Porgy and Bess

E55180
American opera opera

Porgy and Bess is a landmark American opera by George Gershwin that blends classical music, jazz, and blues to depict African American life in Charleston’s Catfish Row.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Porgy and Bess (1959 film) 1
Symphonic Picture of Porgy and Bess 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf American opera ⓘ
opera ⓘ
basedOn Porgy (novel) ⓘ
Porgy (novel) ⓘ
surface form: Porgy (play)
basedOnWorkAuthor DuBose Heyward ⓘ
composer George Gershwin ⓘ
countryOfOrigin United States of America ⓘ
surface form: United States
depicts African American life in the American South ⓘ
filmAdaptationDirector Otto Preminger ⓘ
filmAdaptationStars Dorothy Dandridge ⓘ
Sammy Davis Jr. ⓘ
Sidney Poitier ⓘ
firstBroadwayPerformanceLocation Alvin Theatre, New York City ⓘ
genre blues ⓘ
classical music ⓘ
folk opera ⓘ
jazz ⓘ
jazz-influenced opera ⓘ
hasFilmAdaptation Porgy and Bess self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Porgy and Bess (1959 film)
historicalReputation landmark of American opera ⓘ
language English ⓘ
librettist DuBose Heyward ⓘ
lyricist Ira Gershwin ⓘ
mainCharacter Bess ⓘ
Clara ⓘ
Crown ⓘ
Porgy (novel) ⓘ
surface form: Porgy

Serena ⓘ
Sportin’ Life ⓘ
notableSong Bess, You Is My Woman Now ⓘ
I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ ⓘ
It Ain’t Necessarily So ⓘ
My Man’s Gone Now ⓘ
Summertime ⓘ
originalProducer Theatre Guild ⓘ
performanceTradition all-Black principal cast ⓘ
premiereDate 1935-09-30 ⓘ
premiereLocation Colonial Theatre, Boston ⓘ
rightsHolder Gershwin estate ⓘ
settingCity Charleston ⓘ
settingLocation Catfish Row ⓘ
settingState South Carolina ⓘ
structure three acts ⓘ
subjectMatter community life in Catfish Row ⓘ
drug addiction ⓘ
love story ⓘ
poverty ⓘ
racism ⓘ
timePeriodOfSetting early 20th century ⓘ

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Porgy and Bess → hasFilmAdaptation → Porgy and Bess self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Porgy and Bess (1959 film)
Neil Simon Theatre → notableProduction → Porgy and Bess ⓘ
George Gershwin → notableWork → Porgy and Bess ⓘ
Robert Russell Bennett → notableWork → Porgy and Bess ⓘ
this entity surface form: Symphonic Picture of Porgy and Bess
Rouben Mamoulian → notableWork → Porgy and Bess ⓘ
Theatre Guild → notableWork → Porgy and Bess ⓘ
Kind of Blue → precededBy → Porgy and Bess ⓘ