In 1963, in a studio recording of Porgy and Bess featuring Leontyne Price and William Warfield, he performed Sportin' Life's two main arias from the opera, "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York".
Set 2 was first performed by William Warfield and Aaron Copland (piano) on 25 May 1958 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and later, in its orchestral form, by Grace Bumbry (mezzo-soprano) and the Ojai Festival Orchestra, conducted by the composer, in Ojai, California.
Edens headed the search for the right singer-actor to play Joe, the key supporting character who sings "Ol' Man River", and he discovered William Warfield after reading a rave review of his performance in a New York song recital.
Both productions starred William Warfield as "De Lawd", in the largest dramatic acting role he ever had on television.
William Shakespeare | William Laud | William Blake | William | William III of England | William Morris | William McKinley | William Howard Taft | William Ewart Gladstone | William the Conqueror | William S. Burroughs | William Shatner | William Faulkner | William Randolph Hearst | William Wordsworth | William Tecumseh Sherman | William Hogarth | Prince William, Duke of Cambridge | William Penn | William Jennings Bryan | William Gibson | William Wilberforce | William James | William Makepeace Thackeray | Fort William | William Hanna | William Hague | William III | William Hurt | William Walton |
She has also performed and recorded several roles from musicals during her career, including Julie in excerpts from Show Boat, a recording she made for Columbia Masterworks in 1962 with John Raitt, Barbara Cook, and William Warfield.