Don’t miss this spectacular classic of American art at its best, fully staged with full orchestra under the baton of Darwin Aquino, complete with soloists, chorus, dance, costumes, and sets. Approximately 2 hours 45 minutes (including 2 intermissions).

Featuring:

Jonathan Stuckey, bass-baritone – Porgy, a disabled beggar

Karen Clark Green, soprano – Bess, Crown’s girl

Brian Keith Johnson, baritone – Crown, a tough stevedore

Matthew Jones, tenor – Sportin’ Life, a dope peddler

Governor Harris, tenor – Robbins, an inhabitant of Catfish Row

Lauren Harris, soprano – Serena, Robbins’ wife

James Binion, baritone – Jake, a fisherman

Clara, Jake’s wife soprano Ashlee Foreman

Malika Turner, mezzo-soprano – Maria, keeper of the cook-shop

Michael Ward, tenor – Mingo

Others

About the Opera:

Porgy and Bess is the most famous and likely the best American opera ever created. The Cleveland Opera brings to life the original opera version of Porgy and Bess, composed by George Gershwin to the libretto by the author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. Come hear America’s famous songs: “Summertime,” “A Woman Is A Sometime Thing,” “My Man’s Gone Now,” “I Got Plenty of O’ Nuttin’,” “I Ain’ Got No Shame,” “What You Want Wid Bess,” “Oh, Doctor Jesus,” “I Loves You, Porgy,” “A Red Headed Woman,” “There’s A Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New York,” “Oh Lawd, I’m On My Way” and many other heartfelt musical moments.

Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black street-beggar living in the fictitious black tenement called the Catfish Row (once, a mansion of the aristocracy) on the waterfront of Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1930’s. Porgy attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin’ Life, her drug dealer.

In a 1935 New York Times article, Gershwin explained why he called Porgy and Bess a folk opera, saying that “Porgy and Bess is a folk tale. Its people naturally would sing folk music. When I first began work in the music I decided against the use of original folk material because I wanted the music to be all of one piece. Therefore I wrote my own spirituals and folksongs. But they are still folk music – and therefore, being in operatic form, Porgy and Bess becomes a folk opera.”

For cast and information, please visit us at www.theclevelandopera.org or call 216 816 1411