UNCG University Concert & Lecture Series

Porgy and Bess is recognized as an American masterpiece. A story that intertwines pride, prejudice, pathos and passion through a jazz and blues influenced score. Originally billed as a “Folk Opera”, Porgy and Bess introduced classic Gershwin songs including “Summertime”, “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’” and “It Ain’t Necessar...ily So”, as well as magnificent and enthralling choruses that stunned music and drama critics alike at its premiere in 1935.

Based on the DuBose Heyward novel set in Charleston’s famed Catfish Row, Porgy and Bess tells the moving story of Porgy, a cripple who witnesses a murder during a dice game and later gives shelter to the murderer’s woman, the beautiful, haunted Bess. The Catfish Row community is opposed to the union, but Porgy and Bess make each other happy and their happiness only increases when they take in a child orphaned by a hurricane. Their happiness is shattered when the murderer, Crown, returns for Bess, and Porgy, defending his family, kills him. The police detain him for questioning but never dream that a cripple could be the killer, so Porgy returns triumphantly to the Row. The triumph turns to tragedy, quickly, when he learns that while he was away, Sportin' Life, the dope pusher and Bess’ former pimp, seduced Bess with "happy dust" and took her away to New York City to resume her career as a prostitute.

This production, produced by Living Arts, Inc., was launched in January of 1993 to bring this Gershwin masterpiece to audiences in cities big and small in the United States and around the world, most of which had never seen a professional production of Porgy and Bess. Since our critically acclaimed debut in 1993, this production of Porgy and Bess has been performed live in over 1,000 shows in 17 different countries on 6 continents, including 49 of the fifty United States, reaching a total audience of over 1.5 million people.Read More

Founded in 1926 by dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, the Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest and most celebrated contemporary dance company in America.

Since its inception, the Martha Graham Dance Company has received international acclaim from audiences in over 50 countries throughout North and South Americ...a, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The Company has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, Covent Garden, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at the base of the Great Pyramids of Egypt and in the ancient Herod Atticus Theatre on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In addition, the Company has also produced several award-winning films broadcast on PBS and around the world.Read More

THE GYPSY IN MY SOUL presents Broadway’s Patti LuPone singing songs from her life both on and off the stage. The two-time Tony Award winner will sing songs that have been associated with her Broadway career (from such shows as Gypsy, Anything Goes and Oliver!) as well as some of her personal pop favorites.

Conceived and... directed by Scott Wittman
Musical Direction Joseph Thalken
Musical Arrangements by Jonathan Tunick and Joseph Thalken
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