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Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess (/ˈpɔːrɡi/) is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy.

Porgy and Bess
Opera by George Gershwin
Boston try-out before the Broadway opening
LibrettistDuBose Heyward
LanguageEnglish
Based onHeyward's novel Porgy
Premiere
September 30, 1935 (1935-09-30)

Porgy and Bess was first performed in Boston on September 30, 1935, before it moved to Broadway in New York City.[1] It featured a cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time. A 1976 Houston Grand Opera production gained it a renewed popularity, and it is now one of the best known and most frequently performed operas.

The libretto of Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black street beggar living in the slums of Charleston. It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, her drug dealer. The opera plot generally follows the stage play.

In the years following Gershwin's death, Porgy and Bess was adapted for smaller-scale performances. It was adapted as a film in 1959. Some of the songs in the opera, such as "Summertime", became popular and are frequently recorded. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the trend has been toward productions with greater fidelity to Gershwin's original intentions, though smaller-scale productions also continue to be mounted. A complete recorded version of the score was released in 1976; since then, it has been recorded several times.

Inception edit

The origin of Porgy and Bess is DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy. Heyward produced a play by the same name with Dorothy Heyward.

George Gershwin read Porgy in 1926 and proposed to Heyward to collaborate on an operatic version. In 1934, Gershwin and Heyward began work on the project by visiting the author's native Charleston, South Carolina. In a 1935 New York Times article, Gershwin explained his motivation for calling Porgy and Bess a folk opera:

Porgy and Bess is a folk tale. Its people naturally would sing folk music. When I first began work on the music I decided against the use of original folk material because I wanted the music to be all of one piece. Therefore I wrote my own spirituals and folksongs. But they are still folk music—and therefore, being in operatic form, Porgy and Bess becomes a folk opera.[2]

Composition history edit

In the fall of 1933 Gershwin and Heyward signed a contract with the Theatre Guild to write the opera. In the summer of 1934 Gershwin and Heyward went to Folly Beach, South Carolina (a small island near Charleston), where Gershwin got a feel for the locale and its music. He worked on the opera there and in New York. Ira Gershwin, in New York, wrote lyrics to some of the opera's classic songs, most notably "It Ain't Necessarily So". Most of the lyrics, including "Summertime", were written by Heyward, who also wrote the libretto.[3]

Performance history edit

1935 original Broadway production edit

 
Ruby Elzy as Serena in the original Broadway production of Porgy and Bess (1935)
 
John W. Bubbles as Sportin' Life in the original Broadway production of Porgy and Bess (1935)

Gershwin's first version of the opera, running four hours (counting the two intermissions), was performed privately in a concert version in Carnegie Hall, in the fall of 1935. He chose as his choral director Eva Jessye, who also directed her own renowned choir. The world premiere performance took place at the Colonial Theatre in Boston on September 30, 1935—the try-out for a work intended initially for Broadway where the opening took place at the Alvin Theatre in New York City on October 10, 1935.[4] During rehearsals and in Boston, Gershwin made many cuts and refinements to shorten the running time and tighten the dramatic action. The run on Broadway lasted 124 performances. The production and direction were entrusted to Rouben Mamoulian, who had previously directed the Broadway productions of Heyward's play Porgy. The music director was Alexander Smallens. The leading roles were played by Todd Duncan and Anne Brown. Brown was a 20-year-old student at Juilliard, the first African-American vocalist admitted there, when she read that George Gershwin was going to write a musical version of Porgy. She wrote him and asked to sing for him, and Gershwin's secretary invited her. Gershwin was impressed and began asking Brown to come and sing the songs as he composed them for Porgy.[5] The character of Bess was originally a secondary character, but as Gershwin was impressed with Brown's singing, he expanded the part of Bess and cast Brown.[6] When they had completed rehearsals and were ready to begin previews, Gershwin invited Brown to join him for lunch. At that meeting, he told her, "I want you to know, Miss Brown, that henceforth and forever after, George Gershwin's opera will be known as Porgy and Bess."[7] Influential vaudeville artist John W. Bubbles created the role of Sportin' Life; the role of Serena was created by Ruby Elzy.

After the Broadway run, a tour started on January 27, 1936, in Philadelphia and traveled to Pittsburgh and Chicago before ending in Washington, DC, on March 21, 1936. During the Washington run, the cast—as led by Todd Duncan—protested segregation at the National Theatre. Eventually management gave in to the demands, resulting in the first integrated audience for a performance of any show at that venue.[8]

In 1938, many of the original cast reunited for a West Coast revival that played in Los Angeles and at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. Avon Long took on the role of Sportin' Life for the first time, a role he continued to play in many productions over a long career.

1942 Broadway revival edit

Noted director and producer Cheryl Crawford produced professional stock theater in Maplewood, New Jersey, for three very successful seasons. The last of these closed with Porgy and Bess, which she co-produced with John Wildberg. In refashioning it in the style of musical theater which Americans were used to hearing from Gershwin, Crawford produced a drastically cut version of the opera compared with the first Broadway staging. The orchestra was reduced, the cast was halved, and many recitatives were reduced to spoken dialog.[9]

Having seen the performance, theater owner Lee Shubert arranged for Crawford to bring her production to Broadway. The show opened at the Majestic Theatre in January 1942.[10] Duncan and Brown reprised their roles as the title characters, with Alexander Smallens again conducting. In June, contralto Etta Moten, whom Gershwin had first envisioned as Bess, replaced Brown in the role. Moten was such a success that Bess became her signature role. The Crawford production ran for nine months and was far more successful financially than the original.

Radio station WOR in New York broadcast a live one-hour version on May 7, 1942. The cast included Todd Duncan, Anne Brown, Ruby Elzy, Eloise C. Uggams, Avon Long, Edward Matthews, Harriet Jackson, Georgette Harvey, Jack Carr, and the Eva Jessye Choir; the WOR Symphony was conducted by Alfred Wallenstein. The 12-inch-diameter 78 rpm, glass base, lacquer-coated disks were transferred to open-reel tape on February 6, 1975.

European premieres edit

On March 27, 1943, the opera had its European premiere at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. Performed during the Nazi occupation of the country, this performance was notable for being performed by an all-white cast made up in blackface. After 22 sold-out performances, the Nazis forced the theater to close the production.[9] Other all- or mostly white productions in Europe, reflecting contemporary demographics in the countries, took place in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1945 and 1950, and Gothenburg and Stockholm, Sweden, in 1948.

 
Leontyne Price as Bess

1952 touring production edit

Blevins Davis and Robert Breen produced a revival in 1952 which restored much of the music cut in the Crawford version, including many of the recitatives. It divided the opera into two acts, with the intermission occurring after Crown forces Bess to stay on Kittiwah Island. This version restored the work to a more operatic form, though not all of the recitatives were retained. In this version, Porgy and Bess was warmly received throughout Europe.[citation needed] The London premiere took place on October 9, 1952, at the Stoll Theatre where the opera continued until February 10, 1953.[11]

This production's original cast featured Americans Leontyne Price as Bess, William Warfield as Porgy, and Cab Calloway as Sportin' Life, a role that Gershwin had composed with him in mind. The role of Ruby was played by a young Maya Angelou.[12] Price and Warfield met and wed while on the tour. The role of Porgy was the first for Warfield after his appearance as Joe singing "Ol' Man River" in the popular 1951 MGM film of Show Boat.

After a tour of Europe financed by the United States Department of State, the production came to Broadway's Ziegfeld Theatre in March 1953. It later toured North America. After completing its North American run in Montreal, the company embarked on an international tour, with LeVern Hutcherson as Porgy and Gloria Davy as Bess. The production first performed in Venice, Paris, and London, and in other cities in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia.[13][14] The company also made a stop at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt in January 1955.[13] In 1955–1956 the company toured in cities in the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and Latin America.[15]

During this tour, Porgy and Bess was presented for the first time at La Scala in Milan in February 1955. A historic yet tense premiere took place in Moscow in December 1955; it was during the Cold War and the first time an American theater group had been to the Soviet capital since the Bolshevik Revolution. Author Truman Capote traveled with the cast and crew, and wrote an account included in his book The Muses Are Heard.

1965 New Zealand Opera production edit

This 1965 production by New Zealand Opera included several Māori opera singers, deemed by the Gershwin trust to be consistent with the requirement for black artists as the cast. The experience of working with a Broadway musical director, Ella Gerber, and being in the cast (from chorus to a minor character role) was a unique opportunity for New Zealand opera singers.[16][17]

1965 Volksoper Vienna production edit

As opposed to the American productions from 1942 up until 1976, the 1965 Volksoper production was performed as an opera as George Gershwin conceived it and was based on the original 1935-Broadway production, i.e., restoring the sung recitatives as well as opening cuts similar to 1935. The conductor and stage director were Americans, and the lead roles as well as most small parts were sung by Black-Americans. Only the chorus was the Volksoper's own white chorus. The Volksoper orchestra used the original instrumentation, though its string section was larger than the original Broadway. The production was revived several times up into the first half of the 1970's

1976 Houston Grand Opera production edit

During the 1960s and early 1970s, Porgy and Bess mostly languished on the shelves, a victim of its perceived racism. Though new productions took place in 1961 and 1964, along with a Vienna Volksoper premiere in 1965 (again with William Warfield as Porgy), these did little to change many African Americans' opinions of the work. Many music critics still had not accepted it as a true opera.

A new staging of Porgy and Bess was produced by the Houston Grand Opera in 1976, directed by Jack O'Brien with musical direction by John DeMain; it restored the complete original score for the first time. Following its debut in Houston, the production opened on Broadway at the Uris Theatre on September 25, 1976, and was recorded complete by RCA Records. This version was very influential in turning the tide of opinion about the work.

For the first time, an American opera company, not a Broadway production company, had tackled the opera. This production was based on Gershwin's original full score. It did not incorporate the cuts and other changes that Gershwin had made before the New York premiere, nor the ones made for the 1942 Cheryl Crawford revival or the 1959 film version. It allowed the public to take in the operatic whole as first envisioned by the composer. In this light, Porgy and Bess was accepted as an opera. Donnie Ray Albert and Robert Mosley alternated performances in the role of Porgy. Clamma Dale and Larry Marshall starred, respectively, as Bess and Sportin' Life. This production won the Houston Grand Opera a Tony Award—the only opera ever to receive one—and a 1978 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.[18] The conductor was John DeMain.

Subsequent productions edit

Another Broadway production was staged in 1983 at Radio City Music Hall with conductor C. William Harwood, based on the Houston production.[19]

The Metropolitan Opera presented a production of Porgy and Bess in 1985 after considering it since the 1930s. It opened February 6, 1985, with a cast including Simon Estes, Grace Bumbry, Bruce Hubbard, Gregg Baker and Florence Quivar. The Met production was directed by Nathaniel Merrill and designed by Robert O'Hearn. The conductor was James Levine.[20] The production received 16 performances in its first season and was revived in 1986, 1989 and 1990, for a total of 54 performances.

Trevor Nunn first tackled the work in an acclaimed 1986 production at England's Glyndebourne Festival. The 1986 Trevor Nunn production was scenically expanded and videotaped for television in 1993 (see below in "Television"). These productions were also based on the "complete score," without incorporating Gershwin's revisions. A semi-staged version of this production was performed at the Proms in 1998.

The centennial celebration of the Gershwin brothers from 1996 to 1998 included a new production as well. On February 24–25, 2006, the Nashville Symphony, under the direction of John Mauceri, gave a concert performance at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. It incorporated Gershwin's cuts made for the New York premiere, thus giving the audience an idea of what the opera sounded like on its Broadway opening. In 2000 and 2002 the New York City Opera had a revival directed by Tazewell Thompson. In 2007, Los Angeles Opera staged a revival directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by John DeMain, who led the history-making Houston Opera revival of Porgy and Bess in 1976.

South Africa's Cape Town Opera has frequently performed Porgy and Bess abroad, most notably with the Welsh National Opera, NorrlandsOperan, Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Wales Millennium Centre, Royal Festival Hall and Edinburgh Festival Theatre. In October 2010, its planned tour of the opera to Israel was criticized by Desmond Tutu.[21]

2006 The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (Nunn adaptation) edit

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess premiered on November 9, 2006, at the Savoy Theatre (London), directed by Trevor Nunn. (Although that was the title given to this production, the 1993 television adaptation of Nunn's 1986 production had also used it.) For this new production, he adapted the lengthy opera to fit the conventions of musical theater. Working with the Gershwin and Heyward estates, Nunn used dialogue from the original novel and subsequent Broadway stage play to replace the recitatives with naturalistic scenes. He did not use operatic voices in this production, but relied on musical theater actors as leads. Gareth Valentine provided the musical adaptation. Despite mostly positive reviews,[22] Nunn's production closed months early because of poor box office returns.

This original cast of this version included Clarke Peters as Porgy, Nicola Hughes as Bess, O. T. Fagbenle as Sportin' Life, and Cornell S. John as Crown.

2011 The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (Paulus adaptation) edit

Another production titled The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, directed by Diane Paulus with book adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks and music adapted by Diedre Murray, was presented by the American Repertory Theater (ART) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Broadway production was produced by Buddy Freitag and Barbara Freitag.[23] Previews started August 17, and the show opened August 31, 2011. Following Trevor Nunn's latest production of the work, the ART Porgy was the second production initiated by the Gershwin and Heyward estates to adapt the opera for the musical theater stage. Again spoken dialogue, here written by Parks, replaced the opera's sung recitatives.[24] William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke created new orchestrations for the production.[25]

Before the opening, Paulus, Parks and Murray made statements to the press about the production's primary goal being to "introduce the work to the next generation of theatergoers".[26] They discussed changes to the opera's plot, dialogue and score that were being explored to make the work more appealing to a contemporary audience.[24] In response, esteemed Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim wrote a blistering letter to the New York Times criticizing Paulus, McDonald and Parks' "disdain... toward the opera itself" and criticized the new title '"as just dumb" because it underplayed the contribution of Heyward.[27] The complete text of Sondheim's letter may be seen at this link. Critic Hilton Als countered in The New Yorker that Sondheim had very little exposure to black culture and that the Paulus version succeeded in "humanizing the depiction of race onstage."[28]

The production began previews on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in December 2011 and officially opened on January 12, 2012. The original cast included Audra McDonald as Bess, Norm Lewis as Porgy, David Alan Grier as Sportin' Life, Phillip Boykin as Crown, Nikki Renee Daniels as Clara, and Joshua Henry as Jake.[29] All of the major roles are played by the same cast as in Cambridge.

Early reviews of the show were positive to mixed. All praised McDonald's performance of Bess, but critics were divided on the success of the adaptation, staging and setting. Some praised the intimate scale of the drama and the believability of the performances; others found the staging to be unfocused and the settings to lack atmosphere.[30] Time magazine ranked the show as its number two choice among theater productions in 2011.[31]

The production was nominated for 10 awards in the 2012 Tony Awards, winning Best Revival of a Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for McDonald. The production ran through September 23, 2012.[32] It played 322 performances, 17 more than the 1953 revival, making it the longest-running production of Porgy and Bess on Broadway thus far.[33]

2014 The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (London production) edit

This production ran at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre from July 17 to August 23. Cast members included Rufus Bonds Jr (Porgy), Nicola Hughes (Bess), Cedric Neal (Sportin' Life), Phillip Boykin (Crown), Sharon D. Clarke (Mariah), Jade Ewen (Clara) and Golda Rosheuvel (Serena). The production was directed by Timothy Sheader,[34] and also used the book adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks, but used a new arrangement of the score by David Shrubsole.[citation needed] It was nominated at the Olivier Awards for Best Musical Revival.[35]

2019 Metropolitan Opera production edit

After an absence of nearly thirty years on the Met stage, the company staged the new 2018 London production conducted by David Robertson in Fall 2019.[36][37] It featured a cast including Golda Schultz, Latonia Moore, Angel Blue, Elizabeth Llewellyn, Denyce Graves, Eric Owens, Frederick Ballentine, Alfred Walker, and Ryan Speedo Green.

