Stories by Heart

What if a world-famous actor came to your home to read you a bedtime story? In the case of John Lithgow, he’d be reading you selections from his own cherished childhood volume of Tellers of Tales, a famous collection of 100 short stories from all over the world. In the Lithgow household, bedtime stories from this anthology were read aloud to John and his siblings by their father, Arthur Lithgow. It is only fitting then that towards the end of his father’s life, Lithgow read these same stories back to his father, tapping into the power of art to comfort, heal, and transcend. These stories and remembrances form the basis of Lithgow’s most recent Broadway production, Stories by Heart, with each act anchored by dramatic readings of The Haircut by Ring Lardner and Uncle Fred Flits By by P. G. Wodehouse. You will also hear Lithgow narrate a third tale from the anthology, The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs. Stories by Heart is a stunning tribute to a father from a son.