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Title details for A Prairie Home Companion by Garrison Keillor - Available

A Prairie Home Companion

Live from the Hollywood Bowl

by Garrison Keillor
Royal Academy of Radio Actors
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
After 40-plus years of delighting radio audiences each Saturday night with America's favorite live variety show, A Prairie Home Companion founder and host Garrison Keillor bids farewell with an unforgettable performance from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. It's a duet singing extravaganza, with Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan, Heather Masse, and Christine DiGiallonardo joining Garrison on time-honored American ballads, British Invasion romps, country-western weepers, and Broadway classics. Plus: The Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, with L.A. tales and sound effects straight from rush hour on the 101; Music Director and pianist Richard Dworsky moves wondrously from stride and spirituals through surf instrumentals and a bit of Rock n Roll; a special sendoff from President Barack Obama; and one last update on the News from Lake Wobegon, the little town that time forgot, and the decades cannot improve.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 22, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781681687414
      • File size: 61509 KB
      • Duration: 02:08:08

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The twentieth anniversary collection of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion radio programs will delight fans and invite new listeners. The material spans broadcasts from 1974 to 1994. They're not presented chronologically, and the slight differences in style and audience make it more interesting. Keillor's sonnets and monologues and the music by various groups present rich fare. The program is a tribute to his material and his engaging presentation style. Keillor is a master performer and the "News from Lake Wobegone" couldn't be fresher. R.F.W. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: This is a combined review with A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION ANNIVERSARY ALBUM: The First Five Years.]--These programs, tapping into the early years of Keillor's longtime radio show, emphasize music over comedy, especially TOURISTS, composed of selections from shows done on the road in 1981-1982. The ANNIVERSARY shows took place in 1975-1980. The many songs tend to country, folk, and ethnic. The comedy bits are mostly ads for imaginary products, along with lightly humorous poems by Lake Wobegon's "poet laureate" and one piece of "News from Lake Wobegon." Both programs are pleasantly entertaining, like the show. Fans will enjoy what are essentially "best of's" and may wax nostalgic: Keillor sounds younger, his voice higher, and his Midwestern accent stronger. Those new to the show will get a slightly skewed idea of its usual contents but should be entertained as well. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: This is a combined review with A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: Final, 3rd, and 4th Annual Farewell Performance.]--When Garrison Keillor left Minnesota in 1987, he gave a farewell performance of "A Prairie Home Companion," then gave encores the next three years, while still away, resuming the show some years later. These programs are heavily musical and include guests such as the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins. Unfortunately, Keillor himself is entirely too willing to sing, and his voice is weak. Mixed in are the usual skits, commercials for make-believe products, and news from Lake Wobegon--brief, sometimes moving, short stories, really, which Keillor tells skillfully. Some skits aren't all that funny, though the news often is. But, in general, these programs range from moderately entertaining, in the self-consciously homey "Prairie Home Companion" manner, to quite fine. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: This is a combined review with A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: Final, 2nd, and 4th Annual Farewell Performance.]--When Garrison Keillor left Minnesota in 1987, he gave a farewell performance of "A Prairie Home Companion," then gave encores the next three years, while still away, resuming the show some years later. These programs are heavily musical and include guests such as the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins. Unfortunately, Keillor himself is entirely too willing to sing, and his voice is weak. Mixed in are the usual skits, commercials for make-believe products, and news from Lake Wobegon--brief, sometimes moving, short stories, really, which Keillor tells skillfully. Some skits aren't all that funny, though the news often is. But, in general, these programs range from moderately entertaining, in the self-consciously homey "Prairie Home Companion" manner, to quite fine. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: This is a combined review with A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: Final, 2nd, 3rd Annual Farewell Performance.]--When Garrison Keillor left Minnesota in 1987, he gave a farewell performance of "A Prairie Home Companion," then gave encores the next three years, while still away, resuming the show some years later. These programs are heavily musical and include guests such as the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins. Unfortunately, Keillor himself is entirely too willing to sing, and his voice is weak. Mixed in are the usual skits, commercials for make-believe products, and news from Lake Wobegon--brief, sometimes moving, short stories, really, which Keillor tells skillfully. Some skits aren't all that funny, though the news often is. But, in general, these programs range from moderately entertaining, in the self-consciously homey "Prairie Home Companion" manner, to quite fine. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: This is a combined review with A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Annual Farewell Performance.]--When Garrison Keillor left Minnesota in 1987, he gave a farewell performance of "A Prairie Home Companion," then gave encores the next three years, while still away, resuming the show some years later. These programs are heavily musical and include guests such as the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins. Unfortunately, Keillor himself is entirely too willing to sing, and his voice is weak. Mixed in are the usual skits, commercials for make-believe products, and news from Lake Wobegon--brief, sometimes moving, short stories, really, which Keillor tells skillfully. Some skits aren't all that funny, though the news often is. But, in general, these programs range from moderately entertaining, in the self-consciously homey "Prairie Home Companion" manner, to quite fine. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 3, 2006
      This unique collection of skits, songs and "News from Lake Wobegon" monologues from the radio show A Prairie Home Companion
      is gleaned from over 30 years of the popular program. Longtime fans will hear some of their favorites, including "The Lives of the Cowboys: Big Messer" and "Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian," plus the toe-tapping music of the Guys'All-Star Shoe Band. Newcomers to Garrison Keillor's show will find the CDs a great introduction to this quirky Saturday night broadcast heard around the world on public and satellite radio. Other highlights include "Bertha's Kitty Boutique," "The Ten Minute Macbeth" and "Guy Noir's Movie Shoot." The understated humor and occasional wackiness serves as both an excellent introduction for new listeners and a selective greatest hits for steadfast fans. This is a collection well worth hearing again and again.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 31, 2008
      Leave it to Keillor to satirize “Guy Noir: Private Eye,” by exposing the M.F.A. degree as a tool of organized crime. The parodies of American literature, however, including Dickinson, Frost and Hawthorne, are generally sophomoric. You know whose woods these are. The collection of vintage performances improves in a 10-minute rendition of Macbeth
      , with the lead character as Mr. Rogers and Lady Macbeth as Julia Child. There are two versions of Hamlet
      , both of which reduce Ophelia's madness to “La, la, la.” Yes, that's a quote. The Prairie Home Companion cast members fare better when they move away from parody. One of the best bits involves an English major (Keillor) working at a fast food job and correcting customers' misuse of “who” or “whom.” Billy Collins's satirical ode to “The Lanyard” is both hilarious and astute. There are some nice fillers, including Meryl Streep reading Mary Oliver and Allen Ginsberg's overblown recital of Whitman's “Song of Myself.” In the end, listeners will feel that these two so-so CDs could have been reduced to one good one.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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