SONDHEIM! THE BIRTHDAY CONCERT
Screening at NYIT
Auditorium November 1, 2010
New York, NY— A world
premiere screening of the Sondheim: The Birthday Concert
was held at the NYIT Auditorium on November 1, 2010 and
attended by cast, crew and friends. The star-studded
event, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert,
celebrating the 80th birthday of the Broadway
and film legend Stephen Sondheim with performances of
his music and songs by some of the world’s biggest
talents, will make its debut on PBS stations across the
country on November 24th, thanks to the Emmy
Award-winning producer Ellen M. Krass and multiple Tony
Award-winning co-producers Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie
Comley in association with Thirteen/WNET and Image
Entertainment. The production, which is hosted by David
Hyde Pierce, will air at 9PM ET (check local listings).
Originally
presented by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln
Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on March 15th and
March 16th, 2010, Sondheim! The Birthday
Concert includes show-stopping numbers by Patti
LuPone, Audra McDonald, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette
Peters, Donna Murphy, Michael Cerveris, Elaine Stritch,
Nathan Gunn, and many more. Led by world-renowned
conductor Paul Gemignani and Emmy-nominated director
Lonny Price, the evening includes songs and orchestral
pieces from Sondheim musical theater favorites such as
Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd,
Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George,
Passion, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,
and Anyone Can Whistle, along with a suite
from music he wrote for the film Reds, which has
never before been performed live.
Sondheim! The
Birthday Concert is the third television
co-production of Ellen M. Krass Productions, Stewart F.
Lane, and Bonnie Comley in association with Thirteen/WNET
and Image Entertainment. The first two were Cyrano
de Bergerac (2009) and Company (2008), both
for PBS’s “Great Performances” both of which received
Emmy nominations. The only continuing primetime
performance showcase on American television, “Great
Performances” presents a diverse programming portfolio
of the performing arts. With its programs garnering 64
Emmy Awards and four George Foster Peabody Awards, the
series has received every major television honor.
The DVDs for
Cyrano de Bergerac (2009), Company: A Musical
Comedy (2008) and Sondheim: The Birthday Concert
(2010) are available from Image Entertainment at
www.image-entertainment.com