As part of its #PBSForTheArts programming – a multiplatform campaign that began last spring to celebrate the arts in America – PBS will air the new documentary film Reopening: The Broadway Revival in its popular Great Performances series. The broadcast will premiere on Tuesday, January 18, at 9 pm, with an encore presentation on Friday, January 21, at 10 pm.
Directed by Cody Williams and hosted by Frank DiLella – a three-time New York Emmy-winning journalist and host of “On Stage” on Spectrum News NY1 – the intimate music-filled production pulls the curtain back on some of Broadway’s most popular shows, revealing how the New York theater industry undertook the monumental process of turning the lights back on after its longest hiatus in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Told by a roster of Broadway’s biggest stars, the program offers exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, with access to such shows as Wicked, Aladdin, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Jagged Little Pill, The Phantom of the Opera, Waitress, and others, following each production’s journey as cast and crew reunite, rehearse, and re-stage for their long-anticipated reopening nights.
“When Broadway reopened this past fall, our cameras were granted unprecedented access to these incredible shows and the wonderful actors who bring them to life eight times a week. This hour will take viewers on a journey even we never saw coming,” said Stu Weiss, Chief Creative Officer at Studio City/PXL and Executive Producer of the film.
The featured line-up of Broadway luminaries includes 2021 Tony Award winner for Best Actress in a Musical Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), 2021 Tony Award winner for Best Actor in a Musical Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge), Tony and Emmy nominee Sara Bareilles (Waitress), Michael James Scott (Aladdin), Tony nominee Elizabeth Stanley (Jagged Little Pill), Alexandra Billings (Wicked), Jawan M. Jackson (Ain’t Too Proud), Jeanna de Waal (Diana: The Musical), Rachel Tucker (Come From Away), Tony nominee Norm Lewis (Chicken and Biscuits), and Olivier Award winner Sharon D. Clarke (Caroline, or Change), along with Tony nominee Andrew Rannells, Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth, Tony winners Lea Salonga, Chita Rivera, Laura Benanti, and David Rockwell, and the legendary award-winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
“Great Performances remains committed to telling the survival and now revival stories of how artists have been weathering the pandemic,” said Executive Producer David Horn. “After this long performance shutdown, the return of Broadway is a beacon of hope for American arts and culture.”
Great Performances – Reopening: The Broadway Revival airs on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at 9 pm, and Friday, January 21, 2022, at 10 pm, on your local PBS channel. Concurrent with the TV broadcast, the program is available for streaming on all station-branded PBS platforms, including www.PBS.org and the PBS Video App, which can be accessed on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO.
