Live from Lehigh, its A Prairie Home Companion

Garrison Keillor, the homespun host of the long-running radio show A Prairie Home Companion, once said: “Christmas exerts powerful forces.”

On Saturday night, Dec. 22, Keillor’s enormously popular radio program—heard by 4 million listeners each week on some 580 public radio stations—will exert a powerful force on the extended Lehigh University family, as Keillor broadcasts his annual Christmas show live from Zoellner Arts Center’s Baker Hall.

The sold-out performance airs at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. For a list of stations that carry A Prairie Home Companion, visit the program’s Web site.

In addition, a special preview performance—which also is sold out—will take the stage at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21. In a nice local touch, Moravian sugar cake and coffee will be served following both performances, which are being presented in conjunction with Moravian Church-Northern Province as part of its 550th anniversary celebration.

A Prairie Home Companion debuted on July 6, 1974 from a college auditorium in St. Paul, Minn. In the more than 33 years since, the program has been broadcast from Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Iceland, and almost every one of the 50 states. In 2006, the show was the subject of the late director Robert Altman’s final film, also called A Prairie Home Companion, starring Keillor and an all-star cast that included Meryl Streep, Lilly Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline and Lindsay Lohan.

In addition to public radio stations throughout the United States, A Prairie Home Companion is also broadcast on America One and the Armed Forces Networks in Europe and the Far East. The show features comedy, sketches, and music, along with Keillor’s signature monologues, News from Lake Wobegon.

--Jack Croft