The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (Touring) Tickets

I have seen "Porgy" many times from the late '50s on, including the new version on Broadway, and am always extremely touched by it. I wanted my 15 year old granddaughter, who sings, to see it as part of her "musical education". She found it "interesting". The cast was outstanding. I loved all the choral work and dancing. What energy. I found the dialogue sometimes hard to understand. However, it may have been due to Gammage Auditorium acoustics, which have often been criticized. It may also be that they were speaking/singing in a southern dialect.

I had never had the opportunity to attend a performance of the original Porgy & Bess so I had no expectations. My son and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The performers were very good actors and had amazing voices. They also were very agile dancers, especially on the pitched floor!

Superb production of a timeless masterpiece, created by one of the greatest composers the world has seen

The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess was amazing! Thank you for bringing this high-quality performance of a great American classic to Tempe! The singers in particular were amazing. (I'm a musician, and it takes a lot to impress me). All of the actors and singers were top-notch. Even my husband, who's not really an opera fan, enjoyed it immensely.

Porgy & Bess was very well staged and presented, the singing was excellent and all the cast well matched to their roles.

What a thrill to even be able to attend a performance of this seldom-produced jewel. From the opening "Summertime" performed by Sumaya Ali, the voices were magnificent. Nathaniel Stampley's Porgy was beautifully played - poignant and sympathetic, but never sappy. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven when he and Alicia Moran sang "Bess, You Is My Woman Now." I found Ms. Moran's body language a bit distracting; she seemed very stiff but I finally accepted that she was probably working through some personal physical pain. Denisha Ballew's "My Man's Gone Now" was a mind blower. This was a well balanced cast; Mr. Crawford's Crown and Mr. Leggs' Sportin' Life added just the right amount of wickedness and wicked playfulness. Loved the costumery and set design as finishing factors. And now for the not-so-pleasant part of this review: my family and I were at the Sunday matinee where there seemed to be a problem with the sound. In many instances the orchestra drowned out the voices. Much of the dialog, as well as orchestral accompaniment, came across very tinny and slightly mushy. We later learned that a speaker had "gone out," a fact that was known before curtain-time. Considering what we paid for five orchestra seats, it's difficult to find any excuse for this situation not being corrected before the overture began.

Great cast, great voices, lousy acoustics, so-so stage direction

Great show, I saw Porgy and Bess in the mid 70's at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and that performance left a lasting impression. This performance lived up to my expectations and more.

The sound system needs work. The sopranos were so loud and high pitched that you could not understand them.

The musical score and the singers were all great. We were in the 11 row and the sound quality was so poor in Gammage that we were not able to understand the majority of the songs or the talking. We left after the first half. I purchased season tickets for next year but I am already sorry. Great musicals, lousy sound system.

I have been waiting to see this musical for over ten years and it finally made it to Phoenix. It was in San Franscico once when we were in town but with a one year old it was not possible to attend. It was worth the wait, my husband and I wished we could request an encore. The acting was just as stunning as the singing. The song Porgy and Bess has always meant a lot to me aand it gave me chills. We splurged on tickets and sat fifeteen rows backs exactly center stage.

WOW! I was absolutely mesmerized. I had not seen this production in many years and was not sure of the cast. But, they were spectacular. The production itself was very simple but effective. The show stayed closely with the original production with a few nice variations. I wish I had gone days earlier so that I could have seen it twice. All of the voices were so beautiful but my favorites were Serena, Clara and Bess. I would definitely recommend this show to other friends and I will be looking to see if I can see it again if it is appearing at any area near me. I really enjoyed this show. Although I am partial to this song, I felt the rendition of Clara, Clara was the most beautiful I have ever heard.

The voices were excellent except for Sportin' Life. His diction was unintelligible. Gershwin was lurking but so were the blues and near-rap. The multi-textured ensemble pieces were a great effort but sometimes too dense to carry anything but emotion.

Gershwin's music touches the soul, but I hadn't realized that Porgy and Bess is really a tragedy and I left the theater feeling very sad. Only good theater can leave you with this kind of deep feeling. Well, in the end you cling to hope. It would have been helpful to have the song words projected above the stage the way they do it at Symphony Hall.

I took my mom and husband to the performance and they loved it!! The singing voices were amazing and so clear that I understood everything that was going on. I think the kids would have enjoyed it.

My husband and I went see this play last friday, worse play ever. We left early and so did a lot of other people. I don't mind spending a lot of money for a good performance, but this was a waste. Save your money and go and see something else.

The musical was truly amazing from beginning to end. It was truly a musical with limited speaking parts, which is an artform that has been recently lost. The cast of characters really came to life as if it were happening right in front of you. I would actually recommend that if you have children and teenagers involved in the arts to go see this musical for sure.

The venue (as always) was great. Parking was a little harried, but with a hadicapped sticker you are OK. The perforance was terrific. All roles were "on spot" executed. It was a dielightful evening.

Besides the quality of the production which was not so good, I was really disappointed that some songs were changed from the original version. One of my Favs- I got Plenty O nothin' was very badly mangled. As to the production, neither the sets or costumes were stellar. And much of the dialog and lyrics were not understandable. At some points it was hard to tell who was singing the number.

As a 12 year old, I saw Porgy and Bess in Germany with my mother. Now forty years later, I again saw this spellbinding musical with my daughter. Since years I have been telling my daughter about this amazing production and promised her to take her when the opportunity arises. The cast was superb as they invited us into a world of human tragedy and love. Thanks for bringing this amazing production to ASU Gammage.