Shows
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: A Suite of Dances (Part 2)In this second part of our Hear the Dance journey into Jerome Robbins' A Suite of Dances, Cellist Hannah Holman joins host Silas Farley to provide a deep-dive introduction to the Bach Cello Suites that provide the ballet's exquisite score. As Holman explains, the music is a seminal work for every cellist, with complex challenges and varied delights throughout—all of which are complicated and enriched when performed onstage with the work's solo dancer. (42:48) Written by Silas Farley Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (1931) by Igor Str...2025-04-2242 min
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: A Suite of Dances (Part 1)This week, Hear the Dance host Silas Farley leads us on a wide-ranging exploration of Jerome Robbins' 1994 ballet A Suite of Dances. First, he's joined by Repertory Director Jean-Pierre Frohlich, who coaches the work; Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht, who initially learned the tour-de-force role in 2019; and former Principal Dancer Peter Boal, who worked with Robbins on the development of the ballet. They walk through the creation and performance of the four movements, highlighting the ways in which A Suite of Dances teaches the performer about themselves—particularly as they grow with and age alongside the piece. (1:05:11) Written by...2025-04-221h 05
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: The CageHear the Dance host Silas Farley is joined by Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan and former Soloists Repertory Director Jean-Pierre Frohlich and Repetiteur Diana White for a conversation about Jerome Robbins' The Cage. From its "empowering" choreography to the manners in which the relationship between the Mother and the Novice mimic that of senior and newer members of the company, they describe the unique qualities of this ballet beloved by dancers and audiences alike. (59:01 Written by Silas Farley Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: Concerto in D for String Orchestra, "Basler" (1946) by Igor Stravinsky2025-01-2759 min
Morning MeetingPico Iyer on the Perfect Place to Escape 2025It’s the beginning of a new year and a time of resolutions, and if you are thinking of taking time to reflect on what you want to do in 2025, Pico Iyer joins us from Tokyo to share what he learned during his time at a secluded monastery perched high above the Pacific. Then, if seclusion is less your thing and indulgence is where you live, Rob LeDonne joins us from Williamsburg, the New York neighborhood where almost everything has changed, except for Bamonte’s, the beloved 125-year-old Italian restaurant that is hotter than ever. And finally, Ernest Hemingway’s A Fa...2025-01-0438 min
Bad GaysJerome Robbins (with Liz Rosenfeld)Today, special guest Liz Rosenfeld discusses the choreographer Jerome Robbins. Born in New York to Jewish immigrants, Robbins pursued dance and radical politics––until, under the threat of being blacklisted and exposed for his sexuality, reporting on his former comrades to the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. As one of Broadway's star choreographers, he helped define Broadway's Golden Age with striking dance theatre that integrated ballet technique into storytelling. His charisma, abuses of power, and boundary-obliterating working methods helped define an idea of choreographer-as-genius that still disfigures dance today.
Support our show by subscribing to our monthly podc...2024-08-251h 04
One True PodcastAmanda Vaill on the Spanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil War was a brutal and maddeningly complex historical event, with enormous repercussions on Ernest Hemingway’s life and career. To guide us through the many moving parts and frayed relationships, we welcome back Amanda Vaill to One True Podcast. Vaill’s essential book, Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War, guides us through the events of the war, including the private adventures of Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, John Dos Passos, Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and more. We discuss what the war meant to Hemingway and his writing that would follow, and how...2024-05-1353 min
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: In the NightCity Ballet The Podcast launches this season with a new Hear the Dance conversation, guest hosted by Silas Farley, who is joined by three generations of dancers who are well acquainted with Jerome Robbins' In the Night. Former Principal Dancer Kay Mazzo originated the lead role in the ballet's first movement, about "young love"; Repertory Director Christine Redpath took over coaching the ballet from colleague Victor Castelli; and Principal Dancer Unity Phelan is performing the lead role in the tempestuous third movement. As they discuss, In the Night's power resides in its effective representation of human relationships and what...2024-01-1546 min
Practice? PodcastEpisode 236 - Her Practice is Sweet (Amanda Pizzoferrato)Right now, Amanda Pizzoferrato is a Cookie Marketer. No, she's not a Girl Scout. Her's is the innovative Corso Cookie brand. She loves the daily learning of launching a direct sales online marketing practice. It's not unlike her previous venture, 'cooking up' a popular sandwich cafe - the Sleepy Rooster. And yes, she's another of Dave's former students. 2023-10-2748 min
Immortal Icons of DanceEp. 03 Mary Ann Lamb on Jerome RobbinsMary Ann Lamb, a Broadway veteran with 11 Broadway credits speaks about her experience working with Jerome Robbins, one of the great theater-makers of the 20th century.
