Although George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward wrote Porgy and Bess as a grand opera, it wasn't presented in that manner until more than four decades after its much-cut 1935 Broadway debut. The first full-length mounting was presented by the Houston Grand Opera in 1976. Porgy and Bess features such classic tunes as "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'," "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," "It Ain't Necessarily So," "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York" and "Summertime."

A four-time Tony Award winner for her work in A Raisin in the Sun, Master Class, Carousel, and Ragtime, Audra McDonald was also on Broadway last season in Henry IV. The singer-actress made her solo Carnegie Hall concert debut in an evening of songs scored for big bands, performing several tunes from her Nonesuch CD Happy Songs. McDonald's other solo recordings, Way Back to Paradise and How Glory Goes, are also on the Nonesuch label. She also co-starred in the recent NBC series Mister Sterling.

Brian Stokes Mitchell earned a Tony nomination for his performance in the title role of Man of La Mancha. He won the 2000 Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk awards for his performance as Fred Graham/Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate; his other Broadway credits include lead roles in King Hedley II, Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Jelly's Last Jam, Oh, Kay!, Mail, and the City Center Encores! presentations of Do Re Mi and Carnival. Television audiences are familiar with Mitchell's work from his roles on Trapper John, M.D., Roots, and Frasier. He recently elected the twelfth president of the Actors' Fund of America.

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