BWW Reviews: THE GERSHWIN'S PORGY AND BESS Will Capture Your Heart: Now Thru Dec. 8

San Francisco audiences were delighted to welcome a powerful and wistfully evocative production of The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess to the bay area and to the stage of the Golden Gate Theatre where it plays now through December 8. Opening night was also the launch of the much anticipated national tour of this Tony award-winning revival. Directed by Diane Paulus, with a book adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks from DuBose and Dorothy Heyward's original book, Porgy and Bess's dramatic story of love, death, addiction and hope comes alive once again for a whole new audience of theatregoers.

In what can arguably be called the first American opera, Gershwin's glorious score (adapted for this Broadway rendition by Diedre L. Murray) melded modern, Euro-classical music with the resonant pitch and sway of African-American jazz and blues, indelibly stamping the Heyward's bold libretto, as well as Heyward and Ira Gershwin's lyrics, with a uniquely American signature. In this revised, musical theatre take-two, that still holds true.

Paulus and Parks' bold vision for the work pares down the four-hour opera to 2-and-a-half hours and replaces spoken dialogue for the opera's recitative while still retaining the operatic musical voicing. The phrase "something for everyone" probably goes too far and definitely doesn't capture the complexity of the updated work. And, in fact, many 'Porgy and Bess' opera aficionados have reportedly taken umbrage with it -- but a Broadway-based audience (no slouches when it comes to appreciating fine quality) will not find the work lacking. Quite to the contrary, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess will capture your heart and is an emotional and thoroughly satisfying work.

The lilting, jazz infused songs, so well-known and treasured in other contexts, have their true home in this story set in the South of 1930s Charleston. Murray's score, and the William David Brohn/ Christopher Jahnke orchestrations, revel in Gershwin's artistry; nothing of the lushness is lost.

You can't help but be swept away on the strains of 'Summertime' as Clara (Sumayya Ali) sings the plaintive lullaby to her baby in the fictional shantytown of Catfish Row. There, the African-American residents eke out a living fishing the storm-tossed waters of a segregated South. When husband Jake (David Hughey) joins his wife and baby, 'Summertime' (Heyward's lyrics) becomes a duet that sets the tone for the show and speaks of hope and love for their child. For Clara and Jake this love has the power to overcome the vicissitudes and terrors of their hard-scrabble life.

None of the residents are happy when the crippled and impoverished Porgy (Nathaniel Stampley), a beloved member of this close-knit, Bible-believing community, develops a crush on the brazen and drug-addicted Bess (Alicia Hall Moran) who doesn't notice him at all. But the two are unexpectedly thrown together when Bess's violent lover and procurer, Crown (Alvin Crawford), kills a man and leaves Bess to fend for herself as he goes into hiding from the law. Even though a slick, New York-based drug-dealer named Sporting Life (Kingsley Leggs) offers to take her away with him to the big city, unaccountably Bess is drawn to Porgy.

Thus begins the give and take for this woman who is besieged by the siren call of "happy dust." Moran is outstanding in this role; the changing timbre of her soprano beautifully capturing the mercurial Bess who advances cautiously with hope, only to retreat again in fear, leaving devastation in her wake. The excruciating tug and pull of her addiction grapples with the sweet intoxication of a clean life and the love of a good man, which she slowly finds with Porgy. Her dilemma creates an almost bigger storm for her than the one that eventually ravages Catfish Row.

Unfortunately, set designer Riccardo Hernandez's rendering of Catfish Row doesn't match the complexity of the story or the score. The shanty is a bland backdrop that is flat and uninspired. So too, Kittawah Island where the residents go for a picnic. But lighting designer Christopher Akerlind makes good use of the design, giving us a sultry summer with all the rich yellows of a ripe and juicy peach and a changing palate of light and color that grows more menacing as the story progresses.

Like Akerlind's lighting Nathaniel Stampley's Porgy transforms over time, only in the opposite direction. Though he remains crippled, and though adversity strikes, he shines in the hope that Bess's love gives him, standing taller and surer of himself despite the storms that come his way. Stampley's voice is more than a match for this noble role. His baritone is like a full-bodied cabernet; rich, complex and smooth. From the breezy "I Got Plenty of Nothing" to the sublime "I'm On My Way," we ache for Porgy, but without pity, which is a tribute to Paulus's directing and Stampley's strong acting ability.

Even when Bess succumbs to Crown, Porgy doesn't try to force her to stay. "I ain' try to keep no woman what don't want to stay. If you wants to go to Crown, Dat's for you to say." This is no petulant or manipulative Porgy, but simply a man who is putting his woman's needs above his own. This is quite forward and feminist for 1927 which is when DuBose Heyward first put pen to paper for "Porgy."

The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Tstrikes a delicate balance between historical homage and course correction with regard to the overt racism that was part of the 1930s original. Their bold and creative work had the consequence of drawing much criticism from many quarters, but it is also freeing contemporary Broadway-going audiences to connect deeply with the heart wrenching and ultimately hope-filled story of Porgy and Bess.

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Original Book by DuBose Heyward (also credited is Dorothy Heyward); adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks
Original Score by George Gershwin; adapted by Diedre L. Murray
Lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin
Directed by Diane Paulus
Now through Dec. 8
www.shnsf.com
Photo courtesy of Michael J. Lutch

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