-.1111111._

"No opera has been changed the
way this opera has been changed, and
stereotypes in a folk opera are
inevitable. Porgy and Bess does not
define all black people, and today's
African-American directors automati-
cally are doing things that are more
African American."
Standifer also points out that the
use of only black performers, a stipu-
lation in George Gershwin's will,
opened operatic opportunities and
helped prevent degrading caricature
perfotmances. The Theatre Guild,
which mounted the original Gershwin
production of Porgy and Bess, at first
considered a version of the story to be
done by Oscar Hammerstein and
Jerome Kern, with Al Jolson playing
the crippled Porgy in blackface.
As Standifer was researching mater-
ial for his documentary, he found help
in Eva Jessye, choral director of the
original production who worked on
many versions before accepting a U-M
faculty position.
Jessye put him in touch with mem-
bers of the Gershwin family,

/-

/---

and he was able to access archives
brimming with information.
"I think that the Gershwins were very
innovative men who listened carefully to
the sounds of African-American music
and the common man's English and did
something remarkable with all of that,"
said Standifer, who informs his produc-
tion with the differing views of promi-
nent black scholars and entertainers.
"It's pretty impossible to be involved
with this piece without being conscious
that its writers came from a certain cul-
ture and sensitivity [and] that the char-
acters they were depicting came from a
certain culture and sensitivity.
"That this all connected is one of
those great, ineffable and miraculous
things that only happen in art. Porgy
and Bess speaks not just to blacks or
whites but to all peoples and to all
races."
"Without Porgy and Bess,
we would be thinking of the
Gershwins in a slightly lighter
way," said Rosenberg. "It's a
tragedy, but Porgy grows

*1936 — The General
Motors Promenade
Concerts feittired Tod d
Duncan Anne
Brawny
anc1=-the GeneMotors
Symphony Orchestrain a
concert which *tack
excerpts from Por
and Bess. Alsopresen
was George qiilf6Asi
who performe

Rhapsody in Blue.
*1967 =:A proclu
tion of the opera i
performed at the
Masonic Au orium.
_
tgan Opera Theatre
*1975 ---
mounts a production of Porgy and Bess.
Opera Theatre pre-
*1987
and d Bess in a landmark co-
sents Porgy an
production with 13 opera companies.
*1998 --- Michigan Opera Theatre wel-
comes Porgy and Bess back to Detroit in a
production with Marquita Lister as Bess,
Gordon Hawkins and Alvy Powell rotat-
ing in the role of Porgy and Peabo
Bryson as Sportin' Life.

through that tragedy, which
shows a belief in the resilience of
the human spirit." 0

Porgy and Bess will be per-
formed May 30-June 14 at
the Detroit Opera House.
The curtain goes up at 8
p.m. Wednesdays-
Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, June
7 and 14. $18-$95. For tick-
ets or more information on
the MOT symposium panel
of performers and scholars
scheduled for 7-9 p.m.
Thursday, May 28, call
(313) 874-SING.

Porgy And Bess: A History

The following timetable for tracking
the development of Porgy and Bess is
taken from research by James
Standifer for his documentary Porgy
and Bess: An American Voice and from
the book Broadway: 150 Years of
Musical Theatre (Arcade Publishing,
1991). For information on obtaining
a videotape of Standifer's production,
which was shown this year on the
PBS series "Great Performances," call
(800) 777-8398.

• 1925 — An item in the Charleston
News and Courier about a black beg-
gar named Sammy Smalls, who
moved about in a goat cart because
he had lost the use of his legs, pro-
vides the basis for the novella Porgy,
written by DuBose Heyward.

The film versio
starred Pearl Bat,
Poitier. Under studio contract,
was 'breed to, take t e role o
which had been re
Belafonte.

:

• 1926 — George Gershwin reads
the novella and sets out -create -an
_opera with a truly American voice.
"It would be American," said
Gershwin, "a folk opera, a fusion of
musical elements: folk, popular and
classical, and perhaps even aspects of
the Yiddish theater."
• 1927 — The Theatre Guild pro-
duc.es a play called Porgy, written by
DuBose Heyward in collaboration
with his wife, Dorothy, and based
on his novella Porgy.

• 1935-36 — The opera Porgy and
Bess, a collaboration between George
Gershwin, who composed the
music; DuBose Heyward, who wrote
the libretto and lyrics; and Ira
Gershwin, who also contributed
lyrics, premieres in Boston and New
York with an all-black cast. Todd
Duncan, who taught music at
Howard University, is the first Porgy.
Anne Wiggins Brown, a Juilliard
student, is the first Bess.
• 1938-42 — Porgy and Bess revivals
are staged after George Gershwin's
death.
• 1942-44 — Cheryl Crawford
finds great success producing the
opera by making drastic cuts and
replacing the recitative with dialogue
for New York and international per-
formance.s. This Broadway ver-
sion becomes the standard for
more than three decades. In
1943, the Danes use recordings
of the score's "It Ain't Necessarily
So" to interrupt German propa-
ganda broadcasts.
• 1950-56 — Porgy and Bess goes
on tour again, to cities in the
U.S., and — with State
Department assistance --- to
Europe, the Middle East and
Smith America. It is the first
American opera to play at La
Scala in Milan and the first
American theater company to
perform in the Soviet Union
since the Bolshevik Revolution.
The 1952 cast included William
Warfi.e1c1 as Porgy, launched the
career of Leonryne Price as Bess
and featured Cab Calloway as
Sportin' Life.
• 1959 — The movie version is
released with Sidney Pokier,
Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy
Davis Jr. as the stars.
• 1976 Houston Grand Opera .
presents the first full operatic version
of Porgy & Bess since its 1935 pre-
miere, led by John DeMain (who con-
ducts MOT's current production).
• 1985 -- New York's Metropolitan
Opera, 50 years after the premiere of
Porgy and Bess, adds the opera to its
repertoire.
• 1986 --- Porgy, still portrayed with
a handicap, uses crutches instead of
a goat cart or a kneeling position in
a version produced in England.
• 1998 — A PBS program explores
the social issues surrounding Porgy
and Bess.

—

5/22
1998

93