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 (hear the cast album), into opera. Mike Birbiglia, Sasheer Zamata, Stephin Merritt, Josh Hamilton, Lindsay Mendez, Lin-Manuel Miranda and others.
The Radio Drama Episode
Prologue
21 Chump Street: The Musical
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)
The Original Cast Album of “21 Chump Street: The Musical” is now on iTunes and Amazon!
Of Mice and Men
Comedian Mike Birbiglia, his wife and his cat take a trip together and meet some parasitic zombie mice. Details of his “Thank God for Jokes” Tour (where this story comes from) are at birbigs.com. (10 minutes)
How Do You Slow This Thing Down
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)
Song:
Bus! Stop!
Ira's Backstage Speech
Photos From "Live at BAM"
Related
Act One: It’s Not Over Til The Fat Man Sings
Act Two: Jail Sell
Act Two: Stocking Stuffers
Staff Recommendations
20 Acts in 60 Minutes
All kinds of little stories that we ordinarily can't use on the radio show because they are just too short.
The Problem We All Live With - Part One
There’s one thing that has been proven to cut the achievement gap between black and white students by half: integration.