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Shakespeare and the American Dream - Part Two

How Shakespeare became part of the fabric of early American life. With Stephen Sondheim and Alec Baldwin.

Robert McCrum travels to the United States in search of Shakespeare and the American Dream and hears how he became part of the very fabric of early American life soon after the colonists arrived in New England and has remained an important cultural reference point for Americans.

Robert talks to composer Stephen Sondheim and actor Alec Baldwin along the way. As author James Shapiro puts it: 鈥淎mericans use Shakespeare to talk about the things that divide us or that we don鈥檛 want to talk about鈥.

Photo: Leonardo Dicaprio is Romeo In the movie adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. (Credit: Getty Images)

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23 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Thu 28 Apr 2016 01:06GMT
  • Thu 28 Apr 2016 02:06GMT
  • Thu 28 Apr 2016 03:06GMT
  • Thu 28 Apr 2016 04:06GMT
  • Thu 28 Apr 2016 06:06GMT
  • Thu 28 Apr 2016 14:06GMT
  • Thu 28 Apr 2016 21:06GMT
  • Sat 30 Apr 2016 02:32GMT
  • Sat 30 Apr 2016 19:32GMT
  • Sun 1 May 2016 09:06GMT

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