Ted Sperling

A kaleidoscopic collection of musical genres, Myths and Hymns explores the nature of faith and longing in a secular world, with 23 short musical films illuminating the search for answers through Flight, Work, Love, and Faith.

A quick witted young man from the streets of South Central must rush a lily-white USC fraternity to recover a stash of stolen money.

5.1/10

PBS Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of the Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.

9.2/10

Broadway and concert star Audra McDonald rings in the new year with a program of cherished song standards by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, and others, backed by members of the New York Philharmonic conducted by Ted Sperling.

Audra McDonald, Tony Award-winner for Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime, appears live in concert from the Donmar Warehouse in London. In a program that blends the old and the new, McDonald presents ballads by Gershwin, Arlen, and Kern, along with songs by the next generation of music theatre composers. Her performance demonstrates why The New York Times has declared, "She has the vocal power and charisma to make you believe in a better musical future."

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat is one of the great paintings of the world, and in "Sunday in the Park with George," book writer James Lapine and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim bring a story based on the work brilliantly to life. While the painting depicts people gathered on an island in the Seine, the musical goes beyond simply describing their lives. It is an exploration of art, of love, of commitment. Seurat connected dots to create images; Lapine and Sondheim use connection as the heart of all our relationships. Winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

8.4/10

Film of the legendary 1985 concert performance presented by the New York Philharmonic of Stephen Sondheim's classic musical at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The plot of the musical centers around a reunion of showgirls who appeared in an annual Follies extravaganza when it was staged between the wars.

8.2/10