The production was hailed as "splendid" by The New York Times.[38] A live cast album, released on December 17, 2019,[39] won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.[40]

Roles edit

Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, September 30, 1935
Conductor: Alexander Smallens
Porgy, a disabled beggar bass-baritone Todd Duncan
Bess, Crown's girl soprano Anne Brown
Crown, a tough stevedore baritone Warren Coleman
Sportin' Life, a dope peddler tenor John W. Bubbles
Robbins, an inhabitant of Catfish Row tenor Henry Davis
Serena, Robbins' wife soprano Ruby Elzy
Jake, a fisherman baritone Edward Matthews
Clara, Jake's wife soprano Abbie Mitchell
Maria, keeper of the cook-shop contralto Georgette Harvey
Mingo tenor Ford L. Buck
Peter, the honeyman tenor Gus Simons
Lily, Peter's wife soprano Helen Dowdy
Frazier, a black "lawyer" baritone J. Rosamond Johnson
Annie mezzo-soprano Olive Ball
Strawberry woman mezzo-soprano Helen Dowdy
Jim, a stevedore who hauls cotton baritone Jack Carr
Undertaker baritone John Garth
Nelson tenor Ray Yeates
Crab man tenor Ray Yeates
Scipio, a small boy boy soprano
Mr. Archdale, a white lawyer spoken George Lessey
Detective spoken Alexander Campbell
Policeman spoken Burton McEvilly
Coroner spoken George Carleton
The Eva Jessye Choir, led by Eva Jessye

With the exception of a few speaking roles, all of the characters are black.

Synopsis edit

Place: Catfish Row, a fictitious large black tenement based on Cabbage Row, on the waterfront of Charleston, South Carolina.[41][42]
Time: The early 1920s.[43][44][45]

Act 1 edit

Scene 1: Catfish Row, a summer evening

The opera begins with a short introduction which segues into an evening in Catfish Row. Jasbo Brown entertains the community with his piano playing. Clara, a young mother, sings a lullaby to her baby ("Summertime") as the working men prepare for a game of craps ("Roll them Bones"). One of the players, Robbins, scorns his wife Serena's demands that he not play, retorting that on a Saturday night, a man has the right to play. Clara's husband, the fisherman Jake, tries his own lullaby ("A Woman is a Sometime Thing") with little effect. Little by little, other characters in the opera enter Catfish Row, among them Mingo, another fisherman, and Jim, a cotton-hauling stevedore who, tired of his job, decides to give it up and join Jake and the other fishermen. Porgy, a disabled beggar, enters on his goat cart to organize the game. Peter, an elderly "honey man" [honey vendor] returns, singing his vendor's call. Crown, a strong and brutal stevedore, storms in with his woman, Bess, and buys cheap whiskey and some "happy dust" off the local dope peddler, Sportin' Life. Bess is shunned by the women of the community, especially the pious Serena and the matriarchal cookshop owner Maria, but Porgy softly defends her. The game begins. One by one, the players get crapped out, leaving only Robbins and Crown, who has become extremely drunk. When Robbins wins, Crown attempts to prevent him from taking his winnings. A brawl ensues, which ends when Crown stabs Robbins with Jim's cotton hook, killing him. Crown runs, telling Bess to fend for herself but that he will be back for her when the heat dies down. Sportin' Life gives her a dose of happy dust and offers to take her with him when he goes to New York, but she rejects him. He flees, and Bess begins to pound on doors, but is rejected by all of the residents of Catfish Row, with the exception of Porgy, who lets her in.

Scene 2: Serena's Room, the following night

The mourners sing a spiritual to Robbins ("Gone, Gone, Gone"). To raise money for his burial, a saucer is placed on his chest for the mourners' donations ("Overflow"). Bess enters with Porgy and attempts to donate to the burial fund, but Serena rejects her money until Bess explains that she is now living with Porgy. A white detective enters and coldly tells Serena that she must bury her husband the next day, or his body will be given to medical students (for dissection). He suddenly accuses Peter of Robbins's murder. Peter denies his guilt and says Crown was the murderer. The Detective orders Peter to be arrested as a material witness, whom he will force to testify against Crown. Serena laments her loss in "My Man's Gone Now". The undertaker enters. The saucer holds only fifteen dollars of the needed twenty-five, but he agrees to bury Robbins as long as Serena promises to pay him back. Bess, who has been sitting in silence slightly apart from the rest of those gathered, suddenly begins to sing a gospel song and the chorus joyfully join in, welcoming her into the community. ("Oh, the Train is at de Station")

Act 2 edit

Scene 1: Catfish Row, a month later, in the morning

Jake and the other fishermen prepare for work ("It take a long pull to get there"). Clara asks Jake not to go because it is time for the annual storms, but he tells her that they desperately need the money. This causes Porgy to sing from his window about his new, happy-go-lucky outlook on life. ("I got plenty o' nuttin"). Sportin' Life waltzes around selling "happy dust", but soon incurs the wrath of Maria, who threatens him. ("I hates yo' struttin' style"). A fraudulent lawyer, Frazier, arrives and farcically divorces Bess from Crown. When he discovers Bess and Crown were not married, he raises his price from a dollar to a dollar and a half. Archdale, a white lawyer, enters and informs Porgy that Peter will soon be released. The bad omen of a buzzard flies over Catfish Row and Porgy demands that it leave now that he finally has found happiness. ("Buzzard keep on flyin' over".)

As the rest of Catfish Row prepares for the church picnic on nearby Kittiwah Island, Sportin' Life again offers to take Bess to New York with him; she refuses. He attempts to give her some "happy dust" despite her claims that she's given up drugs, but Porgy grabs his arm and scares him off. Sportin' Life leaves, reminding Bess as he goes that her men friends come and go, but he will be there all along. Bess and Porgy are now left alone, and express their love for each other ("Bess, You Is My Woman Now"). The chorus re-enters in high spirits as they prepare to leave for the picnic ("Oh, I can't sit down"). Bess is invited to the picnic by Maria, but she demurs as Porgy cannot come (due to his disability, he cannot get on the boat), but Maria insists. Bess leaves Porgy behind as they go off to the picnic. Porgy watches the boat leave ("I got plenty o' nuttin" reprise).

Scene 2: Kittiwah Island, that evening

The chorus enjoys themselves at the picnic ("I ain't got no shame"). Sportin' Life presents the chorus his cynical views on the Bible ("It Ain't Necessarily So"), causing Serena to chastise them ("Shame on all you sinners!"). Everyone gets ready to leave. As Bess, who has lagged behind, tries to follow them, Crown emerges from the bushes. He reminds her that Porgy is "temporary" and laughs off her claims that she has been living decently now. Bess wants to leave Crown forever and attempts to make him forget about her ("Oh, what you want wid Bess?") but Crown refuses to give her up. He grabs her and will not let her go to the boat, which leaves without her, and then forcefully kisses her. He laughs at his conquest as her resistance begins to fail, and commands her to get into the woods, where his intentions are only too clear.

Scene 3: Catfish Row, a week later, just before dawn

A week later, Jake leaves to go fishing with his crew, one of whom observes that it looks as if a storm is coming in. Peter, still unsure of his crime, returns from prison. Meanwhile, Bess is lying in Porgy's room delirious with fever, which she has had ever since returning from Kittiwah Island. Serena prays to remove Bess's affliction ("Oh, Doctor Jesus"), and promises Porgy that Bess will be well by five o'clock. As the day passes, a strawberry woman, Peter (the Honey Man) and a crab man each pass by with their wares ("Vendors' Trio"). As the clock chimes five, Bess recovers from her fever. Porgy tells Bess that he knows she has been with Crown, and she admits that Crown has promised to return for her. Porgy tells her she is free to go if she wants to, and she tells him that although she wants to stay ("I Wants to Stay Here"), she is afraid of Crown's hold on her. Porgy asks her what would happen if there was no Crown, and Bess tells Porgy she loves him and begs him to protect her. Porgy promises that she will never have to be afraid again ("I Loves You, Porgy").

Clara watches the water, fearful for Jake. Maria tries to allay her fears, but suddenly the hurricane bell begins to ring.

Scene 4: Serena's Room, dawn of the next day

The residents of Catfish Row are all gathered in Serena's room for shelter from the hurricane. They drown out the sound of the storm with prayers and hymns ("Oh, Doctor Jesus") while Sportin' Life mocks their assumption that the storm is a signal of Judgment Day. Clara desperately sings her lullaby ("Summertime" [reprise]). A knock is heard at the door, and the chorus believes it to be Death ("Oh there's somebody knocking at the door"). Crown enters dramatically, having swum from Kittiwah Island, seeking Bess. He shows no fear of God, claiming that after the long struggle from Kittiwah, God and he are friends. The chorus tries to drown out his blaspheming with more prayer, and he taunts them by singing a vulgar song ("A red-headed woman"). Suddenly, Clara sees Jake's boat float past the window, upside-down, and she runs out to try to save him, handing her baby to Bess. Bess asks that one of the men go out with her, and Crown taunts Porgy, who cannot go. Crown goes himself, yelling out as he leaves "Alright, Big Friend! We're on for another Bout!" The chorus continue to pray as the storm rises.

Act 3 edit

Scene 1: Catfish Row, the next night

A group of women mourn Clara, Jake, and all of those who have been killed in the storm ("Clara, Clara, don't you be downhearted"). When they begin to mourn for Crown as well, Sportin' Life laughs at them and is told off by Maria. He insinuates that Crown may not be dead, and observes that when a woman has a man, maybe she's got him for keeps, but if she has two men, then it's highly likely she'll end up with none. Bess is heard singing Clara's lullaby to her baby, whom she is now taking care of. ("Summertime" [reprise]). Once Catfish Row is dark, Crown stealthily enters to claim Bess, but is confronted by Porgy. A fight ensues that ends when Porgy kills Crown. Porgy exclaims to Bess, "You've got a man now. You've got Porgy!"

Scene 2: Catfish Row, the next afternoon

The detective enters and talks with Serena and her friends about the murders of Crown and Robbins. They deny knowledge of Crown's murder, frustrating the detective. Needing a witness for the coroner's inquest, he next questions an apprehensive Porgy. Once Porgy admits to knowing Crown, he is ordered to come and identify Crown's body. Sportin' Life tells Porgy that corpses bleed in the presence of their murderers, and the detective will use this to hang Porgy. Porgy refuses to identify the body, but is dragged off anyway. Bess is distraught, and Sportin' Life puts his plan into action. He tells her that Porgy will be locked up for a long time, and points out that he is the only one still here. He offers her happy dust, and though she refuses, he forces it on her. After she takes a whiff, he paints a seductive picture of her life with him in New York ("There's a boat dat's leavin' soon for New York"). She regains her strength and rushes inside, slamming the door on his face, but he leaves a packet of happy dust on her doorstep, and settles down to wait.

Scene 3: Catfish Row, a week later

On a beautiful morning, Porgy is released from jail, where he has been arrested for contempt of court after refusing to look at Crown's body. He returns to Catfish Row much richer after playing craps with his cellmates. He gives gifts to the residents, and pulls out a beautiful red dress for Bess. He does not understand why everyone seems so uneasy at his return. He sees Clara's baby is now with Serena and realizes something is wrong. He asks where Bess is. Maria and Serena tell him that Bess has run off with Sportin' Life to New York ("Oh Bess, Oh Where's my Bess?"). Porgy calls for his goat cart, and resolves to leave Catfish Row to find her. He prays for strength, and begins his journey. ("Oh, Lawd, I'm on my way")

Racial controversy edit

Ira Gershwin stipulated that only blacks be allowed to play the lead roles when the opera was performed in the United States, launching the careers of several prominent opera singers. Gershwin sought to write a true jazz opera and believed that Metropolitan Opera staff singers could never master the jazz idiom, which could instead only be sung by a black cast. Some black singers were overjoyed at Gershwin's work, going so far as to describe him as the "Abraham Lincoln of Negro music".[46]

Nevertheless, the opera's depiction of African Americans attracted controversy from the outset. Virgil Thomson, a white American composer, stated that "Folklore subjects recounted by an outsider are only valid as long as the folk in question is unable to speak for itself, which is certainly not true of the American Negro in 1935."[47] An apocryphal quote attributed to Duke Ellington allegedly stated "the times are here to debunk Gershwin's lampblack Negroisms," but the quote was probably invented by a journalist who interviewed Ellington about the opera. Ellington publicly repudiated the article shortly after its publication.[48] Ellington's response to the 1952 Breen revival was completely the opposite. His telegram to the producer read: "Your Porgy and Bess the superbest, singing the gonest, acting the craziest, Gershwin the greatest."[49] Several of the members of the original cast later stated that they, too, had concerns that their characters might play into a stereotype that African Americans lived in poverty, took drugs, and solved their problems with their fists.

A planned production by the Negro Repertory Company of Seattle in the late 1930s, part of the Federal Theatre Project, was canceled because actors were displeased with what they viewed as a racist portrayal of aspects of African-American life. The director initially envisioned that they would perform the play in a "Negro dialect." These Pacific Northwest African American actors, who did not speak in such dialect, would be coached in it. Florence James attempted a compromise of dropping the use of dialect but the production was canceled.[50]

Another production of Porgy and Bess, this time at the University of Minnesota in 1939, ran into similar troubles. According to Barbara Cyrus, one of the few black students then at the university, members of the local African-American community saw the play as "detrimental to the race" and as a vehicle that promoted racist stereotypes. The play was canceled due to pressure from the African-American community, which saw their success as proof of the increasing political power of blacks in Minneapolis–Saint Paul.[51]

The belief that Porgy and Bess was racist gained strength during the civil rights movement and Black Power movement of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. As these movements advanced, Porgy and Bess was seen as more and more out of date. When the play was revived in the 1960s, social critic and African-American educator Harold Cruse called it, "The most incongruous, contradictory cultural symbol ever created in the Western World."[9]

In the 1976 Houston Opera production, the director, Sherwin Goldman, had trouble finding interested performers. Goldman, a white Texas native and a graduate of Yale and Oxford Universities, recalled, "I was auditioning singers all around the country, I guess thirty cities in all, from theater groups to church choirs, but was having a hard time finding directors ... I don't think there was a single black person, of those who had never been associated with Porgy, who didn't seriously bad-mouth it." Nevertheless, a cast was assembled of African American classically trained performers from all around the country.[52]

Gershwin's all-black opera was also unpopular with some celebrated black artists. Harry Belafonte declined to play Porgy in the late 1950s film version, so the role went to Sidney Poitier. Poitier found the opera insulting and only took on the film role due to coercion from producer Samuel Goldwyn.[53] Betty Allen, president of The Harlem School of the Arts, admittedly loathed the piece, and Grace Bumbry, who excelled in the 1985 Metropolitan Opera production as Bess, made the often cited statement:

I thought it beneath me, I felt I had worked far too hard, that we had come far too far to have to retrogress to 1935. My way of dealing with it was to see that it was really a piece of Americana, of American history, whether we liked it or not. Whether I sing it or not, it was still going to be there.[9]

Over time, however, the opera gained acceptance from the opera community and some in the African-American community. Maurice Peress stated in 2004 that "Porgy and Bess belongs as much to the black singer-actors who bring it to life as it does to the Heywards and the Gershwins."[54]

Adaptations in other countries edit

During the era of apartheid in South Africa, several South African theater companies planned to put on all-white productions of Porgy and Bess. Ira Gershwin, as heir to his brother, consistently refused to permit these productions to be staged. But in 2009, Cape Town Opera's production, set in 1970s South Africa and inspired by life in Soweto, toured Britain, opening at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and going on to the Royal Festival Hall in London and Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Most of the cast were black South Africans; American singers involved in the production have found the "passionate identification with the opera" by the South African singers "a wake-up call".

