Join us this month for Dinner and a Diva on Tuesday, June 21st and Thursday, June 23rd and enjoy a night of stellar performances from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, by the Capitol City Opera Company, between courses of a gourmet four-course dinner paired with wine. Dinner includes hot and cold hors d’ oeuvres, fresh salad, choice of two gourmet entrees, decadent dessert, coffee/tea, and two glasses of fine wine, all for only $75 per person (plus taxes and fees). Hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar open at 6:15 p.m., and the dinner and show start promptly at 7:00 p.m. Make reservations here or call 404-634-6268.
Porgy and Bess, dramatic folk opera in three acts by George Gershwin. Its English libretto was written by DuBose Heyward (with lyrics by Heyward and Ira Gershwin), based on Heyward’s novel Porgy (1925). The opera—which premiered at the Alvin Theatre in New York City on October 10, 1935—is considered to be the first great American opera. It contains many beloved musical numbers, including the arias ‘Summertime’ and ‘I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’. Set in the 1930s in an African-American Charleston neighborhood known as Catfish Row, Porgy and Bess centers on the tragic love story of the cripple beggar Porgy and beautiful Bess, who longs to turn away from her former life as a prostitute and cocaine addict. After a murder, Bess’ abusive partner Crown flees, leaving her at the mercy of a disapproving community and tempted by the seductive drug dealer Sporting Life. Bess strikes up an unlikely relationship with Porgy and gradually finds acceptance on Catfish Row—until a hurricane and the return of Crown change everyone’s lives forever.