Broadway as I once knew it seems to be dying. That doesn’t mean I’m going to trash "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," which opened last night at the Richard Rogers Theater, but Broadway shows, especially musicals, no longer have real production value.

The original Gershwin opera starred Anne Browne and Todd Duncan way back on the day I was born, and subsequently had six more revivals and a famous 1959 movie, which starred Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Dianhann Carroll and Pearl Baily. "Porgy and Bess" is a very dark story of death and revenge, and contains some of the greatest Gershwin songs ever written.

This time around "Porgy and Bess" has a sensational cast, and for that reason alone you are going to want to see this show. Audra McDonald plays Bess as a tragic character you certainly empathize with, Norm Lewis plays the disfigured Porgy and David Alan Grier, who last starred in Mamet’s Race, is terrific as the funny and hateful Sporting Life. The rest of the cast are all spot on and can sing splendidly.

The ugly story about "Porgy and Bess" is well known, but what really holds the show together is its musicality, which includes Summertime, I Got Plenty of Nothing, Bess You is My Woman and It Ain’t Necessarily So. Pure joy to hear them again, which are especially enjoyed by the older generation.

While the restaging of the Gershwin opera was much anticipated, it was actually the dullest part of the show. Sets don't exist in this production, but the show had a rather huge shell of something I didn't recognize in the first act and a blue sheet hanging in the background during the second act. On stage also sits a pump, which actually works but just once. At the end of the show the whole contraption flies up as Porgy limps to his final exit creating a bizarre visual effect.

While "Porgy and Bess" supplies an intoxication of wonderful songs and gives us a wonderful cast, it still falls short on production values. You will have to judge for yourself when you see it and by the way you should.