Porgy & Bess & Tosca & La Traviata: Gockley's Summer of Love 2009

January 11, 12:45 PMSF Opera ExaminerCindy Warner

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Love stories aren't just for one day like Valentine's Day.  Love takes the stage all summer 2009 starting with Porgy & Bess. Contrary to the opening song, the livin’ looks anything but easy.  A woman is a sometime thing, goes the lighthearted Gershwin tune that follows. Yet love takes many forms, what with men, children, a picnic, New York City, youth, muscles, steamy dancing and happy dust. Moreover women in classic opera usually have choices to make even though often women live only to love and die young.

For example, while Tosca, the next in the lineup for the summer of love, is a leaper, the lover suicides over innocence lost involve hari kari as in Madama Butterfly . . .

or with Gilda, after the curse of Count Monterone in Rigoletto . . .

Courtesans like Butterfly but who choose young lovers over their husband can also go by exile to a Louisiana swamp as Manon Lescaut . . .

or from heart sickness as in La Traviata.  An out and out gypsy though can be stabbed by pangs of jealousy manifested by a jilted lover as in Carmen . . .

Yet the poor can also die of poverty as with Mimi in La Boheme.  Even the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc, must die albeit gloriously at the stake . . .

Lucia di Lammermoor? 

Are women in classic opera martyrs all?

Which brings me to Bess.  Why is it she lives and why is it such a relief?  She’s American.  She lives in a later century.  She has to live because Porgy loves her.  She can wear that red dress like nobody's business.  Moreover, somehow Bess has the love of a selfless, humble, good and God loving man in Porgy. “I got plenty o nuttin’ and nuttin’s plenty for me” Porgy sings. Given the mortality rate of women in classic operas Porgy should enjoy it while it lasts. Bess ain’t no martyr though.

La donna e mobile.

But you just know things won’t go well for her as men have died in the wake of that red dress. Yet we love Bess and Porgy because they love each other. They accept the whole package without judgment, they see each other as home. That’s what a gentleman is, somebody who protects and comforts and inspires the same in return. These two have good souls though one suffers from physical weakness and the other from weakness of character when it comes to men and happy dust. A weakness for the Sportin’ Life, the rattlesnake.

I watched the EMI version on an old videotape last night, the 1993 set with Willard White as a hearty Porgy, Cynthia Haymon as Bess and Gregg Baker as Crown. Shepperton Studios in London recorded it in November and December of 1992 with the London Philharmonic.  The 1959 film with Sidney Poitier won an Oscar.  Sammy Davis Jr. played Sportin' Life.  Yet it’s David Gockley’s 1970s version in Houston that won many awards and I’m so excited about seeing his production in June.

Womenfolk:  It's the very same Gregg Baker who comes to San Francisco in June.  The virility palpable, the steam intoxicating, spellbinding.  He's magnificent and this alone worth the price of admission.  He's been Crown for many years, considering the English film was sixteen years ago.  Conveying physical power and force of will he ranks with Greer Grimsley and so shall we try to remember ladies, thou shalt not lust?  On that note.  Here is a photo Greer let me take with him outside his dressing room when he played Count Monterone.  It was my first time on the San Francisco Opera stage so you can imagine how thrilled I still am. 

I also hope to see my friends Morgan Jones and her son Myles super in this as mother and son. Mr. Myles, fourteen stands taller than his elegant mother yet he’s getting a Christian upbringing besides his Aikido, trumpet, acting and ballroom dance lessons.

Headlining, according to the press release from the opera:

American bass-baritone Eric Owens and 2002 Merola Opera Program alumna Laquita Mitchell, both make their role debuts as Porgy and Bess, an unlikely couple who manage to find love amidst the squalor of Catfish Row. Owens’ previous appearances at San Francisco Opera include Lodovico in Otello, Don Fernando in Fidelio, and most recently as the King of Scotland in Ariodante. He also created the role of General Leslie Groves in the world premiere of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, a role he consequently sang at Netherlands Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Opera. Soprano Laquita Mitchell makes her San Francisco Opera mainstage debut with this production. This season, she also makes her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Clara in Porgy and Bess, a role she has previously sung at Los Angeles Opera and Washington National Opera and will reprise this summer on the Opéra Comique European tour.

Baritone Gregg Baker sings the role of Bess’ womanizing, gambling boyfriend Crown, a role he has also sung to great acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera and at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Former Adler Fellow Karen Slack, who has recently appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Lyric Opera of Kansas, returns to San Francisco Opera in her role debut as Serena, a widow mourning the loss of her late husband. The colorful drug-dealing pimp role of Sportin’ Life, is sung by tenor Chauncey Parker, who has garnered rave reviews for his portrayal of the role in performances with Atlanta Opera, Opera Pacific, Tulsa Opera, and the Nashville Symphony. Baritone Eric Greene is a fisherman named Jake, a role he also performs this season at Lyric Opera Chicago, Baltimore Opera and the Grand Théâtre Luxembourg; soprano Angel Blue makes her role debut as his cautious wife Clara, who attempts to soothe their baby with the memorable lullaby “Summertime.” Mezzo-soprano Alteouise deVaughn sings the role of Bess’s spunky friend Maria.

Next I will be chatting about Porgy & Bess with the opera's own Fred Matthews, who I had the joy of being on stage with in Rigoletto during the carnival party.  As the opera posts,  

Baritone

Baritone Frederick Matthews has been a member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus since 1983. This native North Carolinian has appeared in a variety of solo roles on the main stage being praised by audiences and critics alike. International recognition came while on tour singing the role of "Jake" in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess when it was reported that he "projected evenly balanced singing and left an exquisite stage impression." (Neue Presse - Augsburg, Germany) . . .

 For more info: www.SFOpera.com

Photos courtesy of San Francisco Opera except for Greer Grimsley, included with his permission.