The Notebook will make its Costa Mesa premiere at Segerstrom Center for the Arts from January 27 – February 8, 2026. Connor Richardson, who plays Johnny, called into this week's show to chat with Janeane! If you missed the live show, listen to podcast link below.

Everyone knows The Notebook- whether a fan of the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks or iconic film, now it takes on a new life as a Broadway musical!

The Notebook will make its Costa Mesa premiere at Segerstrom Center for the Arts from January 27 – February 8, 2026.

On Wednesday, January 28th, Janeane spoke with Connor Richardson, who plays Johnny.

LISTEN
to today's show
featuring Connor Richardson

“THE NOTEBOOK is ultimately a celebration of life, love, and the power of memory,” said producers Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch. “Audiences first fell in love with this timeless story as a novel, then as an iconic film, and now they can experience it anew as a moving musical event. 

With multi-platinum artist Ingrid Michaelson’s unforgettable score and Tony Award nominated Bekah Brunstetter’s beautifully crafted book, THE NOTEBOOK comes to life on stage in a way that will resonate deeply with audiences across North America.”

Allie and Noah, two people from different worlds, share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart. “Full of butterfly-inducing highs and beautiful songs” (Entertainment Weekly), THE NOTEBOOK a deeply moving portrait of the enduring power of love.

Allie and Noah are each played by three actors- Chloë Cheers as Younger Allie, Alysha Deslorieux as Middle Allie, Sharon Catherine Brown as Older Allie, Kyle Mangold as Younger Noah, Ken Wulf Clark as Middle Noah, and Beau Gravitte as Older Noah.

ABOUT

The Notebook is a new hit musical based on the best selling novel that inspired the iconic film. Allie and Noah, both from different worlds, share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart, in a deeply moving portrait of the enduring power of love.

The Notebook is “full of butterfly-inducing highs, stunning performances, and beautiful songs” (Entertainment Weekly). Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune says The Notebook is “absolutely gorgeous, not to be missed,” and The New York Daily News calls it “a love story for the ages.”

The Notebook is directed by Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, Next to Normal, RENT) and Schele Williams (The Wiz, Aida) and features music and lyrics by multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, book by Bekah Brunstetter (NBC’s This Is Us), and choreography by Katie Spelman.

Livi, a UC Irvine student and Campus Ambassador for the Peace Corps, sat down to share details on this wonderful opportunity for all ages

From the Peace Corps website:

Peace Corps Volunteers put their purpose, passion, and skills to work in partnership with host communities in 60+ countries.

LISTEN to my conversation
with Livi on today's show!

Powering human connection

Peace Corps Volunteers and host community partners advance and embody our mission, values, and three goals in communities around the globe. We invite you to learn more about the Peace Corps and how we promote human connection across cultures and make a lasting impact.

The Goals of the Peace Corps:

1. To help the countries interested in meeting their need for trained people.

Volunteers exchange skills and knowledge with community members to help create sustainable change through work in six sectors—Agriculture, Community Economic Development, Education, Environment, Health, and Youth in Development.

2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

Through their service, Volunteers share America and its values and also learn about local cultures, opportunities, resources, and people in their host countries.

3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Volunteers immerse themselves in local cultures and share their experiences when they return home with family, friends, and the public. This helps promote cultural understanding, volunteerism, and public service.

Learn more: www.peacecorps.org

Jessica Hauser, Alex Pretti's final nursing student, pens a heartbreaking tribute to her mentor, writing that "caring for people was at the core of who he was."

Hauser writes: "I was Alex Pretti’s final nursing student. He was my friend and my nursing mentor. For the past four months, I stood shoulder to shoulder with him during my capstone preceptorship at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. There he trained me to care for the sickest of the sick as an ICU nurse. He taught me how to care for arterial and central lines, the intricacies of managing multiple IVs filled with lifesaving solutions, and how to watch over every heartbeat, every breath, and every flicker of life, ready to act the moment they wavered. Techniques intended to heal.

Alex carried patience, compassion and calm as a steady light within him. Even at the very end, that light was there. I recognized his familiar stillness and signature calm composure shining through during those unbearable final moments captured on camera.

It does not surprise me that his final words were, “Are you okay?” Caring for people was at the core of who he was. He was incapable of causing harm. He lived a life of healing, and he lived it well.

