Broadway on PBS

News and Quick Comments

Broadway time is coming, on PBS and CBS

For TV viewers, the Broadway season is coming up.
Well, maybe it’s a mini-season – five busy weeks, when Broadway-type shows get the focus. That starts May 10 with “Hamlet” on PBS … continues with three Friday concerts … then wraps up June 16, with the Tony Awards, which have just announced their nominations. And it includes some interesting crossovers:
— “Purlie Victorious” will be on PBS on May 24, three weeks before its shot at a Tony for best play revival.
— Audra McDonald (shown here), the all-time Tony champ, will be in two of the PBS specials. She has a solo concert May 17, then joins others May 31 for “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 80th Anniversary.” McDonald is the only person to win six Tonys in competetive acting categories; Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris each won five plus an honorary one. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 30, 2024
News and Quick Comments

PBS plans a Broadway-style surge

PBS continues its solo mission of putting Broadway-type shows on TV.
There’s a small sign of that now, when stations air “An Evening with Lerner and Lehrer” during their pledge drive. (See a separate piece here, under “stories.” A bigger package comes in May, with specials on three Fridays.
Two of those shows were done last year, during a slowdown in the pandemic – a Sutton Foster musical in London (shown here) and an outdoor comedy in New York. The other is a documentary. The shows, under the “Great Performances” banner, are: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 2, 2022
Stories

Burst of Broadway brightens PBS

Each year, PBS gives us a brief burst of Broadway.
For several Fridays, it has a mix of musicals and plays and such. Most years, that’s important for those of us who live far from New York; this year – no Broadway, no tours – it’s important for everyone.
That starts Friday, with James Corden in a wild comedy. It follows with a documentary … a musical rerun … and a Lea Salonga (shown here) concert, peppered with Broadway and movie hits.
There are flaws here and there. The comedy and the musical both suffer from weak scripts; one is salvaged (mostly) by gifted actors, the other by rousing, Irving Berlin songs. But the documentary is extraordinary – a rich, 56-year, six-nation journey. And Salonga is magnificent. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 4, 2020