Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-08-06

SANAAASSA
historic moments and sharing it,
emotional richness were President
Harry S. Truman, a company
that rose supremely to the occa-
sion, and community that regis
tered its delight with an ovation
at curtains fall. In its own-the
first of half a dozen Western
capitals it will play within the
next few months-the company
must have found the inspiration
that will make its European tour
the triumph it deserves to be.
There can be little doubt that
this is the greatest "Porgy and
BeSs." Dramatically and musically
the opera is at last fully realized
A classic love has come from Cat
fish Row, Of all places: Tristram
and Isolde from the lower depths
emerging in the performances OF
William Warfield, Cab Galloway
Leontine Price. Helen Thigpen
and many others.
For this revival Of "Porgy and
Bess," every one is indebted to
Blevins Davis and Robert Breen, q
pair of producers whose sense of
timing is the more a miracle in
times so askew.
4 y y y
What one finally most appreci-
ates in this, the third edition of
the Hayward ershwin MASTER
peace. is its power. It is at last the
perfect blend of drama and music.
an almost celestial1y sung slice
from the bottom of life.
In the passionate love story of
a goat-cart beggar for the beauti-
full bad woman of Catfish Row in
Charleston, S. c., it reveals the
wild. throbbing life Of a Negro
community. Love is no private
affair in the case of Porgy and
Bess. It is a ghetto shaking ex-
perience. Every human atom in
the cluttered area shares it, down
to the youngest infant-in-arms.
One understands .now how the
impact of it could have fired
Gershwin to write in the Negroes
idiom his GROWING musical work.
It has taken time for this to be-
come clear, but it is time that is
finally paying incalculable divi-
dends.
All of GerShwin's "Porgy and
BesS" music-"Summertime," 1T
Amt Necessarily &c." 81 Got
Plenty O'Nuttin," "Bess. You Is
My Woman Now" and the others
are back in context here. This
is where they belong, a point.
Breen has underscored in directing
the opera by gathering an ex-
traordinary collection Of voices. .
His singers are magnificent and
he has made actors out Of them.
This is their music and he has
wisely left it to them to find and
reveal its moods and meanings.
Whatever life has done to these
people in "Porgy and Bess," it has
not robbed them of their childlike-
ness. They are susceptible to
lightning shifts of mood, from love
to hate, gayety to anguish, gentle
ness to savage passion, ecstacy to
terror.
All Of these are captured in
Gershwin's endlessly fascinating
music. from the exalted lullaby,
Summertime" which opens the
evening Of the fatal crap game to
Porgy's I'm on My Way" which
drops the curtain on his quest for
his lost Bess.
The center of the enormous au-
thority Of this "Porgy and Bess"
is in the performance Of William
Warfield. His acting catches every
infection of the character of the
humble cripple who could love so
desperately and his singing is q
miracle. There is spectacular
power in Warfleld's baritone, and
he knows every trick of using it
masterfully. Il Got Plenty o.
Muffin" "Bess You Is My Woman
Now" "Buzzard," where's MY
Bess." are suddenly his songs no
matter how many baritones have
sung them before him.
His is the Porgy that will be
remembered now and this is as it
should be.
A brilliantly matching perform
Ance is created by Miss Price as
the pathetic Bess who could re-
spond as vehemently to evil as to
good. She duets with Warfield.
especially Il Loves You Porgy,"
are never-to-be-forgotten expert
enceS.
The endlesSly delightful per-
former Of the production is Cab
Galloway. The story is that he
was visualized by Gershwin and
Hayward as their Sportin' Life in
the original cast back in 1885. Cal
loway was too busy elsewhere then,
but obviously he always has been
the perfect performer for the role
II 1t We're possible for "Porgy and
BeSs" to stop. which it is not, Cal
!oWay's every song would be a
show-stopper. He is wonderful in
1t Amt Necessarily So," a new
song. I Amt Got No Shame" and
in everything else he does as the
gaudy. amoral playboy of Catfish
Row.
These are the dominant char
acters in the cast, but there are
ever so many others. among them
Miss Helen Thigpen as Serena:
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