Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2010, and RiverCenter joins the festivities with a brilliantly updated Living Arts’ production featuring a cast of 30, with live orchestra! The idea for this native American folk opera was born in 1926 when George Gershwin reached for a recently published novel on his night table hoping to relax and fall asleep. Instead, at 4:00 am he was writing DuBose Heyward, the author of Porgy, suggesting collaboration on a musical version of the novel.  Before beginning composition on the music, Gershwin spent months soaking up the atmosphere of Charleston, South Carolina and nearby James Island , where the Gullah still preserved their songs filled with intricate, natural rhythms of melodies that blend powerfully into prayer. Porgy and Bess opened to thunderous applause in 1935 in New York City .