Porgy
Alvy Powell
Bess
Lisa Daltirus
Crown
Cedric Cannon
Sportin' Life
Chauncey Packer
Robbins
Terrance Brown
Serena
Hope Briggs
Jake
Michael Redding
Clara
Dara Rahming
Maria
Gwendolyn Brown
Mingo
Eldric Bashful
Peter
Aubry Bryan
Lily
Givonna Joseph
Annie
Aria Mason
Strawberry woman
Valerie Jones Francis
Jim
Loren Battieste
Undertaker
Nelson
Crab man
Scipio
Detective
Policeman
Coroner
Director
Tazewell Thompson
Conductor
Robert Lyall
Chorus Master
Carol Rausch
The Gershwins®
Porgy and Bess℠
October 15 & 17, 2010
Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts (map)
Bursting with some of the best melodies Gershwin ever penned – “Summertime,” “A Woman is A Sometime Thing,” “I Got Plenty O’Nuttin,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” This opera depicts a world not unlike New Orleans in that the citizens of Catfish Row triumph over adversity through their faith, their sense of community and their love of life.
Download a Study Guide, Podcast, and Videos here.
CELEBRATE 75 years of Porgy and Bess
“[George] Gershwin created in Porgy and Bess a marriage of the forces of refined African-American singing talent with the soulful pathos of Jazz and Blues.” – Opera News
September 30, 2010 marks the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Porgy and Bess at the Colonial Theater in Boston. New Orleans Opera is celebrating this landmark in American music history with GERSHWIN MONTH.
Join the celebration!
Read more about the many performances and special events to be held during Gershwin Month here.
Original Language
English
Creators
George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin
Description
Opera in 3 Acts
Place
Catfish Row, Charleston, South Carolina
Premiere Date
October 10, 1935
Premiere Location
Alvin Theater, New York
Notes
Porgy and Bess stands as one of the most vital and completely successful of American Operas. One of the great might-have-beens of the 20th century music is the thought of the scores Gershwin could have gone on to write if he had lived beyond the age of 38.
