DuBose Heyward News

Historic adaptation of PORGY AND BESS returns to National Theater.

Tickets for The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, are now on sale. Part of the BROADWAY PHILADELPHIA season, presented by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization, THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS arrives at the Academy of Music for a limited engagement beginning Feb. 18 - 23. The official press opening is Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Happy Birthday, Ira Gershwin! A lyricist, Gershwin collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. With George he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as 'I Got Rhythm', 'Embraceable You', 'The Man I Love' and 'Someone to Watch Over Me'. He was also responsible, along with DuBose Heyward, for the libretto to George's opera Porgy and Bess. The success the brothers had with their collaborative works has often overshadowed the creative role that Ira played. However, his mastery of songwriting continued after the early death of George. He wrote additional hit songs with composers Jerome Kern ('Long Ago (and Far Away)'), Kurt Weill and Harold Arlen.

San Francisco audiences were delighted to welcome a powerful and wistfully evocative production of The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess to the bay area and to the stage of the Golden Gate Theatre where it plays now through December 8. Opening night was also the launch of the much anticipated national tour of this Tony award-winning revival. Directed by Diane Paulus, with a book adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks from DuBose and Dorothy Heyward's original book, Porgy and Bess's dramatic story of love, death, addiction and hope comes alive once again for a whole new audience of theatregoers.

The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, begins performances today at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre. The tour officially opens on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Arion Press announces its eagerly awaited edition ofPorgy & Bess, the libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, illustrated by Kara Walker. This artist book is the occasion for Walker's first series of lithographs. The book contains 16 lithographs, with another four available separately in a portfolio. Kara Walker has called her images “an homage to the feeling of the (Gershwin) music. And to that feeling I had as a child of a heavy atmosphere hanging around a timeless act of love.” You can read Kara Walker's complete artist's statement and a description of the publicationonline. The book and suite are now on display at the Press and can be viewed in New York during the IFPDA Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory, November 6 through 10.

The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, announces the complete cast for the tour launch at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre this November. The show plays in Charlotte July 15-20, 2014 in Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.

Tickets for American Idiot, West Side Story, STOMP, Mamma Mia!, Blue Man Group, and Hal Holbrook In Mark Twain Tonight! at the National Theatre go on sale Monday, October 28.

The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, announces the complete cast for the tour launch at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre this November with rehearsals starting Monday, Oct 14 in New York City. The tour, accompanied by a 23-piece orchestra, will begin performances Sunday, Nov. 10 with an official opening on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Broadway in Detroit brings the National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, accompanied by a 23-piece orchestra, to the Detroit Opera House, March 4 - 9, 2014. Tickets will go on sale Sunday, September 29 at noon at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.broadwayindetroit.com, and at the Fisher Theatre box office. Tickets will be available at the Detroit Opera House box office starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 30.

Today in 1943, Porgy and Bess opened at the 44th Street Theatre, where it ran for 24 performances. First performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, it was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward. All three works deal with African-American life in the fictitious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s. Originally conceived by George Gershwin as an 'American folk opera', Porgy and Bess premiered in New York in the fall of 1935 and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers-a daring artistic choice at the time.

In cabaret, there are variety shows and there are VARIETY shows. Going on close to three years as a reviewer and attending a myriad of these affairs that can range in feel from Ed Sullivan to the Gong Show, I no longer have much patience for the lower case version. But every once in a while there's a multi-performer extravaganza that screams capital letters. It turns out that MAC-Award winning singer Lauren Fox has acquired the knack for staging 'Big V' variety shows because they are all about the themes, the stories, and the music, and not about the performers. And wouldn't you know it? With the egos being upstaged by everyone's joy and passion for the project, everybody wins . . . especially the audience. That was the case last night at 54 Below with the Fox produced 'One Night of Peace & Music: A Tribute to Woodstock.'

With the International Al Jolson Society's 17th Annual Long Island Festival just three weeks away (On August 17, from 9am to 4:30pm, at Oceanside Knights of Columbus, 2985 Kenneth Place, Oceanside, NY 11572.), BroadwayWorld.com Cabaret Review/Columnist and passionate Al Jolson fan Stephen Hanks fantasizes about what it might be like to have a conversation with 'The World's Greatest Entertainer,' 53 years after he died. You ain't read nothin' yet.

The National Theatre has just announced its first subscription series in more than a decade with the announcement of Broadway at the National. Boasting the pre-Broadway world premiere of If/Then, the Washington premiere of American Idiot, and the historic return of the Tony Award-winning The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, the 2013-14 season at The National Theatre includes eight productions, and runs November 2013 through June 2014.

The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, will launch at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre this November. The tour, accompanied by a 23-piece orchestra, will begin performances Sunday, Nov. 10 with an official opening on Wednesday, Nov. 13. The national tour will travel to more than 20 cities in its first season in addition to San Francisco, including Los Angeles (Ahmanson Theatre), Seattle (5th Avenue Theatre), Dallas (Winspear Opera House), West Palm Beach, Tampa, Naples, Greenville, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, East Lansing, St. Paul, Des Moines, Las Vegas, Tempe and Charlotte, with additional cities to be announced in the coming days.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Oklahoma!' opens, a new 'Porgy,' a one-night 'Tommy,' improvised Sondheim, Darren Criss, 'The Jungle Book' has been cast, two new revues, my Tony perspective and more!

The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, will star Theatre World Award winner and original Broadway cast member PHILLIP BOYKIN, who will reprise his Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle Award-nominated role as Crown. Boykin joins previously announced original Broadway cast members NATHANIEL STAMPLEY as Porgy and ALICIA HALL MORAN as Bess. The national tour, which begins in the late fall of 2013 will travel to more than 20 cities in its first season, including Los Angeles (Ahmanson Theatre), Seattle (5th Avenue Theatre), Dallas (Winspear Opera House), Charlotte, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Des Moines, Tampa, Las Vegas, Cleveland, West Palm Beach, Tempe, St. Paul and Greenville with additional cities to be announced in the coming days.

According to Variety, producers Mike Medavoy and Bobby Geisler are developing a revamped film version of The Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess. Medavoy and Geisler are collaborating with the Gershwin family and lyricist DuBose Heyward's estate for the updated film.

The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, will star original Broadway cast members ALICIA HALL MORAN as Bess and NATHANIEL STAMPLEY as Porgy. The national tour, which begins in the late fall of 2013 will travel to more than 20 cities in its first season, including Los Angeles (Ahmanson Theatre), Seattle (5th Avenue Theatre), Dallas (Winspear Opera House), Charlotte, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Des Moines, Tampa, Las Vegas, Cleveland, West Palm Beach, Tempe and St. Paul, with additional cities to be announced in the coming days.

The 2013-2014 Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre season was announced today by CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie.