PBS to Present Sondheim: The Birthday Concert as Part of Great Performances on November 24

As previously reported, PBS will present the New York Philharmonic’s starry Stephen Sondheim birthday celebration, Sondheim: The Birthday Concert, as part of its Great Performances series. The staged concert, which feted the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner’s 80th birthday on March 15 and 16, 2010, will air on November 24 nationwide. Sondheim turned 80 on March 22, 2010.

Hosted by Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce with direction by Lonny Price and musical direction by longtime Sondheim collaborator Paul Gemignani, the evening of Sondheim’s work starred Laura Benanti, Matt Cavenaugh, Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Jenn Colella, Jason Danieley, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Gunn, George Hearn, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, John McMartin, Donna Murphy, Gillian Murphy, Laura Osnes, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Bobby Steggert, Elaine Stritch, Jim Walton, Chip Zien and American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel. The show also filled Avery Fisher Hall with dozens of current Broadway board-trotters for an eleventh-hour finale of “Sunday.”

PBS has yet to determine whether the concert will be a one or two-hour broadcast, though editing is expected. Songs featured in the original event included “Not a Day Goes By” performed by Peters, “Ladies Who Lunch” performed by LuPone, “I’m Still Here” performed by Stritch, “Losing My Mind” performed by Mazzie, “The Glamorous Life” performed by McDonald and “Pretty Women” performed by Cerveris and Hearn, among many others.