January 21, 2025 - Forbidden Broadway, Payal Kapadia, and Karen Valby

“Forbidden Broadway,” is a Tony award-winning show that skewers Broadway musicals with love. It’s the brainchild of playwright and parodist Gerard Alessandrini.  Debuting in 1982, Alessandrini has created multiple iterations of  “Forbidden Broadway.” His latest  production is “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song. “ Alessandrini, a Needham native and founding father of the spoof “Spamilton” joins The Culture Show for a preview of “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song,” which is onstage at the Emerson Colonial Theatre  for three performances, February 8th and 9th. To learn more, go here.From there we’re joined by Mumbai-based writer and director Payal Kapadia, Her debut dramatic feature film, “All We Imagine as Light” has garnered international acclaim, which includes the  prestigious Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Closer to home, she recently received The Coolidge Breakthrough Artist Award. Her film will be opening in multiple theatres across Boston this Friday, January 24th. For a deeper look at the film, on February 9th “All We Imagine as Light,” will be featured at West Newton Cinema’s “Behind the Screen” event. To learn more, go here.Finally, writer Karen Valby joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest book, “The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History,”  It is among the New York Times’ 100 Notable books of 2024.