Great Performances re-teams with the LA Phil and its Music Director Gustavo Dudamel for a third opening night gala concert showcasing the bravura conducting style and interpretive gifts that have made Dudamel an international sensation. The concert’s all-Gershwin repertoire will include An American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue, and a solo performance of Someone to Watch over Me, spotlighting the virtuoso jazz piano of special guest Herbie Hancock.

This is the unknown story of how the Beatles inspired a revolution that helped to destroy the communist system. Leslie Woodhead first met the Beatles in 1962 when he worked on a film in the Liverpool Cavern Club before the world had heard of the Fab Four. Twenty-five years later, when Woodhead began to make films in the Soviet Union, he became aware of how the Beatles legend had soaked into the lives of a generation of Soviet kids—even though they were barred from playing “Back in the USSR.” Now he has been on a journey to meet the Soviet Beatles generation and to discover how the Fab Four changed their lives. Featuring a bizarre collection of Beatles tribute bands, the film tracks down the stories of how the Cold War was won with music as much as with nuclear missiles.

The author of “Little Women” is an almost universally recognized name. Her reputation as a morally upstanding New England spinster, reflecting the conventional propriety of late 19th-century Concord, is firmly established. However, raised among reformers, skeptics and Transcendentalists, the intellectual protégé of Emerson and Hawthorne and Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott was actually a free thinker, with democratic ideals and progressive values about women—a worldly careerist of sorts. Most surprising is that she led a literary double life, under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard not discovered until the 1940s. As Barnard, Alcott penned a scandalous, pulp novel with vivid characters running the gamut from murderers and revolutionaries to cross-dressers and opium addicts—a far cry from her familiar fatherly mentors, courageous mothers, and appropriately impish children!

The Mexican Revolution, the first major political and social revolution of the 20th century, not only changed the course of Mexican history, but also profoundly affected its relationships with the rest of the world. “The Storm That Swept Mexico” looks at the complex historical, social, political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the Revolution influenced its course and determined its consequences and legacy.

Documenting how the Joffrey revolutionized American ballet—combining modern dance with classic technique, art with social statement, and rock music with traditional choreography—this film is an expression of Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino’s vision and artistry. From a company that began with six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon in 1956, they grew to international prominence, transforming the face of dance with originality and bold, edgy new perspectives that challenged conventions.  They gained extensive media attention, appearing everywhere from the Kennedy White House to the Ed Sullivan Show. The film weaves a wealth of rare archival footage with excerpts from many seminal Joffrey dances, shows the full history of the company, their struggles against financial or artistic setbacks, and how they resurrected and reinvented themselves.  Narrated by Mandy Patinkin.

Soundtrack for a Revolution tells the story of the American civil rights movement through its powerful music—the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality. The music enabled African Americans to sing words they could not say and it was crucial in helping protesters as they faced down brutal aggression with dignity and non-violence. The infectious energy of the songs swept people up and empowered them to fight for their rights. The documentary is a blend of heart-wrenching interviews, dramatic images, and contemporary performances by top artists, including John Legend, Joss Stone, Wyclef Jean, and The Roots.

Coordinated by Sarah Eyerly, Jordan College of the Arts.

Lecture given by Lawrence Lad, College of Business.

The author of Little Women is an almost universally recognized name. Her reputation as a morally upstanding New England spinster, reflecting the conventional propriety of late 19th-century Concord, is firmly established. However, raised among reformers, skeptics and Transcendentalists, the intellectual protégé of Emerson and Hawthorne and Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott was actually a free thinker, with democratic ideals and progressive values about women—a worldly careerist of sorts. Most surprising is that she led a literary double life, under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard not discovered until the 1940s. As Barnard, Alcott penned a scandalous, pulp novel with vivid characters running the gamut from murderers and revolutionaries to cross-dressers and opium addicts—a far cry from her familiar fatherly mentors, courageous mothers and appropriately impish children!