And that doesn’t even begin to list the stellar house debuts.Ĭredit the lead performers, but a substantial amount of the force of the performance came from the African-American chorus assembled by the Met for this production-not just their vibrant singing but the direction from producer James Robinson and the choreography for them and a small set of dancers, created by Camille A. That means bass-baritone Eric Owens and soprano Angel Blue in the leads, with the supporting characters sung by bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, sopranos Latonia Moore and Golda Schultz, and mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. The house has the luxury of casting the very best singers, and for Porgy and Bess that means the very best African-American opera performers, who are indeed among the finest on the scene. Monday’s opening night performance had more dynamic energy, more direct human communication, and possibly more fine singing than one has seen at the Met over the last several seasons. And based on the excited responses from the audience during the performance, and the rapturous applause and shouts at the end-from the kind of patron mix one sees in everyday life in New York City but rarely in a classical music venue-the work has gone quite a ways toward settling the latter in a heartening and beneficent way. The debut of a new production of Porgy and Bess, which opened the season at the Metropolitan Opera Monday night could leave no objective listener with any doubt as to the answer to the first question. Since its debut, Porgy and Bess has been consistently hectored by two questions: is it an opera and is it some combination of condescension and racial exploitation (lately termed cultural appropriation)? Eric Owens and Angel Blue star in the title roles of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |