Joshua Henry Joins A.R.T.'s Porgy and Bess, Starring Audra McDonald & Norm Lewis

Joshua Henry will join previously announced stars Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier in the American Repertory Theater's upcoming production of Porgy and Bess, according to The New York Times. The new adaptation of the classic Gershwin opera begins performances on August 17 at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, MA. Henry will play Jake alongside newly announced cast members Phillip Boykin as Crown and Trista Dollison as Clara.

A.R.T. Artistic Director Paulus, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Suzan-Lori Parks and two-time Obie winner Diedre Murray have joined together to create The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, described as a re-imagining of the seminal opera, featuring music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward (based on Porgy by Heyward and his wife Dorothy). The show includes such classics as "Summertime," "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," "I Got Plenty o' Nothin" and "It Ain't Necessarily So." Originally conceived as an American folk opera, it tells the story of Porgy, who lives in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina, and his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her pimp, and Sportin' Life, a drug dealer. The creative team of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess was charged by the Gershwin Trusts and the Heyward Trust to create a version with a unique identity as a musical.

Henry can currently be seen in American Idiot. His other Broadway credits include The Scottsboro Boys and In the Heights. He has appeared on TV's Kings and Nip/Tuck. Boykin's many theater and opera credits include La Boheme, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, Tosca and the national tour of Show Boat. Dollison has previously toured with The Lion King.