Porgy and Bess

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Porgy and Bess (1935), a “folk opera” by Dubose Heyward, Ira Gershwin (book, lyrics), George Gershwin (music). [Alvin Theatre, 124 perf.] The crippled Porgy ( Todd Duncan), who rides around the Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina, loves Bess ( Anne Brown), the mistress of the troublesome bully Crown ( Warren Coleman). When Crown kills a fellow gambler in a crap game, he flees and Bess is taken in by Porgy. But later Crown suddenly returns and he and Porgy fight, Porgy killing him with Crown's own knife. While Porgy is in jail, the glib drug peddler Sportin' Life ( John W. Bubbles) woos Bess with visions of life in the big city, and they leave together for New York. Porgy is released from jail, and hearing from the neighbors about Bess and Sportin' Life, he sets out in his goat cart to retrieve her. Notable songs: Summertime; My Man's Gone Now; A Woman Is a Sometime Thing; I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'; It Ain't Necessarily So; Bess, You Is My Woman Now; Dere's a Boat Dats Leaving Soon for New York; I Loves You, Porgy. One of the towering achievements of the American musical theatre, the original Theatre Guild production was not a commercial success. George Gershwin was so disappointed in what he considered his masterwork that he took up Hollywood's offer and never returned to Broadway again. Over the years the piece has gained in critical and popular favor. A major 1942 revival by Cheryl Crawford, in which Duncan and Brown re‐created their original roles, began to turn the tide. Later, Metropolitan Opera soprano Leontyne Price headed a 1953 revival. The Houston Grand Opera's production toured successfully and reached Broadway in 1976. In 1983 the Radio City Music Hall produced a gigantic mounting, which subsequently toured. There have been other lesser revivals, a film version, and in the 1984–85 season it entered the repertory of the Metropolitan Opera.