The WORST episodes of Great Performances
Every episode of Great Performances ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Great Performances!
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 - Cyrano de Bergerac
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/6/1974
#2 - 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.
#3 - Moby Dick From San Francisco Opera
Season 41 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/2013
#4 - 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.
#5 - Pavarotti: A Voice for the Ages
Season 41 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/6/2013
#6 - Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park
Season 39 - Episode 30 - Aired 12/2/2011
The program: La Forza del Destino Ouverture Alan Gilbert, New York Philharmonic “La donna ė mobile” (Rigoletto) Andrea Bocelli “Di quella pira” (Il Trovatore) Andrea Bocelli “Va Tosca! (Te Deum)” (Tosca) Bryn Terfel, Choir “Ave Maria ‘Ellens dritter Gesang’” Andrea Bocelli “Vicino a te s’acqueta” (Andrea Chenier) Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez “Au fond du temple saint” (Les Pêcheurs de Perles) Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel “O Soave Fanciulla” (La Bohème) Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende “Libiano ne’lieti calici” (La Traviata) Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende, Choir “Home on the Range” Bryn Terfel, Choir “En Aranjuez con tu amor” Andrea Bocelli, Nicola Benedetti (violin) “’O Sole Mio” Andrea Bocelli, Choir “Once Upon a Time in the West” Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Chris Botti (trumpet) “Volare” Andrea Bocelli, David Foster “The Prayer” Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, David Foster “New York, New York” Andrea Bocelli, Tony Bennett “Amazing Grace” Andrea Bocelli, Choir “Time to Say Goodbye” Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez, Choir “Nessun Dorma” (Turandot) (encore) Andrea Bocelli, Choir Bocelli’s performance was the latest in a rich tradition of memorable free concerts in Central Park which, over the years, has included such notable performers as Barbra Streisand, Simon and Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Garth Brooks, Bob Marley and the Wailers, and Bon Jovi.
#7 - The Rimers of Eldritch
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/4/1972
A backwater Iowa town is in ethical turmoil after the sexual assult of a teenage girl and murder trial.
#8 - Hogan's Goat
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/12/1973
#9 - Enemies
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/23/1974
Maxim Gorky’s drama about social unrest in prerevolutionary Russia, performed by members of the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center and directed by Ellis Rabb. With Peter Donat, Frances Sternhagen, Carrie Nye, Kate Reid, Susan Sharkey, and Mr. Rabb.
#10 - June Moon
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/30/1974
The 1929 comedy by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner. Marks the acting debut of the composer Stephen Sondheim. Also features Jack Cassidy, Estelle Parsons, and Kevin McCarthy. Bert Shevelove directs.
#11 - Great Performances' 40th Anniversary Celebration
Season 41 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/18/2013
#12 - Antigone
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/13/1974
#13 - Bernstein's Mass
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/27/1974
#14 - Paradise Lost
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/6/1974
#15 - In Fashion
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/13/1974
#16 - Feasting With Panthers
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/27/1974
#17 - A Memory of Two Mondays
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/3/1974
#18 - The Contractor
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/10/1974
#19 - Bach's Mass in B Minor
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/12/1974
#20 - Ceremony of Innocence
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/17/1974
#21 - Dancing at Jacob's Pillow: Never Stand Still
Season 40 - Episode 23 - Aired 7/26/2013
Archival footage, performances and interviews with choreographers and dancers at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Mass.
#22 - The Paul Taylor Dance Company in Paris
Season 40 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/3/2013
#23 - Great Performances at the Met: La Clemenza di Tito
Season 40 - Episode 17 - Aired 5/5/2013
#24 - Great Performances at the Met: Un Ballo in Maschera
Season 40 - Episode 18 - Aired 5/12/2013
#25 - Great Performances at the Met: Rigoletto
Season 40 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/17/2013
Director Michael Mayer makes his Metropolitan Opera debut with Verdi's "Rigoletto," a new production that moves the setting of the story to the Las Vegas strip circa 1960.