City Arts & Lectures

Brian Greene is one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, widely recognized for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of superstring theory. His ability to clearly communicate cutting-edge science - even bringing humor to abstruse mathematical concepts -- has made Greene a sort of rock star physicist. On February 25, 2020, Brian Greene came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Gina Pell about his newest book “Until The End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe”.

For this special archive edition of City Arts and Lectures, we present a 2008 interview with the lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim. Since his Broadway debut at age 27 as the lyricist for “West Side Story”, Stephen Sondheim has stretched the conventions of musical theater with sophisticated storylines and complex musicality. Though his work has always been controversial, and met with mixed reviews from critics and audiences, Sondheim’s impact on music theater is undeniable. His landmark shows include “Company”, “Into the Woods”, “A Little Night Music”, “Sunday in the Park with George”, “Assassins”, and “Sweeney Todd”. Sondheim has won eight Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Pulitzer Prize, eight Tony Awards, and received the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Stephen Sondheim died on Friday, November 26, 2021, the day after enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner with friends. He was 91 years old. At the time of his death, he was working on a new musical called “Square One”.

In this program, recorded on March 9, 2008, Sondheim was interviewed on the stage of the Herbst Theater in San Francisco by Frank Rich of the New York Times. Join me now for a 2008 conversation with the late Stephen Sondheim.

NOTE: This program was not broadcast, because as you’ll hear, it contains a lot of explicit language and content - so much that we felt it would be hard to listen to with all the bleeps and edits that would be necessary for the radio. The language in this podcast has NOT been edited or bleeped, so please listen to it with that in mind.

Leslie Jones is a three-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee as well as a Writer’s Guild Award and NAACP Award nominee for her work on Saturday Night Live. She has also been honored as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Jones recently wrapped production on season two of the MAX series “Our Flag Means Death”. In January 2023, Jones kicked off a new era of The Daily Show as the program’s first guest host. She also co-hosts the podcast THE FCKRY with comedian Lenny Marcus. Her new memoir is “Leslie F*cking Jones”.

On October 24, 2023, Leslie Jones came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater for an on-stage conversation with novelist Jasmine Guillory.

Throughout every era of digital technology, from the dot com bubble to artificial intelligence, journalist Kara Swisher has been a key figure in understanding the rapid growth in Silicon Valley, whether reporting for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other major outlets, or as co-host of the podcast Pivot. Swisher is founder of the All Things Digital conference and the technology news website Recode, and the author of three books, including her new memoir, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.

On March 7, 2024, Kara Swisher came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed on stage by one of the technology leaders she frequently covers – Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.

Since 1978, when her very first cartoon appeared in The New Yorker Magazine, Roz Chast has been chronicling modern life’s anxieties and absurdities. Neurotic characters with frizzy hair and mouths agape sit on sofas or walk along New York sidewalks worrying, observing, and making us laugh. Her more than a dozen books include Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, a memoir about her parents aging, and a collaboration with Steve Martin called The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z!. On November 2, 2023 Chast came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to share stories from her newest book, I Must Be Dreaming.