Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess is an opera with music by George Gershwin and libretto by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on Heyward's novel Porgy and the play of the same name that he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy. All three works deal with African American life in the fictitious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in the early 1930s.

Adaptations

Film and television

A 1959 film version was produced by Samuel Goldwyn, but plagued with problems. Rouben Mamoulian, who had directed the 1935 Broadway premiere, was fired in favor of director Otto Preminger. Opera singers dubbed the songs for Sidney Poitier's Porgy and Dorothy Dandridge's Bess. The Gershwin estate was disappointed with the film, as the score was edited to make it more like a musical. It was pulled from release in 1974, and prints can now only be seen in film archives.

Related Topics:
1959 film version - Samuel Goldwyn - Otto Preminger - Sidney Poitier - Dorothy Dandridge - Musical

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Suites

Gershwin composed an orchestral suite containing music from the opera after Porgy and Bess closed early on Broadway. Though originally titled "Suite from Porgy and Bess", Ira later renamed it "Catfish Row".

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Robert Russell Bennett arranged another suite for orchestra which has been heard in the concert hall, known as Porgy and Bess, A Symphonic Portrait. Morton Gould and Leroy Anderson have also arranged orchestral suites from Porgy and Bess.

Related Topics:
Morton Gould - Leroy Anderson

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