Pasadena Pops Concert Explores Little-Charted Gershwin Territory

When you hear Gershwin in the great outdoors, you are usually restricted to overplayed concert works and song standards. Admittedly, there isn’t much room for exploration, given his limited output, but most programmers don’t bother to try.

Friday night at Descanso Gardens, Rachael Worby and the Pasadena Pops Orchestra did bother. Thus, the wonderfully snazzy “Cuban Overture”--in a shaky performance--the string orchestra version of the early “Lullaby,” “I Got Rhythm” variations--with a freewheeling John Novacek on piano--and a medley of Gershwin film tunes, served as appetizers for a 50-minute, semi-staged summary of “Porgy and Bess.”

As an effective linking device for the Robert Russell Bennett-arranged excerpts, director Michael Michetti invented a daughter for Bess (actress Virginia Capers), who told her granddaughter the family story. The leads were well-cast, with Wayne Sheppard as a vocally robust Porgy, Leberta Clark a somewhat piercing Bess, and Cedric Berry.

Unfortunately, the sound system turned the Pops into a tinny, electronic caricature, while boosting the singers too high. Ironically, the bad sound seemed to work to the film medley’s advantage, creating the illusion of a little potted-palm society band from the ‘30s.