Next week, PBS offers a very different way to celebrate the holiday season when it airs the Los Angeles Opera's 2007 production of the 1930 Brecht/Weill opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Starting Monday, December 17, Great Performances will broadcast the opera, starring Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone. John Doyle, who directed LuPone in the recent Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, helmed this production of the work, which PBS calls a "savage and lyrical satire told in a highly entertaining blend of opera and raucous music hall songs."

Fans of The Wire in New York City this Thursday may want to head down to J&R Music across from City Hall Park: cast members from the acclaimed HBO show will be on hand to sign copies of the newly released DVDs of Season Four. Slated to be in store on December 13 at 12:30 are Chad Coleman ("Cutty" Wise), Jermaine Crawford ("Dukie" Weems), Julito McCullum (Namond Brice), and Tristan Wilds (Michael Lee).

BroadwayWorld.com and Broadway Beat have released the first of three episodes exploring the journey of Sweeney Todd from Broadway sensation by Stephen Sondheim to Tim Burton–directed big-screen blockbuster starring Johnny Depp. Hosted by Richie Ridge, Broadway Beat is a half-hour show, now in its 16th year, covering the best in New York theater. 

As we reported last week, k.d. lang recently appeared on the UK talk show Parkinson to perform the new song "I Dream of Spring," off her upcoming Nonesuch release, Watershed,
due out in February. You can now watch the performance here.

Singer k.d. lang stopped by the set of the popular British TV talk show Parkinson last Saturday to perform the new song "I Dream of Spring," off her upcoming Nonesuch release, Watershed, due out in February. The show's host, Michael Parkinson, a mainstay in the UK for more than 35 years, will be retiring at the end of the year. As the series winds down, he's asked his favorite guests to come back on for the last few shows, and k.d. is among them.

There's no doubt about what New York Post writer Adam Buckman will be doing on February 25: watching ABC's TV-movie version of A Raisin in the Sun, starring Audra McDonald and her co-stars from the play's 2004 Broadway revival: Sean "Diddy" Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Sanaa Lathan. Buckman calls the movie "so rewarding that it figures to be the cultural high point of the current TV season." After attending a private screening of the film, Buckman was "blown away," calling the performances "top-drawer."

The LA Opera production of Brecht/Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, which starred Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone and ran through February 2007, will air December 17 as part of the Great Performances series on New York's PBS station Thirteen/WNET. It will be available on DVD the following day. The production was directed by John Doyle, who also helmed the recent Broadway revivals of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (starring LuPone) and Company.

Playbill.com reports that ABC's Private Practice, the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off starring Audra McDonald, has been picked up for a full season. The show, which airs Wednesday nights at 9 PM EST, will add nine new episodes for a total of 22 shows this season. Audra was among the performers last night at a gala benefit for the Motion Picture & Television Fund hosted by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman. The MPTF offers retirement care and social services for people in the entertainment industry.

Tune in to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight on NBC to hear Wilco perform “Either Way” from their latest record, Sky Blue Sky. "Either Way" is featured in a new Volkswagen commercial, along with several other Wilco tracks.

The Black Keys will perform live on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Thursday, January 11. Tune in around 12:30 AM EST.

Audra McDonald will guest co-host The View tomorrow, September 26, and will perform “Bein’ Green” from her latest Nonesuch album, Build a Bridge, at the end of the show. A profile of McDonald aired on Saturday, September 23, on NPR's All Things Considered. Additionally, NPR has prepared a special webpage, with pictures, extra interview audio, and a few songs from the new album.

Adam Guettel's six-time Tony Award-winning show The Light in the Piazza will be broadcast live on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center tomorrow night, Thursday June 15. Nonesuch released the show's cast album in 2005.