Trevor Nunn to Direct New Adaptation of Porgy and Bess in London

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, a new adaptation of Porgy and Bess by Tony Award winner Trevor Nunn, based on the original opera with music by George Gershwin, libretto and lyrics by DuBose & Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin, will begin performances at London’s Savoy Theatre on October 25. It will open officially on November 9.

Nunn, who will also direct the production, has taken the beloved opera and edited it down from its original, roughly four-hour length for presentation as a two-and-a-half-hour musical. The score, which features such classics as “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” and “There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York,” has been specially adapted by Gareth Valentine. The production will feature a 40-member cast, yet to be announced, and a 20-piece orchestra.

Based on the play Porgy, by DuBose & Dorothy Heyward, Porgy and Bess had its world premiere at Broadway’s Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon) in 1935. That production ran for only 124 performances, but the work has since had five Broadway revivals and countless productions in theaters and opera houses throughout the world.

There are also two film versions of Porgy and Bess: a 1959 Hollywood movie starring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge (whose singing voices were respectively dubbed by Robert McFerrin and Adele Addison) and a 1993 version directed by Nunn, based on his production of the opera at the Glyndebourne Festival.