Great Performances

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Great Performances is an anthology show on PBS which spotlights live concerts and documentaries on performing artists.

Appearances

• Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy hosted an episode broadcast on December 7, 1985 featuring the San Francisco Ballet performing Cinderella (from Prokofiev's score). The ballet was choreographed by Lew Christensen and Michael Smuin with Evelyn Cisneros as Cinderella and Vane Vest and Tom Ruud as the stepsisters.

• A promotional bumper filmed for the 1985 appearance was later used in The World of Jim Henson, a 1994 special which also appeared in Great Performances.

• Elmo appeared on December 7, 1994's Natalie Cole's Untraditional Traditional Christmas. He tries to help Cole through the program, including preparing a literal rock for her performance of "Jingle Bell Rock."

• On July 30, 2009, Oscar the Grouch appeared in Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration from Madison Square Garden, which was taped from The Clearwater Concert: Creating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders.

• Andrea Bocelli & David Foster: My Christmas aired on November 28, 2009, as episode 3505 of the Great Performances anthology. Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Pepe the King Prawn, and a few Penguins sang a rendition of "Jingle Bells" with Andrea Bocelli. The guest spot is a tie-in with Bocelli's Christmas album My Christmas, on which the Muppets appeared as well.

References

• The series was spoofed on Sesame Street as "Pretty Great Performances," which included an appearance by flautist James Galway.
• The series was among the programs mentioned by Kermit in the pledge drive segment in Sesame Street, Special.

Connections

• Julie Andrews has hosted the program
• Walter Cronkite has hosted the program
• Whoopi Goldberg has hosted the program
• John Williams composed the 2009 version of the theme

External links

• Official site