Product Description
An American Story: George Gershwin is a brief, jazz-infused opera in one act on the subject of George Gershwin, one of America's greatest and most influential composers. Although fictional, most of the opera's story is based upon biographical facts and direct quotes from George Gershwin's interviews and other sources.
In this show, the audience is given a brief glimpse at the music and style of 1920s, when George and his brother, the champion lyricist, Ira Gershwin, were first starting to experience great success the world over. Their Broadway shows were in high demand, and many of them were made into lucrative Hollywood movies. Their shows are still often performed today.
An American Story opens with a scene in which George and Ira are working through a piece they have written and are discussing their successes of the past year, including George's appearance on the cover of Time magazine. The opera
goes on to introduce two female characters including Kay Swift, who was a significant composer at the time, as well and a strong influence upon George.
Gertrude Lawrence, the British singer for whom George and Ira Gershwin wrote the musical Oh, Kay! also appears later in the opera, when she rehearses with George.
An American Story: George Gershwin is The New Opera's second work dedicated to popularizing the life stories of historical and cultural figures, following Wolfy, an opera focusing on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This helps further The New Opera's mission to cultivate a growing interest in artistic and musical subjects for audiences of all ages and social levels and extend our enthusiasm for outstanding achievement in the arts.
Complete You tube playlist can be found here
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUIlJVpmilpf_2ikBsnqhccqxAa4Gyy2x
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.