Tom Reney's interviews with John Douglas Thompson and Terry Teachout about "Satchmo at the Waldorf.

Tom Reney spoke with the playwright Terry Teachout and the actor John Douglas Thompson on August 30 about Teachout’s play, “Satchmo at the Waldorf.” The one-act drama is in production at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox through September 16, then moves on to the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven between October 3 and November 4.  Gordon Edelstein is directing the play, which features Thompson in the roles of Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Joe Glaser, who was Armstrong’s manager for 30 years.

In his interview with Reney, Thompson discusses his own awkward feelings about Armstrong and the love he’s come to feel for the jazz great. Tom began his interview with the renowned Shakespearean actor by asking how he developed his appreciation for Armstrong.

Tom’s interview with Teachout, the author of the critically-acclaimed biography, Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, begins with a discussion about how the play came to be written.