Show guide
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is George Gershwin's groundbreaking sung-through opera set in a close-knit Black community on the South Carolina coast. It stands as one of the most significant and influential works to blend opera and American musical theatre traditions.
- Broadway premiere
- 1935
- Music by
- George Gershwin
- Genre
- Sung-through
- Setting
- 1920s
Porgy and Bess: quick answers
What is Porgy and Bess about?
- Porgy and Bess follows Porgy, a disabled beggar in Charleston's Catfish Row, as he tries to rescue Bess from her violent lover Crown and the drug dealer Sportin' Life.
When did Porgy and Bess open on Broadway?
- Porgy and Bess opened on Broadway on October 10, 1935, at the Alvin Theatre and ran for 124 performances. Its 2012 Broadway revival, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess with Audra McDonald, won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
Is Porgy and Bess sung-through?
- Yes, as Gershwin wrote it: the 1935 original is an opera in which the dialogue is sung as recitative. Some later versions, including the 1942 Broadway revival and the 1959 film, turned much of that recitative into spoken dialogue.
Where and when is Porgy and Bess set?
- Porgy and Bess is set in Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s.
Has Porgy and Bess played in London's West End?
- Porgy and Bess first played London at the Stoll Theatre in 1952. Trevor Nunn's 2006 Savoy Theatre version replaced the sung recitative with dialogue, and a 2014 Regent's Park Open Air Theatre staging earned an Olivier nomination.
Is there a Porgy and Bess movie?
- Otto Preminger's 1959 film starred Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge, with Sammy Davis Jr. as Sportin' Life, and won the Oscar for its score. The Gershwin estate's refusal to allow screenings kept it largely unseen for decades.
The story of Porgy and Bess
Set in the 1920s in the fictional Catfish Row, a waterfront community in South Carolina, the story centers on Porgy, a disabled man, and his love for Bess, a woman trying to escape a troubled past and the grip of a dangerous man in her life. Their relationship unfolds against the daily rhythms and hardships of the community around them.
The work draws on the texture of Southern Black community life of its era, telling a story of love, resilience, and struggle that is both intimate in its central romance and expansive in its portrait of a whole community.
The music and the makers
George Gershwin composed Porgy and Bess as a fully sung-through opera, drawing on jazz, blues, and spiritual traditions to create a score that fuses classical ambition with distinctly American musical vocabulary. Because it is sung-through rather than built around spoken dialogue, it occupies a unique space between the opera house and the Broadway stage.
The score includes some of the most enduring melodies in American music, songs that have been recorded and reinterpreted by countless jazz and popular artists over the decades, a testament to how deeply Gershwin's musical language has permeated American culture.
Porgy and Bess on Broadway
Porgy and Bess premiered in the 1930s and has had a complicated, evolving history on Broadway and in opera houses since, with productions varying between full-scale operatic stagings and more streamlined musical theatre versions. Its scale and ambition set it apart from the typical Broadway musical of its day.
Over time it has come to be recognized as a landmark work bridging opera and musical theatre, admired for its musical richness even as its portrayal of its characters and setting has prompted ongoing conversation and reinterpretation in later revivals.
Porgy and Bess: frequently asked questions
When did Porgy and Bess premiere?
Porgy and Bess premiered in 1935.
Who composed Porgy and Bess?
George Gershwin composed the score, drawing on jazz, blues, and spiritual musical traditions.
What genre is Porgy and Bess?
It is a sung-through opera, blending classical and American musical theatre traditions rather than following a book musical format with spoken dialogue.
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