The 2025 Oscars & Theatre (Hour 2)

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Pete Chwaba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who thinks outside the box and hates cliches.

Pete Chwaba.

Welcome

back.

Coming up at 735, the chair of the musical theater department at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the only musical theater department in state of state colleges here in Wisconsin.

Mark Hansen will be here.

He's going to talk about their big spring show, which is in full swing right now, and a little bit about the program.

On the text line, the 608 says flow.

Glad it won.

It had such a powerful, and yes, I agree with you Matt, and I would say timely message that we're all in the same boat and sometimes all we've got is each other.

And more, it was a metaphor for life itself, the ups and downs and mysteries of it, while at the same time, on another level, it's just a good old-fashioned fantasy action adventure, story complete with the traditional Hollywood convention of the four friends banding together to fight the odds.

Totally original and just brilliant.

That's from, I hope I'm saying this name correctly.

Kacha from Madison.

Thank you for the text.

That's a great text.

Matt, you saw Flow, right?

Loved it.

It's one of the 10 best movies I saw last year.

I was very and listen the Wild Robot is a great movie as well That would have been a worthy winner But the fact that a animated movie a Latvian animated movie with no words and no budget really, right?

I heard $4 million I think are something insane like that.

Um That that one best picture really cool and that was kind of a theme of all of last night's big winners was no big movies really one obviously do

one in some of the technical categories, but when it came to the big major categories, you had flow winning best animated feature.

You had No Other Land, a movie that does not have US distribution.

And if you see it in theaters right now, that's because they're self distributing that movie right now.

That one best documentary.

Obviously you had The Brutalist, which was an independent movie, and Enora, which is an independently produced movie winning best picture.

A really big night for the little guys last night, which was

very heartening to see and very unusual for the Oscars.

This was a real sign that it is a new Academy voting for the Oscars now.

This is not the fuddy duddy old days.

This is not that time anymore.

They seem

to

have officially become a new body, which is exciting.

It's exciting to think that there may not be such a thing as a obvious predictable Oscar bait movie anymore.

Yeah.

No, well, very well said.

And thank you for the text.

Katya in Madison.

Great text.

Yeah.

All right.

I also just want to double back because I heard one of the talking textures mentioned Dune Part 2, which did kind of as expected last night, only won the two technical awards was basically and also ran everywhere else.

I think

to answer questions.

The reason why that happened, it came out in March, it came out a year ago.

Right.

It was just not top of mind for a lot of voters.

And I also think there is a certain feeling of, you know, there's a third movie coming, like Lord of the Rings thing of I think this happened to Wicked too.

I was gonna, yes.

Why give the first movie the awards when we know we've got the full package coming soon?

So maybe Dune Messiah is the big Dune movie that performs really well at the Oscars.

Maybe Wicked For Good is the Wicked movie that performs really well at the Oscars.

But we'll have to see what happens when those come out.

Very, yeah, great point.

Let's go to, we got a couple more categories here, Matt.

Let's talk about director Sean Baker.

I'm late to the Sean Baker train.

In the last three months, I've seen

I've seen Tangerine, Red Rocket, Florida Project, which is one of my all-time favorite films now.

Very good movie.

And Inora.

And I don't even know that Inora, for me personally, is his best film, but he made history.

He won four Oscars from the same film that's never been done before, mostly because he edited it.

That's incredible.

What's your take?

Are you a huge fan?

I think he's great.

I'm a I'm a fan of his I'm even more of a fan of his after this awards campaign because he said everything he said last night on that Oscar stage was things that he was saying throughout this award season talking about the importance of movie theaters and you know making sure people put theater first and the state of indie film yes at the indie spirits award talking about you know this this industry right now is really struggling so cheers to all of you who are making these independent films

for essentially the love of the film.

I think he is somebody, I think Hollywood loved Inora.

I think they're big fans of that movie.

But I think last night was them also being like, we love what you're doing, Sean.

We love these on the ground, extremely humanist portraits of corners of society that never get spotlights on them, generally speaking.

These very human stories that he tells for low, low budgets.

I think that was a big part of last night's Love Fest for Enora was that they were like, Sean Baker, we love what you're doing.

We wish we made more movies like this.

We wish, like the studios, I think are like, man, remember when we used to make interesting character studies for mid-budget to put them out in theaters?

