Porgy and Bess

Nathaniel Stampley, right, and Alicia Hall Moran embrace onstage as Porgy and Bess at the Ahmanson.   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Nathaniel Stampley, right, and Alicia Hall Moran as Porgy and Bess.   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Alicia Hall Moran and Nathaniel Stampley as Porgy and Bess.   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Kingsley Leggs, right, as Sporting Life, vies for the attention of Alicia Hall Moran’s Bess in “Porgy and Bess.”   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Nathaniel Stampley, left, and Alicia Hall Moran in “Porgy and Bess.”   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Danielle Lee Greaves as Mariah tries to comfort Denisha Ballew, playing Serena, following murder of her husband in “Porgy and Bess.”   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Alvin Crawford plays Crown, with Alicia Hall Moran as Bess.   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Nathaniel Stampley, left, stars as Porgy in “Porgy and Bess.”   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Kingsley Leggs cuts a figure as Sporting Life in “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.”   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

David Hughey, left, as Jake and Sumayya Ali, right, with baby, as Clara in “Porgy and Bess.”   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)