About this item
A revelatory history of the operatic masterpiece that both made and destroyed Rouben Mamoulian its director and unsung hero Bring my goat Porgy exclaims in the final scene of Gershwinxs opera Porgy and Bess Bess whom he loves has left for New York City and hexs determined to find her When his request is met with astonishmentxNew York is a great distance from South Carolinaxs Catfish RowxPorgy remains undaunted He mounts his goat-cart and leads the community in an ecstatic finale Oh Lawd Ixm on my way Stephen Sondheim has called Bring my goat one of the most moving moments in musical theater history For years it was assumed that DuBose Heywardxthe author of the seminal novella and subsequent play Porgy and later the librettist for the opera Porgy and Bessxpenned this historic line In fact both it and Oh Lawd Im on my way were added to the play eight years earlier by that productionxs unheralded architect Rouben Mamoulian Porgy and Bess as we know it would not exist without the contributions of this master directorCulling new information from the recently opened Mamoulian Archives at the Library of Congress award-winning author Joseph Horowitz shows that more than anyone else Mamoulian took Heywards vignette of a regional African-American subculture and transformed it into an epic theater work a universal parable of suffering and redemption Part biography part revelatory history On My Way re-creates Mamoulians visionary style on stage and screen his collaboration with George Gershwin and the genesis of the opera that changed the face of American musical life illustrations.
About the Author
Joseph Horowitz is an American cultural historian whose seven books mainly deal with the institutional history of classical music in the United States. As a producer of concerts, he has played a pioneering role in promoting thematic programming and new concert formats.
