Ramin Karimloo, Anna Deavere Smith, Ben Whishaw, et al. to Be Featured in PBS’ 2012 Great Performances

PBS has announced its winter/spring Great Performances programming.

Among the offerings that will be seen as part of the series is Anna Deavere Smith’s one-woman show that examines the state of health care in the U.S., Let Me Down Easy, and the Broadway musical Memphis. Also scheduled for broadcast during the first half of 2012 are The Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall, the 25th anniversary concert of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, starring Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess; and The Divine Right: Part One, which will feature film versions of Shakespeare’s Richard II and Henry IV, Part One, featuring Patrick Stewart, David Suchet, and Ben Whishaw.

Great Performances in the coming year will also feature a broadcast of Michael Tilson Thomas’ The Thomashefksys, a tribute to Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, stars of the Yiddish Theatre, featuring Shuler Hensley and Judy Blazer; and a concert by the LA Phil celebrating the music of George Gershwin.

The operas that will be aired during the sixth season of Great Performances at The Met have also been announced. The schedule will include broadcasts of Anna Bolena, Don Giovanni, Satyagraha, Reelinda, Faust, The Enchanted Island, Ernani, Manon, and La Traviata. In addition The Met’s new production of Wagner’s The Ring Cycle – comprised of Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung – will be show as part of the Great Performances at The Met series.

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