The GERSHWINS®’
PORGY AND BESSSM
By George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin
May 9, 13, 15, 17, 2009
Catfish Row is a poverty stricken district on the waterfront of Charleston, South Carolina. It is home to Bess, whose pimp, Crown, abandons her after killing a man in a gambling dispute. Bess finds shelter with Porgy, a crippled beggar who strives to protect her from Crown and the drug dealing Sportin’ Life. The famous arias that portray the facets of life on Catfish Row have become classics: a wake (“My man’s gone now”), a lullaby (“Summertime”), spirituals, worksongs, prayers and celebrations (“I got plenty o’ nuttin”).
Originally conceived as an "American folk opera," it was first performed in concert in the fall of 1935 and subsequently opened in New York on October 10, 1935. The opera featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring and visionary artistic choice at the time. In 1942 a drastically shortened version of the piece premiered on Broadway, which placed the work in the pantheon of musical theater.
During the 1960s and early 1970s the work languished until, in 1976, the Houston Grand Opera unveiled a production based on the original score. In this light, it became clear that Porgy and Bess was indeed a serious opera - a groundbreaking synthesis of traditional orchestrations with American jazz and folk idioms. It remains the first great American opera.
The great South African baritone Fikile Mvinjelwa, whose successes include the title roles in Nabucco and Rigoletto, Scarpia, Amonasro and Germont, will sing the role of Porgy. Soprano Lisa Daltirus who has triumphed as Aïda in Philadelphia and debuted at Michigan Opera Theater as Tosca will sing the role of Bess. Maryland native Kishna Davis, who portrayed Sr. Rose in Dead Man Walking, returns to the Baltimore Opera Company as Serena. Baltimore’s own Norwood Robinson is the ill-fated Robbins.
| CAST | |
| Porgy | Fikile Mvinjelwa |
| Bess | Lisa Daltirus |
| Serena | Kishna Davis |
| Crown | Ashley Howard Wilkinson |
| Robbins | Norwood Robinson |
 Fikile Mvinjelwa |
 Lisa Daltirus |
 Kishna Davis |
 Ashley Howard Wilkinson |
 Norwood Robinson |