Open Rehearsal: The Court Theatre Blog
April 13, 2011
Summertime
The second day of rehearsal just started, and the cast is sitting around the upright piano as Music Director Doug Peck walks them through the first scene of Porgy and Bess. With Director Charlie Newell observing nearby, Doug begins by asking the actors to read the libretto (ie. the lyrics) out loud like a regular play script, and we hear Harriet Plumpp (Clara) read aloud the words to “Summertime.”
Summertime
And the livin’ is easy.
Fish are jumpin’,
And the cotton is high.
Oh your daddy’s rich
And your mama’s good-lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry.
Spoken by Harriet, the words shed their familiarity. In the story, it’s a lullaby that Clara sings to her infant child; it’s a hauntingly beautiful introduction to the world of Catfish Row, but also a premonition of tragedy to come. Doug then asks Harriet and the cast to sing the full song again, marking the first time we sing “Summertime” in this rehearsal process. No matter how many times you’ve heard it, the music of “Summertime” never fails to seduce and unsettle, especially with the full import of the story.
Today’s rehearsal is all about jumping straight into learning the music for Gershwin’s score, but yesterday’s first rehearsal was all about Charlie, Doug, Ron OJ Parson (our Resident Artist, and here joining us as an artistic consultant) and the designers catching the actors up on nearly two years of thinking and preparation for Court’s Porgy and Bess. Charlie emphasized his desire to discover the original creative and emotional impulses that prompted the creation of Porgy and Bess, most notably DuBose Heyward and, later, George Gershwin’s encounter with the African American Gullah culture of Charleston, South Carolina. For Heyward, explained Charlie, a white man and the heir to a fallen Southern aristocracy, his fascination with Gullah culture was inherited from his mother, Jane. Jane Heyward was widowed when DuBose was young (his father was killed in a rice mill accident), and she found strength and solace in the lifestyle and spirituality of Charleston’s Gullah culture. Scenic designer John Culbert and costume designer Jacqueline Firkins also presented their visions for Porgy and Bess, which eschew the typical “romantic realism” of past productions of the opera in favor of a simple, abstracted design. Some people will think that we didn’t have enough money for a real set, explained Culbert; but the intention is to remove the distractions of the environment to allow the human drama to come to the fore.
The set model for Porgy and Bess. The main feature of the set is a simple white deck surrounded by simple white benches, inspired by the praise house, a simple chapel found in the Gullah culture. The costumes are based on 1920s designs and fabric cuts, but the materials will be white cotton and linen—the simplicity was inspired by photographs of Gullah baptismal rituals.
1 Response to Summertime
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hi my wife and i went on sunday 5/15 and really enjoyed the play the cast, lighting, and musicians were fantastic, we stayed after for discussion and it was enlightening i did not get a chance to comment but as this was the 1st time i ever saw porgy and bess i had no predisposed ideas of what to expect. the writer and director were looking for feedback and got plenty, however after thinking about the play and feed back may i suggest that they not try to adjust they play to reach any group as i believe what they have here is art and not science. the goal not being to reach a predetermined destination but to take the audience on a journey with possibly no 2 alike, and the witness of your art being good is the fact so many different people were taken on so many different places yet the overall impression i got was they all enjoyed the ride. and finally i’d like to share a personel insight i had, growing up in deep south during 50-60’s i personally experienced some of what the characters portrayed and we witness clara handing her baby to bess to keep when she went off and bess raising the child as her own and when bess leaves we see serena with the baby raising it as her own, no complicated court and deliberations or debates the baby’s well being is continous and seamless i witnessed this on occassions growing up and it worked just like that effortlessly as though it were the natural order, today it would not happen this way things are a changing and not always for the better, but i’m sure your play draw many different memories from many different people from many walks of life. so i say thank you for a very enjoyable evening and don’t change just enjoy you great work, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, you have a great interpretation YOUR OWN and it works, please email me with any comments thank you and cast and crew again
By brock on May 16, 2011 at 12:03 pm