Theater Glorious Porgy And Bess

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Entertainment Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors Michael Giltz Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Follow Theater , Video , Audra McDonald , George Gershwin , Ira Gershwin , Broadway , Musicals , Porgy And Bess , Porgy And Bess Review , Entertainment NewsReact Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyTheater: Glorious Porgy And Bess THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS *** 1/2 out of **** RICHARD RODGERS THEATRE The title is the only clumsy thing about this smartly mounted, beautifully sung and movingly acted newproduction of the landmark musical theater work. Perhaps it helps that no ghosts swirl around this show for me. I know the music very well, from the Simon Rattle opera to concept albums by Ray Charles with Cleo Laine, Mel Torme and the Miles Davis instrumental version down to countless versions of the standards that came from it like "Summertime." But for all that, I'd never seen a production of the show and -- being loathe to read plot summaries that might spoil my first opportunity -- I came to this with only the dimmest idea of the plot. It wasn't arevelation, as such; I knew the show had a tremendous score. But of course knowing the emotionalcontext makes the songs that much more meaningful. Audra McDonald is Bess, the kept woman of the vicious, brutal drunk Crown (the sensationsl Philip Boykin). You know she's a woman of easy virtue because McDonald stumbles around the stage in a brightred dress that practically falls off of her. (It's the only unsubtle note in an otherwise marvelous production.) When Crown brutally kills a man, he runs away and tells Bess to take up with whomever will watch after her but to remember, "It's temporary." (Those words have rarely sounded more threatening.) Virtually an outcast (especially among the women), Bess is taken in by the crippled beggar Porgy (Norm Lewis). His kindness soon blooms into love and that love is unexpectedly returned by Bess, who for the first time in her life knows what it's like to be loved, accepted by the people around her and not constantly weigheddown by her addiction. (If there's one central truth about Bess as played b McDonald, it's not necessarilythat she's weak-willed or fickle; it's simply that she's an addict.) Bess cleans up in every sense of theword. The women of Catfish Row -- led by Mariah (an exceptional NaTasha Yvette Williams) -- give herresponsibility and a sense of place. Porgy even looks forward to the leg brace and new crutch that willallow him to walk more like "a man." But don't forget: this was originally conceived as an opera. Pain and sorrow -- and Crown -- are never far offstage.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2 Isaac Balloons Into A Hurricane, New Orleans Threatened Limbaugh's Wild Isaac Conspiracy MAP: Hurricane Isaac's Path Aims For Gulf Coast GOP Candidate Compares Pregnancy From Rape To What? GOP Approves Abortion Ban Sylvester Stallone's Half- Sister Dies At 48 FOLLOW USCelebrity TV Political Hollywood Features Hollywood Buzz Videos Help Us Write 'The Words' Quick Read | Comments (26) | 08.20.2012August 29, 2012 Edition: U.S. FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA CELEBRITY TV COMEDY FOOD STYLE ARTS BOOKS LIVE ALL SECTIONS John Hillcoat Sen. Ben Cardin Harry Shearer Jeffrey SachsHOT ON THE BLOG Like 102 Posted: 01/20/12 01:23 PM ET SHARE THIS STORY Submit this storyGet Entertainment Alerts Sign UpSPONSOR GENERATED POST Recommend 653 Like 6k Recommend 218 Recommend 18k Recommend 7k Recommend 282Electronic Dance Music Political Hollywood The Avengers One Direction More Log in Create AccountThis Porgy And Bess adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks and Diedre L. Murray with sterling direction by Diane Paulus is gratifyingly strong in every element. One immediately gets a sense of Catfish Row as a community and the cast -- apart from being strong singers up and down the line -- define their characters confidently. The scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez is neither heavily detailed nor radically abstract. He allows wooden walls and windows to give a sense of space for the street scenes, with a simple drawing in ofscreens to create a sense of intimacy for indoor moments. A white sheet splashed with gorgeous lighting and color (by Christopher Akerlind) takes us right to the island off South Carolina where a picnic gives Bess her best glimpse of a happy community. The stage floor is wooden and sturdy, with the crossbeams girding it all quite visible and a stretch of platform on stage left serving as boat and dock. The costumesby ESosa strike the right balance (except for Bess's first red dress), with a lot of fun had with Sporting Life's citified look without turning him into a cartoon. And the sound design by Acme Sound Partners is strong throughout, not just on the flashy moments when it lets you believe a hurricane might just tearCatfish Row apart. Boykin is a marvelously menacing villain (the audience even happily booed him during the curtain call). David Alan Grier is the flip side, an oily seducer always offering the men drugs and Bess a vision of life inNew York City, where she "belongs." Grier is solid throughout and by no means a weak link. However, hedelivered his big numbers "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "There's A Boat That's Leaving Soon" withoutrocking the