You're the Fool
The Next Big Thing is radio drama. We're giving over the whole hour to "You're the Fool," written by Roy Nathanson for our show. It's more than a play with music. In a way, it's an extended musical composition ... with a plot.
Listen to "You're the Fool," introduced by host Dean Olsher.
Listen to the opening credits
Listen to the play
Listen to the closing credits
About Roy Nathanson
For one thing, he composed the Next Big Thing theme song and led the band that performed it. He plays the saxophone, among other instruments. He was in the Lounge Lizards and formed the Jazz Passengers, which became Debbie Harry's band after Blondie split up. His latest recording is "Fire at Keaton's Bar and Grill" on Six Degrees. He's an actor and writer, too and this is a story he's been wanting to tell for years.
About "You're the Fool"
The play features Roy Nathanson as the character Jay, along with David Margulies as Jay's father, Bill, and Debbie Harry as his Aunt Toby. Bill, like his son, is a musician. He has Alzheimer's, which, in a way, loosens the boundaries in the family, allowing events and communication to happen that might not have otherwise. The play floats, between past and present, dream and reality. Original music is not incidental, not in the background, but part of how the story unfolds.
The Cast:
David Margulies is a veteran New York actor. His solo performance "In Dreams and Gimpel," based on stories by Delmore Schwartz and Isaac Bashevis Singer (translated by Saul Bellow), has been on open-run at the Maverick Theater since March 19. He appeared as Tony Soprano's lawyer on "The Sopranos" and as the mayor of New York in "Ghostbusters." Other movie credits include "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Man of the Century," "9½ Weeks," and "Last Breath."
Deborah Harry was the lead singer of Blondie and has appeared in several movies, including "Copland" and Woody Allen's "New York Stories." She was also featured on VH1's "Behind the Music."
WNYC archives id: 9926
