Fade Ewen. Photo : Twitter Jade Fan Nick1

“Death, drugs and destruction fill the lives of Jade Ewen and her family”. The United Kingdom’s Eurovision 2009 representative takes a turn for the worse. ‘Summertime, and the living is easy’ well not if you are a member of the Sugababes band.

Not a headline from the tabloids but the reviews for Jade Ewen in her new role in the musical ‘Porgy and Bess’. The classic Gershwin musical rounds off the Open Air’s 2014 season at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London.

Jade-Ewen-as-Clara.-Photo-Johan-Persson-1024×682

The performance is receiving rave reviews and Ewen performs as Clara and gets to sing the iconic theme song from the show ‘Summertime’. ‘Porgy and Bess’ is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. It was based on DuBose Heyward’s novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward. All three works deal with African-American life in the fictitious Catfish Row (based on the area of Cabbage Row) in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s.

Porgy and Bess. Photo : Westendtheatre.com

This classic show is both exuberant and claustrophobic at the same time. Ewen has put in an exceptional performance in her role. Is this the new career path for the former Eurovision singer? Yes say the reviews.

The show runs until August 23rd and tickets start from £25 and can be purchased HERE

Author/Editor in Chief Garrett Mulhall

Source : Westendtheatre.com and so-so-gay.com