A restored edition of an enduring American opera emerges at a time when its racial and social themes are as relevant as when the opera premiered in 1936.
The long-in-the-works "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess" gets a test-drive Saturday in Michigan en route to an official debut in 2020 by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The staging is a collaboration of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, the University Musical Society and the Willis Patterson Chorale blending students, community singers and professional performers.
University musicologist Mark Clague says the goal is to deliver on co-lyricist Ira Gershwin's late-in-life declaration, "We must do right by Porgy."
Work began in 2002, nearly 20 years after Gershwin's death. Descendants of the lyricist and his composer brother, George Gershwin, sought music librarian Wayne Shirley to edit a new performance edition. The University of Michigan's involvement in curating the project came through Todd Gershwin, the Gershwins' grandnephew who graduated from the school in 1997. The family also donated one of George Gershwin's pianos to the university — likely the one on which he composed "Porgy" — that will be used in the performance.
Kimmel gets political about guns
Jimmy Kimmel opened Thursday's late night show by replaying clips from President Donald Trump's statement about the killings of 17 people by a teenager with an AR-15 assault weapon at a Florida high school — including the part where Trump said, "no parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning." Kimmel said he agrees, "and here's what you do to fix that: Tell your buddies in Congress, tell Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio, all the family men who care so much about their communities, that what we need are laws, real laws, that do everything possible to keep assault rifles out of the hands of people who are going to shoot our kids. Go on TV and tell them to do that!" he said to strong applause.
Separating: Actors Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux are separating. The couple said in a statement that the decision to split "was mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year." Aniston and Theroux were engaged in August of 2012 and married in August of 2015. They have no children.
Superhero: "Black Panther" is well on its way to a record-making weekend at the North American box office. The Walt Disney Co. estimates Friday that the superhero movie earned $25.2 million from its Thursday preview screenings. It's the second biggest for a Marvel Studios film behind "Avengers: Age of Ultron," which earned $27.6 million in previews, and the best for the month of February.
Associated Press
