Timeless tale The enduring hope of Porgy and Bess BY JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ

In 1925, a white insurance salesman, DuBose Heyward, wrote a novel (Porgy) about African-American life in Charleston, South Carolina. When composer George Gershwin read the novel in 1926, he knew immediately that he wanted to base an opera on its story of a crippled black man in a goat cart (Porgy) and the troubled woman whom he loves (Bess). Gershwin had grown up in Harlem and knew many African-American musicians. He and his brother Ira finally got together with Heyward in 1932, and Porgy and Bess premiered in Boston in September of 1935. Critics were divided about it because of its "songs" within an opera setting, but Gershwin defended it as "theater," and indeed it was a precursor of the Broadway musical. Not only did it tackle many social issues in a hard-hitting way — drugs, violence, murder, abuse, poverty, and racism — but it had a heart-tugging love story at its core.

The Houston Grand Opera launched a full-scale revival of Porgy and Bess in 1976, and director and performer Elizabeth Graham made her debut with that company in 1977. This week, she will come to Providence with the Peter Klein production of Porgy and Bess, sponsored by Opera Providence. Over the course of a long and illustrious career, Dr. Graham has toured opera houses from Genoa to Melbourne and sung with major orchestras around the country. She started directing this production in 1995, and currently heads the voice program at the University of Florida’s School of Music. I reached her on tour at a hotel in Kentucky.

Q: What are the complications and the benefits of being both director and performer?

A: I think It benefits the company because I’m there in case something happens. Sometimes, in the beginning of a tour, I’m more concerned with getting the show together, putting new people in, introducing the characters to the newer singers. And then I switch gears into my role as performer and hand over the daily notes and things to the stage manager.

Q: What makes Porgy and Bess relevant to audiences today, in contrast to those in the ’30s or even the ’70s?

A: I think the amazing thing about Porgy and Bess is that the story remains relevant all these years, because we’re still dealing with the same situations. It’s the human condition. We’re dealing with drugs in our community, with violence, with prejudice. So, no matter where you go in the world, people can relate to the story. And of course there’s the love story between Porgy and Bess — everybody loves a love story.

Q: In Providence, you’re going to do a performance before a student audience. How do students react?

A: They can relate to it, because these teenagers are being confronted with drugs every day. There’s always the conflict of boys fighting over girls and vice versa. And, at some time in their lives, I’m sure they’ve confronted people who didn’t like them for whatever reason. I think they’re kind of surprised that they can relate to it because opera sometimes scares off this new generation. But this is certainly one where they’ve heard the music. "Summertime" — everybody knows that tune in one form or another.

Q: What about the issue concerning violence to women?

A: I think the older audiences get it. They see Crown as a bad guy and Sportin’ Life as the drug-pusher and they see the exploitation of Bess. She’s the pivotal character between all these men who want her for one reason or another. I don’t know whether the students get that or not. They see Crown as the physical and bullyish kind of man. But I’m hoping that they get the point that Sportin’ Life is an even bigger menace to the community with drugs. The thing about it is that the audiences love him — they love that character because he’s so flashy and the tunes are so catchy. Every night I’m thinking, "But don’t you get it? He’s not a good person."

Q: How do you feel about portraying Bess’s conflicts?

A: I think she’s co-dependent. She loves Crown’s physical strength and he has money; he buys her nice things even though he pushes her around a bit. And she’s physically attracted to him. But Porgy’s good; he’s just good. She thinks, "With the life I’ve led, maybe I don’t deserve this happiness." I think that’s one of the traits of being abused: you don’t feel that you’re worthy of being happy. She’s a very conflicted character. It’s a great acting assignment as well as a very challenging singing role.

Q: Surely audiences today appreciate this opera so much more than when it first played in the ’30s.

A: You can understand, considering the time, 1935-36, there weren’t that many African-American classical singers. Certainly not in the opera houses in America. And then for Gershwin to write a piece and call it an opera, based on African-American life, you can imagine that it wouldn’t be received so well. And even the African-American community had reservations about it because it talked about things that we didn’t want to talk about: the drugs in the community, the violence, and the fact that we were very much intimidated by the law.

Q: What would you like audiences to take away from the production?

A: That despite all the things that happened in that community at that time, all the obstacles these people had to face, you still leave the theater with a sense of hope that Porgy will find Bess. That despite every obstacle, people can transcend their conditions and hope for something better. I think that’s what we all do in our lives.

Porgy and Bess will be performed on Sunday, October 19 at 7 p.m. the Providence Performing Arts Center. Call (401) 331-6060.