NICE WORK's Judy Kaye, Michael McGrath & WEST SIDE STORY Movie Gang Set for Theater Talk, 11/16-19

Beloved character players from Broadway and Hollywood – Tony Award-winning actors Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath from Nice Work If You Can Get It, plus three Jets and one Shark from the 1961 film version of West Side Story, dancers David Bean, Harvey Evans, Bert Michaels and Eddie Verso– visit THEATER TALK. The episode premieres in New York City on Thirteen/PBS, Friday, November 16 at 1 a.m. (2012; early Saturday morning), followed by telecasts on CUNY TV* Saturday at 8:30 PM, Sunday at 12:30 PM, and Monday at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM. The series is co-hosted by Michael Riedel of the New York Post and executive producer Susan Haskins. After broadcast, the interview can be viewed online HERE.

Broadway pros Kaye and McGrath earned 2012 Tonys for their hilarious supporting turns in the crowd-pleasing new George and Ira Gershwin musical. They talk about the show's lengthy workshop process, almost a prerequisite now for getting a full-scale musical mounted, and what it was like to ultimately be singled out to receive awards for all their effort in Nice Work as featured players. In addition, McGrath clears up once and for all how to pronounce his last name.

Also on the show, the four self-defined "dancers who sing" from West Side Story share their memories about working for legendary choreographer/director Jerome Robbins and reminisce about their antics while making the Oscar-winning film. "We had a lot of fun on the set … we were pretty rowdy," they confess. The four have collected their experiences, and those of other West Side vets, in the book Our Story: Jets and Sharks, Then and Now, published by Outskirts Press.

THEATER TALK is the weekly series dedicated to the world of the stage. The program is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. It is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 60+ participating public television markets nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The TDF/TAP Plus Program, The CUNY TV Foundation and The Friends of THEATER TALK. [*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is carried in New York City's five boroughs – on Channel 75 on Time Warner and Cablevision, Channel 77 on RCN, and Channel 30 on Verizon FiOS.]

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