"I think we've got a little jaded in the US with Porgy and Bess," says Lisa Daltirus, one of two singers who will play Bess on the UK tour. "A lot of people just think that this is a show that is lovely to listen to and happened way back when. They're not thinking that you can still find places where this is real. And if we're not careful we could be right back there."

— The Times, London, October 16, 2009[55]

A 2017/2018 staging of the opera by the Hungarian State Opera featured a predominantly white cast. While the opera was presented in the context of the Syrian migrant crisis (moved from Catfish Row to an airport), the controversy of recasting continued. While the Hungarian State Opera, in discussions with the Tams-Witmark Music Library originally agreed to the casting requirements, it ultimately declined to do so when the wording was not included in the written contract. This production galvanized conservative commentators who lauded it as a success over "political correctness". Ultimately, Tams-Witmark required the Hungarian State Opera to include in its printed material that this production "is contrary to the requirements for the presentation of this work".[56]

Musical elements edit

In the summer of 1934, George Gershwin worked on the opera in Charleston, South Carolina. He drew inspiration from the James Island Gullah community, which he felt had preserved some African musical traditions.[57]

The music reflects his New York jazz roots, but also draws on southern black traditions. Gershwin modeled the pieces after each type of folk song which the composer knew about; jubilees, blues, praying songs, street cries, work songs, and spirituals and blended them with arias and recitatives from European opera tradition.[9]

The most fundamental influences on the composition and orchestrations in evidence throughout Porgy and Bess, aside from those of American jazz and black religious music, are the European composers whose music Gershwin studied and absorbed during his tutelage with the likes of Edward Kilenyi, Rubin Goldmark, Charles Hambitzer, and Henry Cowell.[58] Cowell's key contribution, however, may have been to suggest that Gershwin study with Joseph Schillinger,[59] whose influence, if not as important as his followers claim, is notable throughout. Some commenters have believed they heard similarities to melodies heard in Jewish liturgical music in Gershwin's opera. Gershwin biographer Edward Jablonski heard a similarity between the melody of "It Ain't Necessarily So" and the Haftarah blessing,[60] while others hear similarities with Torah blessing.[61] In a sociological survey of Jewish American culture, the author remarked, "One musicologist detected 'an uncanny resemblance' between the folk tune 'Havenu [sic] Shalom Aleichem' and the spiritual [sic] 'It Take a Long Pull to Get There' from Porgy and Bess."[62]

The score makes use of a series of leitmotifs. Many of these represent individual characters: some of these are fragments of the opera's set numbers (Sportin' Life, for example, is frequently represented by the melody which sets the title words of "It Ain't Necessarily So"). Other motifs represent objects (such as the sleazy chromatic "Happy Dust" motif) or places, notably Catfish Row. Many of the through-composed passages of the score combine or develop these leitmotifs in order to reflect the on-stage action. Particularly sophisticated uses of this techniques can be seen after the aria "There's a boat dat's leaving soon for New York" in act 3, scene 2. The opera also frequently reprises its set numbers (these might be considered extended Leitsektionen). Notable in this respect are the reprises of "Bess, you is my woman now" and "I got plenty o' nuttin' " which conclude act 2, scene 1. The song "Summertime" is stated four times alone.

The duration of the work is about 180 minutes.

Instrumentation edit

The work is scored for two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes (second doubling English horn), three clarinets in B-flat (second and third doubling alto saxophones), one bass clarinet in B-flat (doubling fourth clarinet and tenor saxophone), one bassoon; three French horns in F, three trumpets in B-flat, one trombone, one bass trombone, one tuba; a percussion section that includes timpani, xylophone, triangle, glockenspiel, suspended and crash cymbals, snare drum, tom-toms, bass drum, African drums, an unspecified small drum, tubular bells, wood block, temple blocks, cowbell, sandpaper and train whistle; one piano; one banjo; and strings.[63]

Recordings edit

The 1976 and 1977 recordings of the opera won Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording, making Porgy and Bess the only opera to win this award over two consecutive years.[64]

Excerpts edit

Days after the Broadway premiere of Porgy and Bess with an all-black cast, two white opera singers, Lawrence Tibbett and Helen Jepson, both members of the Metropolitan Opera, recorded highlights of the opera in a New York sound studio,[65] released as Highlights from Porgy and Bess.

Members of the original cast were not recorded until 1940, when Todd Duncan and Anne Brown recorded selections from the work. Two years later, when the first Broadway revival occurred, American Decca rushed other members of the cast into the recording studio to record other selections not recorded in 1940. These two albums were marketed as a two-volume 78 rpm set Selections from George Gershwin's Folk Opera Porgy and Bess. After LPs began to be manufactured in 1948, the recording was transferred to LP, and subsequently, to CD.[66]

Also in 1940, baritone Bruce Foote released a 78-RPM album of selections from Porgy and Bess.[67]

In 1942, Mabel Mercer and Cy Walter released a 78-RPM jazz album of excerpts from the opera on an obscure label.[68]

Although members of the jazz community initially felt that a Jewish-American composer and a white novelist could not adequately convey the plight of black people in a 1930s Charleston ghetto, jazz musicians warmed up more to the opera after twenty years, and more jazz-based recordings of it began to appear. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded an album in 1957 in which they sang and scatted Gershwin's tunes. The next year, Miles Davis recorded what some consider a seminal interpretation of the opera arranged for big band.

In 1959, Columbia Masterworks Records released a soundtrack album of Samuel Goldwyn's film version of Porgy and Bess, which had been made that year. It was not a complete version of the opera, nor was it even a complete version of the film soundtrack, which featured more music than could be contained on a single LP. The album remained in print until the early 1970s, when it was withdrawn from stores at the request of the Gershwin estate. It is the first stereo album of music from Porgy and Bess with an all-black cast. However, according to the album liner notes, Sammy Davis Jr. was under contract to another recording company, and his vocal tracks for the film could not be used on the album. Cab Calloway substituted his own vocals of Sportin' Life's songs. Robert McFerrin was the singing voice of Porgy, and Adele Addison the singing voice of Bess. The white singer Loulie Jean Norman was the singing voice of Clara (portrayed onscreen by Diahann Carroll), and Inez Matthews the singing voice of Serena (portrayed onscreen by Ruth Attaway).

In 1963, Leontyne Price and William Warfield, who had starred in the 1952 world tour of Porgy and Bess, recorded their own album of excerpts from the opera for RCA Victor. None of the other singers from that production appeared on that album, but John W. Bubbles, the original Sportin' Life, substituted for Cab Calloway (who had played Sportin' Life onstage in the 1952 production).[69] The 1963 recording of Porgy and Bess excerpts remains the only official recording of the score on which Bubbles sings Sportin' Life's two big numbers.

In, 1976, for RCA Victor, Ray Charles and Cleo Laine recorded an album of excerpts in which the two of them sang several roles. The album was arranged and conducted by Frank De Vol. It featured the organ of Joe Sample, the trumpet of Harry Edison and guitar work of Joe Pass and Lee Ritenour. It was jazz-based with full orchestrations, but the orchestrations used were not Gershwin's.

In 1990, Leonard Slatkin conducted an album of excerpts from the opera, released on a Philips Records CD, with Simon Estes (who sang Porgy in the first Metropolitan Opera production of the work) and Roberta Alexander.

Complete recordings edit

  • 1951: Columbia Masterworks: the company recorded a 3-LP album of what was then the standard performing version of Porgy and Bess—the most complete recording made of the opera up to that time. It was billed as a "complete" version, but was complete only insofar as that was the way the work was usually performed then. (Actually, nearly an hour was cut from the opera.) Because album producer Goddard Lieberson was eager to bring as much of Porgy and Bess as he felt was practical on records at the time, the recording featured more of Gershwin's original recitatives and orchestrations than had ever been heard before. The recording was conducted by Lehman Engel, and starred Lawrence Winters and Camilla Williams, both from the New York City Opera. Several singers who had been associated with the original 1935 production and the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess were finally given a chance to record their roles more or less complete. The album was highly acclaimed as a giant step in recorded opera in its time. It was re-released at budget price on the Odyssey label in the early 1970s. It has subsequently appeared on CD on Sony's "Masterworks Heritage" CD series, and on the Naxos label as well. The album is not sung in as directly "operatic" a style as later versions, treading a fine line between opera and musical theater.[citation needed]
  • 1952: Guild (not released until 2008): A live recording of a September 21, 1952, performance of Porgy and Bess, starring Leontyne Price, William Warfield, Cab Calloway and the rest of the cast of the 1952 Davis-Breen revival. This is the only known recording of an actual performance made from the historic and highly acclaimed 1952 world tour of the opera. While the opera itself is not performed truly complete, it is a complete recording of that specific performance. Alexander Smallens, who led the original 1935 production and the 1942 revival, conducts. Some of the sung recitatives are still performed as spoken dialogue in the production.[citation needed]
  • 1956: Bethlehem Records: A version of the opera more heavily oriented toward jazz than the original. Mel Tormé sings Porgy and Frances Faye is Bess.[70] The only 3-LP version of most of the opera with white singers. (Released on CD by Rhino Records.)
  • 1976: Decca Records: The first complete recording of the opera based on Gershwin's original score, restoring the material cut by Gershwin during rehearsals for the New York premiere in 1935, was made by the Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel in 1976 for Decca Records in the UK and London Records in the U.S., in time for the U.S. Bicentennial. It starred Willard White singing his first Porgy, and Leona Mitchell as Bess.[citation needed]
  • 1977: RCA Victor: A complete recording of the opera by the Houston Grand Opera based on the complete original score.[citation needed]
  • 1989: EMI: The Glyndebourne album also based on the complete original score, without Gershwin's cuts.[71]
  • 2006: Decca: A recording of the opera made by the Nashville Symphony under John Mauceri is the first to observe Gershwin's cuts and thus present the opera as it was heard in New York in 1935. The musical cuts made on this album coincide almost exactly with those in the 1951 album, with the exception that "The Buzzard Song", usually cut in early productions, is heard on the 1951 album, and the "Occupational Humoresque", heard on the 2006 album, is not heard on the 1951 album at all. This version stars Marquita Lister as Bess.[citation needed]
  • 2010: RCA Victor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, an unusual choice for this Gershwin opera, conducted a recording of an almost complete Porgy and Bess, which was released in the U.S. in September 2010. Gregg Baker, who sang Crown in the 1985 Metropolitan Opera production, the 1986 Glyndebourne production, the 1989 EMI recording made with the Glyndebourne cast, and in the 1993 television adaptation of that production, repeated his performance here, but the roles of Porgy and Bess are taken by two singers virtually unknown in the U.S., Jonathan Lemalu and Isabelle Kabatu.[citation needed]
  • 2014: EuroArts Music International: DVD and Blu-ray recorded live by San Francisco Opera in June 2009, with Eric Owens and Laquita Mitchell in the title roles.[72]

Adaptations edit

Film edit

1959 film edit

 
Poster for the 1959 film version

A 1959 film version, produced in 70 mm Todd-AO by Samuel Goldwyn, was plagued with problems. Rouben Mamoulian, who had directed the 1935 Broadway premiere, was hired to direct the film, but was subsequently fired in favor of director Otto Preminger after a disagreement with the producer. Mamoulian urged making the film on location in South Carolina after a fire on the sound stage destroyed the film's sets. Goldwyn, who never liked making films on location, considered Mamoulian's request a sign of disloyalty.[73] Robert McFerrin dubbed the singing voice for Sidney Poitier's Porgy as did Adele Addison for Dorothy Dandridge's Bess. Ruth Attaway's Serena and Diahann Carroll's Clara were also dubbed. Although Dandridge and Carroll were singers, their voices were not considered operatic enough. Sammy Davis Jr., Brock Peters and Pearl Bailey (who played Sportin' Life, Crown and Maria, respectively) were the only principals who provided their own singing. André Previn's adaptation of the score won him an Academy Award, the film's only Oscar. An associated soundtrack recording was released on LP by Columbia Masterworks Records. For the soundtrack album, Cab Calloway performed the songs sung by the Sportin’ Life character because Davis's label, Decca records, released a competing album featuring Davis and Carmen McRae performing songs from the opera.

The Gershwin estate was disappointed with the film, as the score was substantially edited to make it more like a musical. Much of the music was omitted from the film, and many of Gershwin's orchestrations were either changed or completely scrapped. It was shown on network television in the U.S. only once, in 1967. Critics attacked it for not being faithful to Gershwin's opera, for over-refining the language grammatically, and for its "overblown" staging. The film was removed from release in 1974 by the Gershwin estate. In 2011, it was selected to the U.S. National Film Registry.

Mike Medavoy and Bobby Geisler announced in 2019 that they are developing a re-envisioned and updated film version with the approval of the Gershwin estate.[74][75]

Other films edit

The 1945 Warner Bros. film biography of Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, featured an extended musical scene recreating the opening of the original Broadway production of Porgy and Bess. Included was the original Bess, Anne Brown, recreating her performance. The scene includes a more elaborate (and historically inaccurate) arrangement for the film of the song "Summertime", sung by Anne Brown as Bess with full chorus, but the Catfish Row set design is a virtual duplicate of the one seen in the 1935 Broadway stage production.

The 1985 film White Nights featured a scene in which Gregory Hines performed "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York" as Sportin' Life. Hines' rendition, before a Siberian audience, included a tap dancing sequence. Director Taylor Hackford pointed out in a special edition DVD release of the film that it was necessary to locate a Russian woman of color (Helene Denbey) to portray Bess, as per Gershwin's stipulations.

Television edit

In 1993, Trevor Nunn's Glyndebourne Festival stage production of Porgy and Bess, not to be confused with his later production, was greatly expanded scenically and videotaped in a television studio without an audience. This first Nunn production was also called The Gershwins' 'Porgy and Bess' when shown on television. It was telecast by the BBC in England and by PBS in the United States. It featured a cast of operatic American singers, with the exception of Willard White, who is Jamaican but sounded American, as Porgy. Cynthia Haymon sang the role of Bess. Nunn's "opening up" of the stage production was considered highly imaginative; his cast received much critical praise,[76][77] and the three-hour production retained nearly all of Gershwin's music, heard in the original 1935 orchestrations. This included the opera's sung recitatives, which have occasionally been turned into spoken dialogue in other productions. No extra dialogue was written for this production, as had been done in the 1959 film. All performers lip-synched rather than singing live on set, leading The New York Times to write: "What you hear is basically Mr. Nunn's acclaimed Glyndebourne Festival production, the original cast intact. What you see was filmed later in a London studio. The performers, some new to the production, are lip-synching. It's as if an elaborate visual aid had been concocted for the EMI recording."[77]

This Porgy and Bess production was subsequently released on VHS and DVD. It has won far greater acclaim than the 1959 film, which was widely panned by most critics. The 1993 television production of Porgy and Bess was nominated for four Emmy Awards, and won for its art direction.[78] It also won a BAFTA Award for Best Video Lighting.[79]

In 2002, the New York City Opera telecast its new version of the Houston Opera production, in a live performance from the stage of Lincoln Center. This version featured far more cuts than the previous telecast, but, like nearly all stage versions produced since 1976, used the sung recitatives and Gershwin's orchestrations. The telecast also included interviews with director Tazewell Thompson and was hosted by Beverly Sills.

