Review - The Gershwin's 'Porgy and Bess'

I finally got the chance to see The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess last night.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute.  My beautiful gal pal and I came up with a mutually available day, then I went to the box office to use a discount code.  I love discount codes, but hate paying those astronomical fees.  Interestingly, I wanted to buy the least expensive tickets on the discount.  I was told they were sold out, so I went with the next price.  When we got to the theater last night, all of those lesser-priced seats were not full, so who knows if they were actually sold out.  But, my section of the theater was packed, the more expensive section just below us was not.  So most everyone moved down after intermission (we stayed put).  I wonder why the theater can’t just sell all the seats at the moderately discounted price and fill it up?  I will never understand Broadway ticketing economics.

After meeting my beautiful gal pal for a pre-show glass of wine, we settled into our seats and got ready to be transported.  I wonder why, with all the brouhaha over the title, only Porgy and Bess is projected onto the pre-show curtain.  Where were “The Gershwins”??  Hmmmmm…    The lady in front of me had the largest head known to man, the gent in front of my gal pal was wearing a very large hat.  My gal pal got him to remove the hat.  I couldn’t quite get the lady in front of me to shrink her head, darn it.  Though, happily, they were part of the mass exodus to the section in front of us after intermission.  The second act had a clear view of all proceedings.  Oh, and we had a moment of pre-show panic:  one of the dreaded little slips of white paper fluttered out of our Playbills.  Thankfully, we would not be deprived of Norm or Audra.  We breathed a sigh of relief. 

I’ve never seen a production of Porgy and Bess before, in any incarnation.  I’ve certainly heard a lot of the music, but can’t say I’m overly familiar with the score as a whole.  So I went in pretty blind, with no opinion either way of the opera vs musical revisal contretemps.  Except for my pre-existing opinions regarding certain cast members, of course. 

Physical production-wise, I found the set to be ugly in the extreme and not very illuminating to the proceedings.  From the back of the mezzanine, a lot of the light fixtures were visible at the top and I can’t imagine that was the intent.  I got no sense of time or place from the set at all, and I’m thinking sense of place is paramount in this show.  Otherwise, the dialects employed and the conflicts presented make no sense.  The lighting didn’t seem to mesh well with the set either.  The costumes (by Emilio Sosa from Project Runway fame!) were fine.

I will say that the attempt to eliminate recitative and add dialogue instead sometimes felt unnatural to me.  It stunted the natural build and emotion of the music, in my opinion.  And the affect Audra used for her speaking voice just didn’t make sense with the timbre of her singing voice.  There were times, too, where I felt like something had to be missing, because things made no sense.  Like, why does Crown go out in the hurricane after Clara?  That had to have been set up somewhere originally, but I didn’t understand it here.

Now to the cast.  Deep breath.  I will admit here to my bias towards Audra McDonald.  I will also admit to understanding that I am in the extreme minority with my bias.  I just live with it and move on.  I tried to go into this production with an open mind and I did, on the whole, think what she was doing was strong and committed.  And, as always, she sang magnificently (though I would think she’s a smart enough singer to know when to pull back during duets so you can understand the other singer).  I certainly respect her work and dedication to bringing Bess to life.  But.  I can’t help it, but I always feel her ACTING.  And almost commenting on how good her acting is.  It adds a level of calculated self-satisfaction that keeps me at a distance from her performances.  The staging of the show has her bustling continually around the stage, and I felt her ACTING as she moved in a ‘sluttish’ way.  I can blame the overly-busy bustling on the direction, but the ACTING I lay at McDonald’s feet.  I realize that perhaps she is in a ‘lose-lose’ situation with me and maybe it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that whatever she gives me, I’m going to see what I think I’m going to see.  I’ll never know.  But I’d like to think that if she honestly touched me emotionally, I’d feel it and acknowledge it.  She hasn’t yet (well, not since Master Class – I found her brilliant there) and didn’t here.

Norm Lewis is so amazing, both in his singing and his acting.  His warmth, his wonder, and the commitment to the physical life of Porgy is breathtaking.  His heartfelt and passionate approach seemed just right to me, and struck the right contrast to Phillip Boykin’s appropriately over-the-top (and gorgeously sung) evil Crown.  Intellectually, I guess it can make sense that Porgy is more honest and Bess is more false.  But I just didn’t get that character-wise, I got it actor-wise.  Living the character instead of showing me the effort in making the character is always perferable to me.  Of course, I’m also predisposed to love Norm, so…take every single thing I say with a grain of salt.  J

I was also impressed with the honest simplicity of Bryonha Marie Parham as Serena, the women who loses her husband early in the show and sings “My Man’s Gone Now.”  I had tears in my eyes during that number.  Joshua Henry, who I adored in Scottsboro Boys, was terrific as Jake.  And I was beyond impressed with David Alan Grier as Sportin’ Life, though I will admit that whenever I hear “There’s a Boat That’s Leaving Soon,” I think of Gregory Hines and White Nights.

All in all, even after my sniping, I think this is a worthwhile production and I think everyone should see it – after all, how often is such a beautifully sung Porgy and Bess going to come our way?  I just wish I had loved it as much as everyone else has seemed to.  I’m sure it’s my fault that I didn’t.

Next week is the most wonderful week of the year!  Tennis Week!  Look for updates and cross your fingers that the weather behaves itself…