Purlie Victorious Leslie Odom Jr and cast

Great Performances

Arts and Music Series / 6 Seasons

Great Performances brings the best in the performing arts from across America and around the world to a US television audience. It presents a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

Watch Latest: S52 E3

1h 23m / TV-PG

GP at the Met: Rigoletto Preview

33s

Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) makes his Met debut with a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto. The new staging moves the opera’s tragic events from a decadent 16th-century Italian court to the glitzy, depraved setting of the Las Vegas strip circa 1960. Great Performances at the Met: Rigoletto airs Friday, May 17 at 9 p.m. (check local listings)

Paul Taylor: Architect of Energy

10m 38s

Famed choreographer Paul Taylor reflects on the genesis and ideas behind his works Brandenburgs and Beloved Renegade. Featuring footage from the GREAT PERFORMANCES production of Paul Taylor Dance Company in Paris, dancers from the company reveal their thoughts on the work and discuss the many challenges and rewards that come with performing these two signature dances from the Paul Taylor canon.

GP at the Met: La Clemenza di Tito Preview

31s

La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart’s final opera seria, with Barbara Frittoli, El?na Garan?a, and Giuseppe Filianoti airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, April 14 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings).

GP at the Met: Tempest Preview

30s

The Tempest, Robert Lepage’s Staging of the English-language Opera Based on Shakespeare’s Final Play, Airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, March 17 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings)

Andrea Bocelli: Love in Portofino

30s

Andrea Bocelli, the international superstar tenor returns to Great Performances once again to delight fans with Andrea Bocelli: Love in Portofino, a new concert special in which he puts classical music aside for an evening of international favorites inspired by the breathtaking coastal setting of Portofino, Italy.

GP at the Met: L'Elisir d'Amore Preview

30s

Star soprano Anna Netrebko takes center stage as Adina, the irresistible heroine of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love). The opera airs on Friday, January 18 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

Paul Simon's Graceland Journey Preview

30s

An epic journey following Paul Simon back to South Africa, where, decades earlier, he created his seminal album Graceland. The film includes revealing interviews with Simon and such musical legends as Quincy Jones, Harry Belafonte, Paul McCartney and David Byrne. "Paul Simon's Graceland Journey" airs June 7, 2013 on PBS. (Check local listings).

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy Preview

30s

This film explores the unique role of Jewish composers and lyricists in the creation of the modern American musical. Featuring interviews and conversations with some of the greatest composers and writers of the Broadway stage. "Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy " premieres March 11 at 8 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2013 Preview

30s

We continue the cherished tradition of ringing in the New Year with special host Julie Andrews and the Vienna Philharmonic at the opulent Musikverein, under the baton of guest conductor Franz Welser-Möst and featuring everyone’s favorite Strauss Family waltzes accompanied by the beautiful dancing of the Vienna City Ballet. "From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration" premieres January 1 at 8 p.m.

Fiddler's Tradition

5m 10s

The surprising universality of the 1964 Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick musical Fiddler on the Roof—a show about a small, tight-knit Jewish community living in early 20th-century Tsarist Russia. Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy airs January 1, 2013 at 9:30 PM (check local listings).

The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour Preview

30s

The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour -- the controversial surreal film made by The Beatles and broadcast by the BBC in 1967 and unavailable for decades – comes to THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, Friday, December 14 at 10 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Magical Mystery Tour Revisited Preview

30s

Magical Mystery Tour was chock-full of thinly veiled references to psychedelia, anarchy and fantasy, all in the setting of a traditional British sightseeing bus outing to the seaside. The story behind the Beatles film – Magical Mystery Tour – is revealed on Magical Mystery Tour Revisited on THIRTEEN’S Great Performances, Friday, December 14 at 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Rod Stewart: Merry Christmas, Baby Preview

30s

Grammy Award®-winning, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Rod Stewart, hosts his first holiday special featuring Mary J. Blige, Cee-Lo Green, and Chris Botti beginning this December on PBS (Check local listings.).

Wagner's Ring Cycle Preview

30s

Robert Lepage’s acclaimed new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, will air on Great Performances at the Met, September 11-14 in prime time each night on PBS stations (check local listings), as a major television event.

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