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Front Row: The American; Seth MacFarlane; and Judy Garland feature

The American; Seth MacFarlane; and Judy Garland feature

23/11/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, The American; Seth MacFarlane; and Judy Garland feature

George Clooney in The American; Seth MacFarlane; and Rufus Wainwright on Judy Garland.

The American, with George Clooney, reviewed; Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane; the re-developed Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford; and Rufus Wainwright on Judy Garland.

With Mark Lawson.

Academy Award winner George Clooney stars as an assassin on the run in The American, a thriller from Dutch photographer, music video and film director Anton Corbijn, who directed Control, about Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Writer Rachel Cooke reviews. 

Seth MacFarlane is best-known for creating the award-winning animated series Family Guy, in which he voices the characters of Peter, Baby Stewie and Brian the Dog. It's less well-known that Seth sings. Last year he made his singing debut in London at the BBC Proms with the John Wilson Orchestra and is now about to tour the UK with them, performing music from classic MGM musicals. Seth discusses how far American network tv allows Family Guy to stretch the boundaries of decency and taste, and whether he considers singing songs from the shows as time off from real work.

Four decades after her death at the age of 47, Judy Garland continues to intrigue and inspire. Front Row re-assesses her life and legacy, with singer Rufus Wainwright, who has just announced that he is bringing his Rufus Does Judy show to the Royal Opera House next July, writer Michael Freedland, author of a new biography, and director Terry Johnson, who has staged End of the Rainbow, a new play about Judy Garland's last years. .

And as the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres reopen in Stratford-upon-Avon after three and a half years and a £112m transformation, RSC Artistic Director Michael Boyd discusses the building projects and announces the company's 50th birthday programme for next year.

Producer Ella-mai Robey.

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