Porgy & Bess in Charleston

'Round about Memorial Day weekend, you will find me at the new Gaillard Center in Charleston, seeing a new production of Porgy & Bess at the Spoleto Festival USA. It features a collaboration that hits very close to home. It was announced in the New York Times today (tickets will go fast), and you can't blame the arts writer for leading with the singers (Lester Lynch and Alyson Cambridge). But here's the heart of the headline for me. First, it is being directed by David Herskovits. It is David's third production at Spoleto, and he has a way with Charleston audiences. The first show he did, Mamba's Daughters, was also a DuBose Heyward adaptation, and it sold out at the Dock Street Theater. I was composer and music director, and we had an amazing company of actors who devoted themselves to the project. David also co-created and directed our opera of ETA Hoffmann's The Sandman, and I have been associated with his company, Target Margin Theater, since its formation. David is a brilliant friend and colleague, and I cannot wait to see what he will do with Porgy. And if that is not enough to inspire the plane ticket, the visual designer is Jonathan Green. If you have been in my kitchen, you know that my Jonathan Green calendar is always up (supplied annually by my cousin Mary Guess).  His art is colorful, loud, and vibrant, and it is steeped in all things Lowcountry. David & Jonathan will truly make this Porgy & Bess stand apart (and I am sure there will be some great singing, too). See you in Charleston!