Classical Music Ping
Sacrilege!
No one should mess with Gershwin.
I’d like them to stage a new production of “The Emporer Jones” starring Barack Obama.
Broadway just doesn’t come up with a lot of new ideas anymore.
Making a musical of “Porgy and Bess” seems to continue the trend of turning operas into musicals, i.e., “Rent” and “Miss Saigon.”
Then again, perhaps doing this would educate younger audiences on the beauty of George Gershwin’s music. They sure aren’t learning things like that in public schools anymore.
What the creators of this foul dreck are saying is, “Hey, we’re too stupid to create works of our own, and we’re too greedy and impatient to make careers for ourselves, so we’ll take a work of art created by someone else, tinker with it, and then put our name on it.”
It’s something that’s become very popular with the NOW generation of Baby Boomers and others who are too mediocre to make their own way; we see this kind of crap coming out of Hollywood, too - Steve Martin’s “Bilko” comes immediately to mind.
Oh boy! After this maybe they can punch up Rhapsody in Blue with some awesome synthesizers! /s
While these idiots are at it, why don’t they glue on arm to the statue of Aphrodite, put a mustache on the Mona Lisa and straighten the leaning tower of Pisa! What a bunch of ass-hats!!!
Mr. Sondheim is correct (although he made a grammatical error in his article LOL), and I agree with him wholeheartedly. George Gershwin was very particular about “Porgy and Bess”, and even left a stipulation in the licensing of this work that it is only to be performed by Black People. The possibilities of a production by White People in black-face singing in dialect is too heinous to even contemplate! :-0
if George was that concerned about the performance of the piece, than any tinkering with it would NOT meet with his approval.
An added note...The “New” Porgy and Bess sounds like it will give new meaning to “Send in the Clowns”.
New title: “Porgy and Jess.”
The problem with “established” classics is they’re also “widely available in multiple media” classics. If you want people to not stay home to watch the DVD or listen to the album then you need to give them a reason why the stage show is different (and hopefully better). It’s especially true for something like Porgy and Bess, the versions that are out on DVD are both REALLY good, it takes some effort to convince people your production is better than White or Poitier.
If you don't like the musical, don't do it. If you do like and want to change it, be honest about it. It's been done before.
Bravo, Mr. Sondheim!
Cab Calloway did a brilliant Sporting Life. He sang *his* version of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” on the Nat King Cole Show, which used to play in rerun on BET. Absolutely wonderful. And he was in his fifties at the time, and performed it vigorously and actively.
At worst--so what? It'll just die on the vine.
On the other hand, I can't help groaning at the thought of
Greer Garson strutting around in that horrible revision of Pride and Prejudice (Lady Catherine was a kindly old sweetheart who just wanted to make sure her dear nephew was really in love--that sort of thing)
or the various shouldabeenaborted movie versions of Moby Dick
or that horrible, politically correct verson of The Scarlet Letter
or the luducrous London musical version of Gone with the Wind (they got it mixed up with Uncle Tom's Cabin).
As for sitting through long productions--anybody ever sat through Die Götterdämmerung???
The comments of the people who are planning this are not encouraging.
Is it going to be colorized?
As a lifetime Gershwin affectionado, I abhore the idea of a “new” version of PORGY. Nothing is wrong with PORGY AND BESS, the music is glorious..so, why change it?
The Houston Grand Opera theatrical production of PORGY, (1976) was the finest production of PORGY done up to that time, simply because no other previous production was as complete. The producers restored songs and scenes that Gershwin cut from the original 1935 stage production simply to make the production “tighter”.
The Houston Grand Opera’s production was AMAZING..I saw this production three times in the ‘70’s; and still revel in the music on the soundtrack album. I’m sorry that this production was never filmed or videotaped.
I’ve since seen other productions of Porgy (most notably, the 2009 Dallas Opera Production, which was terrible, because the conductor had the temerity to RE-WRITE the orchestral arrangements, to make them easier to play and conduct. The end result was horrible.) The Houston Grand Opera’s production of PORGY AND BESS remains the definitive version, in my own opinion.
In the mid ‘90s, the Gershwin Estate approved a TELEVISION production of Porgy that was produced by the BBC, directed by Trevor Nunn, and conducted by Simon Rattle. Yes, it was made in the studio, rather than the stage, which I much prefer..BUT it is GERSHWIN..the music is magnificent..this production is better than having no other Porgy and Bess available on video.
Someone has actually POSTED this television version of
PORGY And Bess on Youtube..it’s divided into 5 parts (22 minutes each part)for YouTube. Here’s the link =
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVS3XEXOFGU
If you actually watch all 5 parts of this version of Porgy and Bess on YouTube, you’ll understand why so many of us love this marvelous Gershwin music.