''Great Performances'' is a television
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
dedicated to the
performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the
PBS member station
WNET in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
(originally in conjunction with
KQED/
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
WTTW/
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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,
Maryland Public Television,
South Carolina ETV
South Carolina Educational Television (branded as South Carolina ETV, SCETV or simply ETV) is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television stations serving the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is owned and operated b ...
and
KERA-TV/
Dallas/Fort Worth).
The series is the longest-running performing arts anthology on television and has won 29
Primetime Emmy Awards, three
Peabody Awards and an
Image Award
The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...
, with nods from the
Directors Guild of America
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film director, film and television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dire ...
and the Cinema Audio Society.
History
''Great Performances predecessor, ''New York Playhouse'', premiered on October 7, 1972, with a production of ''
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., ...
''. In 1973,
Exxon and the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided grants to create ''Theater in America'', which reran the ''New York Playhouse'' and some ''
NET Playhouse
''NET Playhouse'' was an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark to form WNET, and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service, though the NET tit ...
'' productions. The first original production for ''Theater in America'' was of ''
Enemies
Enemies or foes are a group that is seen as forcefully adverse or threatening.
Enemies may also refer to:
Literature
* ''Enemies'' (play), a 1906 play by Maxim Gorky
* '' Enemies, A Love Story'', a 1966 novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer
* '' Enem ...
''. In 1974, WNET added ''The Great Performance'', a series of classical concerts.
In 1976, ''Great Performances'' became the umbrella title and the music section was named ''Music in America''. A third section, ''Dance In America'', was also added. The first episode "Sue's Leg: Remembering the Thirties" featured choreography by
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music.
Fr ...
. Later episodes featured such performers as
Mikhail Baryshnikov. Although it is not seen as often as previously, there have recently been new ''
Dance in America'' programs, such as the
Emmy-winning 2005 production of
Tchaikovsky's ''
Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...
'', starring
Angel Corella,
Gillian Murphy and the
American Ballet Theatre.
In 2007, ''Great Performances'' began telecasting performances from the ''
Metropolitan Opera Live in HD'' series, a series of HD opera tapings re-purposed from their original purpose as
Fathom Events films carried in high-quality
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
s for a premium admission price.
Repeat guest hosts include
Walter Cronkite,
Julie Andrews
Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy F ...
,
Whoopi Goldberg and
Hugh Bonneville. Major underwriters throughout the show's run have included
The National Endowment for the Arts,
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...
, PBS viewers,
Exxon,
Martin Marietta,
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...
,
Deluxe,
Duracell,
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...
,
Chase Manhattan Bank and
UBS
UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swi ...
.
In 2009, new
theme music for ''Great Performances'' was introduced, composed by
John Williams.
On October 18, 2013, Great Performances celebrated its 40th anniversary with the release of an episode entitled "Great Performances 40th Anniversary Celebration". The episode was originally tapped at
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in November 2012. The episode was dedicated to the memory of
Phil Ramone
Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business ...
who died from complications due to surgery in March 2013.
Episodes
Critical reception
''Great Performances'' has received generally positive reviews from television critics and parents of young children. Roger Catlin of ''
Hartford Courant'' wrote, "The classiest thing on TV." Ryan Berenz of ''Channel Guide Magazine'' wrote, "
Annie Lennox brings the house down." Linda Winer of ''
Newsday'' wrote for the episode, Billy Elliot, "As good as it gets." Marissa Martinelli of ''
Slate'' wrote for the episode,
An American in Paris, "Spectacular."
References
External links
*
*
*
{{PBSTV
1972 American television series debuts
1980s American television series
1990s American television series
2000s American television series
2010s American anthology television series
English-language television shows
PBS original programming
Peabody Award-winning television programs
Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series
Television series by WNET
Texaco