Alex believed strongly in the Second Amendment and in the rights rooted in our Constitution and its amendments. He spoke out for justice and peace whenever he could, not only out of obligation, but out of a belief that we are more connected than divided, and that communication would bring us together.

I want his family to know his legacy lives on. I am a better nurse because of the wisdom and skills he instilled in me. I carry his light with me into every room, letting it guide and steady my hands as I heal and care for those in need.

Please honor my friend by standing up for peace, preferably with a cup of black coffee in hand and a couple of pieces of candy in your pocket, just as he would. He would remind you that caring for others is hard work, and we must do whatever it takes to get through the long shifts. Step outside with your dog, breathe in the world, hike or bike as he loved to do, and let yourself find peace in the quiet moments within nature. Stand up for justice and speak with those whose views differ from your own. Hold your beliefs with strength, but always extend love outward, even in the face of adversity.

Take one step, no matter how small, to help heal our world. Through these acts, carry his light forward in his name. Let his legacy continue to heal.

According to the American Psychological Association, swearing can make you stronger. Swearing boosts performance by helping people feel focused, disinhibited, study finds. &*^% Yes!

According to the American Psychological Association swearing can make you stronger.

Swearing might feel impulsive, but research suggests it can actually make you stronger.

A new APA study finds using swear words during physical challenges can boost endurance, increase focus, and help people push past mental limits.

Read more: https://at.apa.org/7e5dd2

Coming up 1/21 9:30am - Val Walker, author of '400 Friends and No One to Call', is releasing a new book 'Healing Through Wonder' on January 8th, sharing her journey of healing from trauma and loss

LISTEN
to today's 
show featuring Val Walker

Healing Through Wonder:

How Awe Restores Us After Trauma and Loss

Back in 2020, Val joined me on my show when I interviewed her about her book,
400 Friends and No One to Call. 

Now, she has a new book out with Bloomsbury Publishing January 8th called Healing Through Wonder: How Awe Restores Us After Trauma and Loss.


Dedicated to survivors of trauma and loss, Healing Through Wonder shows us how our sense of wonder can be a vital source of resilience, hope, and connection.


If I had the opportunity for an interview, I'd like to share inspirational moments of awe that changed the lives of people profiled in my book. I can also provide encouraging neuroscience research about how awe and wonder help us through trauma and grief. Finally, I offer my own story of a breathtaking moment with a blue heron when I was close to ending my life by suicide decades ago--and how my sense of wonder has given me the will to live ever since.


"Val Walker's profound journey through trauma and spiritual exploration is both heart-wrenching and inspiring. This book beautifully captures the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of connection and awe."--Shari Botwin, LCSW, Keynote speaker, Media Contributor and Author of Thriving After Trauma: Stories of Living and Healing, and Stolen Childhoods: Thriving After Abuse.

"Healing Through Wonder is a powerful work — urging readers to draw upon their own resilience, particularly a sense of wonder as they cope with loss. This book is a gift to anyone who is bereaved." — Kenneth J. Doka, PhD, Senior Vice-President for Grief Programs, The Hospice Foundation of America, Author, Disenfranchised Grief, Grief Is a Journey, When We Die



BOOK DESCRIPTION

Val's story of healing began in her darkest moment.

Homeless, running from a violent partner, and battling suicidal depression, she found herself sitting by a river holding a bottle of pills in one hand and a bottle of red wine to wash them down in the other. Out of the twilight sky a majestic blue heron circled and landed just a few feet away. Something in the heron's piercing eyes caused her to stop swallowing the pills. In that moment, she realized that there was just too much beauty and magic in the world to give up.

Thus began a decades-long quest to understand how wondrous encounters can spark healing from trauma and grief. This inspiring guide shares stories of profound, transformational experiences from four profiles alongside her own, and unpacks the neuroscience that explains how wonder helps our brains and bodies heal.


TALKING POINTS FOR HEALING THROUGH WONDER
Even brief moments of awe can reduce rumination and worry, calm and ground our bodies, and shift our focus to the present moment--and neuroscience shows us how this happens.Awe and wonder emotions have been mostly underappreciated and underexplored until very recently, so most of us underestimate the power of awe: 

A moment of being awestruck by something amazing and meaningful gives us resilience and hope for the future.

