Great Performances

History

The series began as New York Playhouse on October 7, 1972, with a production of Antigone. 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 productions; its first original production was Enemies. In 1974, WNET added The Great Performance, a series of classical concerts. In 1976, Great Performances became the umbrella title, with the music section named Music in America and a third section, Dance in America, added.

The first Dance in America episode, "Sue's Leg: Remembering the Thirties", featured choreography by Twyla Tharp, and later episodes featured performers such as Mikhail Baryshnikov. Recent Dance in America programs include the Emmy-winning 2005 production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, 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, repurposed from Fathom Events films.

Repeat guest hosts have included Walter Cronkite, Julie Andrews, Whoopi Goldberg, and Hugh Bonneville. Major underwriters have included The National Endowment for the Arts, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS viewers, Exxon, Martin Marietta, Texaco, Deluxe, Duracell, Ernst & Young, Chase Manhattan Bank, and UBS. In 2009, new theme music by John Williams was introduced. On October 18, 2013, the series celebrated its 40th anniversary with the episode "Great Performances 40th Anniversary Celebration", taped at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in November 2012 and dedicated to the memory of Phil Ramone.

Critical reception

Great Performances has received generally positive reviews from television critics. Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant called it "The classiest thing on TV". Ryan Berenz of Channel Guide Magazine wrote of the episode "Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert" that "Annie Lennox brings the house down". Linda Winer of Newsday called the episode "Billy Elliot" "As good as it gets". Melanie McFarland of Salon.com called the episode "Hamilton's America" "Enthralling [and] uplifting". Marissa Martinelli of Slate called the episode "An American in Paris" "spectacular".