That'd be cool to do.

We're not going to do it, but it's nice that somebody still is.

And people forget, Tangerine, his first is breakthrough movie, was all filmed on an iPhone.

Like he's always been kind of working on this on the ground kind of rugged way, finding stars like Simon Rex in Red Rocket, who was incredible in that movie.

I wish Red Rocket had gotten more of a shake when it came out two years ago.

I'm very happy.

that he found success this past, this past Oscar season.

Enora is not my favorite of his movies, but it is a worthy winner.

And I'm excited to see what he does next.

He's one best picture.

What is a blank check Sean Baker would play, you know?

Great point.

Probably he's gonna escalate to a whole $15 million on his next movie.

I don't, it's interesting because he ends his films.

The end of the Florida project was heartbreaking and then really sweet.

It just had, I was not expecting that.

And then Red Rocket too, when he pulls up to the girl's house and I'm like, oh my God, I love that.

Like, I'm like, how is he gonna wrap this up?

And it's perfect for what the movie was.

Did you understand the ending of Enora?

It was so odd.

I just was kind of like, it was real though, you know, but I didn't get

it

real.

It's

it's ambiguous and I think you can kind of see what you want to see in the ending I kind of see that more of as an issue with the movie.

So again, I think that movie is really good Yeah, but I do think she kind of falls out of the movie's focus in a lot of the middle section of that movie And I think for that end sequence to kind of have the impact you need it

I need to be more in her head.

I need to be like on with her through this entire journey, kind of seeing how she's interpreting things and figure it, seeing how she's seeing the situation unfold.

And I think that's kind of the big faux pas.

That's the reason why that movie is not the favorite of mine, you know, this

year.

But I think it's still a good movie.

And I still think there's a lot of really fabulous stuff in that.

I also wonder if a lot of the Enora love this year.

was a lot of that movie's got real uncut gems vibes.

And I wonder if they're looking back at that Oscar that's

interesting.

And they're like, we missed that one.

Uncut gems should have like Adam Sandler should have been nominated.

We should have given that movie some love somewhere.

And Nora is kind of the next thing to come through.

We can give this some of the love that maybe we missed before.

That's a

really great point.

I will say

Mikey Madison, much easier to watch act in her character like Adam Sandler.

I wanted to punch him through that whole

movie.

I mean, Uncut Gems is one of the most stressful movies to watch that isn't a horror movie.

It's just a guy making bad decisions for two and a half hours.

Crazy, I know.

I like that about the movie.

I almost wish Nora was able to maintain the way Uncut Gems does.

Uncut Gems is two and a half hours of like...

Don't do that.

What is this guy's problem?

Anora is mostly that and then like large intermissions.

All right, so you just said maybe

Anora wasn't your favorite Sean Baker movie.

In terms of best picture, you okay with that or where would you have gone if it was up to you?

I mean, again, if it was up to me, I think Nickel Boys was head and shoulders above everything else.

I think I'm still here.

The Brazilian movie is really tremendous.

It should still be out in theaters.

It won the Best International Film Award.

So very much worth your while.

Unfortunately, very politically relevant to us right now in this country.

For those who don't know, it's about the Brazilian mother and woman living in 1970s Brazil as militia.

dictatorship is kind of really putting a chokehold on its people.

As I, like I said, big laugh for real fun time.

But no, it's a very good movie, very much worth your while.

Yeah, and I really liked Conclave too.

I think Conclave was the, I've said this since the beginning, it was the Argo of this year where it may not be exciting or, you know, revolutionary cinema, but it's just a really well made adult drama, you know, the kind that we used to take for granted.

10, 15 years ago.

I think that movie's quite good.

It's almost better for it now that it doesn't have to live up to the title of best picture of the year, because that title can crush movies.

We've seen that happen to a lot of movies that are good, but maybe can't withstand the pressure of being the anointed one for a specific year.

Now it just gets to be a good movie and good on it.

It's weird, I said before.

with distance from Amelia Perez, I hated it even more.

Kind of the opposite with Conclave.

I kind of liked it when I saw it, but when I had distance from that, I'm like, boy, that was a solid film all around, writing, acting, the great twist at the end.

I could have been happy with that winning, too.

