My pal Robert McCready and I went to see America’s beloved actor Bill Murray with classical musicians Jan Vogler, Mira Wang and Vanessa Perez.

It was an evening of magic in the Lowcountry of South Carolina at Middleton Place, a breathtaking location. Poignant, light-hearted, thought-provoking, funny? It was all of those things.

When Bill sang the very last note of “America” by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, the performers all took a bow. In the never next moment buckets of water began pouring down.

We scrambled to the car, but still managed to record some thoughts about the show.

Watch or listen and hear the highlights and what the boys thoughts.

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A Conversation About Seeing Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends Live

PAUL LESLIE: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we have just left the concert here. We are soaked. We are soaked, absolutely soaked. This was New Worlds: Bill Murray, Jan Vogler, and Friends on June 1st, 2026, at Middleton Place National Historic Landmark. This was quite an experience.

It was! The whole thing was an experience. Honestly, I’m sure you gave me all the details, right? But for some reason, my brain just thought “Bill Murray in concert, he must have a band.” I thought I was just going to a Bill Murray concert. I was pleasantly surprised by what was actually happening, which was him emceeing the event. He was reading literature and things like that. I thought to myself, “I need to have musicians while I read in the future.” They made it really interesting, and then he did sing a little bit.

He did. To tell everybody what the ensemble is, it’s called New Worlds, and it’s a classical chamber group. Jan Vogler is on the cello, Mira Wang is on the violin—that’s Jan’s wife—and Vanessa Perez is on the piano. 

Bill Murray does a combination of literature recitations and some singing. It started—coming from my perspective for those of you who follow the show—with him acting out an interview transcript that was done with Ernest Hemingway. It was so interesting. He was saying a little bit about himself and provoking some thought along the way. I thought that was very unique.

I thought so too. He also had that other interview with George Plimpton. I remember that one and thought, “Oh, this is so interesting.” He read for a long time, like a few minutes, which really added a lot of variety. You know what it kind of reminded me of? The State of the Union. There were so many different things happening. Just when you thought you were going to get bored, they put something else out there. It wasn’t just a straight-up symphony because you had this MC, and it wasn’t just a straight-up literary reading because you had music, skits, and bits.

Calling it a skit or a bit is being very generous; it just seemed like a little taste of something extra. One could call it a skit, but it was all planned out and went right along with the music.

A dramatic finale

Again, I just want to reinforce what happened after the show finished. This needs to be said: he ended with a medley of songs from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. When the very last note of the song “America” was sung, the thunder, lightning, and rain just came pouring down. 

Everybody started to run. It was a goulash. I mean, I am soaked. My pants are completely soaked. My shoes are soaked. Paul Leslie is completely soaked.

It was crazy. They gave away tarps at the event for free, so Paul ran with a tarp. I said, “Grab the tarp!” I had my umbrella and we just ran, but it was useless. I had the tarp over my head, and it just didn’t do any good.

The literary connection

Now, this went through my head a couple of times. I was thinking that most of the people who wrote these pieces of literature—with the exception of Billy Collins—are all gone. They have all died. What would they have thought about this event? What do you think Hemingway would think about his work being presented in such a way?

I was thinking there is no AI happening in this. They just put it together and did it. They found a way to keep everything fresh and more interesting than your phone.

I think Hemingway would be happy that his work was taking on a new life. I mean, he might have been a little nihilistic, but in his better moments, if he knew that Bill Murray had Ernest Hemingway energy, he might be okay with him reading it. What do you think he would think? Do you think he’d be happy with it, or would he shoot himself again?

I think he would feel, “Wow, my work is really enduring. It’s going to be a part of something live and exciting.” Because it really was exciting. It’s such a cool idea—bringing together all of these great pieces of literature with classical music, Broadway-type music, and even some rock songs.

I don’t know, I want to get your high point, but I really loved when he did the Van Morrison song, “When Will I Ever Learn to Live In God?” 

That was exciting because it came right after a song that was a little bit heretical, telling you not to believe everything. It was from the Bible or something.

Oh, that was very appropriate for South Carolina. That was “It Ain’t Necessarily So” by the Gershwins from Porgy and Bess.

Right. So then he balanced that out with a song that seemed almost like he was talking about himself. He got very soulful at one moment. That was a high point. That was a good one to point out.

Highlights and humor

When they brought the guy from Cuba out and he started playing the drums, I needed to get the bugs off of me, and it was also just exciting. I kind of just danced there the whole time. It was really exciting, and Bill said a lot of cool things about Cuba.

