The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess Returns to the Met on October 31

Members from the original Grammy Award-winning cast, led by Angel Blue and Eric Owens, return for first revival since the production’s triumphant 2019 premiere

Many artists and creative team members behind the Met’s recent hit Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Terence Blanchard reunite for Porgy and Bess, with James Robinson’s production featuring choreography by Camille A. Brown

New York, NY (October 28, 2021)—The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess returns to the Met for 13 performances, October 31–December 12, 2021. The classic American opera features many artists from the triumphant 2019–20 production’s Grammy Award-winning cast. Eric Owens and Angel Blue star as the title couple, with conductor David Robertson on the podium. Blue, along with Latonia Moore as Serena and Ryan Speedo Green as Jake, return to the Met stage after the 2021–22 season-opening hit Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Terence Blanchard. The artists reunite with the creative team behind Blanchard’s opera for Porgy and Bess, with a production by James Robinson and choreography by Camille A. Brown. The cast also stars Janai Brugger and Jacqueline Echols as the young mother Clara, Frederick Ballentine as drug dealer Sportin’ Life, Alfred Walker as the brutal stevedore Crown, and Denyce Graves as Maria, the matriarch of Catfish Row. Elizabeth Llewellyn will also sing the role of Bess on November 18, and J. David Jackson will conduct the December 1 and 4 performances.

With music by George Gershwin and a libretto by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin, Porgy and Bess explores the relationships among members of a close-knit community in 1920s South Carolina. The score is infused with timeless melodies that have become standards of the Great American Songbook, including “Summertime,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin,” and “My Man’s Gone Now.”

Porgy and Bess Broadcasts in Radio and Online

The November 3, 18, and 24 performances of Porgy and Bess will be broadcast live on Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 355. A performance will also be broadcast over the Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network on April 23, 2022.

Audio from the November 3 and November 18 performances will be streamed live on the Met’s website, metopera.org.

For More Information

For further details on Porgy and Bess, including casting by date, please click here.