And like you said before, Matt, if there was no sequel to Wicked, they make a strong case.

But hey, they left out in memoriam a Wisconsinite, Jim Abrams.

Oh, yeah.

Terrible.

They always leave out somebody.

They leave out multiple somebodies, unfortunately.

Tony Todd, famous from Candyman, he was left out as well.

I know a lot of very notable figures were left out of this.

It's sad that we can't find a way to do everyone justice at the Oscars.

I blame Adrian Brody's speech.

They had to cut something.

I'm going to blame Adrian Brody's speech for every bad thing that happens to me for the next year.

And it's bad to be left out of something like that, but it's also good to be famous enough to be considered having that be considered a snub.

So everybody kind of still wins.

Only 364 days to go till the next Oscars, Matt.

Thanks so much for helping us break this down tonight.

That was a lot of fun.

We'll do it again soon.

Yeah, absolutely.

We'll talk more.

Sounds good.

All right.

That's Matt Miller, folks.

Check out his sub-stack, A Man About Film.

He does a very good work there, and that was a great discussion.

Conrad, did you learn anything?

Do you wish you would have seen the broadcast

now?

I mean, I watched some of it on YouTube, but I watched, during that time, I actually re-watched the SNL broadcast this on Saturday, but on Sunday.

Like the regular show,

you mean?

Yeah, it was Shane Gillis.

Oh, yeah.

How was that?

It's so funny.

He's a funny dude.

Is that the one where Mike Myers wore the Canada?

I love Canada t-shirt or whatever is that last week?

No, I actually didn't they might have done that in the cold open I actually didn't watch the cold open, but

yeah, they did some kind of I love can I saw it all over social media, but I didn't

I didn't see the actual broadcast.

Hey, when we come back, we're gonna check in and see how Adrian Brody's speech is going.

Mark Hansen is coming up at 7.35, talking some musical theater here in central Wisconsin.

This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

who refuses to text the show and text to me personally, which is fine.

Okay.

He says Long Legs was his favorite film from last year.

The horror film with Nicholas Cage, who you wouldn't even know it was Nicholas Cage in the film.

That's how good the makeup job was.

Fascinating.

It was a good movie.

It's not really my genre.

Did you see Long Legs?

Did we talk about that?

I'm not a horror person fan.

So I don't watch any of those.

I

That's interesting it Dave likes horror.

That's fine.

It's not my cup of tea either, but it was a very well done film and That studio I think is neon they are having a they're just crushing.

I think they did not surround to long legs They might have done a Nora too.

I felt like they got thanked a lot last night So anyway, hey, we should probably check in as many of you may or may not know

Adrian Brody was still talking last we checked he started his acceptance speech last night at the Oscars and let's see is he still talking?

What's what's going on?

Let's check it out.

Yeah, we'll go right to it.

Okay.

I know this is a it's been a roller coaster, but Thank you for accepting me into your life and pops he's coming home a winner and And who else and Judy Becker the real

the real Oslo Toth, who deserves to be up here as well.

And I'm wrapping up.

Please, please, please, I'm wrapping up.

I will wrap up.

Please turn the music off.

I've done this before.

Thank you.

It's not my first rodeo, but I will be brief.

I will not be egregious, I promise.

You know, I am, I am oddly, I have to thank my mom and dad who are here as well.

And they've given me, they've just created just such a strong foundation of respect and of kindness and a wonderful spirit.

And they've given me,

they've

given me the strength to pursue this dream.

He had to think, he had to gather himself to remember to think his parents.

That's just at the top of your head or you have it written down.

What did Matt say that missed the longest speech at the Oscars by one second in the history of the Oscars?

And he was the star of one of the longest movies.

So Our question of the night ladies and gentlemen is what is your What's your best picture nominee or winner from last year?

What's the best movie you saw that you would give an Oscar to?

I'm still actually thinking I can't there's so many great films last year and a lot of them didn't get nominated and I'm trying to decipher and go through what I saw

So I can give an answer here on the show because we thought of the question kind of last minute.

But what did you see that you would give an Oscar to?

What's your best picture from last year?

855-752-4842.

855-75 Civic or Text Us on the App.

Enora was the big winner last night with five out of six.

I would say, I can't really say a movie that I saw that came out this year.

