Steven Pasquale Set for Laurence Maslon's BROADWAY TO MAIN STREET This Weekend on NPR

A generous grant from the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts Philanthropic Fund in the amount of $10,000 has been awarded to support the "Broadway to Main Street" program hosted by Laurence Maslon which airs Sundays at 3PM on NPR affiliate NY/Long Island station WPPB/88.3FM.

This Sunday's show (on March 26th) will feature an interview with Broadway & TV leading man Steven Pasquale (Broadway's The Bridges of Madison County, Off-Broadway's Far From Heaven, TV's Rescue Me, The Good Wife).

BROADWAY TO MAIN STREET in its sixth year of programming devotes its emphasis to music that began on the Broadway stage. Each episode of "Broadway to Main Street"-celebrates an important show or legendary songwriter or examines a historical or cultural movement. The songs are drawn from classic albums, rare recordings, and surprise interpretations, supplemented by host Laurence Maslon's commentary, guest appearances, and news from Broadway.

"To receive this kind of support from the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Philanthropic Foundation makes me prouder than I can say. This grant says that the entertaining and enlightening work we're doing with "Broadway to Main Street" is being recognized by listeners across the country. In Ira Gershwin's own words, "S'wonderful, s'marvelous!" - Laurence Maslon, Producer and Host of "Broadway to Main Street"

"Every song we play originates from Broadway, but in addition to the stars who made these songs famous, we'll also hear from the great artists of film, popular recording, jazz, and the cabaret scene, and discover some of their majestic interpretations of this glorious music in order to give our listeners a sense of how vast, how entertaining and how enlightening the American musical stage has been for over a century. Whether our listeners tune in from their living room or their car radio or a mobile device, they're going to have the best seat in the house."

Laurence Maslon is an arts professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, as well as associate chair of the Graduate Acting Program, with an affiliation in the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. He is the host and producer of the weekly radio series, Broadway to Main Street, broadcast on the NPR-affiliate station WPPB-FM. He edited the two-volume set American Musicals (1927-1969) containing sixteen classic Broadway librettos, published by the Library of America in 2014 to national acclaim. He is also the author of the companion book to the recent PBS documentary series, Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle and co-wrote the series with producer/director Michael Kantor. Also with Kantor, he co-wrote the PBS series Make Em Laugh (Emmy nomination) and two episodes of the Emmy-winning Broadway: The American Musical as well as the companion volume (updated edition published by Applause in paperback) and the liner notes for the five-disc box set for the series, released by Sony/Decca. Among his other books are Some Like It Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion (HarperCollins) and The South Pacific Companion and The Sound of Music Companion (Simon and Schuster; revised edition, 2015). Maslon wrote the acclaimed American Masters/Thirteen documentary Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds and is the editor of Kaufman & Co., the Library of America edition of George S. Kaufman's plays. He was the host for Encores!-in-Seminar at City Center for fifteen years and has written special programming for Lincoln Center Theatre, Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Chicago Humanities Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, the Library of Congress, and Guild Hall in East Hampton. He served on the nominating committee for the Tony Awards from 2007 to 2010. He had written about musical theater and popular culture for the New Yorker, the Huffington Post, Slate, WSJ, American Theatre and Opera News. Maslon has been a commentator on television for PBS Arts, Theatre Talk and Booknotes; on the radio for All Things Considered, The Terry Gross Show, and 360; and more than a dozen documentaries for PBS, BBC, Thames TV, and HNK in Japan. He is currently writing an American Masters documentary about the life of Sammy Davis, Jr. and a book for Oxford University Press about Broadway and popular music.

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Photo Credit: Walter McBride