Should You See Porgy and Bess?

Porgy and Bess is the first opera in Seattle Opera’s 2018-2019 season, and probably the one I was most curious about. Like Madame Butterfly, Porgy and Bess is either loved as a pillar of the opera canon or reviled as a racist tool of oppression, depending on who you’re talking to. I couldn’t wait to find out which side of the fence I’d be on. As with most things, the answer is buried in nuance somewhere between the opposing views. In the end, I didn’t love Porgy and Bess, but not for the reasons you’d expect.

Is it an Opera?

Some people question whether Porgy and Bess is even really an opera. It was written by George Gershwin of commercial musical fame and premiered on Broadway. It is best known as a Broadway musical, and most of us know the music from that format. But Gershwin wrote Porgy and Bess as an opera.

When it premiered in 1935 (some people consider this to pre-date true Broadway musicals) Porgy was performed by Todd Duncan, a Howard University voice instructor and successful opera performer; Bess was performed by Julliard-trained soprano Anne Brown. George Gershwin wrote Porgy and Bess with arias and recitative instead of songs and dialogue, and with choral and orchestral requirements way beyond the usual scale of musicals.

It premiered on Broadway instead of the opera hall because of racial segregation, not format, distinctions. That 4-hour monster wasn’t very successful. It got stripped down and simplified into the Broadway musical that is better-known today, and the opera didn’t reappear until the 1970s, when the opera was revived in Houston based on its artistic merits and in defiance of claims of racism.

Hell No

Nowadays we’re a lot less likely to justify racism based on artistic merit. So what about racism in Porgy and Bess? It was original a novel by a white Southern gentleman about poor black people. By all accounts, the novel was a sincere attempt to portray its characters as real people with real struggles. By all accounts, it was infused with the paternalism and condescension that was the salt in the seawater of early 20^th century culture – undetectable to white people even though they literally could not imagine life without it.

Jermaine Smith (Sportin’ Life), with cast members of Seattle Opera’s Porgy and Bess. Philip Newton photo c/o Seattle OperaSome of the novel’s unexamined racism was stripped from play, and a bit more from the opera (more on that later), but the uncomfortable fact remains that white writers and directors were determining the narrative and putting words in the mouths of black performers. Even worse, the title characters are a beggar and drug-addicted good time gal. (And Bess is my least favorite character type in all of literature. A real Daisy Buchanan.) Among the primary cast are a cocaine dealer (in 1935!) and a woman-beating good-for-nothing murderer. This narrative of black communities plagued by these character types continues to dominate American storytelling. If things had actually improved since 1935 Black Panther would be just another superhero movie.

I can understand how these things will be deal breakers for some people. And I don’t think anyone is saying that Porgy and Bess satisfies the need for “black opera.” But I think there are mitigating factors to these issues that merit it a continued place in the canon.

Aww Yeah

So about the reasons to like Porgy and Bess. I think the negatives of paternalism and stereotype are mitigated by the historical context. While we must hold ourselves to higher standards, we can’t blame people for being of their own time. And everyone involved in bringing Porgy and Bess to the opera stage was pushing against racist standards of their time.

Heyward’s novel was a rarity in presenting African American characters as protagonists. Some of his paternalism was stripped from the play, which was directed by Rouben Mamoulian, an Armenian-Russian immigrant whose own cultural background more closely paralleled the experience of Southern blacks in the American North than that of American white people. Mamoulian directed an all-black cast with the same rigor as their European counterparts, introducing his actors to the Method before it was popularized among white performers.

Gershwin chose the story because he wanted to create the Great American Opera. He sincerely (and I think correctly) believed that the truest expression of original American culture was African-American music. When he wrote the opera, he actually went to South Carolina to study the Gullah culture and dialect in an effort to represent it accurately. (While I respect the intent in writing the opera in dialect, I’m not sure it worked artistically. But I don’t like opera in English in general, so take that with a grain of salt.)

Despite the paternalistic structure of the production, the story is pretty honest about race relations in the segregated South, and, unfortunately, now. Catfish Row is a complete community, self-sufficient as a group and interdependent as individuals. White people rarely show up in Porgy and Bess, and when they do, they are always the source of fear and injustice.

About Those Stereotypes

There were plenty of hardworking, respectable folk to counterbalance the stereotypical roles of drug dealers, thugs, and hoes. Clara’s little family was an American ideal, and the bible-thumping Serena threatened to steal the show – especially when she rose to the challenge of truly Christian behavior and sincerely prayed for the well-being of Bess, whom she despised. I felt like the story was about the community as whole, even if the primary characters lived at its fringes. Catfish Row didn’t feel that different from Cannery Row to me. These were the types of stories told in the 30s. Porgy and Bess fits right in with Grapes of Wrath, Woody Guthrie, and strangely, even Virginia Woolf (despite their race and class, those people were still off-center).