It could have been Oscar.

Yeah, let's say it had to come out last year.

So 855-752-4842.

Let me know what you guys are thinking, what your favorite film of the year was.

What did you say?

The Fall Guy.

And you were completely serious.

Yes, I was completely

serious.

The second time I watched it, I fell asleep during it.

So that's definitely my best nomination right there.

So it helps you get some Z's.

That's good.

It would be challenging for me, though, because I've rewatched that.

Like it three times now.

I still like it every really.

Yeah, I just think it's a great film great story.

All right.

I'm also a big sports Film guy.

So

yeah, yeah, what was there a sports film last year you liked?

Um, oh Just a bit outside is really good, but I still haven't

seen green and gold yet.

So all right, I don't know if I would actually that came out this year Well, yeah, I don't even know.

Yeah, I guess technically green gold would be a sports film

Just a bit outside.

I really enjoyed those.

So

yeah, it was fun talking about major league too when Bobby.

Oh,

yeah.

I left here Thursday night.

I did the show from home Friday.

I lost my debit card.

I got gas on my way out of town.

No idea what happened to it.

No one has found it or tried to use it.

So I'm like hesitant.

It is good.

But I at what point do I cut my losses?

Because if I get a new debit card, I have to put it on Netflix, Amazon, anywhere I have auto withdrawal.

I got to go through that whole rigmarole.

Did you go back to the bad gas station?

I called.

And they said no.

It's the sun to go over here.

And they said no, nothing was turned in.

So I mean, I thought I went through my car inside and out.

I went through all my clothes.

I know it's going to turn up somewhere stupid two days right after I get a new debit card and have to spend half the day entering those numbers into all my accounts.

But I did call.

I put it on hold.

It's really frustrating.

Today is National Irish Whisky Day.

We should have, you know what, let's do this for tomorrow.

A good question would be, what is your favorite liquor?

Or brand, I don't know, let's think about that.

Because as someone who hasn't had a drink in almost, well, over two years, I like, it is fun to talk about alcohol.

As close as I can get these days.

And the Badgers yesterday, okay, so, you know,

I almost like that they're not in contention for the Big Ten title.

I like them as a sleeper, someone you maybe don't want to play in the tournament.

They've fallen off a little bit after a great start, but I still feel like you don't want to play them in the tournament.

I mean, they're still the 12th ranked team in the top 25.

So they're a great team still.

Some games don't go your way.

They shot really bad against Michigan State.

So I think it's just...

The next game they come back and say how can we get better and that's just how it is every game, you know,

so but they do that like Okay, cuz I don't know are they over ranked or under ranked at 12?

I Think they're perfect where they are right now.

I think that they have room for improvement definitely

But

I don't think they should be under 12

of the best picture nominees the badgers are like Let's say the substance

No, wait.

No, you hate the substance.

I hated the substance with a passion.

I hated that movie so much.

You can't talk about the Badgers like that.

Come on.

I don't hate the Badgers.

I'm just saying where they rank in terms of if we were putting this into best picture perspective.

So, only 364 days, folks, to the next Oscar

broadcast.

I think you should put your name in there for hosting.

Yeah, why not?

No, Conan did great.

He was outstanding.

And Adrian Brody, to the best of our knowledge, is still talking.

We'll cover that.

But coming up after the news, very excited to welcome Mark Hanson.

He'll be here.

He's the chair of the musical theater department right here in central Wisconsin, where nightlight is huge.

So I'm excited to talk to Mark about what's going on at UWSP and talk about their spring performance, which is...

happening right now.

We'll do that after the news.

This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Bridget says, I really enjoyed Wicked, good acting, amazing songs and sets.

Could not agree more, Bridget.

In fact, I agree with Matt Miller if there was not a part two that might have taken more Oscars.

But I agree.

It was a great film and countered steady Eddie texted us and it looks like it's longer than Adrian Brody's acceptance speech.

So as usual, we have a steady Eddie text around the corner folks don't go anywhere It is my pleasure to welcome tonight light now for the first time He is the musical theater program coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point where we have a lot of listeners in central Wisconsin and he joins us now on the stream Mark Hansen mark.

How are you?

Hey, I'm good.

Thanks.

Great to have you on the show.

Um, did you, uh, did you watch the Oscars, Mark?

