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A TAMS-WITMARK TITLE
Full-Length Musical, Drama / 4w, 4m plus ensemble
By George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira GershwinBook adapted by Suzan-Lori ParksMusical Score Adapted by Diedre L. Murray
A two-piano adaptation of the 2012 Broadway version of the Gershwins’ American folk opera.
Image: 2018 English National Opera Production (Tristram Kenton)
Winner! 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival
Recognized worldwide as a masterpiece and an “American Folk Opera,” Porgy and Bess® was George Gershwin’s final work for the musical stage. Based on DuBose and Dorothy Heyward’s play Porgy, The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess® combines elements of jazz, classical and American folk music to tell the story of a Black waterfront community in Charleston, South Carolina. The opera's notable arias include “Summertime,” “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing,” “My Man’s Gone Now,” “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” and “I’m On My Way.”
The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess® is one of the greatest achievements of the American Musical Theatre. It was first presented at the Alvin Theatre in New York in 1935, and has been presented throughout the world, including at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1984-85 season. The most-revived musical work in Broadway history, the opera has been presented on Broadway several times, most recently in 2012, featuring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis.
PORGY – Bass/BaritoneBESS – SopranoCROWN – BaritoneSERENA – SopranoCLARA – SopranoMARIA – ContraltoJAKE – BaritoneSPORTING LIFE – Tenor
MINGO – TenorROBB – TenorPETER – TenorFRAZIER – BaritoneANNIE – Mezzo-sopranoLILY – Mezzo-sopranoSTRAWBERRY WOMAN – Mezzo-sopranoJIM – BaritoneUNDERTAKER – TenorNELSON – TenorCRAB MAN – Tenor
MR. ARCHDALEDETECTIVEPOLICEMANCORONERSCIPIO
ENSEMBLE – Residents of Catfish Row, fishermen, children, stevedores, etc.
Porgy and Bess® takes place in Catfish Row, a fictional African American section of Charleston, South Carolina, and the roles must be cast accordingly.
Charleston, South Carolina. The early 1930s. Catfish Row and Kittiwah Island.
“The highest creative achievement in American classical music.” – Joseph Horowitz, The American Scholar
“A leading contender for the Great American Opera... an innovative and seamless blend of grand opera, Broadway, and invented spirituals and folk melodies.” – The New York Times, 2021
“Bess, You Is My Woman Now” – Metropolitan Opera
“My Man’s Gone Now” – Metropolitan Opera
“Leavin’ for the Promised Land” – Metropolitan Opera
“Summertime” – Metropolitan Opera
Image: © Justin “Squigs” Robertson
Act I
“Jasbo Brown Blues” – Ensemble“Summertime” – Clara“A Woman Is a Sometime Thing” – Jim, Jake, Sportin’ Life and Ensemble“Here Come the Honey Man” – Peter, Lily and Ensemble“They Pass By Singing” – Porgy“Crap Game Fugue” – Porgy, Sportin’ Life, Crown and Men“Gone, Gone, Gone” – Ensemble“Overflow”- Ensemble“My Man’s Gone Now” – Serena and Ensemble“Leavin’ for the Promised Land” – Bess and Ensemble“It Takes a Long Pull” – Jim, Jake and Ensemble“I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” – Porgy“Buzzard Song” – Porgy and Ensemble“Bess, You Is My Woman Now” – Porgy and Bess“Oh, I Can’t Sit Down” – Ensemble
Act II
“It Ain’t Necessarily So” – Sportin’ Life and Ensemble“What You Want With Bess?” – Crown and Bess“Oh, Doctor Jesus” – Principals and Ensemble“Street Cries” – Strawberry Woman and Crab Man“I Loves You, Porgy” – Porgy and Bess“Oh, Heavenly Father” – Ensemble“Oh, the Lord Shake the Heavens” – Ensemble“Summertime (Reprise)” – Clara“Oh, There’s Somebody Knockin’ at the Door” – Ensemble“A Red-Headed Woman” – Crown and Ensemble“Clara, Don’t You Be Downhearted” – Ensemble“There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” – Sportin’ Life and Bess“Good Mornin’, Sister!” – Ensemble“Oh, Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess” – Porgy“Oh Lord, I’m on My Way” – Porgy and Ensemble
Please contact European American Music Distributors Company for more information about the orchestration for this title.
Please contact your licensing representative for further information regarding this rental package
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn on September 26, 1898, and began his musical training when he was 13. At 16, he quit high school to work as a "song plugger" for a music publisher, and soon he was writing songs himself. "Swanee," as introduced by Al Jolson, brought George ...
Ira Gershwin, the first songwriter to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, was born in New York City on December 6, 1896. In 1917 The Evening Sun published his first song (“You May Throw All The Rice You Desire But Please, Friends, Throw No Shoes”). Four years later, Ira enjoyed hi ...
Named one of Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” in 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog.
A MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, she has also been awarded gr ...