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.