In 2009 the San Francisco Opera debuted the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess to critical acclaim. The production was recorded at that time and shown on PBS in the fall of 2014, and was later released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Radio edit

On December 1, 1935, during the Broadway run, Todd Duncan and Anne Brown performed "Summertime", "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'" and "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" on NBC's The Magic Key of RCA radio program. Duncan and Brown also appeared on the 1937 CBS Gershwin memorial concert on September 8, 1937, broadcast from the Hollywood Bowl less than two months after the composer's death, along with several other members of the Broadway cast, including John W. Bubbles and Ruby Elzy. They performed several selections from the opera.[citation needed]

The complete Porgy and Bess has been broadcast by the Metropolitan Opera three times as part of the Met's live radio broadcast series.[citation needed] The 1985 broadcast performance starred Simon Estes and Roberta Alexander.[80] In 1986 Bumbry was heard with Robert Mosley as Porgy.[81] In 1990, Estes and Leona Mitchell sang the leads in the third broadcast.[82]

Concert edit

Gershwin prepared an orchestral suite containing music from the opera after Porgy and Bess closed early on Broadway. Though it was originally titled "Suite from Porgy and Bess", Ira later renamed it Catfish Row.

In 1942 Robert Russell Bennett arranged a medley (rather than a suite) for orchestra which has often been heard in the concert hall, known as Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture. It is based on Gershwin's original scoring, though for a slightly different instrumentation (the piano was removed from the orchestral texture at the request of the conductor Fritz Reiner, for whom the arrangement was made). In addition, both Morton Gould and Robert Farnon each arranged an orchestral suite, premiering in 1956 and 1966, respectively.[83][84][85]

Pop music versions edit

Jazz versions edit

Piano edit

In 1951, Australian-born composer Percy Grainger, who was an admirer, performer and arranger of Gershwin's music, completed a twenty-minute piece for two pianos titled Fantasy on George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.[87]

The pianist Earl Wild prepared a virtuoso piano arrangement in the manner of Franz Liszt, entitled Grand Fantasy on Airs from Porgy and Bess.[88]

Brass quintet version edit

  • In 1987 the Canadian Brass commissioned Luther Henderson to create an arrangement of Porgy and Bess music for an RCA Red Seal recording release "Strike Up The Band".[89] The printed version then became available to performers from Hal Leonard Publishing Corp.[90]

Rock version edit

Songs edit

Porgy and Bess contains many songs that have become popular in their own right, becoming standards in jazz and blues in addition to their original operatic setting.

Some of the most popular songs are:

  • "Summertime", act 1, scene 1 – Clara and Jake
  • "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing", act 1, scene 1
  • "My Man's Gone Now", act 1, scene 2
  • "It Take a Long Pull to Get There", act 2, scene 1
  • "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'", act 2, scene 1
  • "Buzzard Keep on Flyin'", act 2, scene 1
  • "Bess, You Is My Woman Now", act 2, scene 1
  • "Oh, I Can't Sit Down," act 2, scene 1
  • "It Ain't Necessarily So", act 2, scene 2
  • "What You Want Wid Bess", act 2, scene 2
  • "Oh, Doctor Jesus", act 2, scene 3
  • "I Wants to Stay Here", act 2, scene 3 – Bess
  • "I Loves You, Porgy", act 2, scene 3 – Bess, Porgy
  • "A Red-Haired Woman", act 2, scene 4
  • "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York", act 3, scene 2
  • "Bess, O Where's My Bess?", act 3, scene 3
  • "O Lawd, I'm on My Way", act 3, scene 3

Some of the more celebrated renditions of these songs include Sarah Vaughan's "It Ain't Necessarily So" and the versions of "Summertime" recorded by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Jascha Heifetz in his own transcriptions for violin and piano.

Numerous other musicians have recorded "Summertime" in varying styles, including both instrumental and vocal recordings; it may be even the most popular cover song in popular music.

  • Janis Joplin recorded a Blues rock version of "Summertime" with Big Brother and the Holding Company. Billy Stewart's version became a Top 10 Pop and R&B hit in 1966 for Chess Records.
  • Even seemingly unlikely performers such as The Zombies (1965) or the ska punk band Sublime (as "Doin' Time", 1997) have made recordings of "Summertime". An international group of collectors of recordings of "Summertime" by the name "The Summertime Connection" claims more than 30,000 recorded performances (many live) in their collection.[92][93]
  • Nina Simone recorded several Porgy and Bess songs. She made her debut in 1959 with a version of "I Loves You, Porgy", which became a Billboard top 20 hit.[94] Other songs she recorded included "Porgy, I's Your Woman Now" [i.e. "Bess, You Is My Woman Now"], "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now".
  • Phoebe Snow recorded a small jazz combo version of "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York" on her "Second Childhood" album in 1976.
  • Christina Aguilera performed "I Loves You, Porgy" in a tribute to the Nina Simone version at the 2008 Grammy Nominations Concert.
  • The violinist Isaac Stern and the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber both recorded instrumental versions of "Bess, You is My Woman Now".
  • The Marcels, a racially diverse doo-wop group, recorded a version as a follow-up to their hit "Blue Moon" in 1961. It was unusual in that it was recorded in a major key rather than Gershwin's minor key.

Commendations edit

On July 14, 1993, the United States Postal Service recognized the opera's cultural significance by issuing a commemorative 29-cent postage stamp.[95]

In 2001, Porgy and Bess was proclaimed the official opera of the state of South Carolina.[96]

The 1940/1942 Decca Porgy and Bess recording with members of the original cast was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress, National Recording Registry in 2003.[97] The board selects recordings on an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ Strachan, Ian Gregory; Mask, Mia (November 27, 2014). Poitier Revisited: Reconsidering a Black Icon in the Obama Age. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 102. ISBN 978-1623562977.
  2. ^ Gershwin, George (October 20, 1935). "Rhapsody in Catfish Row; Mr. Gershwin Tells the Origin and Scheme for His Music in That New Folk Opera Called Porgy and Bess". The New York Times. p. X1.
  3. ^ Stephen Raskauskas (September 20, 2018). "The true origins of Gershwin's Summertime". WFMT. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  4. ^ Jablonski & Stewart 1973, pp. 227–229.
  5. ^ Simonson, Robert. "Anne Brown, Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Dies at 96" Playbill, March 18, 2009
  6. ^ "Anne Brown: She Put The Bess In Porgy And Bess", Mondello, Bob; NPR, March 18, 2009
  7. ^ "Anne Brown Obituary", Millington, Barry, The Guardian, March 23, 2009
  8. ^ Porgy and Bess, American Memory: "Today in History, September 2", Library of Congress
  9. ^ a b c d e Standifer, James (November–December 1997). . Humanities. Archived from the original on February 11, 2005.
  10. ^ Victor Book of the Opera New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968, pp. 326–328
  11. ^ Martin, George (1979). The Opera Companion to Twentieth Century Opera. New York: Dodd, Mead. pp. 389–396.
  12. ^ "1950s Porgy and Bess Castmember Maya Angelou Reflects on Production's Significance", Tell Me More interview by Michel Martin, NPR, April 1, 2020
  13. ^ a b "Porgy' Goes Abroad" (PDF). The New York Times. January 30, 1955. p. 240.
  14. ^ Sam Zolotow (September 3, 1954). "Premiere In Paris For 'Blues Opera'" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 13.
  15. ^ Robert Breen Papers, [ca. 1935 – ca. 1979]. Ohio State University Libraries.
  16. ^ Heikell, Vicki-Anne (June 12, 2020). "The most exciting, the most spectacular production in the show history of New Zealand". National Library blog. National Library of New Zealand.
  17. ^ "New Zealand Opera Company: Porgy and Bess (2nd of 2)", photograph from the dress rehearsal, and some comment on the show's Australian tour
  18. ^ "Clamma Dale". www.masterworksbroadway.com. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  19. ^ ​Porgy and Bess​ (1983) at the Internet Broadway Database
  20. ^ . The Metropolitan Opera. Archived from the original on February 18, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  21. ^ Cape Town Opera, "Cape Town Opera's Tour To Israel, Press release: 27 October 2010 June 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ "Press views: Porgy and Bess". BBC News. November 11, 2006. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  23. ^ Simonson, Robert (May 31, 2012). . Playbill. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  24. ^ a b Healey, Patrick (August 5, 2011). "It Ain't Necessarily 'Porgy'". The New York Times.
  25. ^ ​The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess​ at the Internet Broadway Database
  26. ^ . American Repertory Theater. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
  27. ^ "Stephen Sondheim Takes Issue With Plan for Revamped Porgy and Bess". The New York Times. August 10, 2011.
  28. ^ Als, Hilton (September 26, 2011). "A Man and a Woman". The New Yorker. Vol. LXXXVII, no. 29. p. 110.
  29. ^ . 2011 Porgy and Bess. Archived from the original on November 30, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
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General and cited sources edit

Further reading edit

  • Bauch, Marc A. Europäische Einflüsse im amerikanischen Musical October 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Marburg, Germany: Tectum Verlag, 2013. ISBN 978-3-8288-3209-1 [A unique, paratextual comparison between Wozzeck by Alban Berg and Porgy and Bess]
  • Capote, Truman: The Muses Are Heard: An Account New York: Random House, 1956, ISBN 0-394-43732-2 (story of the 1955 Porgy and Bess production in Moscow)
  • Ferencz, George J. "Porgy and Bess on the Concert Stage: Gershwin's 1936 Suite (Catfish Row) and the 1942 Gershwin–Bennett Symphonic Picture." The Musical Quarterly 94:1–2 (Spring–Summer 2011), 93–155.
  • Fisher, Burton D. Porgy and Bess (Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series) Coral Gables, Florida: Opera Journeys Publishing, 2000, ISBN 1-930841-19-1, overview of the opera
  • Hamm, Charles: "The Theatre Guild Production of Porgy and Bess", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Fall 1987, pp. 495–532.
  • Hutchisson, James, M.: Dubose Heyward: A Charleston Gentleman and the World of Porgy and Bess, University Press of Mississippi, 2000 ISBN 1-57806-250-0
  • Kimball, Robert and Alfred Simon: The Gershwins, New York: Atheneum, 1973, ISBN 0-689-10569-X
  • Noonan, Ellen. The Strange Career of Porgy and Bess: Race, Culture, and America's Most Famous Opera (University of North Carolina Press; 2012) 448 pages; traces the history of the opera since 1935
  • Schwartz, Charles: Gershwin: His Life and Music New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1973, ISBN 0-306-80096-9
  • Southern, Eileen: The Music of Black Americans: A History, New York: W. W. Norton; 3rd edition, ISBN 0-393-97141-4
  • Taylor, John Harper. Ambassadors of the Arts: An Analysis of the Eisenhower Administration's Incorporation of Porgy and Bess Into its Cold War Foreign Policy (The Ohio State University; 1994) 183 pages; In-depth analysis of how Porgy and Bess was used by Eisenhower's Administration during the Cold War
  • Weaver, David E: "The Birth of Porgy and Bess", pp. 80–98, Black Diva of the Thirties – The Life of Ruby Elzy, University Press of Mississippi, 2004

External links edit

  • Libretto (in English and Italian), La Scala
  • Opera guide to Porgy and Bess (Comments, Video Links, History etc.)
  • "Jazzbo: Why we still listen to Gershwin" The New Yorker article by Claudia Roth Pierpoint
  • ​Porgy and Bess​ at the Internet Broadway Database
  • Ovrtur.com Entry
  • "75 years Porgy and Bess"
  • Porgy and Bess Poster Collection
  • Portrait of the opera in the online opera guide www.opera-inside.com

