New PORGY & BESS Tour Promo Featuring Paulus

The iconic American opera PORGY & BESS was refashioned into a contemporary Broadway musical byway of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS on Broadway, winning a slew of Tony Awards in the process including Best Revival, and the landmark Diane Paulus production now heads out on the road.

Director Diane Paulus discusses the new tour in a fresh promo released in anticipation of the tour kicking off later this year.

"I am so thrilled that this production is going out on national tour of America. To me, this work belongs to our cultural history in America. We had this incredible opportunity to do this production on Broadway, where we won the Tony Award, and, now, this chance for this same production to be brought all across America is, to me, the most exciting part of our journey yet."

She continues, "To bring this great American classic to audiences all across America who deserve the opportunity to see this - not just in an opera house, but as a musical, where it started back in its history on Broadway in the 30s."

Paulus concludes, "It's coming full-circle back to its life as a great American musical."

The official description of the new national tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS is as follows: "See what Time Magazine exclaims is, "A don't miss theatre event! The #1 Broadway musical of the year." Winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is hitting the road in a stunning and stirring new staging, including such legendary songs as "Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So," and "I Got Plenty of Nothing." The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess features one of Broadway's most accomplished creative teams, led by Tony-winning director Diane Paulus (Hair), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog), and two-time Obie Award-winning composer DIEDRE L. Murray (Running Man), bringing George and Ira Gershwin's legendary masterwork to the Broadway stage for the first time in more than 35 years. Praised by the New Yorker as, "A great achievement!" and hailed by the Associated Press as, "a Gorgeous version of the Gershwin masterpiece," the classic story of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is set in Charleston's fabled Catfish Row, where the beautiful Bess struggles to break free from her scandalous past, and the only one who can rescue her is the courageous Porgy. Threatened by her formidable former lover Crown, and the seductive enticements of the colorful troublemaker Sporting Life, Porgy and Bess' relationship evolves into a deep romance that triumphs as one of theater's most exhilarating love stories."

View the new promo for the tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS below.