A new twist on the Gershwins’ American folk opera, where “the livin' is easy, fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high.”
Set in Charleston, South Carolina at the turn of the century in a small black enclave called Catfish Row, Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a crippled beggar, who falls in love with Bess, a woman of uncertain reputation. When Bess tries to break free from her brutish lover, Crown, after he becomes wanted for murder, the only person willing to overlook her past and offer her shelter is Porgy. Their relationship is threatened by the disapproval of the townspeople, the presence of her old drug supplier Sporting Life—and the threatened return of Crown.
Porgy and Bess is an American folk opera that is arguably the Gershwins’ most ambitious work. It features music by George Gershwin, lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin and a book by Dubose Heyward, based on Porgy by Dubose Heyward and Dorothy Heyward and has a dazzling score, including such classics as “Summertime," “I Got Plenty o’ Nothin’,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
The piece, regarded as one of the landmarks of 20th century American musical theatre, has been adapted and reworked from a four-hour-long opera into a shorter musical by award-winning director Trevor Nunn. The show features a 60-strong company, with 40 in the cast and a 20-piece orchestra.