The enchanting story about the gorgeous Bess and the crippled, but audacious Porgy is set in Catfish Row, Charleston, South Carolina, during the 1920’s. Bess who attempts to flee from her shameful past is rescued by Porgy, and as their romance evolves, the play transforms into an exhilarating love story.
On this day, February 28th, in 1935, the all African-American cast play, Porgy and Bess, debuts on Broadway. Todd Duncan and Anne Brown performed 124 times in the leading roles of Porgy and Bess. After such success of Broadway, Porgy and Bess went on tour to four different cities: Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. At the Washington stop, Todd Duncan and other cast members protested the segregated audience rule at the theatre. After refusal to perform, the cast’s demand prevailed, and it was that day the National Theatre had its first integrated audience for a production.
Since its original creation, Porgy and Bess has been recreated multiple times and has kept an all black cast and its legendary classic songs Summertime, I got Plenty of Nothing, and It Ain’t Necessarily So. The version created by the Houston Grand Opera in 1976 was the first opera to ever receive a Grammy and a Tony Award.