On May 23, 2025, Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center Opera House under the direction of Francesca Zambello and conductor Kwamé Ryan presented a reprise production of “Porgy and Bess,” an opera with music by George Gershwin and words by Dubose & Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin. In 2005, Francesca Zambello debuted a new version of “Porgy and Bess” which this reviewer saw and reviewed for Culturevulture. The 2005 production moved the time-frame from the 1920s to the 1950s and cut the original three acts and nine scenes into two acts with a single intermission. Zambello’s goal was to restore Gershwin’s original operatic format which had been altered for Broadway into a music theater production. For years, many Black singers refused to sing this work because the story portrayed Black people in stereotypical roles as poor, uneducated, violent, drug-addicted, and immoral. Zambello’s revision emphasizes the love story of “Porgy and Bess.”
The story concerns Porgy, a Black man with a lame leg, who lives in Catfish Row, a South Carolina village where the inhabitants eke out a living by fishing. Saturday nights allow for the men to drink and play craps, but violence breaks out when Crown loses, picks a fight, and accidentally kills Robbins. Crown runs, leaving his woman Bess behind, but promises he’ll be back for her. No one in the community will take her in, and she fears getting swept up by the police. The local drug dealer Sportin’ Life offers to take her to New York, but she says no. Finally, Porgy, who has already expressed an interest in Bess, invites her into his quarters.
A genuine relationship develops between Porgy and Bess. Little by little the women of Catfish Row accept Bess. She reluctantly joins the community for a picnic on Kittiwah Island. Porgy, it seems, can’t manage the rigor of this trip, and Bess says she wants to stay with him. But he tells her to go and have fun. Her fun turns to horror when Crown appears and prevents her from returning with the picnickers.
When the second act opens, Bess is back with Porgy but delirious after Crown’s attack on her. Meanwhile the fishermen leave in their boats. A hurricane strikes, and Crown shows up to reclaim Bess, who has been restored to health by the women’s prayer circle. Clara, the young mother of an infant, calls out in anguish for her fisherman husband Jake. She hands her baby to Bess and runs out into the storm. Bess cries out for a man to go after Clara. Crown taunts Porgy for not being that man and goes after her himself.
The storm ends; Porgy fights and kills Crown. The police arrive. They don’t suspect Porgy but order him to come with them to identify Crown’s body. When he refuses—he doesn’t feel he can look at Crown’s face—they take him away. Sportin’ Life tells Bess that Porgy will be locked up forever and forces drugs on her. She leaves with Sportin’ Life for New York. Porgy returns after a week, finds out that Bess has left and follows her to New York.
George Gershwin (1898-1937) demonstrated his interest in writing opera with Blue Monday, a 20-minute experimental jazz opera which premiered in 1922. The libretto, written by Buddy DeSylva, featured a Harlem setting and is considered a precursor to Porgy and Bess. Some years later, the Metropolitan Opera commissioned Gershwin to write an opera based on the Yiddish play “The Dybbuk.” Unfortunately, Gershwin was unable to obtain the rights. The 1926 novel “Porgy,” by Dubose Heyward then caught Gershwin’s interest, but it was the play adaptation by Dubose & Dorothy Heyward that served as the source for the libretto. The music is influenced by Afro-American tunes, blues, and Jewish music, including Yiddish chanting and klezmer music, and features memorable songs such as “Summertime,” “Bess You Is My Woman,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily so.” The Metropolitan Opera offered to produce “Porgy and Bess,” but Gershwin decided to premiere it on Broadway, where he thought it would enjoy larger audiences. The three-hour work ran in previews in Boston September 1935 and was premiered in New York October 10, 1935, in a shortened version. It only played until January 26, 1936, which was, by Broadway standards, a poor box office showing.
Zambello’s “Porgy and Bess” features the talented singers bass-baritone Michael Sumuel and soprano Brittany Renee in the lead roles. Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, who has attained star power for not only her role as a singer but also for her educational and directorial endeavors plays a feisty Maria(h), the Catfish Row matriarch who stands up to troublemakers like Crown and Sportin’ Life. This reviewer particularly enjoyed Brittany Renee’s performance of “Summertme” over that of Viviana Goodwin, who opens the opera singing that iconic lullaby to her baby. Mezzo-soprano Marquita Raley-Cooper gave the most memorable performance of the evening as the strawberry seller who sings in a hiccoughing style characteristic of South Carolina Gullah street vendors. Most disappointing was Chauncey Packer as Sportin’ Life. He lacked the verve and sleaze of a drug dealer. Surely Choreographer Eric Sean Fogel, who created the fascinating African-inspired dance routines for this opera, could have asked for more exaggeration and puffery from Packer. The intricate Catfish Row set is every bit as engaging as it was presented in 2005. The orchestra under the enthusiastic baton of Kwamé Ryan provides a thoroughly satisfying environment of rich musical textures, well balanced between musicians and singers.
“Porgy and Bess” runs in 10 performances from May 23 through 31, 2025. A second cast sings the roles of Porgy, Bess, and Crown for half of the performances.
Karren LaLonde Alenier