Additional Resources:
Footage
Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins by Amanda Vaill
Jerome Robbins, by Himself edited by Amanda Vaill
Jerome Robbins: Something To Dance About Documentary
Podcast Merch
Disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize...2023-10-0429 min
A LITTLE TOO QUIET: THE FERNDALE LIBRARY PODCASTSpring ReadsKricket and Sarah are back with plenty of amazing new reading recommendations, perfect for the Spring time!
Picks include:
Everybody Was So Young - Amanda Vaill
In Memoriam - Alice Winn
Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
The River - Peter Heller
Wild - Cheryl Strayed
The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach
All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot
Before We Were Innocent - Ella Berman
This Bird Has Flown - Susanna Hoffs
The Book of Flying - Keith Miller
Did You Hear...2023-04-1949 min
A Life in BiographyRemembering a great friend & biographer with Mary Dearborn, Diana Jacobs, Sydney Stern, Amanda VaillWe celebrate the late Marion Meade, novelist and biographer of Dorothy Parker, Buster Keaton, Woody Allen, and others by her fellow biographers and friends.2023-02-0848 min
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: Helgi Tomasson (Part 2)In Part 2 of this week’s Hear the Dance conversation between host Silas Farley and Helgi Tomasson, the two discuss Tomasson’s career following his entrance into the Company as a Principal Dancer in 1970. As he shares, originating a role in 1971 in Jerome Robbins’ The Goldberg Variations marked a turning point in Tomasson's life; the following year, the original Stravinsky Festival led to two more seminal roles created on the dancer: Balanchine’s Symphony in Three and Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fée. Tomassion describes how his years dancing with NYCB informed both his work as a choreogra...2022-04-1938 min
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: Helgi Tomasson (Part 1)On this week’s Hear the Dance episode of City Ballet the Podcast, join host Silas Farley for an in-depth conversation with former NYCB Principal Dancer Helgi Tomasson. In Part 1, Tomasson shares his journey from childhood in his native Iceland to joining the Company at age 26. In between, Tomasson auditioned for Jerome Robbins’ Ballet USA, gaining a significant fan in the choreographer; discovered the States while on tour with the Joffrey Ballet; danced for six years with the Harkness Ballet; and won the silver medal following an adventure-filled performance at the First International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1969. Tune in t...2022-04-1945 min
LA Review of BooksClaire-Louise Bennett's "Checkout 19"Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by Claire-Louise Bennett, whose new novel is Checkout 19. It follows an unnamed young woman born into a working-class family, who is slowly discovering her own sense of self through the many books she reads and the stories she writes. Her relationship to her own experiences is partly filtered through the words of other writers, as she eventually attends college, finds work as a checkout clerk, in a grocery store, and dates a few inadequate, jealous men with literary ambitions of their own. The book seamlessly moves between literary analysis, fantastical storytelling, and life...2022-03-0447 min
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: Moves (Part 1)In a special two-part Hear the Dance episode, Principal Dancer Jared Angle dives deep into the history, context, development, and performance of Jerome Robbins’ masterwork Moves. Part one features a wide-ranging interview with dance historian and Robbins biographer Amanda Vaill, who traces the artistic and personal developments in the choreographer’s life that informed the creation of Moves, and his oeuvre in general. (56:08) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (1931) by Igor Stravinsky2022-02-0756 min
