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The Best Episodes of Great Performances Season 41

Every episode of Great Performances Season 41 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Great Performances Season 41!

Binge this in Unknown•Peaking at 9.0/10

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Great Performances Season 41 Episode 1 - Richard II
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Richard II

    S41:E1

    Witness Ben Whishaw’s performance as Richard in this television adaptation of Shakespeare’s play.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 2 - Henry IV Part 1
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - Henry IV Part 1

    S41:E2

    Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston star in the Shakespeare's history play.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 3 - Henry IV Part 2
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Henry IV Part 2

    S41:E3

    Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston star in Shakespeare's history play.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 4 - Henry V
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - Henry V

    S41:E4

    Henry V has settled onto the throne and has the makings of a fine King. The French Ambassador brings a challenge from the French Dauphin. Inspired by his courtiers, including Exeter and York, Henry swears that he will, with all force, answer this challenge. The Chorus tells of England’s preparations for war and Henry’s army sails for France. After Exeter’s diplomacy is rebuffed by the French King, Henry lays a heavy siege and captures Harfleur. The French now take Henry’s claims seriously and challenge the English army to battle at Agincourt. Henry and his meager forces prove victorious against all odds.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 5 - Great Performances 40th Anniversary Celebration
    9.0/10(12 votes)

    #5 - Great Performances 40th Anniversary Celebration

    S41:E5

    In celebration of the series’ 40th anniversary on PBS, a stellar roster of diverse alumni gather to share their stories of what the series has meant to them, with reminiscences and performances by Julie Andrews, Audra McDonald, Don Henley, David Hyde Pierce, Josh Groban, Itzhak Perlman, Peter Martins, Patti Austin and Take 6, Elīna Garanča, and Michael Bublé.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 6 - San Francisco Opera's Moby Dick
    7.9/10(13 votes)

    #6 - San Francisco Opera's Moby Dick

    S41:E6

    Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer’s award-winning opera Moby-Dick will be broadcast on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Friday, November 1, 2013 at 9 p.m. Jay Hunter Morris stars as the obsessive Captain Ahab in Leonard Foglia’s multimedia production with the San Francisco Opera.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 7 - Company with the New York Philharmonic
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Company with the New York Philharmonic

    S41:E7

    The New York Philharmonic’s concert staging of Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical Company includes the all-star cast of Craig Bierko, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Katie Finneran, Neil Patrick Harris, Christina Hendricks, Adam Lazar, Patti LuPone, Jill Paice, Martha Plimpton, Anika Noni Rose, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Jim Walton, and Chryssie Whitehead.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 8 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!"
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!"

    S41:E8

    Directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, and choreographed by Susan Stroman, the acclaimed Royal National Theatre production starring Hugh Jackman in his breakout role as cowpoke Curly reveals the work’s emotional complexity with a fresh approach. The special encore telecast is presented for the first time in high definition.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 9 - Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn

    S41:E9

    The legendary Barbra Streisand makes a historic homecoming to Brooklyn at the new Barclays Center arena, marking the superstar’s first Brooklyn concert since her childhood years.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 10 - Pavarotti: A Voice for the Ages
    7.1/10(12 votes)

    #10 - Pavarotti: A Voice for the Ages

    S41:E10

    This one-hour program airing in late November and December is dedicated to the great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. It includes his performances of “Nessun Dorma” and other beloved arias from La Boheme, Rigoletto and Aida. See Pavarotti in some of his finest performances and in duet with Sting, Bono, Eric Clapton, and The Three Tenors.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 11 - From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2014
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2014

    S41:E11

    Julie Andrews hosts this annual New Year's Day celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic. Daniel Barenboim conducts a program of melodies by the Strauss family and their contemporaries. The City Palace (Stadtpalais Liechtenstein), which has returned to all its former glory after a renovation, is the setting for both of the Vienna State Ballet’s interludes featuring costumes by Vivienne Westwood.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 12 - Great Performanes at the Met: Eugene Onegin
    7.8/10(18 votes)

    #12 - Great Performanes at the Met: Eugene Onegin

    S41:E12

    Tchaikovsky’s romantic tragedy Eugene Onegin, starring Anna Netrebko, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Piotr Beczala, is the season premiere of THIRTEEN’s Great Performances at the Met. This past fall, Anna Netrebko opened her third consecutive Met season — which will mark her ninth Great Performances at the Met broadcast — in her company role debut as Tatiana, the naïve heroine from Pushkin’s classic novel.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 13 - Barrymore
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Barrymore