You know, I haven't watched it in probably 30 years.

You're too much of a theater guy even to watch the Oscars.

Nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, I get bored.

Do you watch the Tonys?

You know, I don't really watch the Tonys anymore either.

I, I, I, well, sometimes I used to like, you know, when you could, uh,

We used to record them and now you don't have to because somebody else does that for you.

But I would just watch the musical numbers and that was it.

So that's great.

I didn't care about the speeches.

I'm kind of the same way.

I mean, I kind of feel like I watch the Oscars now because I do this show.

I love movies.

The show about movies is just OK.

But hey, it's great to have you on the show before we jump into some of the cool things that are happening at UWSP.

Tell us a little bit about your background, if you would, please.

Oh, wow.

So I come from, I grew up in Southern Minnesota, kind of a farm kid, lived in a small town, a small college town in Southern Minnesota.

After high school, I went to the University of Minnesota in Duluth, Minnesota, so I went.

Oh, nice.

even more north than Steven's point.

But then after graduation, I immediately went to Arizona State for grad school.

That's some of that warm

weather.

There you go.

Yeah.

And I didn't think I would ever come back to the Midwest, but after that, I headed out to the East Coast.

I was working as a pianist and music director in Boston and New York City.

Kind of all over the country in different regional theaters and doing some national tours and then I ended up Sort of getting tired of living out of a suitcase.

So I I moved to San Francisco, which was my favorite sort of stop on the tour So I'm yeah, loved love the San Francisco.

I lived there for 22 years and then in 2013 I

Um, got the job at, at Stephen's point.

So, um, I came back to the Midwest.

What?

Okay.

So I was in warm weather for 14 years too.

What is it about?

Do we like the people here so much?

We're willing to brave

the elements.

I mean,

are they that special?

I don't understand how we all end up back here, but it happens.

It does.

I mean, I have family who still are in the area.

So, um, that was great.

But I think also it was really hard to find, um,

just because I wanted to get into teaching into academia and it was hard to get a full-time teaching job in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So I was an adjunct at three different colleges and so I spent most of my day if I wasn't in the classroom I was in my car driving to the next campus so I kind of the appeal of having us just one job at one school was really was really tempting so.

There you go.

You've had a good run there.

I know UW-Stevens Point has such a great reputation.

Tell us a little bit about, you guys have your spring play, such a great facility there.

You have a great theater.

Tell us about Pirates of Penzance, if you would please.

Yeah, well, we just opened this weekend.

So it was, we just had three pretty close to sold out performances.

So that was exciting.

We've got four more coming up this next week on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

You know, it's not Gilbert and Sullivan is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, but I think people that come into the show are going to have a good time.

It's a lot of fun.

It's interesting.

I mean, it's this production is pretty faithful to the original.

We didn't change any words or any any of the lyrics.

A lot of the Brits particularly are very irreverent with the material.

They will rewrite everything.

and and put like the local character names in like politicians in the area where they're performing so they have a yeah they change it all around but I kept it the same and I just thought we'll put a little bit more of a modern sensibility into some of the humor and I've got terrific well you you know um you you're familiar with some of our student body so I think uh the talent is pretty high

disclaimer my daughter goes to usp and

that's how

I became acquainted with this

great program so

let's get that out of the

way.

She's not in Pirates of Pentance.

I will

say she's not.

Yeah.

She's not.

No, I'm, um, she, she'll, she'll be doing plenty very soon.

I'm sure.

Um, but no, it's, it's one of those things that the cast is great.

They just kind of took to it.

I think most.

Most people in the cast had never done anything like this before.

So that was, it's new for everyone.

It's the first Gilman Sullivan that my music director has ever worked on.

So a lot of people coming at it from a different perspective and point of view.

And I've been living with it since I was in sixth grade.

And I was in the All City, Opera Red Ups, HMS Pinafore, and I was like sailor number 10.

And it was just, I had a great time.

I grew up just loving Gilman Sullivan.

And so Pirates has been something.

This is probably my sixth production of it.

So it's one of those that I've kind of spent some time with.

How is that, Mark?

When you have these kids coming in who are 18, 19, 20, whatever, and you're springing these plays on them that have been around that long, do they take to it right away?

Or is it something they learn to love when they get into it a little bit?

