In celebration of the 2017 Tony Awards—Broadway’s biggest night on television—Playbill has partnered with The Paley Center to invite fans to relive some of the most iconic musical theatre performances ever captured on screen (some you didn’t even know existed!), as well as a 1994 concert celebration of Jerry Herman, back on Broadway this season with a revival of Hello, Dolly!
The Sunday screenings in both New York and Los Angeles run through May 28. Screenings are free and open to the public at the Paley Center’s two locations: 25 West 52nd Street, New York, NY (212) 621-6886 and 465 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA (310) 786-1000. Visit PaleyCenter.org.
The schedule follows:
Broadway on Showtime: Purlie
May 14 at 12:15 PM (ET/PT)
Robert Guillaume, Melba Moore (recreating the role for which she won a 1973 Tony Award), and Sherman Hemsley (also from the original production) star in this adaptation of the 1972 Broadway show with music by Gary Geld and lyrics by Peter Udell about the romance between a charismatic preacher and a high-spirited young woman in a Georgia sharecropper community. Purlie, based on the 1961 play Purlie Victorious by Ossie Davis, was staged by Philip Rose (who directed and produced the original Broadway production) and directed for television by Rudi Goldman, with choreography by Al Perryman—a dancer in the original Broadway production. Also in the cast are Linda Hopkins (from the original Broadway production), Rhetta Hughes, Brandon Maggart, Don Scardino, and Clarice Taylor.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella
May 14 at 3 PM (ET/PT)
The only collaboration for television by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, this 1957 telecast is a bona fide classic—and was adapted for the Broadway stage in 2013. Starring 21-year-old Julie Andrews, with Edie Adams, Kaye Ballard, Alice Ghostley, Ilka Chase, Jon Cypher, Dorothy Stickney, and Howard Lindsay. Directed by Ralph Nelson and choreographed by Jonathan Lucas.
Once Upon a Mattress
May 21 at 12:15 PM (ET/PT)
The first television production of the 1959 Broadway musical by composer Mary Rodgers and lyricist Marshall Barer. Starring Carol Burnett and featuring Joseph Bova, Jane White, Jack Gilford, Bill Hayes, Shani Wallis, and Elliott Gould; directed by Joe Layton (who choreographed the Broadway production and this television adaptation) and Dave Geisel. (1964; CBS; 90 minutes)
Jerry Herman’s Broadway at the Bowl
May 21 at 2 PM (ET/PT)
This musical program, taped at the Hollywood Bowl in 1993, pays tribute to Broadway composer and lyricist Jerry Herman. Introduced by Liza Minnelli, highlights of the program include Carol Channing introducing Leslie Uggams, who performs “It's Today” from Mame; George Hearn sings “Movies Were Movies” from Mack & Mabel; Florence Lacey performs “It Only Takes a Moment” and Lee Roy Reams sings a medley of “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” and “Before the Parade Passes By” from Hello, Dolly!; members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform waltzes by Herman; Lorna Luft, Florence Lacey, and Karen Morrow sing “Wherever He Ain’t” from Mack & Mabel; Davis Gaines performs “Song on the Sand” from La Cage Aux Folles; Karen Morrow sings “We Need a Little Christmas” and Leslie Uggams sings “If He Walked Into My Life” from Mame; there’s a look at the different ways the title song from Hello, Dolly! has been interpreted by the likes of Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Ethel Merman, and Louis Armstrong—after which Carol Channing sings a verse of Hello, Dolly!; Bea Arthur performs “The Man in the Moon” from Mame, and Rita Moreno and Leslie Uggams sing “Bosom Buddies” from the same show; Lorna Luft performs “Time Heals Everything” and Michael Feinstein performs “I Won't Send Roses” from Mack & Mabel; Karen Morrow sings “I Don't Want to Know” from Dear World; Rita Moreno performs “Tap Your Troubles Away” from Mack & Mabel; Leslie Uggams and Florence Lacey sing “Kiss Her Now” from Dear World; Lee Roy Reams performs the title song and George Hearn sings “I Am What I Am” from La Cage Aux Folles; and Jerry Herman is joined onstage by all the participants as he performs “The Best of Times Is Now” from La Cage Aux Folles.
George M!
May 28 at 12:15 PM (ET/PT)
This taped adaptation of the 1968 Broadway musical about the life and songs of George M. Cohan takes a novel approach: It’s presented as a rehearsal of the show, with the actors appearing as themselves as well as their characters in the show. With Joel Grey and Bernadette Peters recreating their Broadway roles as George M. Cohan and Josie Cohan, Red Buttons as Sam Harris, Jack Cassidy as Jerry Cohan, Nanette Fabray as Nellie Cohan, Blythe Danner as Agnes Nolan, Anita Gillette as Ethel Levey, Lewis J. Stadlen as the Stage Manager, and Jesse White as E. F. Albee. Directed by Martin Charnin and Walter C. Miller, with choreography by Alan Johnson.
Meet Me in St. Louis
May 28 at 2 PM (ET/PT)
This adaptation of the classic 1944 film musical (seen on Broadway in 1989) with music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, explores the lives of the close-knit Smith family―mother, father, grandfather, and five children―who live in St. Louis in 1903. The eldest daughter, Rose, hopes for a proposal from her longtime boyfriend, who is about to graduate from Yale; her sister Esther attempts to win the interest of John Truitt, the boy next door; and the entire family anxiously awaits the World’s Fair, which is opening in St. Louis in seven months. Complications ensue when Mr. Smith decides to take a job in New York, which would mean the entire family would have to leave St. Louis for good. Also, Tootie, the youngest daughter, sets out to prove that she is not a coward by participating in some frightening acts on Halloween. With Jane Powell, Tab Hunter, Walter Pidgeon, Jeanne Crain, Reta Shaw, Ed Wynn, Myrna Loy, and Patty Duke. Directed by George Schaefer, choreographed by Herbert Ross, and conducted by Franz Allers.
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