Ira Gershwin News

For one night only on Monday, September 22, 2025, at 7:30 pm, international cabaret star Adrienne Haan will perform Adrienne Haan Sings Kurt Weill at the York Theatre Company. We spoke with Haan about the show.

Porgy and Bess is a famous 'folk opera' created by George Gershwin, with a libretto by DuBose Heyward and lyrics by DuBose and Ira Gershwin. The work chronicles the life of a Black community on Catfish Row in Charleston and is known for its fusion of operatic elements with American folk music, jazz, and blues. The story focuses on the love between Porgy, a disabled beggar, and Bess, a woman seeking a better life.

Rising star Anaïs Reno made a fine debut at Dizzy's on August 26th, in celebration of her latest album, 'Lady of the Lavender Mist' with her excellent trio.

The Library of Congress has acquired rare music and lyric sketches from composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, best known for their collaboration on the score of “The Wizard of Oz” in 1939.

Penn State Centre Stage of the College of Arts and Architecture's 2025-26 season will offer a mix of classical, absurdist, mid-century and contemporary/new works. Learn how to purchase tickets!

Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum will return with the company’s annual Under the Oaks salon series, featuring performance and music every Thursday in September on Theatricum’s spectacular outdoor stage in Topanga.

The Lone Tree Arts Center will present the Gershwin-inspired musical comedy Nice Work If You Can Get It. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets to performances.

Long forgotten talkshow guest has plenty to say about culture today

The popular jazz guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli opened up an eight-set stint at Birdland Jazz on July 30th. This second set was a swinger, with Pizzarelli in excellent form.

Michael Feinstein, the champion of the Great American Songbook, reflects on a career spanning five decades in which he’s not only performed timeless standards but lived them.

Craft Recordings has announced a pair of deluxe digital edition reissues celebrating the singer, songwriter, and actress Natalie Cole, on what would have been her 75th birthday year.

The Library of Congress has acquired the manuscripts, music and lyric drafts, recordings, notebooks and scrapbooks of legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Learn more here!

Kafka is now on stage at 59E59 Theaters running through June 29th. Directed by Colin Watkeys and produced by Twilight Theatre Co., writer and performer Jack Klaff portrays acclaimed author Franz Kafka’s friends, lovers, and critics.

Abingdon Theatre Company has announced the playwright attached to their first-ever full-length new play commission is previous Carolyn Halpert Artist-in-Residence, Cris Eli Blak.

The pivotal and star-crossed main characters and the Catfish Row community come alive in the highly influential, thought-provoking, and engrossing opera Porgy and Bess. This much discussed opera has its partisans and detractors but there is a distinct need to ponder and consider a work of this quality. This Washington National Opera production beautifully melds content and form in this story of a crippled man (Porgy) who must travel the lonely road (“When Gawd make cripple, He means him to be lonely. Night time, day time, He got to travel that lonesome road.”) to find wholeness with the easily gratified yet complex and caring Bess.

Today’s subject Francesca Zambello is currently living her theatre life as the Artistic Director of Washington National Opera (WNO). She has been in the position since 2012. Her production of Porgy and Bess begins performances this evening in the Opera House at Kennedy Center where it will play through May 31st.

Ms. Kazan was on my radar for as long as I can remember when I started to get interested in theatre, music and show business and had “secret” subscriptions to magazines that focused on those passions.

South Coast Repertory has announced its 2025-26 season, featuring the return of Million Dollar Quartet, the milestone 45th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and more.

An American in Paris - A New Gershwin Musical at JCC CenterStage

The Library of Congress will host “StageStruck! VI: Women and the American Musical,” a free three-day conference May 14-16 featuring Jeanine Tesori, Shaina Taub, Helen Park, Julie Taymor, Camille A. Brown, and Marjuan Canady.