Shared experiences of awe have a remarkable way of breaking us out of isolation and loneliness. 

We feel less lonely when we share a story of an awe moment of something amazing that took our breath away (such as hearing a song that gave us chills, seeing a magnificent sunset or solar eclipse, spotting a cardinal landing near you, or waking up from a dream with a powerful message.

We can share our awe and wonder stories in person as well as through writing, videos, photos, and other media.Awe and wonder moments can be invited into our daily lives, not only in nature, but through music, groups of people at concerts, arts, and sports events, signs and synchronicities, epiphanies, immersive art, wondrous poetry, and much more.Keeping our minds open and curious is a gateway to awe and wonder experiences.

ABOUT 

Val Walker received her MS in rehabilitation counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a rehabilitation consultant, speaker and writer. She is a contributing blogger for Psychology Today and the Health Story Collaborative. Walker is the author of The Art of Comforting (Penguin/Random House, 2010) which won the Nautilus Book Award, and 400 Friends and No One to Call (Central Recovery Press, March 26, 2020.) She deeply believes we can break through the barriers that isolate us by building community, friendships, and a sense of belonging.

www.valwalkerauthor.com

Julia Bendis: Third-Generation Matchmaker, Author & Comedian joins Janeane LIVE on KUCI 88.9fm Wednesday 1/21/26

LISTEN
to today's show
featuring Julia Bendis

Did you catch Julia's recent SOLD OUT Comedy show?

Comedy Night 1/18 Featuring Local Comics
@VOCO Hotel Laguna Hills Tickets, Sun, Jan 18, 2026 at 6:00 PM | Eventbrite

Julia Bendis: Third-Generation Matchmaker, Author & Comedian

Born in Ukraine and raised in Latvia before immigrating to America in 1989, Julia Bendis carries forward a legacy that spans three generations of matchmakers—but with a distinctly modern twist. What happens when you blend old-world matchmaking traditions with numerology charts, standup comedy, and unapologetic honesty? You get Julia.

As a relationship and dating educator turned comedian, Julia Bendis took an unconventional path to the stage. After publishing her hilarious collection of short stories ‘No Smiling Allowed: growing up in Soviet Russia and other funny stories from a Jewish immigrant’ - she found herself gravitating toward open mics and standup, discovering that making people laugh and helping them find love weren't so different after all. Both require brutal honesty, perfect timing, and an unflinching ability to see people for who they really are.

Julia's relationship philosophy is refreshingly simple yet profound: food, intimacy, and human connection are the cornerstones of a meaningful life. While she's no longer taking on matchmaking clients, Julia now focuses exclusively on coaching and guiding people through their relationship journeys—helping people understand themselves, their patterns, and how to have healthy relationships.

When prospective clients come to her seeking matchmaking services, she now refers them to trusted matchmaking colleagues, ensuring they're in excellent hands. Through her coaching, Julia goes beyond surface-level advice, diving deep into her clients' personalities through personalized numerology charts to uncover the traits and desires that will shape their future partnerships. It's part science, part intuition, and entirely Julia.

When she's not working—which, let's be honest, is almost never—Julia channels her boundless energy into meddling in her sons' love lives (naturally), creating comedy shows, and writing her second book about the matchmaking industry. Her advocacy work reflects her deepest values: supporting victims of human trafficking, survivors of domestic violence, and championing women's rights.

In 2020, Julia’s published No Smiling Allowed: Growing up in Soviet Russia and other funny stories from a Jewish immigrant continues to receive glowing reviews. It is a comedic memoir that captures her irreverent take on life in the former Soviet Union, immigrating to America and her family’s hilarious mishaps in a new country. Available in print edition HERE or on Amazon Audible HERE

The book showcases the same sharp wit and storytelling prowess that makes her matchmaking—and her comedy—impossible to resist.

Julia Bendis doesn't just help people find love. She reminds them why it matters in the first place. To get more information, visit matchbyjulia.com or to see Julia’s Comedy shows in person, make sure to follow her on Instagram, Facebook or on her Youtube channel @juliabendis

All direct links here: linktree.com/juliabendis

Or send an email to be placed on the newsletter so you never miss a show or new video, just send an email to: juliabendis@gmail.com

Get ready to ease on down the road this week as The Wiz! - the Tony Award®- winning Best Musical that took the world by storm is coming to the Segerstrom in Costa Mesa for the very first time! Alan Mingo, Jr, who reprises his role as The Wiz from the Broadway revival production joins Janeane (1/14 @9:30am) to talk about this award-winning show which opens Tuesday January 13th

Alan Mingo Jr as The Wiz
in the North American Tour of THE WIZ.

