Episodes
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April 4, 2025 - Week in Review: Adolescence, the Beatles biopics, and Val Kilmer
Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, the fate of TikTok, which is nearing its Saturday deadline to find a new buyer under federal law or it’ll have to go dark as a result of a ban in the United States.Then it’s the Netflix series “Adolescence,” which has provoked a conversation about toxic masculinity and teenagers in crisis.From there it’s a look at Sam Mendes, who has announced the cast of his Beatles biopic.Plus more White House DOGE cuts are putting a chokehold on arts and culture in this country. In the crosshairs this week: The National Endowment of the Humanities which will see 70-80% of its staff cut. And The Institute of Museum and Library Services which has just been gutted.Finally, reflecting on the career of actor Val Kilmer who died earlier this week at age 65. -
April 3, 2025 - Cicely Carew, It's A Motherf**king Pleasure, and a retirement home for penguins at the New England Aquarium
Artist Cicely Carew joins The Culture Show to talk about her solo exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum, BeLOVEd, a visionary site-specific installation uniting multiple media: sculpture, video and a soundscape to create an immersive, meditative experience. To learn more, go here.From there Samuel Brewer joins The Culture Show. He is a co-founder of FlawBored, a multi award winning disability led theatre company. Their show, “It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure,” is presented by ArtsEmerson, onstage through April 13th. To learn more, go here,Finally, we get an overview of the New England Aquarium’s “retirement home” island for aging penguins. Kristen McMahon, the aquarium's curator of pinnipeds and penguins, joins The Culture Show. -
April 2, 2025 - Carousel, Elizabeth Strout, and the Hanging Nasturtiums at the Gardner Museum
Boston Lyric Opera mounts an 80th Anniversary production of "Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL,” eight decades to the day of its first Boston run, and in the same venue where the final pre-Broadway tryout played in 1945, the Colonial Theatre. BLO Artistic Associate Anne Bogart stages a tribute to this classic and she joins The Culture Show for an overview. To learn about upcoming performances, go here.From there the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest book “Tell Me Everything” and to discuss her upcoming visit to Boston on April 27th where she will be the keynote speaker at the 35th annual Literary Lights dinner, sponsored by the Associates of the Boston Public Library. Finally Erika Rumbley, the Director of Horticulture at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum joins the Culture Show to talk about the annual return of their Hanging Nasturtiums, which is on display through April 14th. To learn more, go here. -
April 1, 2025 - American art at the MFA, Joyce Kulhawik, and Amanda Shea
Matthew Teitelbaum, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Ethan Lasser, John Moors Cabot Chair, Art of the Americas, join The Culture Show to kick off a new series. Each month the curators and experts from the MFA will be on the show to talk about works in their collection that offer insight into the American Revolution. This is an extension of Museums 250.From there Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik joins The Culture Show for a roundup of the latest plays, movies and television. Joyce Kulhawik is a Culture Show contributor, Emmy-award winning arts and entertainment reporter and president of the Boston Theatre Critics Association. You can find her reviews at Joyce’sChoices .Finally, we kick off National Poetry Month with artist, educator and activist Amanda Shea. She is the curator and host of “Outspoken Saturdays,” a spoken word poetry event for emerging artists, which happens every first Saturday of the month. To learn more, go here. -
March 31, 2025 - 1775: Rebels, Rights, & Revolution, Shucked, and springtime public art
Peter Drummey, Chief Historian at the Massachusetts Historical Society, joins The Culture Show for an overview of their new exhibition “1775: Rebels, Rights & Revolution.” The exhibition explores the pivotal events and personal stories that ignited the American Revolution. It’s on view through December 2025. To learn more, go here.From there playwright Robert Horn joins The Culture Show to talk about the Tony Award-winning musical, “Shucked,” which comes to Citizens Opera House by way of Broadway in Boston, April 8 through April 20th. To learn more, go here.Finally Culture Show contributor Julia Swanson takes us on a tour of public art that will get us outdoors and in the mood for spring. Julia Swanson is a multidisciplinary artist and award winning photographer who is the creator of The Art Walk Project – a series of self-guided micro tours of art across Greater Boston. -
March 28, 2025 - Week in Review: Trump's Smithsonian changes, Mayor Wu on The Daily Show, and Ed Sheeran's pop up bar in Ipswich, MA