house the way those show-stoppers might. In this show, Sporting Life is not a threat himself,so much as a means to an end. Joshua Henry (so good in The Scottsboro Boys ) is a great presence as Jake, a fisherman. Like much of the cast, you immediately believe in this man and his world. When Jakegoes missing during a storm, Henry's strong presence makes the potential loss all the more hard tobelieve. A storm drown Jake? Christopher Innvar and Joseph Dellger score strongly in their small, nastyroles as white members of the law; they make these two men hateful without ever degenerating intomoustache-twirling villainy. That believability makes their casual meanness all the more effective. And Williams is a delight as Mariah, the unofficial matriarch of Catfish Row. But of course the show lives and dies by its title characters and this one has sterling talents with McDonald and Lewis. He can blast out a number with the best of them, but Lewis chooses to use asimple, unaffected delivery for many of his songs that suit the time and the place and the man to a t. It's apart filled with showy potential as Porgy shambles and scrambles around the stage. Lewis avoids everypitfall and makes this character an indelible one. Without ever downplaying his physical challenges, itdoesn't take long to believe he's the best shot at happiness Bess will ever have. That makes his exultationin a violent climax all the more powerful and striking. McDonald of course is one of the most lauded actresses of her generation. Her performance here is another example of why that's so. She sings beautifully but it's the acting moments that will stay with me.When Bess is confronted by Crown on that island where the town had a picnic, it's a rollercoaster ofemotion she handles thrillingly, from her initial horror to her pleading ("What You Want With Bess?") toher struggle and reluctant physical attraction to this brutal man right down to the devastating momentwhen Bess doesn't just give in to his demands and resign herself but blackens her heart with a despairingembrace of the fate she can't imagine avoiding. Later when Bess is tempted and teased by Sporting Life and his drugs, we just know that Bess could resist if only someone was there for her. (Porgy is being held by the police at this point.) I'd prefer abolder lie from Sporting Life here (why doesn't he just tell Bess that it's over and that the cops are goingto lock Porgy away for good, rather than just hinting that her man might never come back?). Still,McDonald's makes Bess's resistance to his powder and pleas heartbreakingly convincing. So when shegives in and is on the ground snorting up the drugs that a moment ago she bravely tossed away, you canfeel her pain and humiliation when Mariah sees Bess and immediately and resolutely shuts her out. It's a powerful, moving show and yet, I must admit it wasn't quite what I expected. So much was made of Deaf Boy Asked To Make Controversial Change (VIDEO) The Most Awkward Wedding Photobombs PHOTO: Christina Aguilera's 'Your Body' Dress Doesn't Leave Much To The Imagination DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5 John Hillcoat Lawless: Reinventing the Gangster Sen. Ben Cardin This Is No Way to Win an Election TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 8 MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2 HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3 HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2Like 2k Like 753 Like 201 Surprising New Aniston Rumor Kim K. Wants Hollywood Star Alanis Morissette Samuel L. Jackson's Shocking Tweets About Isaac Jon Voight Blasts Obama Administration, Mainstream Media Shia LaBeouf Dropped Acid For His New Film WATCH: Raging Grannies Have Some Words For Todd Akin this being a musical as opposed to the opera it is traditionally performed as -- I was influenced by all those versions I heard over the years and expected a jazzy take on most numbers with perhaps the most operatic tunes banished or entirely rethought. Instead, this show happily and easily combines operatic voices on the appropriate tunes (it does after all star McDonald) and a Broadway touch at the right points. It's not a radical break with the show's history, but a natural continuation of it. I'd love to see a more intimate, swinging take on all the tunes someday. Perhaps with the success this show deserves, they'll have the confidence to let Porgy And Bess take on many different forms. And that will allow it to survive and flourish as opera, as Broadway musical and in any combination that lets artists tell this rich story and perform this terrific score as often as possible. Porgy and Bess was last on Broadway for three months back in 1976/77, I believe. That is surely far too long. NOTE: Ronald K. Brown's choreography was so natural and well-integrated into the production that I failed to mention it in my review. That's a high compliment in a way, but his omission should berectified. He deserves to be credited with contributing to the cohesive effort that makes this Porgy AndBess rooted so believably in a real community. 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Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews. Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understanding that he will beRobin Williams As Dwight D. Eisenhower In... Fall Movie Preview 2012: 'The Hobbit,' 'Django... Samuel L. Jackson: 'Unfair' Hurricane Isaac Avoid... Lynyrd Skynyrd's RNC Gig Canceled Amid Hurricane...writing a review. Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz More in Entertainment... 05:33 PM on 01/20/2012 This version of the classic has doubtless risen out of respect for the original, but adding "the Gershwins'" to the title indefensibly devalues the role DuBose Heyward played in the opera'screation. Stephen Sondheim has enumerated Mr. Heyward's lyrical contributions to numerous songs which became standards from the score, and the opera itself is based on Heyward's book and stage adaptation. Without him, it can be stated with certainty that the opera as we know it would notexist, nor would the plangent melodies we have come to love. "Summertime, and the livin' is easy"is DuBose Heyward. Perhaps the Gershwin estate insisted on the name change out of a misplacedsense of entitlement, and the producers agreed in hopes of turning a profit. As for shaping the pieceinto a more "intimate, swinging" show, George Gershwin had shown himself to be a master of that. But deciding to enrich his musical studies in Europe and then assuming the laborious task of orchestrating "Porgy and Bess," indicate that he intended to create something that would dig withgreater depth into the American experience and shine longer than the ephemeral neon of Broadway.To respect Gershwin's miraculous work, we must honor what we can decipher of his intent andambition by interpreting the work as it stands, as he conceived it in his mind and heart, and notrewrite it to conform to our constricted view of what we would like it to be. 09:44 PM on 01/20/2012 HI Jeffrey, thanks for your comments. What you say about DuBose Heyward is of courseabsolutely true. I failed to mention him in my dashed off review, which is an indication ofhow easily one can fall into the trap of ignoring his contribution. As you say, the new titleisn't just clumsy and labored, it's inaccurate and unfair. I politely disagree on the sanctity ofthe show itself. We've had the opera for 77 years. It has been performed all over the world and will continue to be performed in the style which the team conceived it. Obviously, many estates want to protect the integrity of the work and ensure no travesties like bowdlerizingthe text, stunt casting (like a gay "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" which Albee has alwaysrefused). However at some point for a work to stay alive it should be open to rethinking andnew perspectives. As long as the original work is available in its original form, no permanent harm will be done. A great work will always survive dumb ideas and quite often smart and insightful ideas will reveal just how rich the work truly is. Imagine ShakespeareONLY performed with men in every role or some other conceit standard in Shakespeare'stime rather than the countless permutations his plays inspire.Recency | Popularity jeffreyrockwell Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz freelance writer Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz freelance writerComments 7 Pending Comments 0 View FAQ Comments are closed for this entry View All Favorites 19 Fans 127 Fans 127 Fans09:44 PM on 01/20/2012 If copyright law in the US weren't so ridiculous, Porgy And Bess would already be in the public domain. We've heard so many marvelous recordings of the show (approved by the estate) like the Bethlehem vocal version and the Ray Charles/Cleo Laine album, I just can't help thinking a stage production in that style would be a winner. Mind you, I'd still love to see it performed as a full opera as well. Isn't that what a standard, a classic is? A work thatbe reinterpreted and performed in various styles again and again? The Gershwins wrotemany of them. And unlike a novel or film, a play HAS to be interpreted (however strictly in accordance with the authors' wishes) or it's just words on a page. Thanks again for commenting. 12:59 AM on 01/21/2012 Your points are well argued and made me rethink my position to the point of accepting that each "reinterpreted" production of the work would require its own validation. Since we'll never know whether a wholesale reorchestration and rearrangement of the piece into the jazz idiom would meet the composer's approval, I'd tend not to "lend an ear" to such an endeavor, unless I was somehowable to appreciate it on its own terms as a one-off hybrid. But yes, I'd agree thatany classic work lives through successive generations of new eyes and ears, each providing a new perspective on what is universal in the piece. I maintain, however, that no matter how well-intentioned a "perspective" may be, care must be taken not to slide too far down that slippery slope where "rethinking" subtly transforms a classic into the work of the interpreter rather than the creator. There are More Comments on this Thread. Click Here To See them All 03:29 PM on 01/20/2012 I adore Porgy and Bess. I was lucky enough to see a production live once, but I don't rememberwho's it was. Mr. Baker, my music teacher in 7th grade, played us the music, and I've loved it eversince. 09:44 PM on 01/20/2012 Thanks for sharing your memories. I hope you can come to NYC and see it or that thisproduction will come in some form to your area soon. Advertise | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | About Our Ads | Contact Us Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved. 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Theater Glorious Porgy And Bess

📄 Theater Glorious Porgy And Bess

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