Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday this past March, a momentous milestone that has been marked in many ways throughout the year, including two New York Philharmonic concerts at Lincoln Center. The New York Times called it "thrilling." That show, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert, is airing on PBS's Great Performances, starting tonight. David Hyde Pierce hosts a stellar cast, including Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti, John McMartin, Michael Cerveris, Patti LuPone, Victoria Clark, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, and many others.
Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday this past March, a momentous milestone that has been marked in many ways throughout the year, including the naming of a Broadway theater in his honor, the recent release of the first-ever book of his collected lyrics, and musical tributes by leading orchestra's in concert hall across the globe. The festivities were launched one week before the composer's birthday, when the New York Philharmonic performed two nights of sold-out concerts of Sondheim's music at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, March 15 and 16. Now, this very special event, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert, is newly available on DVD and Blu-ray and will air on PBS stations across the United States in the latest episode of Great Performances, starting tonight at 9 PM ET.
The concerts, which New York Times music critic Stephen Holden called "thrilling," were hosted by actor David Hyde Pierce and featured performances from Nonesuch artists like Mandy Patinkin and Audra McDonald; vocalists from Nonesuch recordings of his works including Laura Benanti and John McMartin (Into the Woods) and Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone (Sweeney Todd); performers on other celebrated Nonesuch cast recordings, like Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza) and Jason Danieley (Floyd Collins); and such famed interpreters of his music as Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, both of whom went on to star in the current Broadway revival of A Little Night Music. As Holden reported, "The collective gratitude in the house was accompanied by a silent prayer to the powers on high: please, may it never end."
For more information and to find out when and where Sondheim! The Birthday Concert is airing near you, visit pbs.org. You can watch a preview of the show in the video below.
Sondheim will appear at the Public Theater in New York City this Monday for The Public Forum: Sondheim/Kushner, a conversation with playwright Tony Kushner, hosted by Rocco Landesman, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and a producer of shows by both writers. The event is sold out.
To pick up a copy of any of the albums in the Stephen Sondheim Nonesuch catalog, with high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album included at checkout, visit the Nonesuch Store.
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