The BEST episodes of Great Performances season 44
Every episode of Great Performances season 44, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Great Performances season 44!
Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on PBS since 1972. The show is produced by WNET in New York City. It is one of the longest running performing arts anthologies on television, second only to Hallmark Hall of Fame. Great Performances presents concerts, ballet, opera, an occasional documentary, and plays. The series has also won many television awards, including an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and an Image Award, with nods from the Directors Guild of America and the Cinema Audio Society.
#1 - Gypsy
Season 44 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/11/2016
Imelda Staunton stars as Mother Rose in this London revival of the classic Broadway show.
Watch Now:Amazon#2 - The Hollow Crown: Henry VI, Part I
Season 44 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/11/2016
The King is dead and England is in crisis. War rages with the French and divisions within the English court threaten the crown. Young Henry VI causes outrage by marrying Margaret of Anjou, forcing an unwanted truce; the scene is set for Civil War.
Watch Now:Amazon#3 - Hamilton's America
Season 44 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/21/2016
Hamilton’s America, the documentary film that brings history to vivid life through the lens of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pop culture Broadway phenomenon Hamilton – winner of 11 Tony Awards® and the Pulitzer Prize – explodes onto THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, as the season premiere of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.
Watch Now:Amazon
#4 - Great Performances at the Met: L'Amour de Loin
Season 44 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/1/2017
One of the most discussed, praised, and successful of recent operas, L’Amour de Loin is a seductively beautiful tale of love’s unfathomable nature. The idea of impossible love was central to the explosion of poetry in Europe in the 12th century, and it has remained prominent in all the arts ever since. Similarly, death, for the poetic soul, is both an end and a culmination, an idea that the medium of opera has explored with unique insight throughout its history. L’Amour de Loin explores this same artistic territory in a way that is sensitive to both the sources of the medieval legend on which it is based and to the contemporary ear.
Watch Now:Amazon#5 - Shakespeare Live! From the Royal Shakespeare Company
Season 44 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/23/2016
The gala celebratory event, hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate, features Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Rufus Wainwright, Joseph Fiennes, and many more, saluting the Bard across multiple genres.
Watch Now:Amazon#6 - Great Performances at the Met: Nabucco
Season 44 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/7/2017
The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met as the title king in Nabucco, under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine on Great Performances at the Met Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Barton is the heroic Fenena. Russell Thomas is Ismaele, nephew to the King of Jerusalem and Dmitry Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people. The opera premiered at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1842. The success of Verdi’s third opera, a stirring drama about the fall of ancient Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco), catapulted the 28-year-old composer to international fame. The music and Verdi himself were subsumed into a surge of patriotic fervor culminating in the foundation of the modern nation of Italy. Specifically, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (“Va, pensiero”), in which the Israelites express their longing for their homeland, came to stand for the country’s aspirations for unity and that exciting era in Italian history, the Risorgimento, or “Resurgence.”
Watch Now:Amazon#7 - Andrea Bocelli – Landmarks Live in Concert
Season 44 - Episode 22 - Aired 6/30/2017
Andrea Bocelli - Landmarks Live in Concert - A Great Performances Special continues the new Landmarks arts strand on Friday, June 30 at 10 p.m. on PBS (Check local listings.) Landmarks Live in Concert special features an artist or band performing at a legendary destination of personal significance. The series is hosted by, Chad Smith, the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers who conducts one-on-one interviews with the artists exploring their favorite locations around each Landmark.
Watch Now:Amazon#8 - Great Performances at the Met: Der Rosenkavalier
Season 44 - Episode 26 - Aired 9/3/2017
Renée Fleming performs one of her greatest signature roles, The Marschallin, in Der Rosenkavalier on the season finale of Great Performances at the Met. Elīna Garanča plays Octavian, the impulsive young title character. The opera was conducted by Sebastian Weigle and directed by Robert Carsen.
#9 - Great Performances at the Met: La Traviata
Season 44 - Episode 25 - Aired 8/25/2017
Sonya Yoncheva and Michael Fabiano play lovers Violetta and Alfredo in this revival of Willy Decker's staging of Verdi's ``La Traviata.''
#10 - Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2017
Season 44 - Episode 24 - Aired 8/18/2017
The world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for its 14th open-air concert, in Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. Christoph Eschenbach conducts a varied program of works from “Sleeping Beauty” to “Hansel and Gretel” to “Harry Potter.”
#11 - Great Performances at the Met: Eugene Onegin
Season 44 - Episode 23 - Aired 8/13/2017
Anna Netrebko stars as Tatiana, the naïve heroine of Tchaikovsky’s opera, with Peter Mattei as the title character who rejects her. Alexey Dolgov is Onegin’s friend-turned-rival, Lenski, with Elena Maximova as Tatiana’s sister, Olga, and Štefan Kocán as Prince Gremin. Robin Ticciati conducts.
