PORGY AND BESS National Tour Makes Philadelphia Premiere, Now thru 2/23

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 today, Feb. 18 - 23. The official press opening is tonight, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Ticket prices range from $20 to $105.50 and can be purchased by calling 215-731-3333, online at kimmelcenter.org/broadway, at the KimMel Center box office, Broad & Spruce streets. (open daily 10 am to 6 pm) or at the Academy of Music box office, Broad & Locust streets (open during performances only). Groups of 10 or more will receive discounts for select performances by calling 215-790-5883 or 866-276-2947. Performances include: Tuesday - Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m.; Friday & Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m.; Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m.; and matinees Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The cast features Alicia Hall Moran as Bess, Nathaniel Stampley as Porgy, Alvin Crawford as Crown, Kingsley Leggs as Sporting Life, Sumayya Ali as Clara, DENISHA BALLEW as Serena, Danielle Lee Greaves as Mariah and David Hughey as Jake.

The cast also includes Dan Barnhill, Vanjah Boikai, ADRIANNA M. CLEVELAND, Roosevelt André Credit, Cicily Daniels, Dwelvan David, Nkrumah Gatling, TAMAR GREENE, Nicole Adell Johnson, James Earl Jones II, QUENTIN OLIVER LEE, CHERYSE McLEOD LEWIS, SARITA RACHELLE LILLY, Kent Overshown, Chauncey Packer, Lindsay Roberts, Fred Rose and SOARA-JOYE ROSS.

THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS by George Gershwin, DUBOSE and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin, features one of Broadway's most accomplished creative teams, led by Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus (Pippin, Hair), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog), and two-time Obie Award-winning composer DIEDRE L. Murray (Running Man). The creative team also includes choreographer Ronald K. Brown, set designer Riccardo Hernandez, costume designer ESOSA, lighting designer Christopher Akerlind, sound designer ACME Sound Partners, music supervisor CONSTANTINE KITSOPOULOUS, and music director/conductor Dale Rieling.

Based on DuBose Heyward's novel "Porgy" and the play of the same name, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward, the Broadway revival of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS is a stunning and stirring new staging with a magnificent 23-piece orchestra, including such legendary songs as "Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So," and "I Got Plenty of Nothing." The classic story is set in Charleston's fabled Catfish Row, where the beautiful Bess struggles to break free from her scandalous past, and the only one who can rescue her is the courageous Porgy. Threatened by her formidable former lover Crown, and the seductive enticements of the colorful troublemaker Sporting Life, Porgy and Bess' relationship evolves into a deep romance that triumphs as one of theater's most exhilarating love stories.