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Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing news items from the previous week.

Broadway is Back and “Beetlejuice” has returned from the dead – which is a little on the nose for "Beetlejuice," if we’re being honest.Based on Tim Burton’s film, “Beetlejuice: The Musical” is directed by Alex Timbers with Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. The opened at The Winter Garden Theatre in April 2019 and was scheduled to close to make room for the revival of The Music Man (which plays there now) but closed early when covid-19 arrived in New York City in 2020. The show’s popularity surged on social media and in cast recording sales over the pandemic and the producers found a new stage for the show to open again.Now at The Marquis Theater, much - but not all - of the cast is populated by the same actors as before – including the wonderful and winning Kerry Butler who plays Barbara Maitlin.Kerry Butler’s Broadway credits include "Mean Girls," "Xanadu," "Hairspray," "Beauty and the Beast," "Disaster!," "Catch Me If You Can," "Rock of Ages," "Little Shop of Horrors," "Les Misérables," "Blood Brothers," and "The Best Man."

The first ever Broadway revival of “Funny Girl” since its original run closed in 1967 opened on Sunday night featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, a revised book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer. The production stars Bean Feldstein as Fanny Brice, Ramin Karmiloo as Nick Arnstein, Jane Lynch as Mrs. Brice, and Jared Grimes as Eddie Ryan.Jared Grimes is a quadruple threat - excelling at singing, dancing, acting, and choreographing. He has danced alongside Wynton Marsalis, Gregory Hines, Ben Vereen, Jerry Lewis and toured with Mariah Carey, under the choreography of Marty Kudelka, and danced for artists such as Common, Salt-n-Pepa, Envogue, Busta Rhymes and the Roots. He choreographed “After Midnight” on Broadway and served as co-choreographer on “Holler if You Hear Me” - the Tupac musical. He most recently appeared on Broadway in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of “A Solider’s Play” by Charles Fuller.When I recorded this conversation with Jared Grimes, the company was in rehearsals. “Funny Girl” opened this past Sunday.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond.Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, Chief of Staff and Vice President for Strategy and Policy at Bard College Malia DuMont, Immigration attorney and partner with the Albany law firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna Cianna Freeman-Tolbert, and political consultant and lobbyist Libby Post.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, Investigative Journalist and Adjunct Professor, Rosemary Armao, Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences at RPI and Director of the RPI-IBM Artificial Intelligence research collaboration Jim Hendler, and Dean of the School of Continuing Education at the American University Cairo Jim Ketterer.

Today's Book Picks come from Matt Tannenbaum from The Bookstore in Lenox, Massachusetts.

In "Different," world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal draws on decades of observation and studies of both human and animal behavior to argue that despite the linkage between gender and biological sex, biology does not automatically support the traditional gender roles in human societies. While humans and other primates do share some behavioral differences, biology offers no justification for existing gender inequalities.

The new book, Sharkey, tells the compelling story of an unusually gifted, trained sea lion who shared the stage with practically every important performer of the first half of the twentieth century—from Bob Hope to Ella Fitzgerald, from Broadway to Hollywood and beyond. Readers follow Sharkey and his flippered colleagues as they travel the world with stops at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, vaudeville houses, Manhattan during the Harlem Renaissance, burlesque nightclubs, movie palaces, Radio City Music Hall, and the legendary studios of early radio, movies, and television, meeting a who's who of showbiz entertainers, sports superstars, and even a US president. Sharkey is written by Gary Bohan Jr. who hails from Kingston, New York, where Sharkey was trained and is the great-grandson of Sharkey's trainer, Mark Huling.

We Remember: Songs of Survivors is a one-hour special celebrating the lives of Holocaust survivors through storytelling and music. The PBS documentary will premiere the week of Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Tuesday, April 26, at 8:00 PM on PBS.We Remember: Songs of Survivors follows four talented singer- songwriters in New York’s Hudson Valley tasked with creating original songs about the experiences of local Holocaust survivors. We’ll get a preview.The film documents the relationships that develop and the songwriting process over many months, culminating in an emotional live concert where the survivors and songwriters are celebrated by friends, family and the community. We welcome the film’s Co-Producers Tim Miller and Ilene Cutler, along with Film subject and Holocaust survivor Tibor Spitz, and singer/songwriter Elizabeth Clark.

In March 2020 - all of Broadway closed. All the marquees dimmed and an industry of creatives, thespians, technicians, and designers, builders, house managers, and many others were unemployed until at least August or September of 2021. As of now, many shows have moved back into their theaters and new plays, musicals, and revivals are opening in time for this June’s Tony Awards. In our Broadway is Back series, we’re going to preview several Broadway shows by speaking with an actor or director (or sometimes more than one) each day this week.First up: Brittney Johnson is currently toss-tossing her curls on stage at The Gershwin theater as Glinda in “Wicked.” Based on the novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, “Wicked” opened in 2003 with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Winnie Holzman, and was Directed by Joe Mantello. In the intervening years, “Wicked” has proven to be a global phenomenon. Brittney Johnson’s Broadway credits include “Les Mis,” “Motown,” “Sunset Boulevard,” and “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”