Broadway News
What Did Critics Think of Porgy and Bess?
There's been a lot of hoopla surrounding the revised version of Porgy and Bess, which opened last night at Broadway's Richard Rogers Theatre, but the critics are in agreement that it was all for naught-despite its downsizing, the show remains surprisingly faithful to the original 1936 Gershwin opera. And today might be Friday the 13th, but it's anything but unlucky for the stars of Porgy and Bess-Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis, Phillip Boykin, David Alan Grier, and NaTasha Yvette Williams. They've all received rave reviews. Here's what the critics had to say:
Ben Brantley, of the New York Times:
"No matter what they're calling it these days - a musical, I believe - Porgy and Bess has suddenly risen to its natural heights as towering, emotion-saturated opera... Mr. Lewis, a Broadway veteran, combines modesty and dignity as the crippled Porgy. His singing voice is supple and smooth, and his "I Got Plenty of Nothing" is rendered with a charming nonchalance... It seems safe to predict that Ms. McDonald, a four-time Tony winner, will be in contention for all the prizes on offer this season. She should be. You don't need the scar that brands her cheek to tell this Bess is damaged goods (and all too aware of that status) and a woman who has always lived in defiance of the pain she is in. That's evident in her very posture, a mix of coiled defensiveness and thrusting exhibitionism, from the moment she sets foot onstage. And when she sings - ah, it's a God-touched voice that turns suffering and ugliness into beauty. No wonder the people of Catfish Row don't think she belongs among them. This Bess has the breath of divinity in a world that feels entirely too mundane to keep her."
Joe Dziemianowicz, of the New York Daily News:
"What makes this production special are its two leads and those enduring, joyous, jewel-toned numbers, like "Summertime" and "Leaving for the Promised Land." Audra McDonald has a thrilling singing voice, but her scarred Bess also showcases her powerful acting. The four-time Tony winner enters a star, but with a swish of her whorish red dress and a few words made slurry from happy dust and hooch, she becomes the desperate and, at times, ugly scarlet woman. Norm Lewis is her match in his relaxed and open-hearted portrait of Porgy, a man who's twisted like an old tree but transformed by Bess' love. His "I Got Plenty of Nothing" beams with a brightness. Chills rise when he's joined by McDonald on "Bess, You Is My Woman Now." A grinning David Alan Grier, as the dope-dealing Sporting Life, brings a sly twinkle to "It Ain't Necessarily So," while Phillip Boykin lends menace and his might to the thuggish Crown. Josh Henry and NaTasha Yvette Williams impress in small roles."
Elisabeth Vincentelli, of the New York Post:
"Aside from NaTasha Yvette Williams' bossy-but-motherly Mariah, [Crown (Phillip Boykin) and Sporting Life (David Alan Grier) are] the most compellingly fleshed-out characters in Paulus' surprisingly timid staging. Grier has a slightly menacing vaudevillian energy, while Boykin is a hulking threat and a gorgeous singer. His electric duet with McDonald, "What You Want With Bess?," is the only time the show grabs you by the throat... Lewis has a warm voice but lacks personality, and plays Porgy - lurching around with a cane instead of rolling on a goat cart - like the clichéd saintly cripple. There's no complexity to the man the original story described as an "inveterate gambler." As Bess, McDonald sings brilliantly - her soprano is a thing of crystalline beauty. But aside from a few flashes of energy, her natural elegance runs counter to Bess' grit, limiting the character to victimhood."
Photo credit: Sarah Krulwich/The New York Times
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