Music

Rock Historian Ed Ward introduces us to jug band music, popular in the 1920s and 30s.

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. He was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein, and went on to revolutionize musical theatre. His first major success was writing lyrics for “West Side Story.” Sondheim wrote the lyrics for “Gypsy.” He composed the music and wrote the lyrics for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeny Todd,” “Sunday in the park with George,” and “Into the Woods.” In 1954 he wrote the musical “Saturday Night” but it wasn’t performed for 40 years. There’s a new cast recording of it.

Music critic Milo MIiles reviews new albums by two Latin artists: “Make Up for Lost Time” (High tone) by Little Willie G. and “Nava” (Ryko latin label) the debut album by Nava.

The 1957 musical “The Music Man” by Meredith Wilson is currently being revived on Broadway. A talk with two of the stars: Craig Bierko who plays the lead role of traveling salesman and conman Harold Hill originated by Robert Preston. This is Bierko’s first Broadway show. Also co-star Rebecca Luker who plays Marian the Librarian, the role originated by Barbara Cook. This is LUKER’s fourth Broadway role.

Husband and wife song writing team, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, the duo responsible for such songs as “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling,” “On Broadway,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Here You Come Again,” “Don’t Know Much,” and more. The two met when they were both working in the famous songwriting landmark, the Brill Building— Mann as a composer and Weil as a lyricist. The two have been writing ever since. In edition to their many pop hits, Mann and Weil have also written songs for films.

Pop Music Critic Ken Tucker reviews the newest CD by rapper Eminem. It’s called The Marshall Mathers LP.

Senior vice president and editorial director of VH1, Bill Flanagan. He’s the author of “A&R” (Random House) a satirical novel about the music industry. Prior to this, Flanagan wrote extensively about the business for “Vanity Fair,” “Rolling Stone,” “Esquire,” and “Spy.” He’s also the author of “Written in My Soul” a collection of conversations with songwriters.

Editor Tom Kuntz and reporter Phil Kuntz. Their new book “The Sinatra Files: The Life of an American Icon Under Government Surveillance” (Three Rivers Press) excerpts and analyzes portions of the FBI’s massive file on Frank Sinatra. The file is 1,275 pages long and was begun in the mid 1940s and lasted until 1972. Tom Kuntz is the editor of “Word for Word,” a column in The New York Times Week in Review section. Phil Kuntz is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

The 1946 Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer musical St. Louis Woman is being revived at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia. (thru June 25th) The musical – which was written for and features an African-American cast –features the songs “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “I Had Myself a True Love,” and “Anywhere I Hang My Hat is Home.” We talk with two individuals, first: Larry Maslon who rewrote the libretto for the show. Maslon is professor of theatre at New York University.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Britney Spears “Oops! Did It Again” and Hanson’s “Third Time Around.”