Gregory Suriano

Gershwin in Pittsburgh Gregory Suriano

The great American composer George Gershwin was a product of the energetic Jazz Age city of New York. Yet Pittsburgh may have been his adopted town, through road tours of his Broadway shows, his appearances as a concert pianist, and his myriad associates with ties to the Steel City. Meticulously researched, Gershwin in Pittsburgh chronicles these surprisingly consequential connections. Theatrical venues such as the Nixon and Alvin Theatres and colleagues like Ned Wayburn, Oscar Levant, George S. Kaufman, Dolores Costello, Fritz Reiner, and Pandro S. Berman are all spotlighted. Most revealing are the visits Gershwin personally made to the city--as accompanist to vaudeville star Nora Bayes, during his Rhapsody in Blue tours with the Paul Whiteman and Leo Reisman orchestras, and for his 1933 guest appearance with the Pittsburgh Symphony.