The Broadway-bound production of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, which played a record-breaking, sold out engagement at the American Repertory Theater, will play a 26-week limited run at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 West 46th Street, between 8th Avenue and Broadway).
The production will begin previews on Saturday, December 17th, 2011 and open on Thursday, January 12th, 2012- running through June 24, 2012. Tickets are now on sale at
ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.
THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, with a score by
George Gershwin, a book by DuBose and
Dorothy Heyward, and lyrics by
Ira Gershwin and
DuBose Heyward, has been adapted by Pulitzer prize-winning writer
Suzan-Lori Parks, and two-time Obie winner Diedre L. Murray. A.R.T.'s Artistic Director,
Diane Paulus, directs. The Broadway production will star
Audra McDonald as Bess,
Norm Lewis as Porgy and
David Alan Grier as Sporting Life, reprising their A.R.T. roles.
The creative team also includes choreographer
Ronald K. Brown, set designer
Riccardo Hernandez, costume designer ESosa, lighting designer
Christopher Akerlind and sound designer
ACME Sound Partners.
THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS is the classic American tale is set in the 1930s in Catfish Row, a neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina. Bess, beautiful and troubled, turns to Porgy, the crippled beggar, in search of safety after her possessive lover Crown commits murder. As Porgy and Bess's love grows, their future is threatened by Crown and the conniving Sporting Life. This heartbreaking love story boasts some of the most famous and beloved works from the Great American Songbook, including: "Summertime," "Bess, You Is My Woman," "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "I Loves You, Porgy."
THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS is based on
DuBose Heyward's novel "Porgy" and the play of the same name, which he co-wrote with his wife
Dorothy Heyward. All three works deal with African American life in the fictitious Catfish Row (based on the real-life Rainbow Row) in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s.
George Gershwin worked on Porgy and Bess in Charleston, SC and drew inspiration from the James Island Gullah community, which he felt had preserved some African musical traditions. The music itself reflects his New York jazz roots, but also draws on southern black traditions. Gershwin modeled the pieces after each type of folk song which the composer knew about; jubilees, blues, praying songs, street cries, work songs, and spirituals are blended with traditional arias and recitatives.
