The BEST episodes of Great Performances season 41

#1 - Barrymore

Season 41 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/31/2014

Christopher Plummer recreates his Tony Award-winning role playing the legendary actor John Barrymore in the film adaptation of William Luce's Broadway play. Set in 1942, the production centers on the acclaimed—and notorious— John Barrymore, capturing the star in the final months of his life as he struggles to prepare for a audition to stage a revival of his 1920 Broadway triumph, Richard III.

#2 - The Hollow Crown: Richard II

Season 41 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/2013

King Richard is called upon to settle a dispute between his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, and Thomas Mowbray. Richard calls for a duel but then halts it just before swords clash. Both men are banished from the realm. Richard visits John of Gaunt, Bolingbroke’s Father, who, in the throes of death, reprimands the King. After seizing Gaunt’s money and lands, Richard leaves for wars against the rebels in Ireland. Bolingbroke returns to claim back his inheritance. Supported by his allies, Northumberland and the Duke of York, Bolingbroke takes Richard prisoner and lays claim to the throne.

#3 - The Hollow Crown: Henry IV - Part 1

Season 41 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/2013

The heir to the throne, Prince Hal, defies his father, King Henry, by spending his time at Mistress Quickly's tavern in the company of the dissolute Falstaff and his companions. The King is threatened by a rebellion led by Hal’s rival, Hotspur, Hotspur’s father Northumberland, and his uncle Worcester. In the face of this danger to the state, Prince Hal joins his father to defeat the rebels at the Battle of Shrewsbury and Kill Hotspur in hand-to-hand combat.

#4 - The Hollow Crown: Henry IV - Part 2

Season 41 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/2013

In the aftermath of the Battle of Shrewsbury, Northumberland learns of the death of his son. The Lord Chief Justice attempts, on behalf of the increasingly frail King, to separate Falstaff from Prince Hal. The rebels continue to plot insurrection. Falstaff is sent to recruit soldiers and takes his leave of his mistress, Doll Tearsheet. The rebel forces are overcome. This brings comfort to the dying King, who is finally reconciled to his son. Falstaff rushes to Hal’s coronation with expectations of high office, only to be rebuffed by the former prince who has now become King Henry V.

#5 - The Hollow Crown: Henry V

Season 41 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/11/2013

Henry V has settled onto the throne and has the makings of a fine King. The French Ambassador brings a challenge from the French Dauphin. Inspired by his courtiers, including Exeter and York, Henry swears that he will, with all force, answer this challenge. The Chorus tells of England’s preparations for war and Henry’s army sails for France. After Exeter’s diplomacy is rebuffed by the French King, Henry lays a heavy siege and captures Harfleur. The French now take Henry’s claims seriously and challenge the English army to battle at Agincourt. Henry and his meager forces prove victorious against all odds.

#6 - Great Performances' 40th Anniversary Celebration

Season 41 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/18/2013

#7 - Stephen Sondheim's 'Company' With the New York Philharmonic

Season 41 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/8/2013

Great Performances presents the New York Philharmonic’s concert staging of legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical, “Company,” with an all-star cast. The groundbreaking musical premiered in 1970 and had Broadway revivals in 1995 and 2006. “Company” centers on Bobby, a confirmed bachelor, celebrating his 35th birthday with his ten closest friends, who happen to be five couples. Captured from the stage of Avery Fisher Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

#8 - Moby Dick From San Francisco Opera

Season 41 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/2013

#9 - Rodgers & Hammerstein's 'Oklahoma'

Season 41 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/2013

Hugh Jackman returns in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” in time for the landmark musical’s 70th anniversary. Jackman — who recently starred in the hit film version of “Les Miserables” — can be seen again in his breakout musical role as cowpoke Curly in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!,” Friday, November 15 at 9 p.m. on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.

#10 - Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn

Season 41 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/29/2013

Singer Barbra Streisand performs at the Barclays Center, marking her first concert in Brooklyn, N.Y., since her childhood years. Special guests include Il Volo, Chris Botti and Jason Gould.

#11 - Pavarotti: A Voice for the Ages

Season 41 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/6/2013

#12 - National Theatre 50 Years on Stage

Season 41 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/14/2014

The National Theatre opened its doors in 1963 with Laurence Olivier as its first director. Eight hundred productions later, the venerable institution celebrates its 50th anniversary with a starry cast of theatrical legends to applaud the remarkable people and plays that have made the NT one of the most cherished and creative wellspring’s of international theater: from premieres of plays by Tom Stoppard, Peter Shaffer, Harold Pinter, Alan Bennett and David Hare, to outstanding revivals of classic plays and musicals. Directed by the NT’s Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner, the star-studded evening of live performance also features rare glimpses from the archive spotlighting many of the most celebrated actors who have performed on the National’s stages over the past five decades.

#13 - Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night 2014

Season 41 - Episode 15 - Aired 8/22/2014

Conductor Christoph Eschenbach leads the Vienna Philharmonic in its traditional open-air concert at Austria's Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. Pianist Lang Lang is featured on Richard Strauss' "Burleske" and Mozart's "Turkish March."

#14 - Rejoice With Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot

Season 41 - Episode 14 - Aired 8/28/2014

Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and renowned cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot join forces for a musical exploration of liturgical and traditional works in new arrangements for both chamber orchestra and klezmer settings. The program of songs are alternately joyful and intensely moving. Perlman provides elucidating and historical commentary as well as humor.

#15 - Great Performances at the Met: Cosi Fan Tutte

Season 41 - Episode 13 - Aired 8/24/2014

Two men decide to test the faithfulness of the women they are going to marry by plotting to seduce each other's fiancee.