Arts and Music

Great Performances

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.

George Jones: Still Playin’ Possum

1h 24m

Honor one of the most beloved stars in country music history with this all-star tribute concert featuring Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Wynonna, Jelly Roll, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, Lorrie Morgan, Justin Moore, Trace Adkins and more.

Episodes

  • Great Performances: Keeping Company with Sondheim: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: Keeping Company with Sondheim

    S49 E29 - 1h 13m

    Take an inside look at the reimagined gender-swapped production as it returns to Broadway during the COVID-19 pandemic. Features new interviews with Tony and Grammy-winning cast members Katrina Lenk, Patti LuPone, Sondheim and more.

  • Great Performances: Merry Wives: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: Merry Wives

    S49 E28 - 1h 49m

    Experience Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece from the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park set in South Harlem telling the story of the trickster Falstaff and the wily wives who outwit him in a celebration of Black joy, laughter and vitality.

  • Great Performances: Anything Goes: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: Anything Goes

    S49 E27 - 2h 20m

    Enjoy this London production of Cole Porter’s classic musical led by Sutton Foster who reprises her Tony-winning role as Reno Sweeney directed by Kathleen Marshall with favorite songs like “I Get A Kick Out of You” and “You’re the Top.”

  • Now Hear This "New American Voices": asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Now Hear This "New American Voices"

    S49 E25 - 54m 25s

    Scott Yoo discovers how American composers are inspired by their immigrant roots today through two composers: Brazilian-born Sergio Assad and Indian American Reena Esmail.

  • Now Hear This "Amy Beach: American Romantic": asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Now Hear This "Amy Beach: American Romantic"

    S49 E22 - 53m 54s

    Host Scott Yoo and his wife, flutist Alice Dade, perform the work of Romantic era classical composer Amy Beach at Festival Mosaic and uncover Beach’s many musical influences. Featuring performances of Beach’s works, the duo visits places Beach took inspiration from throughout her life, including an artist residency at MacDowell in New Hampshire.

  • Great Performances: The Conductor: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: The Conductor

    S49 E20 - 1h 24m

    Follow Marin Alsop’s journey to become the first female music director of a major American symphony despite repeated rejection by the classical music industry. Features archival footage with her mentor Leonard Bernstein and is set to a soundtrack of her performances.

  • Great Performances – Reopening: The Broadway Revival: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances – Reopening: The Broadway Revival

    S49 E16 - 54m

    Go behind the scenes of Broadway as shows reunite, rehearse and re-stage for their long-awaited reopening nights while the theater industry learns how to turn the lights back on after its longest hiatus in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Coppelia: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Coppelia

    S49 E10 - 1h 16m

    Enjoy this contemporary reboot of the 1870 classical ballet favorite. Blending live action ballet with CGI, the film features ballet stars Michaela DePrince and Daniel Camargo.

  • Great Performances: San Francisco Symphony Reopening Night: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: San Francisco Symphony Reopening Night

    S49 E9 - 1h 22m

    Celebrate opening night of San Francisco Symphony’s 110th season as it welcomes its new GRAMMY-winning music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, featuring music by John Adams, esperanza spalding & Wayne Shorter and performances by Alonzo King LINES Ballet.

  • Great Performances: A John Williams Premiere at Tanglewood: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: A John Williams Premiere at Tanglewood

    S49 E8 - 1h 24m

    Experience a concert of works by legendary composer John Williams from Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home at Tanglewood including Williams’ new violin concerto performed by virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter and other works conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Extras + Features

  • Marin Alsop on Female Conductors: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Marin Alsop on Female Conductors

    S49 E20 - 2m 7s

    Marin Alsop works with two rising female conductors, Lina González-Granados and Alexandra Arrieche, on their technique and how to break into the male-dominated industry.

  • The Conductor Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Conductor Preview

    S49 E20 - 30s

    Follow Marin Alsop’s journey to become the first female music director of a major American symphony despite repeated rejection by the classical music industry. Features archival footage with her mentor Leonard Bernstein and is set to a soundtrack of her performances.

  • Movies for Grownups with AARP the Magazine Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Movies for Grownups with AARP the Magazine Preview

    S49 E19 - 30s

    First broadcast on PBS in 2018, Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine returns for a fifth year to celebrate and encourage filmmaking with unique appeal to movie-lovers with a grownup state of mind—and recognize the inspiring artists who make them. Each year the centerpiece honor is the Career Achievement Award, celebrating the contributions cinema legends.

  • Lily Tomlin Accepts Career Achievement Award: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Lily Tomlin Accepts Career Achievement Award

    S49 E19 - 3m 19s

    Lily Tomlin accepts the Career Achievement Award for her work in film and television at the Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine. Lily Tomlin has led a storied career within the entertainment industry - earning eight Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy Award.

  • Spotlighting Movies for Grownups Awards: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Spotlighting Movies for Grownups Awards

    S49 E19 - 1m 17s

    First broadcast on PBS in 2018, Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine returns for a fifth year to celebrate and encourage filmmaking with unique appeal to movie-lovers with a grownup state of mind—and recognize the inspiring artists who make them.

  • Erin Morley Performs as Eurydice: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Erin Morley Performs as Eurydice

    S49 E18 - 2m 5s

    Soprano Erin Morley sings an excerpt of the Act II aria "This is what it is to love an artist." The opera reimagines the famous Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's point of view.

  • Great Performances at the Met: Eurydice Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances at the Met: Eurydice Preview

    S49 E18 - 30s

    The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to harness the power of music to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the Underworld, has inspired composers since opera’s earliest days. With a libretto by Sarah Ruhl adapted from her acclaimed 2003 play, the opera reimagines the familiar tale from Eurydice’s point of view.

  • Great Performances at the Met: Boris Godunov Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances at the Met: Boris Godunov Preview

    S49 E17 - 30s

    Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between ambition and paranoia. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads Mussorgsky’s Russian masterwork in its original 1869 version. Stephen Wadsworth’s production captures the hope and suffering of the Russian people as well as the tsar himself. Met Opera soprano Angel Blue hosts.

Schedule

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