#12 - Great Performances at the Met: Rusalka
Season 44 - Episode 21 - Aired 6/18/2017
Kristine Opolais stars in her first Met performance as the title character in Antonin Dvořák's Rusalka. The critically acclaimed new staging, directed by Mary Zimmerman and conducted by Mark Elder.
#13 - The Hollow Crown: Richard III
Season 44 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/25/2016
ichard, the most notorious of Shakespeare’s kings, manipulates and betrays his way through the court on a bloodthirsty and ruthless path to the throne. But after Richard’s defeat at the battle of Bosworth Field, the Houses of Lancaster and York—the red rose and the white—are united, bringing to an end the Wars of the Roses and long tumultuous period of civil strife.
#14 - The Hollow Crown: Henry VI, Part II
Season 44 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/18/2016
Bitter rivalries erupt into the Wars of the Roses. The feeble King Henry is overshadowed by Queen Margaret and her faction of Lancastrian Lords, his reign further undermined by disaffected nobles supporting the House of York. Battle and bloodshed ensues and the Yorkists triumph. Edward IV takes the throne, but his youngest brother Richard has his eyes firmly on the crown.
#15 - Grammy Salute to Music Legends
Season 44 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/14/2016
A concert pays tribute to the 2016 Grammy special merit award recipients Ruth Brown, Celia Cruz, Earth, Wind & Fire, Jefferson Airplane, Herbie Hancock, Linda Ronstadt and Run-DMC.
#16 - Alicia Keys - Landmarks Live in Concert
Season 44 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/20/2017
Alicia Keys – Landmarks Live in Concert kicks off a new arts strand within the Great Performances series, beginning with Alicia Keys. In her episode, Keys performs all over her native city of New York in various locations including Harlem's world famous Apollo Theater. Chad Smith, the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, serves as host for the series and conducts one-on-one interviews with the artists exploring their favorite locations around each Landmark.
#17 - Young Men
Season 44 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/6/2017
Young Men, a World War I-inspired feature-length dance film commemorating the Great War’s centennial, comes to Great Performances Friday, April 7 at 9PM on PBS. Young Men was filmed on location in Northern France with the BalletBoyz dance company.
#18 - Great Performances at the Met: Tristan und Isolde
Season 44 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/29/2017
Simon Rattle conducts a new production of Wagner's ``Tristan und Isolde''; with Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton.
#19 - Great Performances at the Met: Don Giovanni
Season 44 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/19/2017
Charismatic baritone Simon Keenlyside stars as the title character in Don Giovanni, bringing his acclaimed interpretation of the role to Great Performances at the Met for the first time. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi conducts Tony Award-winner Michael Grandage’s staging of Mozart’s masterpiece.
#20 - Bel Canto The Opera
Season 44 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/13/2017
The world premiere of Bel Canto the Opera, filmed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, airs on Great Performances. Based on Ann Patchett‘s bestselling 2001 novel (inspired by the Peruvian hostage crisis of 1996-97), the new opera was composed by Jimmy López with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz and curated by legendary soprano Renée Fleming, Lyric’s creative consultant.
#21 - Dudamel Conducts Tangos Under the Stars With the LA Philharmonic
Season 44 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/30/2017
Gustavo Dudamel accents the colors, rhythms, and passion of music by leading composers from Argentina in this invigorating evening under the stars — recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in August.
#22 - From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2017
Season 44 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/1/2017
The Vienna Philharmonic celebrates the New Year with Strauss Family waltzes, accompanied by the Vienna City Ballet; host Julie Andrews.
#23 - New York City Ballet Symphony in C
Season 44 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/24/2017
The New York City Ballet performs two classic ballets by George Balanchine -- Georges Bizet's Symphony in C and Sonatine, set to the music of Maurice Ravel.
#24 - New York City Ballet in Paris
Season 44 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/17/2017
New York City Ballet in Paris opens with Walpurgisnacht Ballet, set to music by Charles Gounod, and originally choreographed for a Paris Opera Ballet production of the opera Faust in 1975. First performed as an independent work by NYCB in 1980, Walpurgisnacht Ballet is a joyful embodiment of classical choreography, ending with a surging finale that sends 24 ballerinas soaring across the stage. The cast for Walpurgisnacht Ballet includes Sara Mearns, Adrian Danchig-Waring, and Lauren Lovette.
#25 - Brad Paisley – Landmarks Live in Concert
Season 44 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/27/2017
In Brad Paisley - Landmarks Live in Concert, the best-selling country artist returns home to perform before a crowd of 35,000 at West Virginia University. The series, in which popular artists perform near landmarks of personal significance, is hosted by Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.