Porgy and Bess

Universally accepted as the most popular opera written by an American composer, Porgy and Bess began life in 1925 as the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward. Heyward’s setting of Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, and his dramatic story of the crippled beggar Porgy, the seductive Bess, the menacing Crown, and the slinky cocaine dealer Sportin’ Life fired George Gershwin’s imagination even before Heyward and his wife, Dorothy, adapted the book into a play two years later. After a number of delays, Gershwin began writing the opera late in 1933 with Heyward as librettist-lyricist and brother Ira Gershwin as co-lyricist. The composer’s last Broadway score, the work was completed — including Gershwin’s own orchestrations — in 20 months. The initial production, with Todd Duncan and Anne Brown in the leads, was treated as such a major event that the larger dailies dispatched both their drama and music critics to cover the opening. It was not, however, a commercial success, though many of the solos and duets — “Summertime,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So” — soon caught on. Four revivals of Porgy and Bess have had extended Broadway runs. In 1942, again with Todd Duncan and Anne Brown but with Avon Long replacing John W. Bubbles as Sportin’ Life, the musical ran successfully for 286 performances (at a $2.75 top ticket price) in a somewhat stremlined version with a smaller orchestra and no recitative. It was produced by Cheryl Crawford and directed by Robert Ross. The production then toured for 17 months, including a two-month return visit to New York. Ten years later, one of the most ambitious projects in theatre history was inaugurated with a four-year international tour directed by co-producer Robert Breen. Still more musical drama than opera, Porgy and Bess was performed in 23 cities in the United States and Canada, and — under the auspices of the State Department — in 28 countries throughout Europe (including well-publicized engagements in Leningrad and Moscow), the Middle East and Latin America. This company’s 1953 stay in New York had the longest run the work has had to date. (See page 156.) A mounting in 1976 by the Houston Grand Opera was staged at the Uris (now the Gershwin) Theatre on 51 st Street west of Broadway. With an acclaimed performance by Clamma Dale as Bess and all the original musical portions restored, the production came closest to the composer’s concept of the work as an opera. It was also the basis for the 1983 revival, the first adult, full-scale dramatic work ever staged at the 6,000-seat Radio City Music Hall. Two years later, on its 50th anniversary, Porgy and Bess entered the repertory of the Metropolitan Opera. In 1959, a screen adaptation was released with Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, and Sammy Davis Jr. MCA OC (1942); Columbia SC; RCA OC (1953); RCA OC (1976)/Chilton (1973)/TW.

"An American Folk Opera,": the show's own period marketing line.

Music

George Gershwin

Lyrics

Ira Gershwin & DuBose Heyward

Book

DuBose Heyward