Broadway and Beyond

In preparation for the PBS/Great Performances concert of Audra McDonald from the London Palladium (May 17), we play some of her finest moments from across her storied career: rarities and Tony-winners.

We're kicking off WLIW's "Broadway and Beyond" television/radio programming with a special episode of Game Changers and Groundbreakers: Show Boat, Pal Joey, Company, The Producers, Hamilton, and more.

In classic American musicals, there's usually a supporting--other--couple. Here's a tribute to Nathan and Adelaide, Ado Annie and Will Parker, Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz, and many more.

We travel the world for great international performers singing show tunes--Maurice Chevalier, Jacques Brel, Astrud Gilberto--and rare international cast albums, like Mi Bella Dama.

Broadway's troubadour of the 1950s, Frank Loesser was a master of melody. Some of the greatest pop and jazz performers--Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans, Bobby Darin, Eliane Elias--roll the dice with Loesser's tune. 

One of the greatest singers of the 20th Century, Sarah Vaughan gets her centennial moment in the show tune spotlight. Songs from Babes in Arms, West Side Story, Golden Boy, South Pacific and more.

  This week's episode is all about quantum physics and the American musical--just fooling! We celebrate the fools and the foolhardy with performances from Phil Silvers, Carol Burnett, Ed Wynn, Sutton Foster and many more.

  Is the game we're in, celebrating the musical's 70th anniversary this spring. All the classic Adler/Ross songs in renditions by Doris Day, Harry Connick Jr., Rosemary Clooney, and more.

Our tribute to a Broadway star and one of the very best singers of the Broadway songbook. Musical numbers, of course, from What Makes Sammy Run? and Golden Rainbow, and songs from She Loves Me, Golden Boy, High Spirits, and more.

OSCAR BAIT We're hopelessly devoted to the Academy Awards. This episode, we look at the songs written expressly for film adaptations of Broadway shows. Sinatra, Madonna, Streisand, Minnelli, and many more.