Yeah, yeah, we don't you don't start out by telling what's a hundred and forty five years old Because then they kind of go oh, okay, I think yeah, yeah, I roll but then they realize oh, it's actually kind of still relevant Yeah, a lot of the humor a lot of because the W. S. Gilbert was a brilliant satirist.

I mean he

made fun of everything.

He didn't do anything seriously.

And so his humor was super timely for its time, but it continues to stay timely because things don't really change that much from 100 years ago.

So I think people are kind of the same.

So I think the cast kind of sees the universality of it and the fact that audiences also respond to it.

You know, they'll laugh at the jokes that they're silly and they're kind of those bad dad jokes sometimes And they laugh even the even the students that are coming are laughing at it.

So it's like the all intergenerational audience and they're all enjoying it and So I think that you just have to say trust us we this is going to be a good experience and I think They're all there.

I think everyone is having a great time on stage and it shows I think that's a part of the

The fun energy is that the cast is having as much fun as the audience.

That's so great.

My guest is Mark Hansen.

He is a professor and BFA of the musical theater program.

He's the coordinator at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

How can people get tickets, Mark, if they want to check this

out?

Oh, I suppose I should know all those things.

Maybe Google?

They can check the website, the university's website, the ticket office, ticketing website at the uwsp.edu.

There's tickets available for the whole weekend.

I know that it does tend to sell it fast, but I think that's the best way to do it.

Yeah.

Well,

break a leg with that.

I think it's funny.

We were talking about like when you discover something that you really like it.

I remember being in a play in high school, Rogers and Hammerstein.

I was in Oklahoma and I had never, I grew up, my dad was into classical music and I never had really wanted anything to do with it.

But then I heard, you know, some great like show tunes like Rogers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma, Carousel.

And I still, once in a great while, I'll still pop something like that in.

So it's funny that.

I mean, it's, it says something about the, the art and the writing that it stands to test the time.

And like you said, it's a hundred years later and we're still listening to this stuff.

Yeah, it does.

I know it's, uh, yeah, I mean, Oklahoma is 1943.

So we're going to have, you know, the hundred anniversary pretty coming up pretty soon.

So, I mean, it's a while, but it's still, it's, I remember doing the 50th anniversary production.

I was doing, I did the 50th anniversary for Oklahoma.

I was like, wow, it's 50 years old.

Oh my God.

And that was a long time ago.

But it's still, yeah, I love it.

There's something about those classic shows that have a timelessness to it.

I mean, if you can find something anytime you look at it.

I want to ask you, because when we were looking at colleges,

I didn't know, like, Steven's point, and correct me if I'm wrong, is the only state school in Wisconsin that offers a musical theater BFA.

Is that correct?

Technically, yes.

I think that's correct.

As far as the actual BFA in just in musical theater, I think that the university in Milwaukee, the UWM in Milwaukee,

has a musical theater BFA, but I think it's called a, it's like a hybrid.

You get like, you get a degree in theater, a degree in music and a degree in dance.

So it's like a combination of three different degrees.

So it's a little bit different.

But we offer the only, in the UW system, we offer the only BFA musical theater, which is, we're really proud of that.

The only other competition we have in the state is the private school of a turbo.

in lacrosse.

They have a BFA in musical theater as well, but that's really only our competition.

In your opinion, do we...

Oh, no.

You're a dime your dance floor, buddy.

You can answer this any way you want.

Do we offer kids now enough access?

to music, theater, the arts in general, acting, whatever it may be, there's such an emphasis on sports.

I don't think as many kids are playing sports now either, but is this something we could kind of pivot to and sort of push this a little more on kids so that there are more musical theater programs?

Well, you know, I think the arts in general have always been in the state of Wisconsin have been pretty high.

I'm impressed because I, after living in California for a long time, I watched a lot of school music programs.

be cut and and theater programs and such be cut but coming back to the Midwest I was like wow it's pretty robust here um I I grew up with a very strong um music program in my elementary school and I you know I'm trained as a pianist and and so that was always my instrument but um so I think that

It's very popular right now.

Musical theater particularly is very popular.

I mean, just look at Broadway.

Everything is a musical.

Maybe one or two plays and they're usually just like a couple of Hollywood actors, you know, putting in a few months on Broadway and then they leave.