Photo by Jeremy Daniel

LISTEN
to today's show featuring
Alan Mingo Jr.

Cal Mitchell as The Lion, Elijah Ahmad Lewis as The Scarecrow,
Dana Cimone as Dorothy, and Alan Mingo Jr as The Wiz
in the North American Tour of THE WIZ.
Photo by Jeremy Daniel

The Tony Award®- winning Best Musical that took the world by storm is coming to Costa Mesa for the very first time! It’s The Wiz!

THE WIZ returns “home” to stages across America in an all-new Broadway tour. Get ready for opening night January 13th at Segerstrom Center for the Arts - https://www.scfta.org/events/2026/the-wiz

This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway—from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and 70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world.

Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), director Schele Williams (The Notebook), award-winning choreographer JaQuel Knight (Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” Black is King), additional material by Tony-nominated and Emmy-nominated writer and TV host Amber Ruffin (“The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers”), Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements), Allen René Louis (vocal arrangements, music arrangements), and Emmy Award®-winning music director and Grammy Award®-winning writer, Adam Blackstone and Terence Vaughn (Dance Music Arrangers) conjure up an Oz unlike anything ever seen before. A dynamite infusion of ballet, jazz, and modern pop bring a whole new groove to easing on down the road.


The principal cast includes Dana Cimone, making her national tour debut, as Dorothy, Alan Mingo Jr., returning to the role he originated on the pre-Broadway tour and played on Broadway as The Wiz, also making their national tour debuts Sheherazade as Glinda and Kyla Jade as Aunt Em/Evillene, D. Jerome (MJ the Musical, Hamilton) as the Tinman, Cal Mitchell (The White Rose, The Color Purple) as the Lion and Elijah Ahmad Lewis (Ain't Too Proud, Motown The Musical) as the Scarecrow.


THE WIZ premiered on Broadway in 1975 and became an instant sensation, going on to win seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ted Ross), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Dee Dee Bridgewater), Best Choreography (George Faison), and in a Broadway first, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design (Geoffrey Holder). “Ease on Down the Road” became the show’s break-out single, and “Home” has since become a bona fide classic. 

That original production ran for four years (first at The Majestic Theatre and later at The Broadway Theatre) – and 1,672 performances – on Broadway. A 1978 film adaptation starred Diana Ross, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Richard Pryor and Lena Horne, and marked Quincy Jones’ first collaboration with Michael Jackson. The most recent Broadway revival played from March to August 2024 at the Marquis Theater in NYC.


ABOUT ALAN MINGO, JR. (The Wiz) 

Alan will be reprising his role as The Wiz from the Broadway revival production. Best known for his Award winning performance as “Lola”in the Canadian and Broadway productions of Kinky Boots (Dora Award Winner, Best Leading Actor). Audiences may know Alan as “Maura Lee Karupt” in DC’s Doom Patrol on (MAX). He is currently starring in a newly released film as Maxi in “I’m Not Gay A Musical” available on all major Streaming platforms. 

Mr. Mingo’s other Broadway credits include: “Sebastian” in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and “Tom Collins” in Rent. Alan’s Broadway National Tour credits include: “Donkey” in Shrek the Musical, “Seaweed” in Hairspray, and “Simba” in Disney’s The Lion King. His other TV credits are: ”Honey” in The Deuce (MAX), “The Queen” in Tales of the City (Netflix), “Benjamin Carter Judges” in Ray Donovan (Showtime), Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Netflix), Frasier (NBC) and Law & Order (NBC). Regional credits: Zaza/Albin in La Cage Aux Folles and The Wiz in The Wiz (Sacramento Music Circus), “Sergeant” in Pirates! or Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder’s (The MUNY), “Papa Ge” in Once On This Island (Paper Mill Playhouse), A Christmas Story: the Musical (Kansas City Repertory Theatre) and The Wiz (La Jolla Playhouse). Proud Alumni of University of Maryland, B.A. and UC, Irvine, M.F.A. IG: @AlanMingoj