Movies - Porgy and Bess

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	Movies - Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess is an opera with music by George Gershwin and libretto by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on Heyward's novel Porgy and the play of the same name that he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy. All three works deal with African American life in the fictitious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in the early 1930s.

Originally conceived by Gershwin as an "American folk opera," the work was first performed in various forms in the fall of 1935, but was not widely accepted in the United States as a legitimate opera until the late 1970s and '80s: it is now considered part of the standard operatic repertoire. Porgy and Bess is also regularly performed internationally, and several recordings of the complete work, including Gershwin's cuts, have been made. Despite this acclaim, the opera has been controversial; some from the outset have considered it racist.

"Summertime" is by far the best-known piece from the work, and countless interpretations of this and other individual numbers have also been recorded and performed. The opera is admired for Gershwin's innovative synthesis of European orchestral techniques with American jazz and folk music idioms. Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a crippled black man living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina, and his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her pimp, and Sportin' Life, the drug dealer.

Characters

Porgy, a cripple (bass-baritone)
Bess, Crown's girl (soprano)
Crown, a tough stevedore (baritone)
Serena, Robbin's wife (soprano)
Clara, Jake's wife (soprano)
Maria, keeper of the cook-shop (contralto)
Jake, a fisherman
Sportin' Life, a dope peddler (tenor)
Mingo (tenor)
Robbins, an inhabitant of Catfish Row (tenor)
Peter, the honeyman (tenor)
Frazier, a negro 'lawyer' (baritone)
Annie, (mezzo-soprano)
Lily, Peter's wife, strawberry woman (mezzo-soprano)
Jim, a cotton picker (baritone)
Undertaker (baritone)
Nelson (tenor)
Crab man (tenor)
Mr. Archdale, a figure of authority (spoken)
Detective (spoken)
Policeman (spoken)
Coroner (spoken)
Scipio, a small boy (spoken)

With the exception of the small speaking roles, all of the characters are black.

Plot

Setting: Catfish Row, a fictitious suburb of Charleston, South Carolina in the 'recent past' (c.1930).

Act I

Scene 1 - Catfish Row, a summer evening.

The opera begins with a short introduction which segues into an evening in Catfish Row. Jabso Brown entertains the community with his piano playing. Clara sings a lullaby to her baby ("Summertime") as the working men prepare for a game of craps. Clara's husband, Jake, tries his own lullaby ("A Woman is a Sometime Thing") with little effect. Porgy, a cripple and a beggar, enters on his goat cart to organise the game. Crown, a lowlife, and his woman Bess enter, and the game begins. Sportin' Life, the local supplier of "happy dust" (cocaine) and bootleg alcohol, also joins in. One by one, the players get crapped out, leaving only Robbins and Crown, who has become extremely drunk. When Robbins wins, Crown starts a fight, which ends in Robbins's death. Crown runs, telling Bess to fend for herself. The door is shut on her by most of the residents, except Porgy, who shelters her.

Scene 2 - Serena's Room, the following night.

The mourners sing a spiritual to Robbins ("Gone, Gone, Gone"). To raise money for his burial, a saucer is placed on his chest for the mourners' donations ("Overflow"). A white detective enters, in a speaking voice telling Serena (Robbins' wife) that she must bury her husband soon, or his body will be given to medical students. He arrests Peter (a bystander), whom he will force to testify against Crown. Serena laments her loss in "My man's gone now." The undertaker enters, and agrees to bury Robbins as long as Serena promises to pay him back. Bess and the chorus finish the act with "Leavin' for the Promise' Lan'".

Act II

Scene 1 - Catfish Row, a month later, in the morning.

Jake and the other fishermen prepare for work ("It take a long pull to get there"). Clara asks Jake not to go, and to come to a picnic, but he tells her that they desperately need the money. This causes Porgy to sing from his window about his outlook on life ("I got plenty o' nuttin'"). Sportin' Life waltzes around, selling cocaine, but soon incurs the wrath of Maria ("I hates yo' struttin' style"). A fraudulent lawyer, Frazier, arrives and farcically divorces Bess from Crown. Archdale, a white lawman, enters and informs Porgy that Peter will soon be released. The bad omen of a buzzard flies over Catfish Row, causing Porgy to sing "Buzzard keep on flyin' over".

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Porgy and Bess ]

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