But the musicals are really, you know, hugely...

popular, especially, well, it's a big tourist industry.

So of course, everybody wants to go and see a big Broadway show.

But it's popular all over the world.

I mean, that's the thing.

Musical theater is one of those art forms that every culture has some type of it in their history, but also embraces a lot of the Western ideas of musical theater as well.

So I think it translates really well.

You know, the Japanese and the Koreans love

American musicals and produce them all the time.

So yeah, and tours go through Asia all the time.

It's one of those things.

Australians have a huge musical theater love for it and they will write their own shows as well.

But it's, you know, I think everybody's so excited about it.

I think it was when the movie Chicago came out in the 90s and suddenly musicals were like cool and sexy and

and entertaining again.

And I think people are like, oh, okay, this is really cool.

And I think that's what just started this trend first for young people really to get hooked into musical theater.

I love it.

And I will say this, those of you listening, if you live in Central Wisconsin, I know we have a, especially after the meeting last week, we have a lot of listeners in the area, Wausau, Plover, Stevens Point, Wapaka, check out.

The great thing is, Mark, you've got

kids coming through your program that are the professional actors and singers and dancers of tomorrow.

Like, this

is

something you can see for not a lot of money that's great.

And like, you talked about Broadway.

I've seen a couple shows on Broadway, but when I see them in Chicago or Milwaukee or even at the PAC here in Appleton, I love it.

And I don't go, well, that guy wasn't quite as good as the Jean Valjean on Broadway.

You're gonna love it.

So check

it out.

Pirates of Pen Dance, one more weekend.

Mark, thank you so much for your time.

Break a leg.

This was fun.

Well, thank

you.

You got

it.

Anytime.

All right.

Mark Hansen from UW-Stevens Point.

He is the BFA musical theater program coordinator, does a great job there.

And Stevens Point, just a great little campus.

Check it out if you're interested in the arts or in general.

It's a great school.

When we come back, we'll close this thing down.

We'll read our texts and check in on Adrian Brody's speech.

My guess would be that that little mini series is still happening.

So we'll do all that after a very short break on Nightlight with Peach Waba on the Civic Media Radio Network.

beauty

All right.

Talking some Oscars, some musical theater, trying to cover all the bases here on Night Light Tonight.

Pamela from Wisconsin Rapids.

She's in the 715 over in that nape of the way.

Says, I played in the Pitt Orchestra for our high school's production of Oklahoma.

The songs are in my mind forever.

Nice promotion for UWSP tonight.

From Pamela in Wisconsin Rapids.

Well, that's what we're doing here.

Pamela celebrating the arts and all things that help us escape.

and keep music and lyrics and acting and creative stuff in our hearts.

So thank you for the text tonight, Pamela.

Bridgettex, we got 414.

Brian from the 414, he's in Milwaukee.

He says, Conclave was my favorite.

Did not see the twist ending.

I am with you, Brian.

And that's why I thought it was, I really liked it.

That movie is more important now than ever.

prayers for Pope Francis Brian from Milwaukee.

Thanks so much for the text, Brian.

That's great.

And I'm with you on Conclave.

I kind of, I kind of liked it a little bit better than Anora.

I liked Anora, but I could have, I would have been happy with Conclave or a complete unknown for that matter.

So all right, it is that time of the night where we have a text from steady Eddie, who we should get going on this because we still have to check in on Adrian Brody, right?

What are we hearing from our sources at the Oscars?

Is he still talking?

You know, they really want to play the music, but he shows them for a fifth time.

All right,

we'll get to that.

But first we got to do Steady Eddie's text.

He's in the 608.

He's our pal Steady Eddie or steadfast Edward.

We'll see who he is tonight.

He says, Pete, I agree with you.

Timothy Chalamet's outfit was outrageous.

What the heck was he thinking?

And where is Ariana Grande going gonna wear that?

cuckoo nutty dress after Oscar night.

Here's a hint in all caps, nowhere.

I much prefer your wardrobe selections, Pete.

I am wearing one of my favorite shirts tonight, I didn't say that right.

Like tonight, you're wearing your favorite brown bowling shirt that you purchased in 1992, false.

Steady Eddie, I will address that at the end of your text.