Film Forum PresentsIN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM – Connie Hochman & Merrill AshleyIn today’s episode, Film Forum presents a Q&A from opening weekend of the new documentary, IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM, about the brilliant artistry of ballet legend George Balanchine as both a choreographer and teacher, recorded on Sunday, September 19th. Filmmaker Connie Hochman was joined by renowned Balanchine ballerina Merrill Ashley for the Q&A, which was moderated by writer Amanda Vaill. In The New York Times, dance critic Gia Kourlas wrote of the film: “To love Balanchine is to love this film; to love this film is to love ballet, specifically Balanchine’s kind and his kind of dance...2021-10-0139 min
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: Glass Pieces (Part 2)Host Silas Farley delves deep into the creation of Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces in part two of this new Hear the Dance episode. Former NYCB Principal Dancers and husband and wife duo Maria Calegari and Bart Cook share intimate details about the second movement pas de deux, the development of which marked the beginning of their relationship; Corps de Ballet Member Gretchen Smith remarks on the shared legacy of performing these roles and knowing that “Everything we’re taught now is learned through those that were in the room”; and former Principal Dancer Helene Alexopoulos reflects on the importance of Glass...2021-09-2030 min
City Ballet The PodcastHear the Dance: Glass Pieces (Part 1)Just like the Company itself, City Ballet The Podcast is back, with a brand new Hear the Dance episode on Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces. Returning host Silas Farley is joined by former Principal Dancers and original cast members Helene Alexopoulos, Maria Calegari, and Bart Cook, and current Corps de Ballet Member Gretchen Smith, for a conversation about this galvanizing masterwork. The originating dancers provide rare behind-the-scenes insights into Robbins’ process, from his use of “guinea pigs” to the multiple iterations that reflected the choreographer’s shifting mood and sense of the work in progress, and commiserate with Smith about the challe...2021-09-2044 minOne True PodcastAmanda Vaill on Gerald and Sara MurphyAmanda Vaill takes us to the French Riviera of the 1920s, drawing from her definitive book, Everybody Was So Young, to describe who Gerald and Sara Murphy were and what they meant to the artists they knew. Vaill discusses Fitzgerald’s poor behavior, Hemingway’s ambivalence to the rich, and Gerald’s own artistic efforts. Along the way, she suggests what gave the Murphys the enchanting quality that drew so many important figures into their circle. This episode was recorded on May 17, 2021.2021-06-0758 min
Dead Writer DramaEpisode 3: Ernest Hemingway & F. Scott FitzgeraldThis month, co-hosts Jennifer and Zakiya discuss the relationship between Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald with Amanda Vaill, the author of the bestselling Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy—A Lost Generation Love Story, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography, and Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins, for which she was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. In addition to her screenplay for the Emmy– and Peabody Award–winning public television documentary Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About, she has also written features and criticism for a range of journals from Allure...2021-04-2153 min
For RealTravel NarrativesThis week Alice and Kim talk travel books, Alaskan politics, and what the word multifarious means.
This episode is sponsored by Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir by Anonymous, published by HMH Books, Page Chaser, and Book Riot’s TBR.
Subscribe to For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.
For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton.
