Gershwin's Porgy & Bess Set for Broadway Run Next Year

A Broadway run has been confirmed for Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, directed by Trevor Nunn.

The production will transfer to Broadway during the 2007-2008 season at a theatre to be announced.  As with the London staging, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and Tulchin/Bartner Productions will produce.

Porgy and Bess, which opened last month, recently extended its run at London's Savoy Theatre through October 27th, 2007.

The 1935 work, which features music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Heyward and Ira Gershwin and a book by Heyward (based on his and Dorothy Heyward's Porgy), concerns the romance between the title characters, two African-American denizens of poverty-stricken Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina.  Its score includes such classics as "Summertime," "I Got Plenty O' Nothin,'" "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," and "My Man's Gone Now."

Tony-winner Nunn has received mostly positive reviews for his two-and-a-half hour adaptation, which features - in addition to a shortened length - new, jazzier orchestrations (by Gareth Valentine).  The production stars Clarke Peters and Nicola Hughes in the title roles, as well as Cornell John as Crown, Dawn Hope as Serena, and OT Fagbenle as Sportin' Life.

Casting for the Broadway production has also to be announced.