'Great Performances' To Air London Production of 'Next to Normal'

Long-time public television fans will probably have picked up by now that, no matter what happens in a given year, there is always one guaranteed Shakespeare production that airs on Great Performances in May as the TV season draws close. Most years, it comes via a broadcast of whatever show is given the legendary "Shakespeare in Central Park" treatment, which is performed for free in the Delacorte Theater in the center of the park all summer. However, things have been upended slightly for the 2024-2025 TV season, resulting in viewers getting multiple taped theatrical performances in May 2025, including the West End productions of Next to Normal and Kiss Me Kate.

For the first time since returning to Great Performances five years ago, Shakespeare in the Park will not be shown this season due to the Delacorte Theater being closed for much-needed renovations for a good chunk of 2024. The yearly event is set to return in the summer of 2025 with Twelfth Night, starring Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave), and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The Good Fight), which is expected to be broadcast on Great Performances in May 2026. Instead, the BS anthology series will bring multiple taped theatrical performances to fill the gap, including the recently closed critically acclaimed Broadway show Yellow Face, the current West End revival of Next to Normal, and the recent West End staging of Kiss Me Kate.

Hardcore Shakespeare fans may already have seen this production of Kiss Me Kate, which is the same filmed production that played in limited release in the U.S. via National Theater Live. However, the filmed staging of Next to Normal (done over multiple shows in September 2024) is brand new, as is the 2025 revival of Yellow Face.

Next to Normal was initially staged in the U.S. in 2008; the 2024 production marked the first time the show has played the West End. It will air first, arriving in the spot usually reserved for Shakespeare in the Park in early May. Here's the play's synopsis:

Next To Normal is an intimate exploration of family and illness, loss and grief. At its heart is Diana Goodman, a suburban wife and mother living with bipolar disorder and haunted by her past. This production first played at The Donmar Warehouse before transferring to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre for a limited run in 2024.

Caissie Levy (Les Misérables) stars in Next to Normal with a supporting cast that includes Jamie Parker (Harry Potter & the Cursed Child), Jack Wolfe (Shadow & Bone), Eleanor Worthington-Cox (Britannia), Trevor Dion Nicholas (Hamilton), and newcomer Jack Ofrecio.

Yellow Face will follow one week later. Though the show is in no way British or even part of our purview, the new adaptation of the 2007 show, starring Daniel Dae Kim, sold out almost immediately, and many theater buffs are chuffed PBS is bringing it to the small screen.

Great Performances will close out its 52nd season with Kiss Me Kate, which, while not technically Shakespeare since it's a musical by Cole Porter, is still treated as such; think of Kiss Me Kate as being to Taming of the Shrew as West Side Story is to Romeo & Juliet. Here's the synopsis:

Kiss Me Kate is a simple love story…about two people who just can’t stand each other. Guess who wins… With backstage shenanigans, Shakespearean sonnets, and singing gangsters – not to mention a romance that’s just too darn hot – and a full-scale orchestra performing the Cole Porter classics Brush Up Your Shakespeare, Too Darn Hot, Always True To You (In My Fashion) and Tom, Dick or Harry, this might be another op’nin’, but it certainly ain’t just another show! 

The cast for Kiss Me Kate is stacked, which explains why it also got a theatrical release in 2024. The musical features Adrian Dunbar (Ridley), Nigel Lindsay (Victoria), Hammed Animashaun (Black Ops), Peter Davison (Doctor Who), Georgina Onuorah (Wicked), Charlie Stemp (Mary Poppins), and American Tony winner Stephanie J. Block (Into The Woods) in her West End debut.

Next to Normal will debut as part of Great Performances Season 52 on most PBS stations, the PBS app, and most PBS Prime Video FAST channels on Friday, May 9, at 9 p.m. ET. Yellow Face will follow one week later on Friday, May 16, at 9 p.m. ET, and Kiss Me Kate will close out the season at the end of the month, on Friday, May 30, 2025. All three will move to PBS Passport in June.