He says, it's comfortable.

It doesn't draw unwanted attention.

I assume the paparazzi are leaving you alone.

Yes, they are.

It's a comfy cozy old friend and you are not wastefully using up the earth's resources.

And if you spill a little barbecue sauce on it in all caps, who cares?

Just rub it a little bit.

It will blend right in and will be as good as new.

You can't do it better than that, Pete.

I can't really argue with that steady Eddie.

He says, Pete and Conrad, thanks for keeping in all caps.

Nightlight shining bright.

Well, thank you, steady Eddie.

Always fun to hear from you.

Love reading your texts.

And he is steady Eddie tonight.

So he's keeping it real.

He's got lots of street cred.

I kind of just said that, but this might be one of my favorite shirts.

Is that one of your favorite shirts you're wearing?

What do you got there?

It's a sweatshirt.

Nike hoodie.

Yeah, thank you.

You're not on camera, though, most of the time.

You don't have to not that I dress up, but I'd like to look presentable.

Right.

So what year did you purchase it from?

I got this like a year ago, a year and a half ago.

And I got

it from a secondhand store because you know what?

I heard recently about textiles, like all the extra stuff that we buy and don't recycle, do recycle, whatever.

So I like a store.

There's a few of them around.

Oh, what the heck is it called?

It's right there on State Street.

And they sell used clothing, and I love it.

It is a chain.

God, I'm totally blanking.

But they have great recycled stuff.

And what am I doing?

I go in, I spend $9 on a shirt.

I'm going to buy a new shirt, wear it twice anyway.

So the heck is the name of that store?

It's driving me nuts now.

You're saying you don't know what year it is actually from.

So it could be from 1882, for all I know.

I could see someone traipsing across the prairie in the shirt I'm wearing tonight, but no, it's probably... If I had to guess, I'd say this is a 2016.

The 2016 model.

From the 608.

I love the music from Pirates of the Penzance.

Love Gilbert and Sullivan music.

The restaurant on Washington Island is the Albatross.

Yes.

Who is that?

Is that Terry?

How did this person know that?

Well done.

Yeah, that's great.

So that's, I think Brian texted us that, right?

He wanted to know what restaurant it was where you could see Laura Sawasco.

So there you go, the Albatraz.

Terry might have mentioned that.

That sounds familiar now that I know that I think of it.

All right, we got to check in on Adrian Brody.

Let's see if his speech is still going on.

It's been almost 24 hours for the love of God.

I hope he stopped, but we'll check right

now.

I'm here once again to represent the

lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and of othering.

And I believe that I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world.

And I believe if the past can teach us anything, it's a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.

Okay,

I'll get out of here.

I love you.

I appreciate you all.

Let's fight for what's right.

Keep smiling.

Keep loving one another.

Let's rebuild together.

Thank you.

That's Adrian Brody.

He was still talking.

I'm still going.

Rag stock.

That's the name of the store.

Great store on State Street.

I do buy a lot of retreads there.

I mean, if I was going to buy a suit like I go to a nice place, but you're just wearing a nice bowling shirt.

You don't listen.

You never know when someone is going to challenge you to a bowling match.

God, be ready.

Good point.

I

cannot stress that enough, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you to Matt Miller for joining us tonight.

And always fun to talk to Matt.

Thank you to Mark Hansen with the UWSP musical theater department.

They're doing a great job there.

I know that firsthand.

And thank you to all your texts, for all your texts and calls.

It's been a lot of fun here on Nightlight, as usual.

Yes, Anna from Madison helped out too.

She said, Pete, were you thinking about Ragstock?

I was, Anna.

That's what I love about Nightlight listeners.

They come through.

We went, got the lefty out of the bullpen.

Anna stepped up.

and got the save.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your texts and calls.

So much fun.

On behalf of the lovable producer, Conrad, oh, who do we have tomorrow night?

Oh, we have Craig Anthony Kinnit.

Oh, Green Bay filmmaker, Craig Anthony Kinnit and Appleton based comedian, John Egan will be here.

Yes.

A lot of fun tomorrow night.

Make sure you don't miss that show, folks.

Also, 608 Pete, love the running Adrian Brody bit.

Thank you so much.

Thanks all.

We'll see you tomorrow night.

Good night, Wisconsin.