By Laura Kennelly
Pure musical joy abounds in this 2012 Tony Award-winning musical. The blend of Gershwin music magic combined with fine acting and dancing made it easy to forget the harsh winter storm rolling into Cleveland on opening night. Yes, this Playhouse Square’s Porgy and Bess is not the film version (a personal favorite) or the original four-plus hour masterpiece by George and Ira Gershwin; it’s smartly altered version for musical theatre audiences.
What’s changed? For one thing, the creative team who worked it over for Broadway (Suzan-Lori Parks and Diedre L. Murray) cut out the boring parts traditional for operas (where everyone has to sing every word), changed things that would have been hard to stage (Porgy is not carried around in a goat cart; he has a brace and a stick) and kept the most memorable songs (“Summertime,” “It Ain’t Necessarily so,” etc.).
A certain amount of spice has also been added. Porgy’s allusion to Bess and his new life adds sly humor. (When responding to Catfish Row neighbors’ speculation about what’s causing Porgy’s good mood, Porgy says “Nothing,” looks at Bess, and then launches into “I Got Plenty of Nothing.”)
Rich-voiced Nathaniel Stampley (Porgy) and gorgeously lyrical Alicia Hall Moran (Bess) showed love’s transformative powers and delights. Watching Moran’s tormented Bess so soon after hearing about Philip Seymour Hoffman’s untimely death made Bess’s addiction sadly relevant.
The charismatic Alvin Crawford (Crown) showed a man scarier than the hurricane. (He responded with a smile when the audience, taken with his strong portrayal, gave him an honorary “boo” at curtain call). Sporting Life, another evil character (acted by the nimble Kingsley Leggs, conveys the light-hearted side of skepticism in “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
The vivacious ensemble that re-creates Charleston’s Catfish Row in the 1930s does a stunning job, especially considering that the set is plain and there is, basically, no scenery other than what they generate through dance, song, and attitude. (Local note: Ensemble cast member Adrianna Cleveland is a Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music graduate.)
Porgy and Bess does what Carmen almost did, let a heroine survive. Porgy and Bess features a strong woman (granted, she has an addictive personality) and the plot doesn’t kill her off at the end. I’m stumped trying to think of another popular opera where at least some of the main female characters don’t end up dead or abandoned, but usually dead (La Traviata,Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Aida, Carmen immediately spring to mind). Here Bess leaves for New York and an uncertain future, but Porgy (the eternal optimist) is sure he’ll find her. Although there’s a world of grief on Catfish Row, the two lovers survive. Amazing.
Conductor Dale Rieling led the 23-piece orchestra (most from Cleveland) that brought out many of the subtle complexities of the Gershwin score. It’s too bad that huge wall speakers sometimes distorted their efforts (and blasted our ears), but how else can sound be provided in a venue as large as the Palace? There are fancy new systems and maybe some day we can get one too (See here.)
For more about the show itself, see http://porgyandbessthemusical.com.
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess runs through February 16. Performances are Tuesday – Friday evenings at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 1:30 and 7:30 PM, and Sundays at 1 and 6:30 PM. See PlayhouseSquare.org for further information.
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.
Cleveland, OH 44115