The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

3 1/2 Stars:[...] It works very well to banish the usual romantic setting and focus on the people of this community, who [...] welcome the audience with the dignity and openness of a group of proud people re-telling a painful story from which we all could learn. That framing is the key to this production: it empowers the tellers in a way that I've never seen at any prior "Porgy and Bess."

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: This genre-defying 1935 work by George and Ira Gershwin, and Dubose and Dorothy Heyward [...] blows onto the stage with such an uncanny mix of clarity, revelation and hurricane emotional force that you might think the freshness and electric intensity of it all are rooted in some ineffable magic. In fact, they are the result of the perfect mix of director (Charles Newell) whose uncanny instincts, extraordinary storytelling skills and deeply original sense of casting never fail to leave an indelible mark; musical director (Doug Peck) who can expose the skeleton of the most complex score; 15 performers who fearlessly expose their souls in the blinding light; six musicians, including Peck, who are part jazz band, part orchestra, part sound effects crew; and an inspired design team that is perfectly in synch with Newell’s always deceptively minimalist approach.

 

FIVE STARS:  Two decisions on the part of director Newell, along with music director Douglas Peck and artistic consultant Ron OJ Parson, account for this production’s resounding success. First, full attention to Gershwin’s ravishingly chromatic score is invited through minimal staging and the adaptation of the original recitatives; when Porgy (Kryger) and Bess (Rogers) launch into the first act’s “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” for instance, it has a hypnotic focus closer to the endlessly unfolding modulations of Wagner than to a traditional showtune.  Second, the Court’s cast is decidedly a musical theater ensemble, not an operatic one. While there are some ferociously accomplished voices on display, the singing is always in service to the revelation of character [...], discovering and expressing the tragic depth of a marginal community and its most marginal inhabitants.

 

 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: This is not, in other words, a stripped-down Broadway-style "Porgy" but a genre-transcending theatrical experience staged in such a way as to shift the emphasis from Gershwin's score to DuBose Heyward's often-underrated libretto. Not only does everyone in the cast act impressively well, but most of the singing is colloquial in tone, and the score has been heavily cut in order to prune away its grand-opera excesses. In doing this, Mr. Newell makes it clearer than ever that "Porgy," which was long regarded as a Tin Pan Alley minstrel show writ large, is in fact an irresistibly gripping human drama whose implications are both universal and permanent.

 

FOUR STARS: With Newell’s minimalist take, nearly all of the storytelling responsibility falls to the cast. They deliver with aplomb, searching the story’s intricacies and themes alongside us in the audience. I already had chills when Harriet Nzinga Plumpp warbled the first few notes of “Summertime.”  Todd M. Kryger’s hulking performance as Porgy is just the right blend of majesty and vulnerability, and Alexis J. Rogers correctly portrays a Bess torn by love and lust. But the real jewel here is the supporting cast. Bethany Thomas as the pious Serena steals the show with her wickedly expressive singing style. She shreds right through the heart of “My Man’s Gone Now.”  Sean Blake’s slick Sporting Life, the neighborhood dope dealer, is a similar delight. His rendition of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” drips with fun—it’s clear he’s having a great time up there.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The absence of operatic trappings makes Court's incarnation that much more riveting because we're not distracted by the spectacle. In fact, this production's finest moments are its most intimate. They come from the inspired pairing of the superb Todd M. Kryger and Alexis J. Rogers in the titular roles. Their sublime, act one duet “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” is among the most authentic expressions of emotion I've seen onstage in some time. On opening night, which fell on the day the rapture was to have occurred, Kryger and Rogers' transcendent performance suggested that paradise — for Gershwin lovers at least — could be found at a theater in Hyde Park.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:  This production trims the story without cutting its essence. The key characters and the community are vividly depicted.The story is told mostly through singing. The vocals are rich in emotions and truthfully tell the tragic story of the Gullah’s folks. The intimacy of Court Theatre brings home the terrific voices especially from Bethany Thomas, Alexis J. Rogers and Todd M. Kryger. The entire cast demonstrates their vocal acumen.  Gershwin’s score is in good hands here.   The clarity of  the Newell-Peck production gives our understanding of the angst and pain of the Gullah community a new richness.

All the choral work is done by the cast of 14 principals in the African-American roles, and in the intimate Court Theatre, with these voices, that's sufficient to deliver a magnificent reading of the score that should disappoint no one. The cast includes a mix of singer/actors from both the worlds of musical theater worlds and opera, a choice which makes perfect sense for this score, which includes arias that cover a range of musical styles. It allows the production to open with Harriet Nzinga Plumpp's jazzy "Summertime," and have Bethany Thomas act the heck out of "My Man's Gone Now," first in a lower register then exploding into a higher octave with full operatic bravura for the song's second half and conclusion. James Earl Jones II, who has worked in both worlds, fully has the chops to sing the operatic role of Crown, while Sean Blake sells the more traditional show tunes of "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York." There are satisfying purely operatic turns by Adrienne Walker as Annie and Joelle Lamarre as Lily, as well as a brassy reading of the seldom-performed "I Hates Yo' Struttin' Style" by Wydetta Carter as Maria. The mixture is seamless—each voice is cast to deliver exactly what Gershwin called for.