RtS: A Prairie Home Companion

[3894]

Rank the Swank - Theater and Movies


Overall Swank Rank

A Prairie Home Companion
The Fitzgerald

St. Paul, MN
April 13



The Lowdown
The energy doesn't translate to radio

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The Scene
Garrison Keillor is the Midwest's answer to Mark Twain - that's how venerated he is in these parts. So you can imagine how very difficult it is to score tickets. The tickets are not expensive - about $18 - but rarer than hen's teeth. You can attend a live broadcast or a dress rehearsal the night before. The show travels around the country from time to time. If he comes to your town, you owe it to yourself to go.

We jumped at the chance to see him on his home turf, the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. We opted for the dress rehearsal simply because it fit into our schedule better. On hand were Keillor's regular company of talented radio actors (very fun to see them do the sound effects, too), his excellent band, an okay singer named Prudence Johnson whose main job seemed to be to make Keillor sound good, and musical guests the Finnish-Norwegian progressive folk "explosion", Frigg (named after a goddess, I think). Keillor had obviously never heard them play before and was as blown away as his audience.

As you might imagine, Keillor's latest installment of the Lake Woebegon saga was the highlight of a night of memorable performances. He tells the story completely without notes, obviously with a main idea in his head but seemingly crafting the story extemporaneously. Keillor's energy and charisma are only half-evident on the radio. He really is something.

A very memorable evening.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Awesome. I rarely listen myself, but my dad was a big fan and I have very fond memories of hearing tales of Woebegon.

I'd imagine that in some ways the dress rehearsal might be even more fun than the live broadcast, giving the cast a bit more freedom to play to the live audience rather than the radio audience.

[ozron]

I remember the early days of PHC (yeah...God, I'm old!) before any of us had ever seen Garrison Keillor. I had a distinct picture of him in my head...a short, stocky, somewhat dumpy man in a rumpled suit sitting behind a desk reading the "News from Lake Wobegon". Even after I saw him, I still kind of had that picture in my head.

A few years later I saw PCH live at the Schnitz here in Portland. It's true, it's a completely different experience. The Kronos Quartet played..."Purple Rain" for string quartet! And watching Keillor extemporate the news forever banished my previous image. The man is extraordinary. Truly a successor to Twain, Rogers, and the entire Round Table.

I just wish he wouldn't try to sing...

But that's just me.

see you at the zoo

ron

[Alex]

I remember reading an account of (Dave Barry?) being involved in one show and apparently while things may change very last minute almost nothing is extemporaneous. Of course, making it seem that way is a beautiful thing. (And, of course, I could be misremembering)

Despite the fact that I tend to change station whenever one of the musical acts start I do enjoy the show. But I rarely get to listen since Lani has zero tolerance for it and we have to change the station permanently if we're in the car together (which we usually are).

[Snowflake]

I grew to love PHC, but I really do love Keilor's Writer's Almanac on NPR. Always 5 minutes of good stuff. Also available on iTunes for free.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

We caugh the taping at the Hollywood Bowl last year-- what a complete delight.

[Sub la Goon]

I was lucky enough to go when the show was in Brooklyn several years back.

It was a celebration of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, which Keillor read with guests Allen Ginsberg and Robert Bly.

It was a wonderful show and I loved the poetry so very much! I went with my first wife and her mother - a terrific lady is now unfortunately deceased.Mother-In-Law could be quite imposing sometimes but loved PHC and I have been lucky enough to hear it at some point during the weekend ever since.

[3894]

It's great to hear how many of you enjoy A Prairie Home Companion. We live in rural Wisconsin. I'm married to a Swedish-American who grew up Lutheran. For us, Lake Woebegon is very real.

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

while things may change very last minute almost nothing is extemporaneous. Of course, making it seem that way is a beautiful thing. (And, of course, I could be misremembering)

It takes a lot of work to look that relaxed.

We saw the final rehearsal. I didn't mention that the evening ran about 3 hours, including a 15-minute intermission. They were obviously trying out material, seeing what worked. My guess is that almost nothing at the performance for radio the following night was extemporaneous, what with timing issues and all.