MET SUMMER 2021 - The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

Director: James Robinson

By George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin

Conductor: David Robertson, Set Designer: Michael Yeargan, Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber, Lighting Designer: Donald Holder, Projection Designer: Luke Halls

Cast: Angel Blue (Bess), Golda Schultz (Clara), Latonia Moore (Serena), Denyce Graves (Maria), Frederick Ballentine (Sportin’Life), Eric Owens (Porgy), Alfred Walker (Crown), Donovan Singletary (Jake)

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess returns to the Met for the first time since 1990, in a new production directed by James Robinsonin his company debut. America’s “folk opera,” as the 1935 creators described it, tells thestory of disabled beggar Porgy, sung by Eric Owens, and his love for the drug-addicted Bess, portrayed by Angel Blue. David Robertson conducts a stellar cast that also includes Donovan Singletary as fisherman Jake, Golda Schultzas his wife Clara, Latonia Mooreas the bereaved widow Serena, Frederick Ballentine as drug dealer Sportin’ Life, Alfred Walkeras the brutal stevedore Crown, and Denyce Gravesas Maria, town matriarch and operator of the local cook-shop. Infused with the timeless melodies of the much-loved classics “Summertime,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin,”and “My Man’s Gone Now,” the new co-production with English National Opera and Dutch National Opera was hailed as a triumph at its premiere in London earlier this year.