Today on The Culture Show, co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, President Trump’s latest directive to control culture. Yesterday he signed an Executive Order intended, in his words, to Restore Truth and Sanity to American History. He’s called for the restoration of monuments, memorials and statues quote “improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history.” From there it’s Mayor Michelle Wu on “The Daily Show,” where she defied its reputation as a racist city by promoting it as diverse and welcoming.Plus a look at Dawn M. Simmons' next act as the artistic director of the SpeakEasy Stage Company.And the countdown to “The White Lotus” season finale. With only two episodes to go, will the show succeed in surprising audiences?Finally, George Foreman’s legacy as a boxing champ turned king of the grill, making millions with his “lean, mean, fat-fighting machine.” -
March 27, 2025 - Jeff and Julie Kinney, Everyone250 with Imari Paris Jeffries, and Ricardo Pérez González
When it comes to Jeff and Julie Kinney, their life is one for the books. Jeff Kinney is the author of the blockbuster, best selling “Wimpy Kid,” kingdom, which is reaching a milestone this year, with Kinney publishing his 20th title, .“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Partypooper.” Together, Jeff and Julie own An Unlikely Story bookstore and cafe,” in downtown Plainville, MA, which they opened ten years ago. Now they are writing a new chapter for their adopted hometown, with an ambitious five year plan to revitalize it. They join The Culture Show to talk about their vision.From there Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston joins The Culture Show to talk about the launch of the Everyone250 campaign celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. Finally playwright Ricardo Pérez González joins The Culture Show to talk about his play “Don’t Eat the Mangos.” A Huntington Theatre production, it’s onstage through April 27th in the Calderwood Pavillion at the Boston Center for the Arts. To learn more, go here. -
March 26, 2025 - Igor Golyak, Dr. Robert Waldinger, and Pedro Alonzo
Director Igor Golyak is the founder of Arlekin Players Theatre based in Needham. He joins The Culture Show to talk about upcoming events, productions and what it means to be embarking on its 15th anniversary year. To learn more about Arlekin Players Theatre and their programming, go here.Since 1938 researchers at Harvard have been studying the lives of hundreds of people and their families to discover what makes us happy. Some of the key findings were in the New York Times bestselling book, “The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness,” by Dr. Robert Waldinger and Marc Shulz. Now out in paperback, Dr. Robert Waldinger joins The Culture Show to talk about this research. He is the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.Finally, Independent Curator Pedro Alonzo joins The Culture Show for his monthly appearance. Today he took us on a radio tour through London’s art scene. Pedro Alonzo is the Artistic Director of The Boston Public Art Triennial. -
March 25, 2025 - Gregory Maguire, Celtics president Rich Gotham, and candlepin bowling
What happened to young Elphaba before she was saddled with the wicked mantle? Almost 30 years after the publication of “Wicked,” Gregory Maguire offers readers Elphaba’s origin story in a new book titled “Elphie: A Wicked Childhood.” He joins The Culture Show to talk about it.From there Boston Celtics’ president Rich Gotham joins The Culture Show to talk about the new HBO docu-series “Celtics City,” which is streaming now on Max, with new episodes dropping Monday nights.Finally we head to candlepin city: Worcester. Vanessa Bumpus, Exhibits Coordinator for the Museum of Worcester gives us an overview of “Strikes, Spares & Deadwood: Candlepin Bowling,” which is on view through April 5th. To learn more, go here. -
March 24, 2025 - The Ballad of Wallis Island, the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, and Mahesh Daas
The new comedy film, “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” stars Tim Key as a lottery winner who tries to reunite his favorite musical duo Mortimer-McGwyer, played by Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden, also a romantic couple that broke up many years ago. Distributed by Focus Features, the film hits theaters on March 28th. Ahead of its release Tim Key and Tom Basden, who co-wrote and co-star in the film, join The Culture Show.From there we get a jump on the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, which kick off this Wednesday at TD Garden. National champion pair skaters Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov join The Culture Show for a preview. To learn more about the championships, go here.Finally Mahesh Daas, President of Boston Architectural College, joins The Culture Show to talk about upcoming events at the BAC featuring architect Tatiana Bilbao. Mahesh Daas is a Culture Show contributor who joins us monthly. He is co-author of the graphic novella about artificial intelligence, titled “I, Nobot.” Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO: Research Center of the Sea of Cortez exhibit is on view at the BAC’s McCormick Gallery through May 9th. To learn more, go here.
