COLUMBUS — Central Ohioans who tune in to public television will be treated to a double dose of Denisonians-at-work on Wednesday evening, Jan. 7. The prime time schedule on WOSU-TV (Channel 34 in Columbus) features Denison alumna Jennifer Garner ’94 starring with Kevin Kline in a Great Performances presentation of Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” at 8 p.m. It will be followed, at 10:30 p.m., by a special broadcast of “From the Top at Carnegie Hall.” Denison alumna Jennifer Hurley-Wales ’83 is the co-CEO and operations director of the From the Top program.

In Cyrano, Garner stars as the beautiful Roxane, the role she played for her Broadway debut. The production was directed by David Leveaux and had its limited-run extended after strong ticket demand. The Great Performances presentation on Wednesday is a video of the Jan. 2, 2008, performance of the Broadway production and also is being released this week on DVD.

Garner earned rave reviews, including one from Ben Brantley of The New York Times. “Ms. Garner radiates megawatt beauty,” said Brantley. He also noted that Garner “speaks Anthony Burgess’s peppery rhymed translation with unaffected sprightliness.” Brantley praised her as “by far the most comfortable” of film and television actresses (including Julia Roberts and Claire Danes) to test their stage legs. But, of course, Denisonians know that Garner had proven her “stage legs” in Ace Morgan Theatre, just-off-Broadway inlong before arriving at the Richard Rogers Theatre on New York’s Great White Way.

“From the Top,” which launched its radio show in January of 2000, is now heard on more than 250 public radio stations where it ranks among the top five weekly programs (along with “Car Talk” and “A Prairie Home Companion”). It is a nonprofit organization that celebrates the nation’s outstanding young classical musicians.

“From the Top at Carnegie Hall” is in its second season on public television stations and was nominated for an Emmy. It provides an intimate look into the lives of the featured young musicians and captures the excitement of their Carnegie Hall performances. The radio show airs weekly on Sunday evenings on WOSU-FM, but the television show does not air regularly. “From the Top” has recorded three of its hour-long radio shows at Denison’s Swasey Chapel, the most recent in April of 2006 when Bela Fleck, the acclaimed banjo player and innovator, joined the young performers.

Hurley-Wales graduated with a self-designed arts in society major. Previously she worked with the New England Conservatory and the Wang Center. The daughter of George Wales and Lorraine Wales, the long-time director of the Vail Series at Denison, Hurley-Wales says she has made only “superficial” attempts at piano, mandolin and alto saxophone, but likes good music of all kind. She was an organizing force for “From the Top.”

Program Notes and Web Links:

• Cyrano de Bergerac — The national PBS debut for Cyrano is 7 p.m. on Wednesday, and it will be replayed on WOSU-TV at 1 a.m. on Thursday, and several more times on WOSU’s digital HD feed. For all WOSU-TV times and channels, link here. For other PBS station broadcasts, please check your local listings.

  For more on this performance, including a video trailer, link here.

• From the Top at Carnegie Hall: Special Edition — The first episode of the series, which features memorable "From the Top at Carnegie Hall" episodes, highlights 16-year-old marimba player Joshua Jones; 12-year-old violinist Anna Lee, who performs Pablo de Saraste’s “Ziguenerweisen”; and the Maggiore Trio playing the third movement Presto (Gypsy Rondo) from Haydn’s “Piano Trio in G Minor.”

  To visit the the Web site for this program with descriptions and video clips by, link here.

  Learn more about From the Top by linking to the program’s Web site at www.fromthetop.org.