Reading Questions for
Porgy and Bess
(NOTE: The reading questions assume that you have not only
watched the production of the opera, but that you have also read the Grove
Music Online and Britannica biographies of Gershwin and that you have read the New York Times articles that you’ve been
asked to locate for the library discovery task.)
- What
language do you think George Gershwin (Jacob Gershvin) spoke at home when
he was growing up?
- What
was the relationship of George Gershwin to his brother Ira?
- Make a
list of the different sorts of musical influences to which Gershwin was
exposed and the types of music he created.
- Can
you relate those musical influences to the music in Porgy and Bess? What kinds of music did he compose before Porgy and Bess and how what traces
of his background as a composer can you find in the opera?
- Who
was Paul Whiteman and what was his relationship to Gershwin?
- What
song made Gershwin rich? Can you find a performance of it on YouTube?
- Why
did Gershwin call Porgy and Bess
a “folk opera”?
- How
does Brooks Atkinson establish his ethos in his review of Porgy and Bess?
- In his
review, Olin Downes makes reference to Isolde and Hans Sachs. Who are
these people? What does inclusion of these names in Downes’ review say
about who he thinks his audience is?
- When
Downes writes about the “instinct of Negroes to dance,” do you think this
is racist?
- Why
does Porgy kill Crown?
- Why
does Bess leave Catfish Row with Sportin’ Life?
- Here’s
a role-playing exercise that will make you think critically about the
opera:
You are part of a UCI arts review
board that determines what shows will be produced each year by the School of Fine Arts. The music department has
proposed a revival of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. An anti-racist student
organization on campus is protesting vigorously against the proposal. Its
members maintain that the opera is demeaning to African Americans and that if
the music department is going to put on a theatrical piece about African
Americans, it should draw on the rich repertory of works that African American
composers and librettists have produced. Another student organization is
arguing with equal passion that Gershwin’s opera is not racist. It is an
American classic. If it is produced at UCI, many students will have the
opportunity to hear wonderful music performed by highly talented African
American voice students. It would be a tragedy to deny these African American
students the opportunity to perform in this work of art. It is your task to
prepare a five page memo presenting and defending your position in this
controversy. Should Porgy and Bess be performed at UCI?
- Gershwin
specified in his will that with the exception of a few white
characters—who have no singing parts—the cast for Porgy and Bess should consist only of African Americans. If
you were producing a revival today, would you want to propose a
“color-blind casting”? Why? Why not?
- When
you watch the production video, once again, put yourself in the position
of the director. What choices might you make differently? For example, in
some productions, the picnic on Kitiwah
Island (Act II,
Scene 2), the costumes were much sexier, the dancing more lascivious. And
what of the end of that Scene? Are we seeing a rape? A seduction?
Consensual sex between Bess and Crown? How would you dress Bess? Would you
put her through the same costume changes? These are just some suggestions
of where you might think about the choices Trevor Nunn, the director has
made.