OPERA REVIEW : A New ‘Porgy’ That’s Louder Than Life

The Houston Grand Opera has come up with a lavish, generally thoughtful new staging of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” the second Texas version of this maligned masterpiece since the epochal entry of 1976. That, of course, is good news.

This “Porgy” is being presented around the country (and, later, in Japan) in association with eight other opera companies plus the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The production opened at the San Diego Opera Wednesday. It comes to Los Angeles and Costa Mesa in June.

The impact of Hope Clarke’s much publicized direction, John DeMain’s seasoned conducting and the hard-working, well-chosen ensemble will be discussed in a moment. First a warning and a disclaimer:

This opera is amplified. Repeat: amplified.

The voices--and instruments, too--have been souped up, louder than life, with microphones. Even though everyone pretends that this is a legitimate, authentic, operatic presentation, and even though the cast consists of legitimate, authentic, operatic voices, this “Porgy” demeans the performers, insults the composer and assaults the listener with loudspeakers.

“The work had a Broadway stench to it,” said David Gockley, head of the Houston Grand Opera, in an ironic Times interview on Sunday. “Over 40 years it had devolved into a musical, and then it was further adapted for a movie version.” A key player two decades ago in the movement to restore Gershwin’s original operatic intentions, Gockley can take credit for banishing much of the glitz from “Porgy.” And yet he condones phony sonics.

“Porgy,” writes Ian D. Campbell, general director of the San Diego Opera in the house program, “has only recently been accepted as a true opera (rather than a Broadway show of exceptional quality).” When asked on Tuesday about the microphones, however, he offered odd excuses: This is a “road package,” and it appeals to an audience that expects “a Broadway-type sound.”

To this we’ve come.

Next, no doubt, Alfredo Kraus and Kathleen Battle will sing Tristan and Isolde. Who cares if the actual tones are tiny. . . .

Under the circumstances, it is impossible to make valid judgments regarding the size and quality of the voices in this “Porgy.” Most of the men wear body mikes on their shirts. Poor Bess hides hers in her hair, and a wire dangles down her neck into the back of her blouse. The sound isn’t exactly raucous, not all the time, anyway, but it certainly isn’t natural. (Steven Canyon Kennedy, the man who blasted “The Who’s Tommy” at us, is credited prominently as “sound designer.”)

Technology, in this case, masks art. Or defeats it. Ah, progress.

Ironically, there isn’t much wrong with this “Porgy and Bess” that wouldn’t be fixed by plug-pulling.

Hope Clarke, the first African American to stage a major production of Gershwin’s opera, made a lot of fuss in numerous articles about some revisionist ideas. She said she wanted to avoid stereotypes, lend new dignity to the residents of Catfish Row and stress some tribal roots.

As things have turned out, however, her “Porgy” doesn’t look drastically different from the excellent version directed 19 years ago by Jack O’Brien. Clarke had promised that Porgy, identified in the libretto as a “crippled beggar,” would give wood carvings to those who offered him money, but we saw no such carvings (and didn’t much care).

On the other hand, we did see graceful movement, effective stage pictures and nicely motivated action (including a mock-raunchy delineation of Crown’s seduction of Bess on Kittiwah Island). We also saw self-conscious group choreography that sometimes contradicted the naturalism of the narrative, and some of the big songs were treated as show-biz production numbers. Catfish Row verismo be damned.

Clarke’s most drastic innovation seemed to be the deletion of Porgy’s trusty goat. The hero now propels himself for long-distance excursions on wheels (“Bring my cart,” he now cries at climax time). In more intimate moments he walks with a crutch, borrowed no doubt from Trevor Nunn. It’s nice to see him upright, but, given his new-found mobility, one wonders why he didn’t join Bess for the island picnic--and thus make the disastrous return of Crown irrelevant.

The new sets, designed by Kenneth Foy, define the waterfront locales aptly and with sufficient flexibility to play the sprawling three-hour opus in two taut acts. Judy Dearing’s period costumes suggest a happy, delicate compromise between realistic poverty and stagy elegance.

John DeMain, long a “Porgy” specialist, conducted a local orchestra on Wednesday with plenty of splash for the extrovert climaxes, balanced by plenty of sensitivity for the reflective passages.

The opening-night cast introduced Alvy Powell as a burly, dark-toned, sympathetic Porgy in the tradition of William Warfield, partnering Marquita Lister as a tough, poignant Bess who never made the mistake of confusing earthiness with glamour. Lester Lynch made Crown more bully than macho magnet.

Luvenia Garner brought matriarchal pride to the soaring plaints of Serena, and managed the glissandos of “My Man’s Gone Now” with heart-rending point. Kimberly Jones was all sweetness and light as Clara, but the sweetness never cloyed.

Larry Fuller, the only holdover from the Houston casts of ’76 and ‘87, proved that suave understatement still works best in the projection of Sportin’ Life’s disarming sleaze. Ann Duquesnay sang the music of Maria--including the restored “Struttin’ Style” rap--with a chesty torch-song contralto.

A lapse or two notwithstanding, this performance bore signs of propulsive energy and enlightened sensitivity. “Porgy” deserves nothing less. Unfortunately, the amplification came perilously close to making it plenty of nothing.

* “Porgy and Bess,” presented at the San Diego Civic Theatre , 202 C St . (with alternate principals). Performances tonight at 8, Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets $20-$90. (619) 236-6510. The production plays at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion June 7-18, (213) 972-7211, and Orange County Performing Arts Center June 21-25. (714) 556-2787.