Media Archive

Reinventing an American Classic with Stronger Title Characters and a More Upbeat Ending  

“The American Repertory Theater has announced its full 2011-2012 season, which will launch with the previously announced production of Porgy and Bess, starring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis. Also planned are world premieres of Futurity: A Musical by The Lisps and a play based on Jung Chang’s Wild Swans.” – Playbill.com

“American Repertory Theatre has announced its 2011-2012 season for the Loeb Drama Center, which, as previously announced, will open with The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, running August 17 – October 2. Diane Paulus will direct the production that will star Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald in the title roles.” – TheaterMania 

It is hard to come up with another American company whose creative footprint at the moment is making such a deep impression on the country’s theater. 

“Porgy and Bess,” a show about black people, created entirely by white people, has never been a favorite of black audience. Diane Paulus’s great achievement is to cut through Heyward’s muddy folklore and to present us with us something more profound. Her Porgy (the beautiful Norm Lewis) and Bess are not archetypal “black lovers”; they are a man and a woman, human beings who are not defined by their race.  By ridding the script of its sociological and anthropological strain, Paulus allows us to see the people and, perforce, to hear the music.    

The Paulus-Parks Porgy is a streamlined, intimate, musically ravishing show…..faithful to what counts most – Gershwin’s lush, bluesy, irreplacable score.  That makes it a revival not to hound but to hail. 

“Greater Boston” takes an in-depth look at the production and talks to the cast and creative team of Porgy and Bess to find out their opinions on the changes made to the piece. The special feature also captures a glimpse into the production that currently plays at the Loeb Drama Center and offers a series of extended interviews with McDonald, Lewis and director Paulus.

Dear Mr. Sondheim. It ain’t necessarily so. While purists, pundits, preservationists and scholars may have qualms about the revised production of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess which had its official pre-Broadway press opening at the A.R.T. in Cambridge, Mass. on August 31, mere mortals who have no preconceived notions of how the work “should” be presented are in for a thrilling night of musical theater. Powerful, imaginative, and gloriously cast, this intimate yet soaring Porgy and Bess is both timeless and full of life.   

Here and Now host Robin Young interviews Norm Lewis, playing Porgy in ‘The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess’ at the A.R.T.   

This stunning adaptation of the Gershwin classic is the most extraordinary shows productions Boston has ever seen. The production unfolds almost magically, thanks to flawless lighting, glorious orchestrations, stellar vocals and an immensely talented ensemble.