Producer Manny Azenberg has spent a lifetime in the theater business. Hence his prize on Tony Awards night, this Sunday. WNYC’s Sara Fishko sat down with the prolific producer to talk about hits, flops, Neil Simon and movie stars, for this edition of Fishko Files…

Next week will see the release of the cast album of the Tony-nominated Broadway production of Porgy and Bess.  As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, the controversy over the style and scale of the musical is in keeping with the long history of the piece.  Here is the next Fishko Files…

Next week, a 1950s English play opens off-Broadway that was more than just a play, says WNYC’s Sara Fishko. It was a cultural landmark that shook English class consciousness to its foundations.  A trip to post World War II Britain –in this episode of Fishko Files.

A Foundry Theater revival of a Depression-era musical opens this week. In its day, the show brought satirical relief to a polarized society. WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells the story.

As Tony Award-time comes around and the theater celebrates itself, we can turn to a treasure trove of theater history in the photos of the venerable Broadway photographer Leo Friedman. WNYC’s Sara Fishko takes a quick look at Friedman’s place in Broadway history.

Thanks to the first New York revival of Tony Kushner’s play “Angels in America,” theater-goers can once again see the American epic on stage.  WNYC’s Sara Fishko looked back at the original Broadway production of “Angels,” in this edition of  “Fishko Files.”

Reflecting on the many voices of Hamlet

A short-lived Broadway musical called ‘Juno’ is coming back for a brief run. It’s not to be confused with the current hit movie about a pregnant teen. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, the 1950’s 'Juno' was not exactly a hit. Here’s the next Fishko Files.
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Film is a visual medium, but the words that inspire the pictures are critical. The screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky died 25 years ago, but people still remember his films, vividly; and what they tend to remember...are the words. Here is the next Fishko Files...

"Marty", "Network" and many ...

Any time Mike Nichols and Elaine May occupy the same stage at the same time, it has to be seen as a cultural event. WNYC’s Sara Fishko was there, recently, when Nichols and May talked things over in front of an audience. In this edition of the Fishko Files, the ...

Long before American Idol and the Amateur Hour, soprano Florence Foster Jenkins sang about as badly as anyone had ever sung in public. But people have been fascinated by her style and her story since her death 60 years ago. Sara Fishko asks: was she so bad she was good? ...

Tomorrow night, the 50th season of free Shakespeare in Central Park begins with "As You Like It." Nowadays, we take for granted that—come summer—great actors will appear at the Delacorte theater and enthrall us with their performances under the stars. But as WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, it wasn’t always ...

The four dramas nominated for Tony Awards this week bring to mind another Broadway season, when the play that won the Tony was more than a play. "Angels in America" appeared in New York in early May of 1993, and it was heralded as a groundbreaking moment—a moment that might ...

This week conductor Marin Alsop and director Lonny Price bring a new, semi-staged production of "Candide" to Lincoln Center. The original version of the musical opened on Broadway in the 1950's. As Sara Fishko tells us, the project came with certain challenges attached. Here is the next Fishko Files...

The classical concert season is in full swing, and, as Sara Fishko tells us, music is not the only thing on stage. Here is the next Fishko Files... Click here to see John Corigliano’s photo "Circa 1909," used in the Elements Quartet's "Snapshots" concert.

Contract negotiations are in progress between Broadway producers and pit musicians, and the two sides are in bitter dispute. Sara Fishko examines some of the finer points of this struggle for the future of Broadway music...in this edition of the Fishko Files.

Some music is composed from top to bottom, every note written in advance. Some is just made up, on the spot. And then there is music that is a combination of the two: it's improvised around the framework of something already composed. Sara Fishko talked--and listened--to improvisors trying to tell ...

This spring, a new crop of musicals will be presented on Broadway, and some old ones will be revived. Toiling behind the scenes, Sara Fishko tells us, are the orchestrators. Here is the next Fishko Files...

The 1950's was a time of great tension, both around the world and on the streets of New York. On Broadway, a new musical attempted to capture that tension on stage. WNYC's Sara Fishko reports on how the emotion and politics of the times infected the cast, and the show's ...

There's a new play in New York; WNYC's Sara Fishko sat in on a rehearsal this past week, and talked to numerous participants, all of them related!