Bill was pointing out that Cuba is just 90 miles south of Florida. It’s just 90 miles. People have traveled from Cuba to the United States on an inner tube, which brought back nostalgic memories of little Elián González back in the day. Bill said, “Why can’t Cuba just become a part of the United States?” 

It was very “based” for this event for Bill Murray. It was like, “Whoa.”

Right. And then we found out the bars had closed at a certain time before the show. Bill said, “Go get a drink,” and the audience replied, “The bars are closed!” “The bars are closed?” Bill said, “Open up the bars, and we’re not going to make Cuba a part of the United States. I won’t vote for that. I won’t vote for it.” He had a lot of energy. There’s a certain type of energy that people like Bill Murray have, and the stage presence was interesting. He is still staying relevant.

Bill Murray made the show interesting. Who knows who directed it, but I was just thinking, “Wow, he never won an Oscar, but he’s delivering.” He’s giving us everything. 

He’s saying interesting things, he’s saying funny things — he’s doing everything. I wondered, “Would I have known to read it like that if I were reading it?”

If anyone out there is interested, the next best thing to seeing Bill Murray and Friends live is the album. There’s an album that has been out since 2017 called New Worlds. It’s really good. A lot of these musical selections were recorded in a studio by this group, and people can check it out. I recommend that they do. 

It made me think that there’s a lot of potential here; they could potentially do another record.

Yeah, I think it’s very interesting. It almost hearkens back to 2005, like something Zooey Deschanel would do. Only now we have people who are in a completely different class than Zooey Deschanel getting involved in this homemade, homespun thing that I think people want. We’re tired of polite music that just bleeds right into messy music made for streaming. 

This isn’t made for streaming; this is made for an experience. You can feel the difference. It’s like the theater—you don’t know what’s going to happen. It was experimental, and it didn’t last too long. 

They weren’t full of themselves. It referenced itself, and Bill Murray mentioned a couple of times that this was for charity.

The magic of Middleton Place

As the sun was going down, there was that period of dusk. That’s dusk, right? There was that little period of time, that magical moment.

Evening magic. 

Yeah, evening magic. You could hear just a few of the birds, some cicadas, and the frogs. This place, Middleton Place, is really incredible. I am going to have to come back here.

Bill Murray mentioned the Butterfly Lakes at the end. I think part of The Patriot was filmed there. You can see the rolling hills with Mel Gibson near the Butterfly Lakes. 

Martha Stewart shot an outdoor lawn chair commercial there in the late ’90s. She ate at the little cafe they have here and said, “Y’all, this is too nice for y’all to be using canned whipped cream.” So they started making homemade whipped cream from then on. I haven’t eaten here in years, but I used to come as a child and I remember it. They have secret gardens, and you can actually stay here on the plantation, so you can really spend your whole weekend here.

Bill Murray’s musical evolution

It really was just a magical experience. I think one of the takeaways is so interesting because this New Worlds group with Jan Vogler and Friends was kind of Bill Murray’s first foray into music. 

Now he has Bill Murray and the Blood Brothers, which is a blues-rock thing. 

In a few days at Spoleto at the Cistern, he’s performing with a Cuban group. So now it’s like, Bill Murray and his band — which Bill Murray band do you want? 

Maybe, he has really conquered cinema, and now he’s exploring this “new world,” no pun intended.

I was thinking a little bit about that, too. He came here twenty-something years ago, started crashing people’s weddings, and just became beloved. They are constantly voting him the “Best Charlestonian,” which irritates some locals because he’s new here. They ask, “Why are they giving this to him again?” But he’s really giving of himself. 

If you are a celebrity, all people want is to be around you, and he is not being an elitist. He’s not keeping to himself; he’s going out in the streets, hanging out with people, and participating in the town. He did this charity event because he wants to be a part of things and be a community man. He has been here for a quarter of a century now. What else does he have to give except his stage presence, his personality, doing his best, and showing up? He shows up.

I was thinking about that, too. If you’re a celebrity and everybody loves you, you don’t really have a risk of failure. We are just happy to see Bill Murray.

Right. With that, Robert, thank you so much for coming out.

Oh, thank you for having me.

We’ve seen Bob Dylan a few times together, we’ve seen Willie Nelson together, and now we’ve seen Bill Murray and Friends doing this incredible thing. Thank you, Bill Murray. Thank you, Jan Vogler. Thank you, Mira Wang. Thank you, Vanessa Perez. Check out my interviews with Jan and Vanessa on YouTube; I think you might enjoy listening. We’ll see you guys down the road. 

Until next time.