porgy, bess, other, uses, disambiguation, ɔːr, english, language, opera, american, composer, george, gershwin, with, libretto, written, author, dubose, heyward, lyricist, gershwin, adapted, from, dorothy, heyward, dubose, heyward, play, porgy, itself, adaptati. For other uses see Porgy and Bess disambiguation Porgy and Bess ˈ p ɔːr ɡ i is an English language opera by American composer George Gershwin with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward s play Porgy itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward s 1925 novel Porgy Porgy and BessOpera by George GershwinBoston try out before the Broadway openingLibrettistDuBose HeywardLanguageEnglishBased onHeyward s novel PorgyPremiereSeptember 30 1935 1935 09 30 Colonial Theatre Boston Porgy and Bess was first performed in Boston on September 30 1935 before it moved to Broadway in New York City 1 It featured a cast of classically trained African American singers a daring artistic choice at the time A 1976 Houston Grand Opera production gained it a renewed popularity and it is now one of the best known and most frequently performed operas The libretto of Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy a disabled black street beggar living in the slums of Charleston It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown her violent and possessive lover and Sportin Life her drug dealer The opera plot generally follows the stage play In the years following Gershwin s death Porgy and Bess was adapted for smaller scale performances It was adapted as a film in 1959 Some of the songs in the opera such as Summertime became popular and are frequently recorded In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the trend has been toward productions with greater fidelity to Gershwin s original intentions though smaller scale productions also continue to be mounted A complete recorded version of the score was released in 1976 since then it has been recorded several times Contents 1 Inception 2 Composition history 3 Performance history 3 1 1935 original Broadway production 3 2 1942 Broadway revival 3 3 European premieres 3 4 1952 touring production 3 5 1965 New Zealand Opera production 3 6 1965 Volksoper Vienna production 3 7 1976 Houston Grand Opera production 3 8 Subsequent productions 3 9 2006 The Gershwins Porgy and Bess Nunn adaptation 3 10 2011 The Gershwins Porgy and Bess Paulus adaptation 3 11 2014 The Gershwins Porgy and Bess London production 3 12 2019 Metropolitan Opera production 4 Roles 5 Synopsis 5 1 Act 1 5 2 Act 2 5 3 Act 3 6 Racial controversy 6 1 Adaptations in other countries 7 Musical elements 7 1 Instrumentation 8 Recordings 8 1 Excerpts 8 2 Complete recordings 9 Adaptations 9 1 Film 9 1 1 1959 film 9 1 2 Other films 9 2 Television 9 3 Radio 9 4 Concert 9 5 Pop music versions 9 6 Jazz versions 9 7 Piano 9 8 Brass quintet version 9 9 Rock version 10 Songs 11 Commendations 12 References 12 1 Citations 12 2 General and cited sources 13 Further reading 14 External linksInception editThe origin of Porgy and Bess is DuBose Heyward s 1925 novel Porgy Heyward produced a play by the same name with Dorothy Heyward George Gershwin read Porgy in 1926 and proposed to Heyward to collaborate on an operatic version In 1934 Gershwin and Heyward began work on the project by visiting the author s native Charleston South Carolina In a 1935 New York Times article Gershwin explained his motivation for calling Porgy and Bess a folk opera Porgy and Bess is a folk tale Its people naturally would sing folk music When I first began work on the music I decided against the use of original folk material because I wanted the music to be all of one piece Therefore I wrote my own spirituals and folksongs But they are still folk music and therefore being in operatic form Porgy and Bess becomes a folk opera 2 Composition history editIn the fall of 1933 Gershwin and Heyward signed a contract with the Theatre Guild to write the opera In the summer of 1934 Gershwin and Heyward went to Folly Beach South Carolina a small island near Charleston where Gershwin got a feel for the locale and its music He worked on the opera there and in New York Ira Gershwin in New York wrote lyrics to some of the opera s classic songs most notably It Ain t Necessarily So Most of the lyrics including Summertime were written by Heyward who also wrote the libretto 3 Performance history edit1935 original Broadway production edit nbsp Ruby Elzy as Serena in the original Broadway production of Porgy and Bess 1935 nbsp John W Bubbles as Sportin Life in the original Broadway production of Porgy and Bess 1935 Gershwin s first version of the opera running four hours counting the two intermissions was performed privately in a concert version in Carnegie Hall in the fall of 1935 He chose as his choral director Eva Jessye who also directed her own renowned choir The world premiere performance took place at the Colonial Theatre in Boston on September 30 1935 the try out for a work intended initially for Broadway where the opening took place at the Alvin Theatre in New York City on October 10 1935 4 During rehearsals and in Boston Gershwin made many cuts and refinements to shorten the running time and tighten the dramatic action The run on Broadway lasted 124 performances The production and direction were entrusted to Rouben Mamoulian who had previously directed the Broadway productions of Heyward s play Porgy The music director was Alexander Smallens The leading roles were played by Todd Duncan and Anne Brown Brown was a 20 year old student at Juilliard the first African American vocalist admitted there when she read that George Gershwin was going to write a musical version of Porgy She wrote him and asked to sing for him and Gershwin s secretary invited her Gershwin was impressed and began asking Brown to come and sing the songs as he composed them for Porgy 5 The character of Bess was originally a secondary character but as Gershwin was impressed with Brown s singing he expanded the part of Bess and cast Brown 6 When they had completed rehearsals and were ready to begin previews Gershwin invited Brown to join him for lunch At that meeting he told her I want you to know Miss Brown that henceforth and forever after George Gershwin s opera will be known as Porgy and Bess 7 Influential vaudeville artist John W Bubbles created the role of Sportin Life the role of Serena was created by Ruby Elzy After the Broadway run a tour started on January 27 1936 in Philadelphia and traveled to Pittsburgh and Chicago before ending in Washington DC on March 21 1936 During the Washington run the cast as led by Todd Duncan protested segregation at the National Theatre Eventually management gave in to the demands resulting in the first integrated audience for a performance of any show at that venue 8 In 1938 many of the original cast reunited for a West Coast revival that played in Los Angeles and at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco Avon Long took on the role of Sportin Life for the first time a role he continued to play in many productions over a long career 1942 Broadway revival edit Noted director and producer Cheryl Crawford produced professional stock theater in Maplewood New Jersey for three very successful seasons The last of these closed with Porgy and Bess which she co produced with John Wildberg In refashioning it in the style of musical theater which Americans were used to hearing from Gershwin Crawford produced a drastically cut version of the opera compared with the first Broadway staging The orchestra was reduced the cast was halved and many recitatives were reduced to spoken dialog 9 Having seen the performance theater owner Lee Shubert arranged for Crawford to bring her production to Broadway The show opened at the Majestic Theatre in January 1942 10 Duncan and Brown reprised their roles as the title characters with Alexander Smallens again conducting In June contralto Etta Moten whom Gershwin had first envisioned as Bess replaced Brown in the role Moten was such a success that Bess became her signature role The Crawford production ran for nine months and was far more successful financially than the original Radio station WOR in New York broadcast a live one hour version on May 7 1942 The cast included Todd Duncan Anne Brown Ruby Elzy Eloise C Uggams Avon Long Edward Matthews Harriet Jackson Georgette Harvey Jack Carr and the Eva Jessye Choir the WOR Symphony was conducted by Alfred Wallenstein The 12 inch diameter 78 rpm glass base lacquer coated disks were transferred to open reel tape on February 6 1975 European premieres edit On March 27 1943 the opera had its European premiere at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen Performed during the Nazi occupation of the country this performance was notable for being performed by an all white cast made up in blackface After 22 sold out performances the Nazis forced the theater to close the production 9 Other all or mostly white productions in Europe reflecting contemporary demographics in the countries took place in Zurich Switzerland in 1945 and 1950 and Gothenburg and Stockholm Sweden in 1948 nbsp Leontyne Price as Bess1952 touring production edit Blevins Davis and Robert Breen produced a revival in 1952 which restored much of the music cut in the Crawford version including many of the recitatives It divided the opera into two acts with the intermission occurring after Crown forces Bess to stay on Kittiwah Island This version restored the work to a more operatic form though not all of the recitatives were retained In this version Porgy and Bess was warmly received throughout Europe citation needed The London premiere took place on October 9 1952 at the Stoll Theatre where the opera continued until February 10 1953 11 This production s original cast featured Americans Leontyne Price as Bess William Warfield as Porgy and Cab Calloway as Sportin Life a role that Gershwin had composed with him in mind The role of Ruby was played by a young Maya Angelou 12 Price and Warfield met and wed while on the tour The role of Porgy was the first for Warfield after his appearance as Joe singing Ol Man River in the popular 1951 MGM film of Show Boat After a tour of Europe financed by the United States Department of State the production came to Broadway s Ziegfeld Theatre in March 1953 It later toured North America After completing its North American run in Montreal the company embarked on an international tour with LeVern Hutcherson as Porgy and Gloria Davy as Bess The production first performed in Venice Paris and London and in other cities in Belgium Germany Greece Italy Switzerland and Yugoslavia 13 14 The company also made a stop at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt in January 1955 13 In 1955 1956 the company toured in cities in the Middle East Africa Russia and Latin America 15 During this tour Porgy and Bess was presented for the first time at La Scala in Milan in February 1955 A historic yet tense premiere took place in Moscow in December 1955 it was during the Cold War and the first time an American theater group had been to the Soviet capital since the Bolshevik Revolution Author Truman Capote traveled with the cast and crew and wrote an account included in his book The Muses Are Heard 1965 New Zealand Opera production edit This 1965 production by New Zealand Opera included several Maori opera singers deemed by the Gershwin trust to be consistent with the requirement for black artists as the cast The experience of working with a Broadway musical director Ella Gerber and being in the cast from chorus to a minor character role was a unique opportunity for New Zealand opera singers 16 17 1965 Volksoper Vienna production edit As opposed to the American productions from 1942 up until 1976 the 1965 Volksoper production was performed as an opera as George Gershwin conceived it and was based on the original 1935 Broadway production i e restoring the sung recitatives as well as opening cuts similar to 1935 The conductor and stage director were Americans and the lead roles as well as most small parts were sung by Black Americans Only the chorus was the Volksoper s own white chorus The Volksoper orchestra used the original instrumentation though its string section was larger than the original Broadway The production was revived several times up into the first half of the 1970 s 1976 Houston Grand Opera production edit During the 1960s and early 1970s Porgy and Bess mostly languished on the shelves a victim of its perceived racism Though new productions took place in 1961 and 1964 along with a Vienna Volksoper premiere in 1965 again with William Warfield as Porgy these did little to change many African Americans opinions of the work Many music critics still had not accepted it as a true opera A new staging of Porgy and Bess was produced by the Houston Grand Opera in 1976 directed by Jack O Brien with musical direction by John DeMain it restored the complete original score for the first time Following its debut in Houston the production opened on Broadway at the Uris Theatre on September 25 1976 and was recorded complete by RCA Records This version was very influential in turning the tide of opinion about the work For the first time an American opera company not a Broadway production company had tackled the opera This production was based on Gershwin s original full score It did not incorporate the cuts and other changes that Gershwin had made before the New York premiere nor the ones made for the 1942 Cheryl Crawford revival or the 1959 film version It allowed the public to take in the operatic whole as first envisioned by the composer In this light Porgy and Bess was accepted as an opera Donnie Ray Albert and Robert Mosley alternated performances in the role of Porgy Clamma Dale and Larry Marshall starred respectively as Bess and Sportin Life This production won the Houston Grand Opera a Tony Award the only opera ever to receive one and a 1978 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording 18 The conductor was John DeMain Subsequent productions edit Another Broadway production was staged in 1983 at Radio City Music Hall with conductor C William Harwood based on the Houston production 19 The Metropolitan Opera presented a production of Porgy and Bess in 1985 after considering it since the 1930s It opened February 6 1985 with a cast including Simon Estes Grace Bumbry Bruce Hubbard Gregg Baker and Florence Quivar The Met production was directed by Nathaniel Merrill and designed by Robert O Hearn The conductor was James Levine 20 The production received 16 performances in its first season and was revived in 1986 1989 and 1990 for a total of 54 performances Trevor Nunn first tackled the work in an acclaimed 1986 production at England s Glyndebourne Festival The 1986 Trevor Nunn production was scenically expanded and videotaped for television in 1993 see below in Television These productions were also based on the complete score without incorporating Gershwin s revisions A semi staged version of this production was performed at the Proms in 1998 The centennial celebration of the Gershwin brothers from 1996 to 1998 included a new production as well On February 24 25 2006 the Nashville Symphony under the direction of John Mauceri gave a concert performance at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center It incorporated Gershwin s cuts made for the New York premiere thus giving the audience an idea of what the opera sounded like on its Broadway opening In 2000 and 2002 the New York City Opera had a revival directed by Tazewell Thompson In 2007 Los Angeles Opera staged a revival directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by John DeMain who led the history making Houston Opera revival of Porgy and Bess in 1976 South Africa s Cape Town Opera has frequently performed Porgy and Bess abroad most notably with the Welsh National Opera NorrlandsOperan Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Wales Millennium Centre Royal Festival Hall and Edinburgh Festival Theatre In October 2010 its planned tour of the opera to Israel was criticized by Desmond Tutu 21 2006 The Gershwins Porgy and Bess Nunn adaptation edit The Gershwins Porgy and Bess premiered on November 9 2006 at the Savoy Theatre London directed by Trevor Nunn Although that was the title given to this production the 1993 television adaptation of Nunn s 1986 production had also used it For this new production he adapted the lengthy opera to fit the conventions of musical theater Working with the Gershwin and Heyward estates Nunn used dialogue from the original novel and subsequent Broadway stage play to replace the recitatives with naturalistic scenes He did not use operatic voices in this production but relied on musical theater actors as leads Gareth Valentine provided the musical adaptation Despite mostly positive reviews 22 Nunn s production closed months early because of poor box office returns This original cast of this version included Clarke Peters as Porgy Nicola Hughes as Bess O T Fagbenle as Sportin Life and Cornell S John as Crown 2011 The Gershwins Porgy and Bess Paulus adaptation edit Another production titled The Gershwins Porgy and Bess directed by Diane Paulus with book adapted by Suzan Lori Parks and music adapted by Diedre Murray was presented by the American Repertory Theater ART in Cambridge Massachusetts The Broadway production was produced by Buddy Freitag and Barbara Freitag 23 Previews started August 17 and the show opened August 31 2011 Following Trevor Nunn s latest production of the work the ART Porgy was the second production initiated by the Gershwin and Heyward estates to adapt the opera for the musical theater stage Again spoken dialogue here written by Parks replaced the opera s sung recitatives 24 William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke created new orchestrations for the production 25 Before the opening Paulus Parks and Murray made statements to the press about the production s primary goal being to introduce the work to the next generation of theatergoers 26 They discussed changes to the opera s plot dialogue and score that were being explored to make the work more appealing to a contemporary audience 24 In response esteemed Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim wrote a blistering letter to the New York Times criticizing Paulus McDonald and Parks disdain toward the opera itself and criticized the new title as just dumb because it underplayed the contribution of Heyward 27 The complete text of Sondheim s letter may be seen at this link Critic Hilton Als countered in The New Yorker that Sondheim had very little exposure to black culture and that the Paulus version succeeded in humanizing the depiction of race onstage 28 The production began previews on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in December 2011 and officially opened on January 12 2012 The original cast included Audra McDonald as Bess Norm Lewis as Porgy David Alan Grier as Sportin Life Phillip Boykin as Crown Nikki Renee Daniels as Clara and Joshua Henry as Jake 29 All of the major roles are played by the same cast as in Cambridge Early reviews of the show were positive to mixed All praised McDonald s performance of Bess but critics were divided on the success of the adaptation staging and setting Some praised the intimate scale of the