Plus, I didn’t feel like any of the individual characters were stereotypes. Maybe the murderer Crown didn’t seem to have much backstory or interiority (unless you count the richness of his voice, which at least helped to explain why he might be attractive to women despite being a dog). But Porgy’s determination to hang onto human dignity and manhood in the face of disability and oppression felt universal to me.

Every detail of Serena screamed backstory and complexity. She and her children were perfectly groomed and one of them always carried a book (presumably the kids weren’t only reading the bible, even if Serena was) hinting not only at vanity but an upbringing at odds with her financial situation. In opera, most of the character depth comes from people’s voices rather than the libretto, but I feel like Porgy and Bess gives its characters more to work with than typical operas.

Real World Impact

Pontificating aside, you can’t judge the opera without considering the real-world impact of Porgy and Bess. It was a serious opportunity for literally hundreds of black artists. In 1935, there were few black characters on the stage. If the role was more substantial than a porter or maid, it was likely to be cast with a white person in blackface. Both as a play and an opera, Porgy and Bess gave meaty roles to a huge cast and placed them in front of a bigger audience than was previously available to them. It generated all sorts of “firsts” in American opera and theater. It might still be the only major American opera to require the casting of black performers, which means that it is still an important chance for black singers to find work and be seen on major stages.

Among those was the first desegregated opera performance in North America. Porgy and Bess premiered on Broadway, but when it was performed in D.C., it played in the National Theatre. The lead performers refused to go on stage before a segregated audience until the theater gave in and removed its “whites only” policy. Even though it was only for the run of Porgy and Bess, it was a major milestone in desegregating American audiences.

My Personal Opinion

There are a few important reasons that people may say, “Hell no” to Porgy and Bess. But none of them apply to me. I didn’t love Porgy and Bess. The reason is entirely personal and definitely qualifies as an unpopular opinion.

I can’t stand the Gershwins’ music. I know George wrote some incredible melodies, but the overall package just doesn’t work for me. Ever. The Gershwins are second only to Cole Porter in affecting me like an itchy clothing tag. There is something about the syncopation (which I love elsewhere) or the phrasing. The words always feel crammed into the music like a wrong-shaped box. It’s like the Gershwins worked separately and then put their finished products together without ever checking in with one another. I thought it might be different when they were writing opera instead of Broadway, but it wasn’t. There are so many reasons to like Porgy and Bess, but I just couldn’t get past the music.

In Conclusion

In the interest of brevity (HA!) I’m going to stop here and talk about the specifics of Seattle Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess later. Hopefully my 1500+ words on the subject have been enough to let readers know whether they want to see it or not. Personally, I think it’s worth watching because there is so much to think about. But it’s important to remember that Porgy and Bess is valuable for its historic contributions to American opera and the development of equity in the arts. It was a fabulous first step and should not be forgotten. But it was only one step in a long road to equality. I support Seattle Opera’s decision to mount this huge production, and I look forward to seeing new works by African-American artists on the Seattle Opera stage in the very near future.

Tickets and Family Day

Remaining performances are August 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, and 25. Tickets start at $25 and are available online at seattleopera.org.

Sunday, August 19, 2018 at 2:00 PM is Family Day at Porgy and Bess. For this specially designated performance, students age 18 and under pay only $20 for almost any seat. Family Days also feature special student-oriented activities during intermission. Wondering if this opera is appropriate for your children? READ THE CONTENT ADVISORY.

 

The Details

The Gershwins®’ Porgy And Bess℠

By George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin

In English with English captions

Approximate Running Time: 3 hours including one intermission

Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

Premiere: Alvin Theater, New York, NY; October 10, 1935

Cast on the day I attended:

• indicates company debut

Porgy                          Kevin Short

Bess                            Elizabeth Llewellyn*

Crown                        Lester Lynch

Serena                       Mary Elizabeth Williams

Sportin’ Life               Jermaine Smith

Clara                           Brandie Sutton*

Jake                            Derrick Parker*

Maria                         Judith Skinner*

Mingo                        Bernard Holcomb*

Robbins                     Edward Graves*

Peter the Honeyman        Martin Bakari*

Jim                              Nicholas Davis*

Undertaker                 Damien Geter*

Annie                          Cheryse McLeod Lewis

Nelson                        Ernest C. Jackson Jr.*

Crab Man                   Ashley Faatoalia

Strawberry Woman    Ibidunni Ojikutu

Lily                               Marlette Buchanan

 

Conductor                       John DeMain

Original Production by      Francesca Zambello

Stage Director                 Garnett Bruce*

Set Designer                   Peter J. Davison*

Costume Designer           Paul Tazewell*               

Lighting Design               Mark McCullough

Choreographer                Eric Sean Fogel*

Scenery and props for this production of Porgy and Bess are co-produced by Glimmerglass Festival and Seattle Opera.

Costumes by Washington National Opera