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Claudia Winkleman hosts a celebration of 25 years of Miss Saigon and interviews Wilbur Smith. Plus Thomas Magill on The Art of Brick and Stella Duffy on Fun Palaces.

Claudia Winkleman with an Arts Show special, celebrating 25 years of Miss Saigon ahead of the Radio 2 recording of the Gala Performance, recorded live from The Prince Edward Theatre. Claudia will be featuring Sir Cameron Mackintosh, it's original stars Lea Salonga, Simon Bowman and Jonathan Pryce, plus its current stars Eva Noblezada and Alistair Brammer. Also author Wilbur Smith is in to talk about his latest novel "Desert God". Thomas Magill takes a trip to "The Art Of Brick" at The Old Truman Brewery and this weekend it's all about the "Fun Palaces" and its director Stella Duffy tells us where to get our "Fun".

1 hour, 57 minutes

Music Played

  • Frank Sinatra

    My Way

    • Frank Sinatra - The Reprise Years.
    • Reprise.
  • Steely Dan

    Reelin' In The Years

    • A Decade Of Steely Dan.
    • MCA.

Wilbur Smith

Wilbur Smith

Wilbur Smith is the biggest international name in blockbusting historical fiction. He's written 34 bestselling novels and the latest "Desert God" returns fans to the banks of the Nile and to the epic story of Taita's rise from slave to trusted advisor to the Pharaoh.

Desert God is out now and published by Harper Collins

Stella Duffy

Stella Duffy

From the Isle Of Man to the Isle of Wight, from Iceland to Canada over 150 Fun Palaces have signed up to be part of , a vast communal celebration of arts, culture and sciences quite unlike anything that has come before. This was the brain child of the legendary producer Joan Littlewood and it would have been her 100th birthday this weekend. She had a vision with architect Cedric Price for utilising spaces linking arts and sciences, entertainment and education and director and playwright Stella Duffy explains that vision.

Ed Seckerson

Ed Seckerson

Broadcaster and journalist Ed Seckerson joins Claudia to recreate the story of Miss Saigon from its origins of Puccini's Madam Butterfly.

Thomas Magill

If there's ever been an exhibition aimed at the big kids amongst us then Nathan Sawaya's latest show at the Old Truman Brewery in East London is probably it.

From the Mona Lisa and some Roman statues to portraits of Jimi Hendrix and a London phone box, "The Art Of The Brick" has the lot, and what's different about these pieces is they've all been created using millions of tiny Lego bricks.

Our Arts Correspondent Thomas Magill went along to have a look at it.

"The Art of The Brick" is on at The Old Truman Brewery in East London until 4th January 2015.

Broadcasts

  • Fri 3 Oct 2014 20:00
  • New Year's Day 2015 20:30