Porgy

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This article is about the novel and play by DuBose Heyward. For the fish, see Sparidae

Porgy is a novel written by DuBose Heyward in 1925, as well as a play Dorothy Heyward helped him to write which debuted in 1927.

1 Novel
2 Play
3 Adaptations
4 External links
- 4.1 Novel
- 4.2 Play

[edit] Novel

The novel tells the story of Porgy, a crippled street-beggar in the black tenements of Charleston, South Carolina in the 1920s. The novel was based on the Charlestonian Samuel Smalls. The novel features characters speaking in Gullah, the creole language of the area.

[edit] Play

DuBose Heyward's wife, Dorothy Heyward, began working on a staged adaptation of her husband's novel soon after it was published in 1925.

Porgy debuted on Broadway at the Guild Theatre (today's Virginia Theatre) on October 10, 1927 and ran for 367 performances. It was directed by Rouben Mamoulian.

A 1929 revival was less successful, opening on September 13, 1929 and closing one month later after only 34 performances at the Martin Beck Theatre (today's Al Hirschfeld Theatre).

[edit] Adaptations

Even before the play had been fully written, DuBose Heyward was in discussions with George Gershwin for an operatic version of his novel, which debuted in 1935 as Porgy and Bess (renamed to distinguish it from the play).