"Porgy and Bess" is The American
Opera. It’s probably the most well-known American opera throughout
the world," says Jerris Cates, who plays Bess in the upcoming
Brooklyn Center show. Indeed Cates sees nothing ironic in the
fact that George and Ira Gershwin, two Jewish boys from Brooklyn,
wrote the score for an opera about the Gullahs, blacks living
in small farming and fishing communities in the southern low
country.
"The Jewish/African-American thing is interesting,"
she told GO Brooklyn in a recent telephone interview. "Jews
have used African-Americans in many ways. I don’t mean in a negative
way. This has been a springboard for many African-Americans who
have gone on to do great things. [Porgy and Bess] is the one
piece that we definitely have that is ours."
Based on the novel "Porgy," written by DuBose Hayward,
and the dramatization written by his wife, Dorothy, "Porgy
and Bess" is set in the 1920s on Catfish Row in Charleston,
S.C. The story involves the unlikely love between the cripple
Porgy and Bess, a woman of easy virtue.
In "Porgy and Bess," George Gershwin incorporated much
of the black musical idiom.
"Gershwin really captured the whole essence of the African-American
experience. The spiritual, jazz – he brought it all to life.
It’s amazing, convincing and compelling. There’s ’Summertime.’
There’s no one on the face of the Earth who hasn’t heard it.
There’s the duet ’Bess, You is My Woman Now.’ The music lives
today as well as it ever has. The world hasn’t gotten tired of
it. I certainly haven’t gotten tired of it," says Cates,
who has been playing the role of Bess for Living Arts (the production
company staging "Porgy and Bess" at Brooklyn Center)
since 1994.
But music alone does not account for the renown of "Porgy
and Bess." There’s also the story.
"What a love story!" exclaims Cates. "The man
loves this woman so much. The odds are against him. He’s a cripple.
He has no money. He’s not well liked in the community. But he’s
not about to let her go."
For Samuel Stevenson, who has been playing Porgy in this production
since 1997, it is the story that inspires the acting.
"The story is so beautiful and heart-rending," Stevenson
told GO Brooklyn. "A cripple falling in love with a woman
for the first time, the only woman who has paid any attention
to him. The story is universal. It makes you want to emote. The
story gives you the cue what to do."
By the same token, both Cates and Stevenson acknowledge that
their roles are extremely challenging.
"Porgy sits on his knees for two-and-a-half hours. It’s
very physically straining," Stevenson explains. "Since
I’ve been doing ’Porgy and Bess,’ I’ve found ways to pace myself
– areas to relax and areas to give it out."
Playing Bess is also a difficult role, but for different reasons:
she is a woman who is not immediately sympathetic.
"Bess is a bit of a looker. She’s sexy. She uses that sex
appeal so she can live. But even though she has that bad-girl
exterior, inside she wants the same things other women want,
which is the love of a good man," says Cates.
Surprisingly, "Porgy and Bess" was not an immediate
success. After trying out in Boston, it opened In New York on
Oct. 10, 1935, for a disappointing run of 124 performances; it
was years later before the show would make its backers money
back, and then some.
Although some of the songs had become popular before Gershwin’s
death in 1937, the work did not receive the acclaim it deserved
until the 1940 Theater Guild presentation of a slightly revised
version. In 1959, Samuel Goldwyn released the film version, directed
by Otto Preminger and starring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge.
The Living Arts production of "Porgy and Bess," now
in its 13th year of touring, has played to more than 700 audiences
in over 400 cities on all five continents.
What is ironic about "Porgy and Bess" is that this
work, which is being performed to remind us of the contributions
of black culture, was written by a man who, Stevenson tells us,
"didn’t live long enough to see how the world embraced his
masterpiece."
The Living Arts production of "Porgy
and Bess" will be performed on Feb. 27 at 2 pm at Brooklyn
Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College. Tickets are
$40. The Brooklyn Center is located in the Walt Whitman Theatre
on the campus of Brooklyn College (one block from the junction
of Flatbush and Nostrand avenues). For tickets and more information,
call (718) 951-4500.
