Great Performances

A profile of composing team John Kander and Fred Ebb, who have written many Broadway musicals. Highlights include interviews with Lauren Bacall, Joel Grey and others, as well as the two men themselves, plus clips of performances of their songs.

Ten satirical sketches written by George C. Wolfe use drama, comedy and music to examine black stereotypes and express the need for African-Americans to preserve their culture by remembering their painful but glorious heritage. Presented as museum "exhibitions," the songs and sketches address the problem of having to renounce one's history and suppress anger in order to assimilate.

From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic.

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

Live in Concert is the first live concert CD and DVD from country music superstar Martina McBride. The show was recorded September 29, 2007 at the i wireless Center in Moline, Illinois during McBride's Waking Up Laughing Tour. The concert was originally taped for a PBS Great Performances special that aired during the month of March 2008.

This bold interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece features Danielle Brooks (“Orange is the New Black,” Broadway’s “The Color Purple”) and Grantham Coleman (“Buzzer,” “The Americans”) as the sparring lovers Beatrice and Benedick. Tony Award winner Kenny Leon (“American Son,” “A Raisin in the Sun”) directs with choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown (“Choir Boy”). Set in contemporary Georgia with an election race underway, Great Performances: Much Ado About Nothing finds the community of Messina celebrating a break from an ongoing war, but not all is peaceful amid the merriment. Former rivals battle it out, revenge is sought and trickery runs amok in this timeless comedy of romantic retribution and miscommunication. Earning a New York Times Critic’s Pick, the play was recorded during its final weekend of Free Shakespeare in the Park performances, June 22-23, 2019.

Experience The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Shakespeare’s tragedy with one of his most indelible villains starring Danai Gurira in the title role. Recorded live in July 2022 from Central Park.

While at an impromptu reunion lunch, five women reminisce and relive their college days at Mount Holyoke, and weigh their goals and aspirations against their lives.

Enjoy a revue of milestone Broadway shows and songs from 1973 to 2023 hosted by two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster. Features performances by André De Shields, Chita Rivera, Vanessa Williams and more from Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.

A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.