Season Premiere of 'Great Performances' Kicks Off with Hugh Laurie, 9/30

"Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk -- A Celebration of New Orleans Blues," will be the season premiere of "Great Performances" on September 30.

The series continues through December with a series of specials that are also part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival initiative. The programs spotlight the arts in respective cities around the country. The Andrea Bocelli concert in Central Park (on September) recently joined the PBS Arts lineup which, up till then, did not include New York in the mix. "Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park" will air on December 2.

The new calendar year kicks off with "From Vienna: New Year's Celebration" on New Year's Day, with Julie Andrews returning as host.

The schedule is as follows:

SEPTEMBER 2011
Great Performances (Season Premiere)
Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk: A Celebration of New Orleans Blues
(Friday, September 30, 9-10pm)
An American favorite from his role in the hit TV series House, the versatile British actor Hugh Laurie showcases his musical side in an atmospheric special filmed on location in New Orleans. Defying simple categorization, Laurie finds his greatest satisfaction and inspiration from the mixture of blues and jazz that grew out of New Orleans at the beginning of the last century. Let Them Talk is his very personal journey into the heart and soul of that music. Also including documentary and interview segments during Laurie's travels around the city, the program features his performances with blues legends Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas, as well as another fellow countryman similarly inspired by this uniquely American music, Sir Tom Jones. With concert sequences filmed at the historic Latrobe's building in the French Quarter, the musical selections will include New Orleans blues standards along with some forgotten and neglected gems.

OCTOBER 2011
Great Performances
Miami City Ballet (Part of PBS Arts Fall Festival)
(Friday, October 28, 9-10:30pm)
Great Performances shines a primetime spotlight on one of America's finest regional companies, Edward Villella's Miami City Ballet. The program-a trio of signature works by George Balanchine and Twyla Tharp respectively-showcases the company's critically acclaimed performances of Balanchine's "Square Dance" and "Western Symphony," as well as Tharp's "The Golden Section." From their home base in Miami Beach (and utilizing four performing venues in south Florida), Miami City Ballet is now approaching 26 years of accomplished dancing with more than 88 ballets in its repertoire. Company Director Villella is one of America's most celebrated male dancers; the artistry and versatility he exhibited during his long career with the New York City Ballet (1957 to 1975), and in concert appearances across the United States and Europe and on television, did much to popularize the role of the male in dance. In 1985, Villella became the founding artistic director of the Miami City Ballet, which has won worldwide acclaim under his direction. Reviewing the Company performances at New York's City Center in January 2009, Alastair Macaulay wrote in The New York Times, "To watch [Miami City Ballet] dance Balanchine is to see aspects of his choreography more clearly than with any other company today. Energy; crispness; stretch; dance as a demonstration of music rather than as a response to it; the multidimensionality of the body in space: these basic ingredients of the ballet master's style shine bright here."

NOVEMBER 2011

Great Performances
Il Postino from LA Opera (Part of PBS Arts Fall Festival)
(Friday, November 25, 9-11:30pm)
The late Mexican composer Daniel Catán's (Rappaccini Daughter, Florencia en el Amazonas, Salsipuedes) has adapted the popular 1994 film Il Postino as an opera, which was premiered by LA Opera in October 2010. Based on a novel by Antonio Skármeta, Il Postino recounts the fictionalized story of Mario, a fisherman on a Mediterranean island whose life is transformed by the arrival of exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Pressed in to servIce To deliver Neruda's mail, the newly ordained "postman" blossoms under Neruda's tutelage and develops a passion for poetry that serves him well in a new romance. Written especially for the legendary Placido Domingo, the production stars Domingo as Neruda, with Charles Castronovo as Mario. Directed by Ron Daniels and directed by Grant Gershon, the production also features Amanda Squitieri, Cristina Gallardo-Domâs and Nancy Fabiola-Herrera.

DECEMBER 2011
Great Performances
Andrea Bocelli: Live from Central Park (Part of PBS Arts Fall Festival)
(Friday, December 2)
Superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli takes on one of the biggest stages of his career for a concert in New York City's famed Central Park with the New York Philharmonic. Showcasing his unmistakable soaring vocals, Bocelli sings a variety of classical favorites as well as many of his most popular signature songs. The inspiring performance, recorded live from Central Park with an audience of over 75,000 fans, will also feature special guests from the worlds of opera and popular music. This concert has something to delight every music lover, from the casual listener to the opera devotée.

Great Performances
The Little Mermaid from San Francisco Ballet (Part of PBS Arts Fall Festival) (Friday, December 16, 9-11:30pm)
John Neumeier-the American-born Chief Choreographer for Hamburg Ballet-blends dance, dramatic storytelling and spectacle into a stunning interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fable. With choreography, sets and costumes all by Neumeier, this ballet-as much theater as it is dance-reveals the depths of the choreographer's imagination. And it demands the heights of artistry from the dancers, who must venture into deeply emotional terrain in order to convey the ballet's full meaning. Created for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2005 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth and featuring a score by acclaimed young composer Lera Auerbach, San Francisco Ballet received Neumeier's rare permission to present the American premiere in March 2010, which was met with ecstatic audience response. San Francisco Ballet prima ballerina Yuan Yuan Tan (star of past Dance in America SFB productions as Lar Lubovitch's Othello and The Nutcracker) gives the performance of her career in the title role.

 

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