drama and the believability of the performances others found the staging to be unfocused and the settings to lack atmosphere 30 Time magazine ranked the show as its number two choice among theater productions in 2011 31 The production was nominated for 10 awards in the 2012 Tony Awards winning Best Revival of a Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for McDonald The production ran through September 23 2012 32 It played 322 performances 17 more than the 1953 revival making it the longest running production of Porgy and Bess on Broadway thus far 33 2014 The Gershwins Porgy and Bess London production edit This production ran at the Regent s Park Open Air Theatre from July 17 to August 23 Cast members included Rufus Bonds Jr Porgy Nicola Hughes Bess Cedric Neal Sportin Life Phillip Boykin Crown Sharon D Clarke Mariah Jade Ewen Clara and Golda Rosheuvel Serena The production was directed by Timothy Sheader 34 and also used the book adapted by Suzan Lori Parks but used a new arrangement of the score by David Shrubsole citation needed It was nominated at the Olivier Awards for Best Musical Revival 35 2019 Metropolitan Opera production edit After an absence of nearly thirty years on the Met stage the company staged the new 2018 London production conducted by David Robertson in Fall 2019 36 37 It featured a cast including Golda Schultz Latonia Moore Angel Blue Elizabeth Llewellyn Denyce Graves Eric Owens Frederick Ballentine Alfred Walker and Ryan Speedo Green The production was hailed as splendid by The New York Times 38 A live cast album released on December 17 2019 39 won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards 40 Roles editRoles voice types premiere cast Role Voice type Premiere cast September 30 1935Conductor Alexander SmallensPorgy a disabled beggar bass baritone Todd DuncanBess Crown s girl soprano Anne BrownCrown a tough stevedore baritone Warren ColemanSportin Life a dope peddler tenor John W BubblesRobbins an inhabitant of Catfish Row tenor Henry DavisSerena Robbins wife soprano Ruby ElzyJake a fisherman baritone Edward MatthewsClara Jake s wife soprano Abbie MitchellMaria keeper of the cook shop contralto Georgette HarveyMingo tenor Ford L BuckPeter the honeyman tenor Gus SimonsLily Peter s wife soprano Helen DowdyFrazier a black lawyer baritone J Rosamond JohnsonAnnie mezzo soprano Olive BallStrawberry woman mezzo soprano Helen DowdyJim a stevedore who hauls cotton baritone Jack CarrUndertaker baritone John GarthNelson tenor Ray YeatesCrab man tenor Ray YeatesScipio a small boy boy sopranoMr Archdale a white lawyer spoken George LesseyDetective spoken Alexander CampbellPoliceman spoken Burton McEvillyCoroner spoken George CarletonThe Eva Jessye Choir led by Eva JessyeWith the exception of a few speaking roles all of the characters are black Synopsis editPlace Catfish Row a fictitious large black tenement based on Cabbage Row on the waterfront of Charleston South Carolina 41 42 Time The early 1920s 43 44 45 Act 1 edit Scene 1 Catfish Row a summer eveningThe opera begins with a short introduction which segues into an evening in Catfish Row Jasbo Brown entertains the community with his piano playing Clara a young mother sings a lullaby to her baby Summertime as the working men prepare for a game of craps Roll them Bones One of the players Robbins scorns his wife Serena s demands that he not play retorting that on a Saturday night a man has the right to play Clara s husband the fisherman Jake tries his own lullaby A Woman is a Sometime Thing with little effect Little by little other characters in the opera enter Catfish Row among them Mingo another fisherman and Jim a cotton hauling stevedore who tired of his job decides to give it up and join Jake and the other fishermen Porgy a disabled beggar enters on his goat cart to organize the game Peter an elderly honey man honey vendor returns singing his vendor s call Crown a strong and brutal stevedore storms in with his woman Bess and buys cheap whiskey and some happy dust off the local dope peddler Sportin Life Bess is shunned by the women of the community especially the pious Serena and the matriarchal cookshop owner Maria but Porgy softly defends her The game begins One by one the players get crapped out leaving only Robbins and Crown who has become extremely drunk When Robbins wins Crown attempts to prevent him from taking his winnings A brawl ensues which ends when Crown stabs Robbins with Jim s cotton hook killing him Crown runs telling Bess to fend for herself but that he will be back for her when the heat dies down Sportin Life gives her a dose of happy dust and offers to take her with him when he goes to New York but she rejects him He flees and Bess begins to pound on doors but is rejected by all of the residents of Catfish Row with the exception of Porgy who lets her in Scene 2 Serena s Room the following nightThe mourners sing a spiritual to Robbins Gone Gone Gone To raise money for his burial a saucer is placed on his chest for the mourners donations Overflow Bess enters with Porgy and attempts to donate to the burial fund but Serena rejects her money until Bess explains that she is now living with Porgy A white detective enters and coldly tells Serena that she must bury her husband the next day or his body will be given to medical students for dissection He suddenly accuses Peter of Robbins s murder Peter denies his guilt and says Crown was the murderer The Detective orders Peter to be arrested as a material witness whom he will force to testify against Crown Serena laments her loss in My Man s Gone Now The undertaker enters The saucer holds only fifteen dollars of the needed twenty five but he agrees to bury Robbins as long as Serena promises to pay him back Bess who has been sitting in silence slightly apart from the rest of those gathered suddenly begins to sing a gospel song and the chorus joyfully join in welcoming her into the community Oh the Train is at de Station Act 2 edit Scene 1 Catfish Row a month later in the morningJake and the other fishermen prepare for work It take a long pull to get there Clara asks Jake not to go because it is time for the annual storms but he tells her that they desperately need the money This causes Porgy to sing from his window about his new happy go lucky outlook on life I got plenty o nuttin Sportin Life waltzes around selling happy dust but soon incurs the wrath of Maria who threatens him I hates yo struttin style A fraudulent lawyer Frazier arrives and farcically divorces Bess from Crown When he discovers Bess and Crown were not married he raises his price from a dollar to a dollar and a half Archdale a white lawyer enters and informs Porgy that Peter will soon be released The bad omen of a buzzard flies over Catfish Row and Porgy demands that it leave now that he finally has found happiness Buzzard keep on flyin over As the rest of Catfish Row prepares for the church picnic on nearby Kittiwah Island Sportin Life again offers to take Bess to New York with him she refuses He attempts to give her some happy dust despite her claims that she s given up drugs but Porgy grabs his arm and scares him off Sportin Life leaves reminding Bess as he goes that her men friends come and go but he will be there all along Bess and Porgy are now left alone and express their love for each other Bess You Is My Woman Now The chorus re enters in high spirits as they prepare to leave for the picnic Oh I can t sit down Bess is invited to the picnic by Maria but she demurs as Porgy cannot come due to his disability he cannot get on the boat but Maria insists Bess leaves Porgy behind as they go off to the picnic Porgy watches the boat leave I got plenty o nuttin reprise Scene 2 Kittiwah Island that eveningThe chorus enjoys themselves at the picnic I ain t got no shame Sportin Life presents the chorus his cynical views on the Bible It Ain t Necessarily So causing Serena to chastise them Shame on all you sinners Everyone gets ready to leave As Bess who has lagged behind tries to follow them Crown emerges from the bushes He reminds her that Porgy is temporary and laughs off her claims that she has been living decently now Bess wants to leave Crown forever and attempts to make him forget about her Oh what you want wid Bess but Crown refuses to give her up He grabs her and will not let her go to the boat which leaves without her and then forcefully kisses her He laughs at his conquest as her resistance begins to fail and commands her to get into the woods where his intentions are only too clear Scene 3 Catfish Row a week later just before dawnA week later Jake leaves to go fishing with his crew one of whom observes that it looks as if a storm is coming in Peter still unsure of his crime returns from prison Meanwhile Bess is lying in Porgy s room delirious with fever which she has had ever since returning from Kittiwah Island Serena prays to remove Bess s affliction Oh Doctor Jesus and promises Porgy that Bess will be well by five o clock As the day passes a strawberry woman Peter the Honey Man and a crab man each pass by with their wares Vendors Trio As the clock chimes five Bess recovers from her fever Porgy tells Bess that he knows she has been with Crown and she admits that Crown has promised to return for her Porgy tells her she is free to go if she wants to and she tells him that although she wants to stay I Wants to Stay Here she is afraid of Crown s hold on her Porgy asks her what would happen if there was no Crown and Bess tells Porgy she loves him and begs him to protect her Porgy promises that she will never have to be afraid again I Loves You Porgy Clara watches the water fearful for Jake Maria tries to allay her fears but suddenly the hurricane bell begins to ring Scene 4 Serena s Room dawn of the next dayThe residents of Catfish Row are all gathered in Serena s room for shelter from the hurricane They drown out the sound of the storm with prayers and hymns Oh Doctor Jesus while Sportin Life mocks their assumption that the storm is a signal of Judgment Day Clara desperately sings her lullaby Summertime reprise A knock is heard at the door and the chorus believes it to be Death Oh there s somebody knocking at the door Crown enters dramatically having swum from Kittiwah Island seeking Bess He shows no fear of God claiming that after the long struggle from Kittiwah God and he are friends The chorus tries to drown out his blaspheming with more prayer and he taunts them by singing a vulgar song A red headed woman Suddenly Clara sees Jake s boat float past the window upside down and she runs out to try to save him handing her baby to Bess Bess asks that one of the men go out with her and Crown taunts Porgy who cannot go Crown goes himself yelling out as he leaves Alright Big Friend We re on for another Bout The chorus continue to pray as the storm rises Act 3 edit Scene 1 Catfish Row the next nightA group of women mourn Clara Jake and all of those who have been killed in the storm Clara Clara don t you be downhearted When they begin to mourn for Crown as well Sportin Life laughs at them and is told off by Maria He insinuates that Crown may not be dead and observes that when a woman has a man maybe she s got him for keeps but if she has two men then it s highly likely she ll end up with none Bess is heard singing Clara s lullaby to her baby whom she is now taking care of Summertime reprise Once Catfish Row is dark Crown stealthily enters to claim Bess but is confronted by Porgy A fight ensues that ends when Porgy kills Crown Porgy exclaims to Bess You ve got a man now You ve got Porgy Scene 2 Catfish Row the next afternoonThe detective enters and talks with Serena and her friends about the murders of Crown and Robbins They deny knowledge of Crown s murder frustrating the detective Needing a witness for the coroner s inquest he next questions an apprehensive Porgy Once Porgy admits to knowing Crown he is ordered to come and identify Crown s body Sportin Life tells Porgy that corpses bleed in the presence of their murderers and the detective will use this to hang Porgy Porgy refuses to identify the body but is dragged off anyway Bess is distraught and Sportin Life puts his plan into action He tells her that Porgy will be locked up for a long time and points out that he is the only one still here He offers her happy dust and though she refuses he forces it on her After she takes a whiff he paints a seductive picture of her life with him in New York There s a boat dat s leavin soon for New York She regains her strength and rushes inside slamming the door on his face but he leaves a packet of happy dust on her doorstep and settles down to wait Scene 3 Catfish Row a week laterOn a beautiful morning Porgy is released from jail where he has been arrested for contempt of court after refusing to look at Crown s body He returns to Catfish Row much richer after playing craps with his cellmates He gives gifts to the residents and pulls out a beautiful red dress for Bess He does not understand why everyone seems so uneasy at his return He sees Clara s baby is now with Serena and realizes something is wrong He asks where Bess is Maria and Serena tell him that Bess has run off with Sportin Life to New York Oh Bess Oh Where s my Bess Porgy calls for his goat cart and resolves to leave Catfish Row to find her He prays for strength and begins his journey Oh Lawd I m on my way Racial controversy editIra Gershwin stipulated that only blacks be allowed to play the lead roles when the opera was performed in the United States launching the careers of several prominent opera singers Gershwin sought to write a true jazz opera and believed that Metropolitan Opera staff singers could never master the jazz idiom which could instead only be sung by a black cast Some black singers were overjoyed at Gershwin s work going so far as to describe him as the Abraham Lincoln of Negro music 46 Nevertheless the opera s depiction of African Americans attracted controversy from the outset Virgil Thomson a white American composer stated that Folklore subjects recounted by an outsider are only valid as long as the folk in question is unable to speak for itself which is certainly not true of the American Negro in 1935 47 An apocryphal quote attributed to Duke Ellington allegedly stated the times are here to debunk Gershwin s lampblack Negroisms but the quote was probably invented by a journalist who interviewed Ellington about the opera Ellington publicly repudiated the article shortly after its publication 48 Ellington s response to the 1952 Breen revival was completely the opposite His telegram to the producer read Your Porgy and Bess the superbest singing the gonest acting the craziest Gershwin the greatest 49 Several of the members of the original cast later stated that they too had concerns that their characters might play into a stereotype that African Americans lived in poverty took drugs and solved their problems with their fists A planned production by the Negro Repertory Company of Seattle in the late 1930s part of the Federal Theatre Project was canceled because actors were displeased with what they viewed as a racist portrayal of aspects of African American life The director initially envisioned that they would perform the play in a Negro dialect These Pacific Northwest African American actors who did not speak in such dialect would be coached in it Florence James attempted a compromise of dropping the use of dialect but the production was canceled 50 Another production of Porgy and Bess this time at the University of Minnesota in 1939 ran into similar troubles According to Barbara Cyrus one of the few black students then at the university members of the local African American community saw the play as detrimental to the race and as a vehicle that promoted racist stereotypes The play was canceled due to pressure from the African American community which saw their success as proof of the increasing political power of blacks in Minneapolis Saint Paul 51 The belief that Porgy and Bess was racist gained strength during the civil rights movement and Black Power movement of the 1950s 1960s and 1970s As these movements advanced Porgy and Bess was seen as more and more out of date When the play was revived in the 1960s social critic and African American educator Harold Cruse called it The most incongruous contradictory cultural symbol ever created in the Western World 9 In the 1976 Houston Opera production the director Sherwin Goldman had trouble finding interested performers Goldman a white Texas native and a graduate of Yale and Oxford Universities recalled I was auditioning singers all around the country I guess thirty cities in all from theater groups to church choirs but was having a hard time finding directors I don t think there was a single black person of those who had never been associated with Porgy who didn t seriously bad mouth it Nevertheless a cast was assembled of African American classically trained performers from all around the country 52 Gershwin s all black opera was also unpopular with some celebrated black artists Harry Belafonte declined to play Porgy in the late 1950s film version so the role went to Sidney Poitier Poitier found the opera insulting and only took on the film role due to coercion from producer Samuel Goldwyn 53 Betty Allen president of The Harlem School of the Arts admittedly loathed the piece and Grace Bumbry who excelled in the 1985 Metropolitan Opera production as Bess made the often cited statement I thought it beneath me I felt I had worked far too hard that we had come far too far to have to retrogress to 1935 My way of dealing with it was to see that it was really a piece of Americana of American history whether we liked it or not Whether I sing it or not it was still going to be there 9 Over time however the opera gained acceptance from the opera community and some in the African American community Maurice Peress stated in 2004 that Porgy and Bess belongs as much to the black singer actors who bring it to life as it does to the Heywards and the Gershwins 54 Adaptations in other countries edit During the era of apartheid in South Africa several South African theater companies planned to put on all white productions of Porgy and Bess Ira Gershwin as heir to his brother consistently refused to permit these productions to be staged But in 2009 Cape Town Opera s production set in 1970s South Africa and inspired by life in Soweto toured Britain opening at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and going on to the Royal Festival Hall in London and Edinburgh Festival Theatre Most of the cast were black South Africans American singers involved in the production have found the passionate identification with the opera by the South African singers a wake up call I think we ve got a little jaded in the US with Porgy and Bess says Lisa Daltirus one of two singers who will play Bess on the UK tour A lot of people just think that this is a show that is lovely to listen to and happened way back when They re not thinking that you can still find places where this is real And if we re not careful we could be right back there The Times London October 16 2009 55 A 2017 2018 staging of the opera by the Hungarian State Opera featured a predominantly white cast While the opera was presented in the context of the Syrian migrant crisis moved from Catfish Row to an airport