Guest host John Lithgow’s favorite story-poems, and a chilling classic.
“He dozed fitfully until a sudden wild cry from his wife woke him. ‘The paw,’ she cried wildly. ‘The monkey’s paw!’—W.W. Jacobs, “The Monkey’s Paw.”
Guest host John Lithgow’s favorite story-poems, and a chilling classic.
On this program we invite you to join us at a delightful evening of poetry and fiction at which we turned the Symphony Space stage over to our great friend, the actor and writer John Lithgow, who brought along HIS friend, the inimitable actor and clown Bill Irwin. In the first section of the program the pair had a great deal of fun reading an assemblage of verse from John’s anthology, THE POETS’ CORNER—from the robust saga of an ancient carriage, to a surrealist tour de force by Gertrude Stein, to the sweet silliness of “The Owl and the Pussycat.” Celebrated performance artist Bill Irwin made an indelible mark with such productions as “In Regard of Flight,” but has been more recently celebrated as a dramatic actor, winning a Tony Award for his performance in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”
The second part of the program is given over to Lithgow’s fervent reading of a horror classic--the macabre tale “The Monkey’s Paw,” by the English writer W.W. Jacobs. John Lithgow is a Tony Award winner for his creation of the leading role in “M Butterfly,” and a Emmy winner for his portrayal of High Commander Dick Solomon on the hit comedy series, “Third Rock from the Sun.” Away from stage and screen, he has shaped an additional career as a successful children’s book author.
Selected poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Gertrude Stein, Robert Frost and others, read by John Lithgow and Bill Irwin
“The Monkey's Paw,” by W.W. Jacobs, read by John Lithgow
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
We’re interested in your response to these programs. Please comment on this site or visit www.selectedshorts.org
Guest host John Lithgow’s favorite story-poems, and a chilling classic.
On this program we invite you to join us at a delightful evening of poetry and fiction at which we turned the Symphony Space stage over to our great friend, the actor and writer John Lithgow, who brought along HIS friend, the inimitable actor and clown Bill Irwin. In the first section of the program the pair had a great deal of fun reading an assemblage of verse from John’s anthology, THE POETS’ CORNER—from the robust saga of an ancient carriage, to a surrealist tour de force by Gertrude Stein, to the sweet silliness of “The Owl and the Pussycat.” Celebrated performance artist Bill Irwin made an indelible mark with such productions as “In Regard of Flight,” but has been more recently celebrated as a dramatic actor, winning a Tony Award for his performance in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”
The second part of the program is given over to Lithgow’s fervent reading of a horror classic--the macabre tale “The Monkey’s Paw,” by the English writer W.W. Jacobs. John Lithgow is a Tony Award winner for his creation of the leading role in “M Butterfly,” and a Emmy winner for his portrayal of High Commander Dick Solomon on the hit comedy series, “Third Rock from the Sun.” Away from stage and screen, he has shaped an additional career as a successful children’s book author.
Selected poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Gertrude Stein, Robert Frost and others, read by John Lithgow and Bill Irwin
“The Monkey's Paw,” by W.W. Jacobs, read by John Lithgow
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
We’re interested in your response to these programs. Please comment on this site or visit www.selectedshorts.org
About Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts features some of the finest artists of the American theater reading contemporary and classic short fiction-the most distinguished works of the early masters such as Chekhov, Maupassant, Malamud and dozens of others.
To listen to this program, and other recent programs, subscribe to the Selected Shorts podcast
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Comments [3]
It was wonderful! John is awesome. All time favorite.
I enjoyed all the poems and the story in this episode, and I'm looking for the names of all these poems. Can you help me?
Dear Rebekah:
Information about where the stories featured on SELECTED SHORTS are available in print can be found at our website, www.selectedshorts.org. The selections were drawn from John Lithgow's anthology, The Poet's Corner.
So...if we missed part of the program we have to wait *a year* to hear it again?
Dear Ben:
Our programs are available for a limited time as podcasts on iTunes, audible.com; and at npr.org. and some stations do repeat the program more than once in a week, as we do here in New York but that is at the discretion of the individual station.
For information about where stories can be found in print, and our CD anthologies, which include selected stories from the complete series, please visit our website at www.selectedshorts.org
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