Ira Gershwin News

Winner of the 2012 TONY AWARD® FOR BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is hitting the road with award-winning members of the Broadway cast in this stunning and stirring new staging. Accompanied by a lush 23-piece orchestra, this re-envisioned Broadway production includes such legendary songs as 'Summertime,' 'It Ain't Necessarily So,' and 'I Got Plenty of Nothing.' Check out highlights of the production below!

The most recent version of the famous and often controversial opera, PORGY AND BESS by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin, re-titled as THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, is now playing at DC's National Theatre through Dec. 29, 2013. The opera, which has garnered scores of awards since its first performance in 1935, has been re-mounted by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge with a creative team including Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, who adapted the book, and Dierdre L. Murray, who adapted the musical score. THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS opened on Broadway in 2011.

Historic adaptation of PORGY AND BESS returns to National Theater.

Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC), which recently launched its first full season in its new state-of-the-art theatre in Warwick, is pleased to present two exclusive music presentations in January - Celebrating Spectacular Show Tunes on Saturday, January 11, and A Night of Broadway Classics, starring Fred Scheff on Saturday, January 18.

Our intrepid cabaret columnist/reviewer Stephen Hanks catches up on some reviews of fall 2013 shows, including Mary Foster Conklin's BroadwayWorld.com Award nominated tribute to Fran Landesman, solo shows from Bernard Dotson, Gary Crawford, and Lauren Glazer, and a duo show from Alison Nusbaum and Jackie Kristel.

Tickets for The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, are now on sale. Part of the BROADWAY PHILADELPHIA season, presented by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization, THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS arrives at the Academy of Music for a limited engagement beginning Feb. 18 - 23. The official press opening is Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Donna Vivino, who starred for two years as 'Elphaba' in the First National Tour of WICKED and also in the role on Broadway, just released a jazzy new album called 'Beautiful Dreamer' via Ghostlight Records. This is Donna's first album, which came about in a spur-of-the-moment collaboration with her father, Jerry Vivino, who is part of Conan's Basic Cable Band -- the house band for O'Brien's late night show on TBS. Donna recently spoke with BWW about working with her father, her current project off-Broadway, and the upcoming third season of 'Submissions Only'.

Alexis Gershwin, the niece of legendary songwriters George and Ira Gershwin is set to release a collection of greatest hits titled, Long Ago and Far Away on Tuesday, January 14, 2014. The album - a retrospective of Alexis' recordings of Gershwin music throughout her illustrious career - includes thirteen timeless Gershwin classics such as "S'Wonderful," "I've Got A Crush on You," "Summertime," "(Our) Love is Here to Stay," and more.

Celebrate with Arion Press on Saturday, December 7. The Press will be open from 11 to 5 for a holiday sale and free tours at noon and 3 p.m.

Ann Hampton Callaway's latest show in late November at 54 Below—her new home away from home—was another one of those slam dunk entertainments she's produced in the past year or so that clearly have put her near the top, if not at the very top, of the female cabaret performer depth chart. Listen, not counting the Broadway stars like Patti LuPone (who are now doing cabaret, mainly at 54 Below), or the top-notch jazz singers like Jane Monheit, you be hard-pressed to think of any major veteran cabaret singer in the country—and that includes Barbara Cook, Marilyn Maye, Andrea Marcovicci, and Amanda McBroom—who are plying the trade better these days than Ann Hampton Callaway.

Happy Birthday, Ira Gershwin! A lyricist, Gershwin collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. With George he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as 'I Got Rhythm', 'Embraceable You', 'The Man I Love' and 'Someone to Watch Over Me'. He was also responsible, along with DuBose Heyward, for the libretto to George's opera Porgy and Bess. The success the brothers had with their collaborative works has often overshadowed the creative role that Ira played. However, his mastery of songwriting continued after the early death of George. He wrote additional hit songs with composers Jerome Kern ('Long Ago (and Far Away)'), Kurt Weill and Harold Arlen.

Park Square brings a dash of Gershwin to the holiday entertainment season with WORDS BY...Ira Gershwin AND THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK, tonight, November 29 -December 29, 2013.

Tony Award-Winner Len Cariou returns to 54 Below, where he will be performing selections from George and Ira Gershwin. Cariou will be performing Dec 11, 13, and 14. For more information, please visit http://54below.com/artist/len-cariou/.

It's got rhythm; It's got music; Who could ask for anything more? This production is complete with toe-tapping dance routines and memorable hit songs. Gershwin fans rejoice as the Winter Park Playhouse pays tribute to all the great songs written by George and Ira Gershwin in CRAZY FOR GERSHWIN.

San Francisco audiences were delighted to welcome a powerful and wistfully evocative production of The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess to the bay area and to the stage of the Golden Gate Theatre where it plays now through December 8. Opening night was also the launch of the much anticipated national tour of this Tony award-winning revival. Directed by Diane Paulus, with a book adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks from DuBose and Dorothy Heyward's original book, Porgy and Bess's dramatic story of love, death, addiction and hope comes alive once again for a whole new audience of theatregoers.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Sony Masterworks team up to celebrate one of Hollywood's most beloved stars: Fred Astaire. The new 2-CD set from Sony Masterworks, Fred Astaire: The Early Years at RKO, is available November 19 and TCM names Astaire their “Star of the Month” for December.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Sony Masterworks team up to celebrate one of Hollywood's most beloved stars: Fred Astaire.

The Winter Park Playhouse, Central Florida's only professional musical theatre, will pay tribute to the iconic talent of George and Ira Gershwin this holiday season with the World Premiere of Crazy For Gershwin November 15 - 24 & December 5 - 14, 2013.

A new promotional trailer for the national tour of American musical classic THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS is now available to view, featuring the cast and creative team discussing their participation in the production and the content of the legendary opera itself.

Musicals Tonight! replaces COME SUMMER with LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE Performances March 4-16 at the Lion Theatre on Theatre Row (New York, NY) Musicals Tonight! the Obie-winning company dedicated to the revival of neglected musicals has announced a change in the 2013-14 Season. Will Holt's Come Summer will now be replaced by Rick Besoyan's Little Mary Sunshine with performances, March 4 -16, directed by Thomas Sabella-Mills, with music direction by James Stenborg. With book, music, and lyrics by Rick Besoyan, and billed as 'a musical about an old operetta'- Little Mary Sunshine gently spoofs such old-time favorites like Rose Marie and Naughty Marietta - but has a personality all its own. The plot is a little bit of everything: Colorado Rangers led by stalwart Captain Jim; the lovely Mary Sunshine, her 'naughty' maid Nancy; a chorus of giggling schoolgirls and the ominous but benevolent Indian chief.