The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess returns to the Met for the first time since 1990, in a new
production directed by James Robinson in his company debut. America’s “folk opera,” as the
1935 creators described it, tells the story 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 Schultz as his wife Clara, Latonia
Moore as the bereaved widow Serena, Frederick Ballentine as drug dealer Sportin’ Life, Alfred
Walker as the brutal stevedore Crown, and Denyce Graves as 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.
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