The classic 1935 George Gershwin Opera Porgy and Bess returns to Broadway at The Richard Rodgers in a lavish new production. The show features surprisingly amazing performances by David Alan Grier as Sporting Life and Norm Lewis at Porgy. What sets Porgy and Bess’ place in history is that it’s one of the earliest operas and Broadway shows to feature the African American experience.
It is set in a “god fearing” Church community called Catfish Row. It starts in the summer and begins with everyone outside having fun, the men folk playing a bit of craps and the women hanging out as well. The show’s most famous and opening number, Summertime, is performed with perfection by Nikki Renee Daniels (Clara) and Joshua Henry (Jake). Nikki’s Soprano is flawless.
One of the community’s favorite people is Porgy, a man born crippled who has seen some hard times in his life, but remains optimistic. As he sings later in the show, “I Got Plenty of Nothing,” and nothing is all he wants. Porgy is the “everyman” that you want to root for. His life is his own until the beautiful but troubled Audra McDonald (Bess) walks into his life.
Bess is the woman that every woman hates, especially “god fearing” Christians. She strolls into town in her red dress, beautiful makeup, and high-flying ways and turns the heads of every man in town. The symbolism of the red dress is not lost on the audience. Bess’ problem is her drunk brute of a husband, Crown, who is played with intensity by Phillip Boykin.
Every small town village has to have at least one “high-roller” and in this case it’s the sharp-dressed, strutting, cynical, smooth-talking David Alan Grier as the drug dealing Sporting Life. He comes home every once in awhile from New York to cause a lot of trouble for the community and tempts Bess to leave the small town for big city life. He mocks small town people and their religous values every chance he gets. In one of the show’s highlights he laughs at the town’s faith in the Bible by saying just because it’s in there, “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
Porgy and Bess’ minimalistic set design allows Director Diane Paulus (who directed the successful revival of Hair) to focus on the performances and the very difficult musical numbers. Everyone in this production was in perfect pitch the entire night, from all of the sopranos to Grier to Lewis’s deep bass.
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