    S41:E13

    John Barrymore (Christopher Plummer) banters with his line prompter Frank before beginning a rehearsal of "Richard III," in which he tries to remember the lines that once made him famous.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 14 - National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage

    S41:E14

    The National Theatre in London celebrates its 50th anniversary with a cast of theater legends, including Maggie Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Benedict Cumberbatch, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Penelope Wilton and more.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 15 - Sting: The Last Ship
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Sting: The Last Ship

    S41:E15

    Watch highlights from Sting's live performance of "The Last Ship" at the Public Theater in New York City. The 16-time Grammy Award-winning musician and his band perform songs from his new album, "The Last Ship," and from the forthcoming play of the same name in an intimate evening of music and storytelling.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 16 - Great Performances at the Met: The Nose
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Great Performances at the Met: The Nose

    S41:E16

    William Kentridge‘s dazzlingly innovative production of Shostakovich’s shocking, unconventional opera about a beleaguered Russian official and his runaway nose stars Tony Award winner Paulo Szot as Kovalyov, a bureaucrat who awakes one morning to discover that his nose has run away.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 17 - Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs as Dukes of Sept.
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs as Dukes of Sept.

    S41:E17

    Rock & roll royalty Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers) and Boz Scaggs join forces as their own new super group The Dukes of September, paying tribute to the R&B and soul music that inspired them along with fresh, exciting performances of some of their greatest hits.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 18 - Steve Martin and The Sheep Canyon Rangers ft Edie Brickell
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Steve Martin and The Sheep Canyon Rangers ft Edie Brickell

    S41:E18

    See Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers, featuring Edie Brickell, in their first-ever live concert performance to be broadcast on television. Check back for the March 2014 air date. The evening of Martin’s unique blend of comedy and bluegrass took place at the historic Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, California in the fall of 2013.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 19 - Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert

    S41:E19

    Great Performances presents a special encore of highlights from 1992’s star-studded concert tribute to Bob Dylan, the American pop music icon, at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The concert gathered an amazing Who’s Who of performers to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the enigmatic singer-songwriter’s groundbreaking debut album from 1962, "Bob Dylan."

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 20 - Great Performances at the Met: Tosca
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Great Performances at the Met: Tosca

    S41:E20

    Tosca, Puccini’s favorite opera, stars an exceptional trio of singing actors. Acclaimed American soprano Patricia Racette plays the ultimate diva, Floria Tosca, in Luc Bondy‘s production. French tenor Roberto Alagna sings Tosca’s lover, the painter Cavaradossi, and Georgian baritone George Gagnidze is the corrupt, lustful Scarpia.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 21 - The Dave Clark Five and Beyond - Glad All Over
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The Dave Clark Five and Beyond - Glad All Over

    S41:E21

    In the 1960s, the British band The Dave Clark Five achieved a record-breaking 15 consecutive Top 20 U.S. hit singles within two-years — more than any other group in the world except the Beatles. Footage of iconic performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and interviews with Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick and more round out the two-hour film.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 22 - Great Performances at the Met: Falstaff
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Great Performances at the Met: Falstaff

    S41:E22

    Verdi’s brilliant final opera, "Falstaff," is conducted by Metropolitan Opera Music Director James Levine in his first Great Performances at the Met in nearly two years. With Ambrogio Maestri, Angela Meade and Stephanie Blythe, this is the first new Met production of "Falstaff" in 50 years.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 23 - Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

    S41:E23

    Leo's kiss of true love breaks the curse that has held Princess Aurora (Hannah Vassallo) under its spell. After 100 years of sleep, Aurora discovers Leo (Dominic North) has been transformed in order to have eternal life and reunite with her.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 24 - Great Performances at the Met: Rusalka
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Great Performances at the Met: Rusalka

    S41:E24

    Renée Fleming sings one of her signature roles, the title character in Dvořák's Rusalka, an opera about a water spirit's tragic romance with a prince. The story is drawn partly from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a cast that includes Piotr Beczala; Dolora Zajick; Emily Magee; and John Relyea as Rusalka's father, the Water Sprite.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Great Performances Season 41 Episode 25 - Great Performances at the Met: Prince Igor
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Great Performances at the Met: Prince Igor

    S41:E25

    Borodin's Russian epic Prince Igor, performed by the Met for the first time in nearly 100 years. The acclaimed new production by director Dmitri Tcherniakov, in his Met debut, stars Ildar Abdrazakov as the title character, a 12th-century ruler who defended Russia against invading Polovtsian forces.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 41 Ratings Summary

"Richard II" is the best rated episode of "Great Performances" season 41. It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/20/2013. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "Henry IV Part 1".