the controversy of recasting continued While the Hungarian State Opera in discussions with the Tams Witmark Music Library originally agreed to the casting requirements it ultimately declined to do so when the wording was not included in the written contract This production galvanized conservative commentators who lauded it as a success over political correctness Ultimately Tams Witmark required the Hungarian State Opera to include in its printed material that this production is contrary to the requirements for the presentation of this work 56 Musical elements editIn the summer of 1934 George Gershwin worked on the opera in Charleston South Carolina He drew inspiration from the James Island Gullah community which he felt had preserved some African musical traditions 57 The music reflects his New York jazz roots but also draws on southern black traditions Gershwin modeled the pieces after each type of folk song which the composer knew about jubilees blues praying songs street cries work songs and spirituals and blended them with arias and recitatives from European opera tradition 9 The most fundamental influences on the composition and orchestrations in evidence throughout Porgy and Bess aside from those of American jazz and black religious music are the European composers whose music Gershwin studied and absorbed during his tutelage with the likes of Edward Kilenyi Rubin Goldmark Charles Hambitzer and Henry Cowell 58 Cowell s key contribution however may have been to suggest that Gershwin study with Joseph Schillinger 59 whose influence if not as important as his followers claim is notable throughout Some commenters have believed they heard similarities to melodies heard in Jewish liturgical music in Gershwin s opera Gershwin biographer Edward Jablonski heard a similarity between the melody of It Ain t Necessarily So and the Haftarah blessing 60 while others hear similarities with Torah blessing 61 In a sociological survey of Jewish American culture the author remarked One musicologist detected an uncanny resemblance between the folk tune Havenu sic Shalom Aleichem and the spiritual sic It Take a Long Pull to Get There from Porgy and Bess 62 The score makes use of a series of leitmotifs Many of these represent individual characters some of these are fragments of the opera s set numbers Sportin Life for example is frequently represented by the melody which sets the title words of It Ain t Necessarily So Other motifs represent objects such as the sleazy chromatic Happy Dust motif or places notably Catfish Row Many of the through composed passages of the score combine or develop these leitmotifs in order to reflect the on stage action Particularly sophisticated uses of this techniques can be seen after the aria There s a boat dat s leaving soon for New York in act 3 scene 2 The opera also frequently reprises its set numbers these might be considered extended Leitsektionen Notable in this respect are the reprises of Bess you is my woman now and I got plenty o nuttin which conclude act 2 scene 1 The song Summertime is stated four times alone The duration of the work is about 180 minutes Instrumentation edit The work is scored for two flutes second doubling piccolo two oboes second doubling English horn three clarinets in B flat second and third doubling alto saxophones one bass clarinet in B flat doubling fourth clarinet and tenor saxophone one bassoon three French horns in F three trumpets in B flat one trombone one bass trombone one tuba a percussion section that includes timpani xylophone triangle glockenspiel suspended and crash cymbals snare drum tom toms bass drum African drums an unspecified small drum tubular bells wood block temple blocks cowbell sandpaper and train whistle one piano one banjo and strings 63 Recordings editMain article Porgy and Bess discography The 1976 and 1977 recordings of the opera won Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording making Porgy and Bess the only opera to win this award over two consecutive years 64 Excerpts edit Days after the Broadway premiere of Porgy and Bess with an all black cast two white opera singers Lawrence Tibbett and Helen Jepson both members of the Metropolitan Opera recorded highlights of the opera in a New York sound studio 65 released as Highlights from Porgy and Bess Members of the original cast were not recorded until 1940 when Todd Duncan and Anne Brown recorded selections from the work Two years later when the first Broadway revival occurred American Decca rushed other members of the cast into the recording studio to record other selections not recorded in 1940 These two albums were marketed as a two volume 78 rpm set Selections from George Gershwin s Folk Opera Porgy and Bess After LPs began to be manufactured in 1948 the recording was transferred to LP and subsequently to CD 66 Also in 1940 baritone Bruce Foote released a 78 RPM album of selections from Porgy and Bess 67 In 1942 Mabel Mercer and Cy Walter released a 78 RPM jazz album of excerpts from the opera on an obscure label 68 Although members of the jazz community initially felt that a Jewish American composer and a white novelist could not adequately convey the plight of black people in a 1930s Charleston ghetto jazz musicians warmed up more to the opera after twenty years and more jazz based recordings of it began to appear Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded an album in 1957 in which they sang and scatted Gershwin s tunes The next year Miles Davis recorded what some consider a seminal interpretation of the opera arranged for big band In 1959 Columbia Masterworks Records released a soundtrack album of Samuel Goldwyn s film version of Porgy and Bess which had been made that year It was not a complete version of the opera nor was it even a complete version of the film soundtrack which featured more music than could be contained on a single LP The album remained in print until the early 1970s when it was withdrawn from stores at the request of the Gershwin estate It is the first stereo album of music from Porgy and Bess with an all black cast However according to the album liner notes Sammy Davis Jr was under contract to another recording company and his vocal tracks for the film could not be used on the album Cab Calloway substituted his own vocals of Sportin Life s songs Robert McFerrin was the singing voice of Porgy and Adele Addison the singing voice of Bess The white singer Loulie Jean Norman was the singing voice of Clara portrayed onscreen by Diahann Carroll and Inez Matthews the singing voice of Serena portrayed onscreen by Ruth Attaway In 1963 Leontyne Price and William Warfield who had starred in the 1952 world tour of Porgy and Bess recorded their own album of excerpts from the opera for RCA Victor None of the other singers from that production appeared on that album but John W Bubbles the original Sportin Life substituted for Cab Calloway who had played Sportin Life onstage in the 1952 production 69 The 1963 recording of Porgy and Bess excerpts remains the only official recording of the score on which Bubbles sings Sportin Life s two big numbers In 1976 for RCA Victor Ray Charles and Cleo Laine recorded an album of excerpts in which the two of them sang several roles The album was arranged and conducted by Frank De Vol It featured the organ of Joe Sample the trumpet of Harry Edison and guitar work of Joe Pass and Lee Ritenour It was jazz based with full orchestrations but the orchestrations used were not Gershwin s In 1990 Leonard Slatkin conducted an album of excerpts from the opera released on a Philips Records CD with Simon Estes who sang Porgy in the first Metropolitan Opera production of the work and Roberta Alexander Complete recordings edit 1951 Columbia Masterworks the company recorded a 3 LP album of what was then the standard performing version of Porgy and Bess the most complete recording made of the opera up to that time It was billed as a complete version but was complete only insofar as that was the way the work was usually performed then Actually nearly an hour was cut from the opera Because album producer Goddard Lieberson was eager to bring as much of Porgy and Bess as he felt was practical on records at the time the recording featured more of Gershwin s original recitatives and orchestrations than had ever been heard before The recording was conducted by Lehman Engel and starred Lawrence Winters and Camilla Williams both from the New York City Opera Several singers who had been associated with the original 1935 production and the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess were finally given a chance to record their roles more or less complete The album was highly acclaimed as a giant step in recorded opera in its time It was re released at budget price on the Odyssey label in the early 1970s It has subsequently appeared on CD on Sony s Masterworks Heritage CD series and on the Naxos label as well The album is not sung in as directly operatic a style as later versions treading a fine line between opera and musical theater citation needed 1952 Guild not released until 2008 A live recording of a September 21 1952 performance of Porgy and Bess starring Leontyne Price William Warfield Cab Calloway and the rest of the cast of the 1952 Davis Breen revival This is the only known recording of an actual performance made from the historic and highly acclaimed 1952 world tour of the opera While the opera itself is not performed truly complete it is a complete recording of that specific performance Alexander Smallens who led the original 1935 production and the 1942 revival conducts Some of the sung recitatives are still performed as spoken dialogue in the production citation needed 1956 Bethlehem Records A version of the opera more heavily oriented toward jazz than the original Mel Torme sings Porgy and Frances Faye is Bess 70 The only 3 LP version of most of the opera with white singers Released on CD by Rhino Records 1976 Decca Records The first complete recording of the opera based on Gershwin s original score restoring the material cut by Gershwin during rehearsals for the New York premiere in 1935 was made by the Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel in 1976 for Decca Records in the UK and London Records in the U S in time for the U S Bicentennial It starred Willard White singing his first Porgy and Leona Mitchell as Bess citation needed 1977 RCA Victor A complete recording of the opera by the Houston Grand Opera based on the complete original score citation needed 1989 EMI The Glyndebourne album also based on the complete original score without Gershwin s cuts 71 2006 Decca A recording of the opera made by the Nashville Symphony under John Mauceri is the first to observe Gershwin s cuts and thus present the opera as it was heard in New York in 1935 The musical cuts made on this album coincide almost exactly with those in the 1951 album with the exception that The Buzzard Song usually cut in early productions is heard on the 1951 album and the Occupational Humoresque heard on the 2006 album is not heard on the 1951 album at all This version stars Marquita Lister as Bess citation needed 2010 RCA Victor Nikolaus Harnoncourt an unusual choice for this Gershwin opera conducted a recording of an almost complete Porgy and Bess which was released in the U S in September 2010 Gregg Baker who sang Crown in the 1985 Metropolitan Opera production the 1986 Glyndebourne production the 1989 EMI recording made with the Glyndebourne cast and in the 1993 television adaptation of that production repeated his performance here but the roles of Porgy and Bess are taken by two singers virtually unknown in the U S Jonathan Lemalu and Isabelle Kabatu citation needed 2014 EuroArts Music International DVD and Blu ray recorded live by San Francisco Opera in June 2009 with Eric Owens and Laquita Mitchell in the title roles 72 Adaptations editFilm edit 1959 film edit nbsp Poster for the 1959 film versionA 1959 film version produced in 70 mm Todd AO by Samuel Goldwyn was plagued with problems Rouben Mamoulian who had directed the 1935 Broadway premiere was hired to direct the film but was subsequently fired in favor of director Otto Preminger after a disagreement with the producer Mamoulian urged making the film on location in South Carolina after a fire on the sound stage destroyed the film s sets Goldwyn who never liked making films on location considered Mamoulian s request a sign of disloyalty 73 Robert McFerrin dubbed the singing voice for Sidney Poitier s Porgy as did Adele Addison for Dorothy Dandridge s Bess Ruth Attaway s Serena and Diahann Carroll s Clara were also dubbed Although Dandridge and Carroll were singers their voices were not considered operatic enough Sammy Davis Jr Brock Peters and Pearl Bailey who played Sportin Life Crown and Maria respectively were the only principals who provided their own singing Andre Previn s adaptation of the score won him an Academy Award the film s only Oscar An associated soundtrack recording was released on LP by Columbia Masterworks Records For the soundtrack album Cab Calloway performed the songs sung by the Sportin Life character because Davis s label Decca records released a competing album featuring Davis and Carmen McRae performing songs from the opera The Gershwin estate was disappointed with the film as the score was substantially edited to make it more like a musical Much of the music was omitted from the film and many of Gershwin s orchestrations were either changed or completely scrapped It was shown on network television in the U S only once in 1967 Critics attacked it for not being faithful to Gershwin s opera for over refining the language grammatically and for its overblown staging The film was removed from release in 1974 by the Gershwin estate In 2011 it was selected to the U S National Film Registry Mike Medavoy and Bobby Geisler announced in 2019 that they are developing a re envisioned and updated film version with the approval of the Gershwin estate 74 75 Other films edit The 1945 Warner Bros film biography of Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue featured an extended musical scene recreating the opening of the original Broadway production of Porgy and Bess Included was the original Bess Anne Brown recreating her performance The scene includes a more elaborate and historically inaccurate arrangement for the film of the song Summertime sung by Anne Brown as Bess with full chorus but the Catfish Row set design is a virtual duplicate of the one seen in the 1935 Broadway stage production The 1985 film White Nights featured a scene in which Gregory Hines performed There s a Boat Dat s Leavin Soon for New York as Sportin Life Hines rendition before a Siberian audience included a tap dancing sequence Director Taylor Hackford pointed out in a special edition DVD release of the film that it was necessary to locate a Russian woman of color Helene Denbey to portray Bess as per Gershwin s stipulations Television edit In 1993 Trevor Nunn s Glyndebourne Festival stage production of Porgy and Bess not to be confused with his later production was greatly expanded scenically and videotaped in a television studio without an audience This first Nunn production was also called The Gershwins Porgy and Bess when shown on television It was telecast by the BBC in England and by PBS in the United States It featured a cast of operatic American singers with the exception of Willard White who is Jamaican but sounded American as Porgy Cynthia Haymon sang the role of Bess Nunn s opening up of the stage production was considered highly imaginative his cast received much critical praise 76 77 and the three hour production retained nearly all of Gershwin s music heard in the original 1935 orchestrations This included the opera s sung recitatives which have occasionally been turned into spoken dialogue in other productions No extra dialogue was written for this production as had been done in the 1959 film All performers lip synched rather than singing live on set leading The New York Times to write What you hear is basically Mr Nunn s acclaimed Glyndebourne Festival production the original cast intact What you see was filmed later in a London studio The performers some new to the production are lip synching It s as if an elaborate visual aid had been concocted for the EMI recording 77 This Porgy and Bess production was subsequently released on VHS and DVD It has won far greater acclaim than the 1959 film which was widely panned by most critics The 1993 television production of Porgy and Bess was nominated for four Emmy Awards and won for its art direction 78 It also won a BAFTA Award for Best Video Lighting 79 In 2002 the New York City Opera telecast its new version of the Houston Opera production in a live performance from the stage of Lincoln Center This version featured far more cuts than the previous telecast but like nearly all stage versions produced since 1976 used the sung recitatives and Gershwin s orchestrations The telecast also included interviews with director Tazewell Thompson and was hosted by Beverly Sills In 2009 the San Francisco Opera debuted the Gershwins Porgy and Bess to critical acclaim The production was recorded at that time and shown on PBS in the fall of 2014 and was later released on DVD and Blu ray Radio edit On December 1 1935 during the Broadway run Todd Duncan and Anne Brown performed Summertime I Got Plenty o Nuttin and Bess You Is My Woman Now on NBC s The Magic Key of RCA radio program Duncan and Brown also appeared on the 1937 CBS Gershwin memorial concert on September 8 1937 broadcast from the Hollywood Bowl less than two months after the composer s death along with several other members of the Broadway cast including John W Bubbles and Ruby Elzy They performed several selections from the opera citation needed The complete Porgy and Bess has been broadcast by the Metropolitan Opera three times as part of the Met s live radio broadcast series citation needed The 1985 broadcast performance starred Simon Estes and Roberta Alexander 80 In 1986 Bumbry was heard with Robert Mosley as Porgy 81 In 1990 Estes and Leona Mitchell sang the leads in the third broadcast 82 Concert edit Gershwin prepared an orchestral suite containing music from the opera after Porgy and Bess closed early on Broadway Though it was originally titled Suite from Porgy and Bess Ira later renamed it Catfish Row In 1942 Robert Russell Bennett arranged a medley rather than a suite for orchestra which has often been heard in the concert hall known as Porgy and Bess A Symphonic Picture It is based on Gershwin s original scoring though for a slightly different instrumentation the piano was removed from the orchestral texture at the request of the conductor Fritz Reiner for whom the arrangement was made In addition both Morton Gould and Robert Farnon each arranged an orchestral suite premiering in 1956 and 1966 respectively 83 84 85 Pop music versions edit 1957 Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Porgy and Bess Verve released 1958 Featuring an orchestra arranged and conducted by Russell Garcia Recorded in August and October 1957 1959 Sammy Davis Jr and Carmen McRae Porgy and Bess Decca 1959 Davis appeared and sang in the 1959 Porgy and Bess film though his vocal performances were not released on the film s Columbia Records soundtrack