Trevor Nunn's London Porgy and Bess Will Come to Broadway
By Robert Simonson
25 Jul 2006
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Trevor Nunn
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The new version of the Gershwins’ opera Porgy and Bess, to be staged at London’s Savoy Theatre later this year, will come to Broadway.
Adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess will open Nov. 9 following previews that begin Oct. 25. After the London run, it will travel to Broadway, Variety reported.
"In a way, the Broadway run will be like going back home," said producer Howard Panter. "That's where it was first produced in 1935."
No details concerning a Broadway theatre or dates have been mentioned.
Porgy and Bess was last on Broadway in 1976, when it played 122 performances. It was only Jack O'Brien's second Broadway assignment as a director. O'Brien directed it again at Radio City Music Hall in 1983.
The £3 million (about $5.5 million) production will feature a 40-strong cast (to be confirmed) and a 20-piece orchestra. Rehearsals begin Sept 4.
Porgy and Bess — which features some of the greatest songs in musical theatre, including “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nothin’” and “It Aint Necessarily So,” — premiered on Oct. 10 1935, at New York’s Alvin Theatre. With a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by his brother Ira and a book by DuBose Heyward, Porgy and Bess was based on DuBose and Dorothy Heyward’s novel "Porgy.”
Set in the fictional Catfish Row, South Carolina, the show was the first time the musical form attempted to reflect the African-American working-class experience. Since its premiere the show has attained opera status. Nunn’s version will run at two-and-a-half hours.
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess will be produced in London by Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and Tulbart Productions.
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