Delishious – A Gershwin News Update

We’re all missing the experience of live performance and we hope to see you again soon with the joyous music and lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin. In the meantime, please check out these online streaming options and other resources.

The streaming services Broadway HD and Stage2View are offering An American in Paris, filmed in London with Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope, the stars of the original Tony Award-winning Broadway production. BroadwayHD is also streaming the San Francisco Opera’s production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, starring Eric Owens and Laquita Mitchell. Go to www.broadwayhd.com or https://stage2view.com/shows/an-american-in-paris/ for details.

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The latest audio recording of Porgy and Bess, featuring Eric Owens and Angel Blue as the title characters, and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of David Robertson, has snagged two Grammy nominations: Best Opera Recording and Best Engineered Album, Classical. The three-CD set can be purchased at the Metropolitan Opera’s online store.

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Naxos Records has just released the first recording of the Critical Edition of George Gershwin’s Concerto in F as part of its American Classical series. The CD features Gershwin specialist Kevin Cole at the piano, with David Miller conducting the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic. The recording – on compact disc or in online formats – can be purchased through the Naxos website.

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Earlier this year, Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, featured an article on the Gershwin Critical Edition’s Porgy and Bess volume.

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Popular singer Lana Del Rey has covered “Summertime” to support the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. See the video here.

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For a little taste of Broadway magic, catch Tommy Tune performing Fascinating Rhythm in the Encores! production of Lady, Be Good!

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An American in Paris, Strike Up the Band, Rhapsody in Blue, Girl Crazy, and A Star Is Born. All movies featuring music and songs by George and Ira Gershwin and all now available for viewing on HBO’s new streaming service, HBO Max. Check out the story here.

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The classic Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney movie versions of Girl Crazy and Strike Up the Band are available now on Blu-Ray from Warner Bros. Archive. Check them out here and here.

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George Gershwin’s classical reputation is examined by the cultural historian Joseph Horovitz, whose most recent book is “On My Way”: The Untold Story of Rouben Mamoulian, George Gershwin, and Porgy and Bess.

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Last year’s New York staging of Lady in the Dark can be revisited in this short video produced by The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

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We end this update with news of the deaths of Crazy for You producer Roger Horchow and Viola Smith, “The Fastest Girl Drummer in the World,” whose career was launched with a unique performance of the Rhapsody in Blue.

— Michael Owen