OlBlueEyes said: "joevitus said: ""Money could not have been the motive."
What a weird assumption! The novel it is based on, Porgy, by DuBose Heywardwas a best-seller in the 1920's, and the play version of it, co-authored by Heyward and his wife Dorothy,had been one of the Theater Guild's biggest hits. I'm sure Gershwin was as interested in art as money, as was director Rouben Mamoulian, who directed both the dramatic and operetic version, but they clearly expected a popular success. The reason the work's title was changed was so people wouldn't assume this was a revival but a new iteration of the material."
For someone who has been here for such a short time, you have quickly developed a reputation for firing out critical opinions that are not hindered by any necessity of being accurate. You lack understanding of the magnitude of the Great Depression and its effects on Broadway.
In the 1929-31 season 233 productions premiered. The number of productions fell each year afterwards through 1939-40 when it dipped to 98 productions. Over 20,000 theater people in New York lost their livelihood. Some theaters dropped their minimum ticket price to 25 cents, with a high price of a dollar.
Since my parents grew up during the depression, I might have an advantage on you. People were afraid and anxious during that period. They did not have the advantage of knowing that the worst war that the world had ever seen would have the side effect of making this country wealthy and restoring them to financial stability.
A large proportion of Broadway productions were aimed at escapism, and often with a note of hope. Green Grow the Lilacs, Eugene O'Neill's only comedy, Ah Wilderness, musical comedies likeGershwin's Girl Crazy, featuring the debut of Ethel Merman, and Cole Porter's classics, droll and witty Noel Coward. The duo of Moss and Kaufman authored eight plays, most of which are still with us: Dinner at Eight, You Can't Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner.
You may try, but I think you will fail in finding another Porgy and Bess in the 30s. Gershwin and Heyward's motive for producing this and other works was to help keep Broadway people employed."
Have zero idea what all that trivia has to do with Porgy and Bess being based on a hit play and best-selling novel that, of course, the participants fully expected to be a big hit in its new form. If you want to produce some, you know, evidence, that they all went into it expecting it to be a flop, please share it. Otherwise, just own that your assumption is really weird.
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