New Books
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the 21st Century, ed. by Alice WongSEE ALSO: A Disability History of the United States By...2020-07-0745 min
Broadway to Main StreetJerome RobbinsThe greatest director/choreographer of the last century, Jerome Robbins, gives us something to talk about; in conversation with his biographer, Amanda Vaill, with dance music from On The Town, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof and more.2020-01-0559 min
Enhance Your Knowledge Through the Magic of Full AudiobookJerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir Audiobook by Jerome RobbinsListen to this audiobook in full for free onhttps://hotaudiobook.com/freeID: 367192
Title: Jerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir
Author: Jerome Robbins
Narrator: David Pittu, Gabra Zackman
Format: Unabridged
Length: 14:06:00
Language: English
Release date: 10-01-19
Publisher: Random House (Audio)
Genres: Biography & Memoir, Fiction & Literature, Essays & Anthologies, Arts & Entertainment
Summary:
The titanic choreographer, creator of memorable ballets, master of Broadway musicals, legendary show doctor and director, now revealed in his own words--the closest we will get to a memoir/autobiography--from his voluminous letters, journals, notes, diaries, never before published. Edited, and...2019-10-012h 06
Access Unmissable Full Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir, Arts & EntertainmentJerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir by Jerome RobbinsPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/367192 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Jerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir Author: Jerome Robbins Narrator: Gabra Zackman, David Pittu Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 14 hours 6 minutes Release date: October 1, 2019 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: Arts & Entertainment Publisher's Summary: The titanic choreographer, creator of memorable ballets, master of Broadway musicals, legendary show doctor and director, now revealed in his own words--the closest we will get to a memoir/autobiography--from his voluminous letters, journals, notes, diaries, never before published. Edited...2019-10-0110 min
Discover Top Full Trial Audiobooks in MemoirsaphyJerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir by Jerome RobbinsPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/367192 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Jerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir Author: Jerome Robbins Narrator: Gabra Zackman, David Pittu Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 14 hours 6 minutes Release date: October 1, 2019 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: The titanic choreographer, creator of memorable ballets, master of Broadway musicals, legendary show doctor and director, now revealed in his own words--the closest we will get to a memoir/autobiography--from his voluminous letters, journals, notes, diaries, never before published. Edited, and...2019-10-0110 min
My Little TonysThe 1957 Tony Awards, Part 2What do McCarthyism, Charlie Chaplin, I Love Lucy, Catfish, Sister Act, Andrew Cunanan, John & Yoko, and the Caroline, or Change extended universe have to do with Bells Are Ringing, The Most Happy Fella, and Li’l Abner? That’s for us to know and you to find out.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @mylittletonys for more content on this season’s shows!
Works referenced/cited:
Bloom, Ken, and Frank Vlastnik. Broadway Musicals: the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time. Black Dog & Leventhal Pubs., 2010.
Mordden, Ethan. Coming up Roses: the Broadw...2019-04-0700 min
The History Chicks : A Women's History PodcastThe Schuyler Sisters - a conversation with author Amanda Vaill
Since the musical Hamilton opened on Broadway, we've been getting a lot of requests to cover the Schuyler sisters, Angelica, Eliza and Peggy. (You sang that, right?) But we couldn't make it work because there wasn't enough material available to us to fill a whole show in the way we would want to...so we met someone who could:.Author Amanda Vaill.Amanda has written several award winning biographies, scripts, articles and...be still our hearts...has been contracted to write a biography on the two most famous Schuyler sisters, Angelica and Eliza. She's begun her research and graciously ag...2016-06-261h 09
ThirtyFour-50's tracksAmanda Vaill - Hotel Florida AuthorAmanda Vaill, Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War Amanda Vaill is a biographer, journalist, and screenwriter. She the author of Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins, for which she received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the bestselling Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy – A Lost Generation Love Story, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award in biography. She is a co-author of Seaman Schepps: A Century of New York Jewelry Design, and has edited or contributed to a number of other books, most recently The Beatles Are Here! Her jour...2014-12-0324 min
The Bat Segundo Show & Follow Your EarsAmanda Vaill (BSS #549)Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway headed to Spain to help the Loyalists during the Civil War. Gellhorn was to transform into one of the 20th century's best war correspondents. Hemingway needed to have his romanticism crushed to write a masterpiece. They are two figures in Amanda Vaill's HOTEL FLORIDA. This conversation examines how the Civil War changed not only the trajectory of Spain, but the future of world culture.2014-06-2854 min