An hourlong radio program on mortgage-backed securities? Does that sound like a yawner? Nope. In fact, that show was so successful that a version of it is moving to the stage, and tickets to the live version of NPR’s “Planet Money” sold out within hours.

The April 19 show, at Santa Monica’s Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, is distilled from two “Planet Money” radio programs last year: “The Giant Pool of Money,” which looked at mortgage-backed securities, and “Bad Banks,” which examined how financial institutions crumbled under the weight of those securities.

“Planet Money” hosts Adam Davidson, NPR’s international business and economics correspondent, and Alex Blumberg, a producer with Chicago Public Radio’s “This American Life,” will co-star in the production. The two have made a specialty of relating the origins of the global financial crisis in simple terms, with a humorous touch.

“Everybody wanted to understand what the hell happened,” Blumberg told the Business Journal. “The things we were hearing in the news didn’t fully explain it.”

One irony is that the theater is named for billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and his wife. A significant portion of the Broads’ net worth was tied up in shares of insurance giant American International Group, one of the major players in the meltdown.

“It goes to show just how the tentacles of this thing are everywhere,” Blumberg said.