Harry Connick Jr., Julie Andrews, Audra McDonald et al. Set for 2011 PBS Great Performance Series

PBS has announced that Broadway vets Harry Connick Jr., Julie Andrews and Audra McDonald will be among the performers who will be featured in the 2011 Great Performances Series.  As a series centerpiece, the network will air Connick Jr.'s Live on Broadway Concert that ran and the Neil Simon Theatre this summer.  The broadcast will run in the late winter/early spring of 2011. On New Year's Day, PBS will broadcast "From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration" with Julie Andrews. Also in the winter, the series will feature Audra McDonald in concert at Carnegie Hall alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham and Emmanuel Ax.

In a young career already marked by many firsts, music wunderkind Harry Connick, Jr., continues to redefine boundaries -- no small feat in a career that includes over 20 million albums sold, multiple Grammy awards, Tony and Emmy nominations, and featured artist of Oscar and Golden Globe nominated songs. Yet despite his many achievements as musician, singer, composer, and actor, Connick isn't one to coast on past triumphs, and is constantly reaching new heights as a versatile and gifted entertainer. In this concert of material from ONLY YOU, his 2004 Columbia Records album of standards from the '50s and '60s, Connick makes his first return to GREAT PERFORMANCES since his prime-time television debut on the series in 1990. Among the classics he remakes as his own are "For Once in My Life," "The Very Thought of You," and "Only You."

Trained in jazz, Harry Connick, Jr. helped popularize the genre with a new audience and made it mainstream again with hit records such as the soundtrack to the film WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, WE ARE IN LOVE, BLUE LIGHT, RED LIGHT, and live performances on television as well as at noted venues throughout the country. Find out more about the versatile musician, who started playing the piano at age three, in the biography. Browse the song list for a rundown of the evening's program, which features not only compositions from ONLY YOU but also a few songs from his previous CDs.

Photo Credit: Monica Simoes