George Gershwin "PORGY and BESS" Todd Duncan / Hirschfeld 1942 Souvenir Program

Description

This is a beautiful souvenir program from the
first Broadway revival of the GEORGE GERSHWIN, IRA GERSHWIN and DU BOSE HEYWARD American Folk Opera "PORGY AND BESS" which played the Majestic Theatre in New York City. (The revival opened January 22nd, 1942 and ran for 286 performances before going on the road.) ..... Despite the early demise of the original 1935 production (ran for only 124 performances), this Gershwin masterwork remains one of the greatest of all American musicals and musical theatre scores. It wasn't until several years after GEORGE GERSHWIN's untimely death at the age of 38 that the work received the acclamation it deserved. This Broadway revival starred TODD DUNCAN as "Porgy", ETTA MOTEN (who replaced ANNE BROWN in May 1942) as "Bess", AVON LONG as "Sportin' Life" and WARREN COLEMAN as "Crown". Others in the cast included EDWARD MATTHEWS, GEORGETTE HARVEY, RUBY ELZY, J. ROSAMOND JOHNSON, HARRIETT JACKSON and THE EVA JESSYE CHOIR ..... CREDITS: Book by DU BOSE HEYWARD founded on the play "Porgy" by DU BOSE and DOROTHY HEYWARD; Music by GEORGE GERSHWIN ("Girl Crazy", "Lady, Be Good!", "Oh, Kay!", "Funny Face", "Rosalie", "Of Thee I Sing", "Porgy and Bess", "George White's Scandals"); Lyrics by DU BOSE HEYWARD and IRA GERSHWIN; Sets designed by HERBERT ANDREWS; Costumes supervised by PAUL DU PONT; Program Cover illustrated by AL HIRSCHFELD; Orchestra Conducted by ALEXANDER SMALLENS; Directed by ROBERT ROSS; Produced by CHERYL CRAWFORD
..... DETAILS: The oversized 20 page program measures 9" X 12" inches and includes full production credits, photos and bios of each of the leading actors and members of the creative team, synopsis, promotional text, a page of excerpts from a number of New York reviews and several pages of production photos ..... PLEASE NOTE: The scanned pages have been cropped due to the limitations of my scanner. The margins are slightly wider than shown ..... CONDITION: With the exception of a light vertical crease, this program is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any musical theatre aficionado or historian
. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.