LP 1959 Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne Porgy and Bess RCA Victor Featuring big band orchestral settings 1976 Ray Charles and Cleo Laine Porgy amp Bess RCA Victor Featuring an orchestra led by Frank De Vol Jazz versions edit 1956 Various Artists The Complete Porgy and Bess Bethlehem Records Features Duke Ellington and his orchestra Mel Torme Johnny Hartman Frank Rosolino and Sonny Clark Recorded in May 1956 1957 Buddy Collette Porgy amp Bess Interlude released 1959 Performed by a sextet featuring Pete Jolly playing accordion Gerald Wiggins playing organ Jim Hall Red Callender and Louis Bellson Recorded in July 1957 1958 Miles Davis Porgy and Bess Columbia Records released 1959 Features a jazz orchestra arranged and conducted by Gil Evans Recorded in July August 1958 1958 Mundell Lowe Porgy amp Bess RCA Camden released in 1959 Most tracks featuring a septet with Art Farmer Ben Webster Don Elliott and others Recorded in July and October 1958 1958 Rex Stewart and Cootie Williams Porgy amp Bess Revisited Warner Bros released 1959 A big band performance that features Stewart and Williams who appear separately arranged and conducted by Jim Timmens Recorded in late 1958 1958 Hank Jones Porgy and Bess Capitol released 1959 Featuring a jazz quartet including Kenny Burrell Milt Hinton and Elvin Jones Recorded late 1958 1959 Bill Potts The Jazz Soul of Porgy and Bess United Artists released 1959 A big band performance arranged and conducted by Potts featuring Harry Sweets Edison Art Farmer Charlie Shavers Phil Woods Zoot Sims Al Cohn Jimmy Cleveland Bill Evans and others Recorded in January 1959 86 1959 Oscar Peterson Oscar Peterson Plays Porgy amp Bess Verve released 1959 Performed by Peterson s trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen Recorded in October 1959 1965 Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays George Gershwin s Porgy and Bess Atlantic 1965 Recorded in 1964 and 1965 1971 Eddy Louiss and Ivan Jullien Porgy and Bess Riviera 1971 A big band performance of material from the opera with Louiss on Hammond organ and Andre Ceccarelli on drums citation needed 1976 Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass Porgy and Bess Pablo Records released 1976 Duet recordings with Peterson playing clavichord 1997 Joe Henderson Porgy amp Bess Verve A collection of small group performances featuring Tommy Flanagan Dave Holland Jack DeJohnette and guest soloists including John Scofield and Conrad Herwig Piano edit In 1951 Australian born composer Percy Grainger who was an admirer performer and arranger of Gershwin s music completed a twenty minute piece for two pianos titled Fantasy on George Gershwin s Porgy and Bess 87 The pianist Earl Wild prepared a virtuoso piano arrangement in the manner of Franz Liszt entitled Grand Fantasy on Airs from Porgy and Bess 88 Brass quintet version edit In 1987 the Canadian Brass commissioned Luther Henderson to create an arrangement of Porgy and Bess music for an RCA Red Seal recording release Strike Up The Band 89 The printed version then became available to performers from Hal Leonard Publishing Corp 90 Rock version edit In 1991 experimental rock band When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water released the album Porgy consisting entirely of their interpretations of songs from Porgy and Bess on Shimmy Disc It was originally planned for release in 1990 but was held up by legal objections from the Gershwin estate 91 Songs editPorgy and Bess contains many songs that have become popular in their own right becoming standards in jazz and blues in addition to their original operatic setting Some of the most popular songs are Summertime act 1 scene 1 Clara and Jake A Woman Is a Sometime Thing act 1 scene 1 My Man s Gone Now act 1 scene 2 It Take a Long Pull to Get There act 2 scene 1 I Got Plenty o Nuttin act 2 scene 1 Buzzard Keep on Flyin act 2 scene 1 Bess You Is My Woman Now act 2 scene 1 Oh I Can t Sit Down act 2 scene 1 It Ain t Necessarily So act 2 scene 2 What You Want Wid Bess act 2 scene 2 Oh Doctor Jesus act 2 scene 3 I Wants to Stay Here act 2 scene 3 Bess I Loves You Porgy act 2 scene 3 Bess Porgy A Red Haired Woman act 2 scene 4 There s a Boat Dat s Leavin Soon for New York act 3 scene 2 Bess O Where s My Bess act 3 scene 3 O Lawd I m on My Way act 3 scene 3 Some of the more celebrated renditions of these songs include Sarah Vaughan s It Ain t Necessarily So and the versions of Summertime recorded by Billie Holiday Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Miles Davis John Coltrane and Jascha Heifetz in his own transcriptions for violin and piano Numerous other musicians have recorded Summertime in varying styles including both instrumental and vocal recordings it may be even the most popular cover song in popular music Janis Joplin recorded a Blues rock version of Summertime with Big Brother and the Holding Company Billy Stewart s version became a Top 10 Pop and R amp B hit in 1966 for Chess Records Even seemingly unlikely performers such as The Zombies 1965 or the ska punk band Sublime as Doin Time 1997 have made recordings of Summertime An international group of collectors of recordings of Summertime by the name The Summertime Connection claims more than 30 000 recorded performances many live in their collection 92 93 Nina Simone recorded several Porgy and Bess songs She made her debut in 1959 with a version of I Loves You Porgy which became a Billboard top 20 hit 94 Other songs she recorded included Porgy I s Your Woman Now i e Bess You Is My Woman Now Summertime and My Man s Gone Now Phoebe Snow recorded a small jazz combo version of There s a Boat Dat s Leavin Soon for New York on her Second Childhood album in 1976 Christina Aguilera performed I Loves You Porgy in a tribute to the Nina Simone version at the 2008 Grammy Nominations Concert The violinist Isaac Stern and the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber both recorded instrumental versions of Bess You is My Woman Now The Marcels a racially diverse doo wop group recorded a version as a follow up to their hit Blue Moon in 1961 It was unusual in that it was recorded in a major key rather than Gershwin s minor key Commendations editOn July 14 1993 the United States Postal Service recognized the opera s cultural significance by issuing a commemorative 29 cent postage stamp 95 In 2001 Porgy and Bess was proclaimed the official opera of the state of South Carolina 96 The 1940 1942 Decca Porgy and Bess recording with members of the original cast was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2003 97 The board selects recordings on an annual basis that are culturally historically or aesthetically significant References editCitations edit Strachan Ian Gregory Mask Mia November 27 2014 Poitier Revisited Reconsidering a Black Icon in the Obama Age Bloomsbury Publishing p 102 ISBN 978 1623562977 Gershwin George October 20 1935 Rhapsody in Catfish Row Mr Gershwin Tells the Origin and Scheme for His Music in That New Folk Opera Called Porgy and Bess The New York Times p X1 Stephen Raskauskas September 20 2018 The true origins of Gershwin s Summertime WFMT Retrieved September 30 2020 Jablonski amp Stewart 1973 pp 227 229 Simonson Robert Anne Brown Bess in Gershwin s Porgy and Bess Dies at 96 Playbill March 18 2009 Anne Brown She Put The Bess In Porgy And Bess Mondello Bob NPR March 18 2009 Anne Brown Obituary Millington Barry The Guardian March 23 2009 Porgy and Bess American Memory Today in History September 2 Library of Congress a b c d e Standifer James November December 1997 The Complicated Life of Porgy and Bess Humanities Archived from the original on February 11 2005 Victor Book of the Opera New York Simon and Schuster 1968 pp 326 328 Martin George 1979 The Opera Companion to Twentieth Century Opera New York Dodd Mead pp 389 396 1950s Porgy and Bess Castmember Maya Angelou Reflects on Production s Significance Tell Me More interview by Michel Martin NPR April 1 2020 a b Porgy Goes Abroad PDF The New York Times January 30 1955 p 240 Sam Zolotow September 3 1954 Premiere In Paris For Blues Opera PDF The New York Times p 13 Robert Breen Papers ca 1935 ca 1979 Ohio State University Libraries Heikell Vicki Anne June 12 2020 The most exciting the most spectacular production in the show history of New Zealand National Library blog National Library of New Zealand New Zealand Opera Company Porgy and Bess 2nd of 2 photograph from the dress rehearsal and some comment on the show s Australian tour Clamma Dale www masterworksbroadway com Retrieved May 18 2020 Porgy and Bess 1983 at the Internet Broadway Database Met History The Metropolitan Opera Archived from the original on February 18 2010 Retrieved February 4 2010 Cape Town Opera Cape Town Opera s Tour To Israel Press release 27 October 2010 Archived June 5 2012 at the Wayback Machine Press views Porgy and Bess BBC News November 11 2006 Retrieved August 13 2008 Simonson Robert May 31 2012 Broadway Producer Edgar Freitag Is Dead at 80 Playbill Archived from the original on January 5 2013 Retrieved June 17 2012 a b Healey Patrick August 5 2011 It Ain t Necessarily Porgy The New York Times The Gershwins Porgy and Bess at the Internet Broadway Database Your Guide to The Gershwins Porgy and Bess American Repertory Theater Archived from the original on April 4 2012 Stephen Sondheim Takes Issue With Plan for Revamped Porgy and Bess The New York Times August 10 2011 Als Hilton September 26 2011 A Man and a Woman The New Yorker Vol LXXXVII no 29 p 110 Porgy and Bess on Broadway 2011 Porgy and Bess Archived from the original on November 30 2011 Retrieved November 18 2011 Review Roundup Norm Lewis Audra McDonald et al Open in The Gershwins Porgy and Bess Theatermania com September 2 2011 Retrieved September 2 2011 Zoglin Richard The Best of 2011 Theater Time December 19 2011 p 77 Hetrick Adam Tony Winning The Gershwins Porgy and Bess Will Conclude Broadway Run Sept 23 Archived June 3 2013 at the Wayback Machine Playbill July 18 2012 Breaking News The Gershwin s Porgy amp Bess Moves Broadway Closing Up to September 23 2012 Broadway World Retrieved July 18 2012 Porgy and Bess Regent s Park Open Air Theatre review Gloriously sung Gershwin by Paul Taylor The Independent July 31 2014 Olivier Winners 2015 Society of London Theatre Retrieved October 10 2022 Porgy and Bess www metopera org Archived from the original on October 10 2019 Retrieved October 14 2019 Midgette Anne Review Met Opera offers a Porgy of its time that speaks to ours The Washington Post Review A Splendid Porgy and Bess Opens the Met Opera Season by Anthony Tommasini The New York Times September 24 2019 The Gershwins Porgy and Bess 3 CD The Metropolitan Opera Grammy Awards Winners amp Nominees for Best Opera Recording Cabbage Row Catfish Row Carolina Antique Maps amp Prints www carolinaantiqueprints com Suzannah Smith Miles May 2014 The Real Porgy Charleston Magazine Retrieved April 27 2020 Knapp Raymond 2006 The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0691126135 via Google Books The Column Online by John Garcia thecolumnonline com The Gershwins Porgy And Bess Theater Review The Hollywood Reporter April 29 2014 Pollack 2006 pp 597 598 Thomson Virgil in Modern Music November December 1935 pp 16 17 Pollack 2006 p 167 Hutchisson James M DuBose Heyward A Charleston Gentleman and the World of Porgy and Bess University of Mississippi Press 2000 ISBN 978 1 57806 250 8 165 Becker Paula Negro Repertory Company on HistoryLink org November 10 2002 Brady Tim The Way Spaces Were Allocated African Americans on Campus Part II Minnesota November December 2002 University of Minnesota Alumni Association Alpert 1990 p 298 Grimes William January 7 2022 Sidney Poitier Who Paved the Way for Black Actors in Film Dies at 94 The New York Times Retrieved January 9 2022 Peress Maurice George Gershwin and African American Music dead link Archived July 28 2005 at the Wayback Machine NewMusicBox July 8 2005 Cape Town Opera brings Porgy and Bess to Europe The only opera company in South Africa is on the road to Britain with a Porgy and Bess set in the depths of apartheid The Times London October 16 2009 Retrieved on October 21 2009 Porgy and Bess With a White Cast Stirs Controversy by Alexandra Ivanoff The New York Times January 30 2018 Ewen David The Home Book of 20th Century Music Arco 1956 p 138 Ross Alex 2007 The Rest Is Noise Farrar Straus and Giroux p 144 ISBN 978 0374249397 Pollack 2006 p 127 Jablonski 1987 cited in Benaroya Adam May 2000 The Jewish Roots in George Gershwin s Music Archived December 14 2005 at the Wayback Machine I L Peretz Community Jewish School Retrieved January 2 2005 Pareles Jon January 29 1997 History of a Nation in Its Song to Itself The New York Times Retrieved February 21 2006 Whitfield Stephen J In Search of American Jewish Culture Brandeis University Press 1999 63 Gershwin George 1935 Porgy and Bess Schott Winners GRAMMY com Retrieved January 30 2018 Porgy and Bess Selections Act 2 It Ain t Necessarily So 1998 remastered Lawrence Tibbett Amazon com Gershwin Porgy amp Bess With Members of the Original Cast March 22 1992 via Amazon Porgy and Bess 1940 Bruce Foote via castalbums org Mabel Mercer Sings Cy Walter Plays Selection from George Gershwin s Porgy and Bess 1942 Mabel Mercer amp Cy Walter via castalbums org Great Scenes from Gershwin s Porgy and Bess Leontyne Price William Warfield Skitch Henderson conducting Amazon com Porgy and Bess Remastered Duke Ellington Russ Garcia et al amazon com Music was played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Simon Rattle Producer David R Murray Balance Engineer Mark Vigars Assistant Producer Tony Harrison Production Assistant Alison Fox Recorded at No 1 Studio Abbey Road London Recorded using B amp W loudspeakers Box cover booklet cover amp photos Guy Gravett Original sound recording made By EMI Records Ltd 1989 Janos Gereben Porgy and Bess on DVD and Blu Ray San Francisco Classical Voice on sfcv org Marx 1976 p page needed McNary Dave April 5 2013 Porgy and Bess Gershwins Opera Gets Film Update Exclusive Variety Retrieved May 21 2019 Porgy and Bess in development at IMDb nbsp Porterfield Christopher October 4 1993 Conjuring Up Catfish Row TIME Archived from the original on March 6 2008 Retrieved February 4 2010 a b O Connor John J October 6 1993 Review Television Two Law Series Return With Some Revisions The New York Times Retrieved February 4 2010 Porgy and Bess awards IMDb BAFTA Awards awards bafta org Porgy and Bess performance details March 23 1985 matinee Metropolitan Opera Association CID 279980 Porgy and Bess performance details February 8 1986 matinee Metropolitan Opera Association CID 283370 Porgy and Bess performance details January 27 1990 matinee Metropolitan Opera Association CID 299230 An American in Paris Suite from Porgy and Bess Music LP 1956 WorldCat Retrieved July 28 2021 Billboard staff June 11 1966 D Amato in N Y Billboard p 8 Retrieved July 28 2021 Billboard staff November 12 1966 FM s Spotlight London Phase 4 Billboard p 16 Retrieved July 28 2021 Bill Potts The Jazz Soul of Porgy and Bess jazzmessengers com Fantasy on George Gershwin s Porgy and Bess duos 2 pianos australianmusiccentre com au Earl Wild Virtuoso pianist whose work sparked a revival of interest in Liszt by Michael Carlson The Independent February 16 2010 Dodson Webster Rebecca 1997 A Descriptive Discography of Horn Music Based on the Curtiss Blake Collection Volume 3 Madison Wisconsin University of Wisconsin p 432 Porgy and Bess Suite musical score 1989 OCLC 473925165 When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water Klaver Wilfred The Summertime Connection The Summertime Connection Retrieved September 3 2010 Summertime Collection list PDF www summertime connection nl I Loves You Porgy Archived 2006 08 23 at the Wayback Machine Nina Simone version on Billboard Chart 29c Porgy and Bess single postalmuseum si edu Retrieved June 26 2022 Edger Walter The South Carolina Encyclopedia Columbia University of South Carolina Press 2006 2003 National Recording Registry choices Library of Congress Retrieved February 4 2010 General and cited sources edit Alpert Hollis 1990 The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess The Story of an American Classic Knopf ISBN 978 0394583396 Jablonski Edward 1987 Gershwin A Biography Garden City New Jersey Doubleday ISBN 0 7924 2164 7 Jablonski Edward Stewart Lawrence D 1973 The Gershwin Years Second ed Garden City New Jersey Doubleday ISBN 0 306 80739 4 Marx Arthur 1976 Goldwyn A Biography of the Man Behind the Myth W W Norton ISBN 0 393 07497 8 Pollack Howard 2006 George Gershwin University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 24864 9 Further reading editBauch Marc A Europaische Einflusse im amerikanischen Musical Archived October 29 2013 at the Wayback Machine Marburg Germany Tectum Verlag 2013 ISBN 978 3 8288 3209 1 A unique paratextual comparison between Wozzeck by Alban Berg and Porgy and Bess Capote Truman The Muses Are Heard An Account New York Random House 1956 ISBN 0 394 43732 2 story of the 1955 Porgy and Bess production in Moscow Ferencz George J Porgy and Bess on the Concert Stage Gershwin s 1936 Suite Catfish Row and the 1942 Gershwin Bennett Symphonic Picture The Musical Quarterly 94 1 2 Spring Summer 2011 93 155 Fisher Burton D Porgy and Bess Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series Coral Gables Florida Opera Journeys Publishing 2000 ISBN 1 930841 19 1 overview of the opera Hamm Charles The Theatre Guild Production of Porgy and Bess Journal of the American Musicological Society Fall 1987 pp 495 532 Hutchisson James M Dubose Heyward A Charleston Gentleman and the World of Porgy and Bess University Press of Mississippi 2000 ISBN 1 57806 250 0 Kimball Robert and Alfred Simon The Gershwins New York Atheneum 1973 ISBN 0 689 10569 X Noonan Ellen The Strange Career of Porgy and Bess Race Culture and America s Most Famous Opera University of North Carolina Press 2012 448 pages traces the history of the opera since 1935 Schwartz Charles Gershwin His Life and Music New York Bobbs Merrill 1973 ISBN 0 306 80096 9 Southern Eileen The Music of Black Americans A History New York W W Norton 3rd edition ISBN 0 393 97141 4 Taylor John Harper Ambassadors of the Arts An Analysis of the Eisenhower Administration s Incorporation of Porgy and Bess Into its Cold War Foreign Policy The Ohio State University 1994 183 pages In depth analysis of how Porgy and Bess was used by Eisenhower s Administration during the Cold War Weaver David E The Birth of Porgy and Bess pp 80 98 Black Diva of the Thirties The Life of Ruby Elzy University Press of Mississippi 2004External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Porgy and Bess Libretto in English and Italian La Scala Opera guide to Porgy and Bess Comments Video Links History etc Hypertext edition of the novel Porgy Jazzbo Why we still listen to Gershwin The New Yorker article by Claudia Roth Pierpoint Porgy and Bess at the Internet Broadway Database Ovrtur com Entry 75 years Porgy and Bess Porgy and Bess Poster Collection Portrait of the opera in the online opera guide www opera inside com Portal nbsp Opera Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Porgy and Bess amp oldid 1191813276, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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