I've heard the future of public radio and this is it. Jad Abumrad has lots of obvious talent and WNYC is smart to be pushing him to help brand the station. He sounds, to this reviewer anyway, to be where public radio wants to be heading after the defenestration of Bob Edwards; that is to say he's young, he's smart and incredibly engaging to listen to. What Jad accomplishes in this piece is not easy -- boiling down something as daunting as Wagner's Ring Cycle into an hour of exciting, smart, entertaining, edgy radio. It's layered with music, with terrific expert types to explain this thing to us neophytes and with Jad's own journey to understand this paragon of high culture which takes him from Brooklyn to Broadway to Hollywood by way of a Manhattan supermarket and from Marx to Tolkien. We're along with him for the ride and he doesn't disappoint. The production is flawless, the timing and pacing are perfect, the music illustrates, punctuates and stimulates the piece. At the end you feel as though you've learned something important at the hands of a new young master of the radio craft and you're ready for more!