Porgy and Bess return in triumph (From Daily Echo)

Porgy and Bess return in triumph

1:28pm Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Stage News By Lorelei Reddin, Entertainments Editor

CAPE Town Opera returns to the UK in 2012 to bring its production of Porgy And Bess to Southampton as part of a seven-week tour in July.

In 2009, the internationally renowned group’s first UK performances of the show met with universal public and critical acclaim and the company is known globally for its exceptionally gifted young singers.

Relocated to the depression-ravaged townships of Soweto, Cape Town Opera have made this production of Porgy And Bess their own, as the search for hope and happiness – amid poverty and hardship – unfolds in a poignant tale of love and deprivation.

It is one of the great icons of American music theatre, known around the world as “the peoples’ opera”.

Written in 1935 and originally portraying the 1920s life of America’s Deep South, this compelling work contains some of the most stirring and ever-lasting songs including Summertime, I Got Plenty Of Nuttin’, It Ain’t Necessarily So, and I Loves You Porgy.

Cape Town Opera is the largest performing arts company in South Africa.

Porgy And Bess is sponsored by the Daily Echo.

Tickets for the show, which runs from July 4 to 7, are available by calling 023 8071 1811 or visit mayflower.org.uk.