The Best Episodes of Great Performances Season 36

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   8.6/10(543 votes)

   #1 - Stevie Wonder: Live at Last

   S36:E76/1/2009

   Wonder rocketed to stardom at age 12 when he was signed to Motown Records as “Little Stevie Wonder”. Over nearly four decades, Wonder has reinvigorated the music scene with his unique sound, produced nine number one records and won a total of 22 Grammy Awards – and there is no end in sight for the successful superstar.

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2. 

   8.5/10(24 votes)

   #2 - Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration: Live from Madison Square Garden

   S36:E97/30/2009

   With a career spanning more than half a century, renowned folk artist, political activist, and avid environmentalist, Pete Seeger, turned 90 in May of 2009. In honor of the milestone birthday, a multi-generational roster of artists, whose music has been shaped by Seeger’s vision, gathered at Madison Square Garden on May 3 to celebrate his lifetime achievement.

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3. 

   8.4/10(55 votes)

   #3 - Domingo, Netrebko & Villazón: Three Stars in Vienna

   S36:E312/5/2008

   From its opening vocal salvo, Domingo’s thrilling account of Lehar’s “Gern hab ich die Frau’n gekuesst” from Paganini, through Netrebko’s swirling Gypsy rendition of “Heia in den Bergen” (from Emmerich Kálmán’s Die Csárdásfürstin) to Villazón’s heart-breaking “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (Lehar’s Land of Smiles), the program is a welcome reminder of the glittering lost world of operetta.

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4. 

   8.3/10(109 votes)

   #4 - Hitman: David Foster & Friends

   S36:E211/29/2008

   Hitman: David Foster & Friends features Foster himself presiding center stage at the keyboard. The evening is a virtual jukebox worth of songs written by and/or produced by him. Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and brother Kevon offer “I Swear;” Brian McKnight revisits Earth, Wind and Fire’s “After the Love Has Gone;” former Chicago front man Peter Cetera gets down with “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,”

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5. 

   7.8/10(27 votes)

   #5 - Cyrano de Bergerac

   S36:E41/7/2009

   David Leveaux’s stylish production, with sumptuous costumes and sets by Gregory Gale and Tom Pye respectively, remains true to Rostand’s 1897 heartbreaker of a play, bursting with swashbuckling gascons and duplicitous noblemen, fops and ruffians. Its tale of the eponymous philosopher-swordsman (Kline), who pines for his beautiful cousin Roxane (Garner), yet is too ashamed of his large nose.

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6. 

   7.6/10(18 votes)

   #6 - Chess in Concert

   S36:E86/17/2009

   Wicked’s Idina Menzel and Rent’s Adam Pascal join Great Performances favorite, internationally renowned vocalist Josh Groban in a spectacular London concert revival of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ 1986 cult musical Chess. Featuring diamond-sharp lyrics by Tim Rice (Evita, The Lion King), and the hit-filled production (“One Night in Bangkok,” “I Know Him So Well,” “The Anthem”).

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7. 

   3.5/10(4 votes)

   #7 - King Lear

   S36:E53/25/2009

   2009 Emmy Nominee Ian McKellen recreates his recent stage performance of Shakespeare's tragic monarch in a special television adaptation. Directed by Trevor Nunn, the telecast includes nearly all the original cast members of the sold-out Royal Shakespeare Company production that premiered in Stratford-Upon-Avon in April 2007.

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8. 

   0.0/10(0 votes)

   #8 - Pavarotti: A Life in Seven Arias

   S36:E19/10/2008

   From soccer-playing son of a Modena, Italy, baker to onstage partner of "La Stupenda," world-renowned soprano Joan Sutherland, from media darling to truly one-of-a-kind superstar, it is a story writ as large as the great one himself.

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9. 

   0.0/10(0 votes)

   #9 - Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden

   S36:E65/28/2009

   Long-time friends and former band mates Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood team up for a once-in-a-lifetime reunion concert in Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden. The special telecast captures Clapton and Winwood at New York’s Madison Square Garden performing songs from their short-lived Blind Faith collaboration.

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10. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Episode 10

    S36:E1011/27/2005

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11. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Episode 11

    S36:E1111/30/2005

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12. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Episode 12

    S36:E1212/21/2005

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