Porgy and Bess

 We have never seen the whole musical of Porgy and Bess.  Similar to me, Max has heard some of the songs and seen snippets of this famous musical/opera by James Gershwin.  What amazed me was the fact that this musical was successful when it first opened in 1935 with an all black cast.  Gershwin was not only a musical genius, but he was adventurous and ahead of his time.

Since we’ve never seen it before, it was surprising to us that Porgy was a poor crippled man and Bess was a drug addict, abused by 2 men in her life.  At her lowest, Porgy takes Bess into his shack and takes care of her.  They eventually fall in love and Bess starts to become respectable.  But as the abusive men come back into her life, she turns back to drugs and runs away with one of the men to New York.  At the end, Porgy packs up his meager belongings and hitches his way from Charleston’s Catfish Row to New York to look for his Bess.  Because “You is my woman now”. 

After all these years, the play is more heartfelt and moving despite the frailties of the main characters and how they dealt with the circumstances of life.

Very good and very enjoyable.  Loved it.

Opera-Thais

This was a new opera to us, written by Jules Massanet. It premiered in Paris in 1894. This story is based on a novel by Anatole France about Saint Thais.  She is taken to a convent and spent 3 years in a penitent’s cell.  After she leaves the cell, she dies a holy woman 14 days later.

We were honored to hear Placido Domingo play the part of the monk, Athanael. Placido has been a tenor in his prime.  Lately, he has been singing Baritone and he sounds as wonderful as ever.  Thais is portrayed by a lovely woman, Nino Machaidze.

Athanael has a vision that he is to save the soul of Thais, a wanton woman desired by many men.  Despite the adoration of many men,

Thais is unhappy because she doesn’t have true love and knows that her beauty will fade.  

Athanael gives her hope, telling her of the true and encompassing love of God.  He forces her to forsake her previous life and burn all her possessions as an act of penance. 

They then walk many miles to a convent where she will live out the rest of her life.  During that trek, he falls in love with her. 

She is taken in by the nuns and Athanael returns to his monastery dejected.  Finally, he can’t take it any longer and rushes back to the convent to proclaim his love for her.  But he discovers that she is dying and as she rises in spirit to God, he knows she is out of his reach and prays to God for mercy.

We enjoyed Placido and seeing something new.  But it just didn’t hit the high mark for us.  I could barely keep my eyes open at times.  Max thought it was okay.