an autobiographical record of childhood abuse and survival. Russell joins us for a Listening Party, and we end on a special performance of "Hy-Brasil" featuring Sista Strings.

[REBROADCAST FROM October 5, 2021] After two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and playwright Sarah Ruhl successfully gives birth after a high-risk pregnancy, she thinks the worst of her health crises are behind her. Then, the left side of her face becomes paralyzed, due to Bell’s palsy. She is assured that in 90% of cases, the condition begins to improve, and eventually recovers fully. But that doesn’t happen. Ruhl chronicles her struggles with Bell’s palsy, and with post-partum depression, in her new memoir, Smile: The Story of a Face.