HGO marks the 50th anniversary of its “Porgy and Bess” with a grand and red-blooded revival
Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess is such a fixture in today’s opera world that it may be hard for some operagoers to imagine that this wasn’t always necessarily so.
For decades, many opera mavens wrung their hands over whether Porgy—which premiered on Broadway—was an opera or a musical. Performances of it were generally left to the likes of theatrical road companies that staged it in severely cut versions.
Houston Grand Opera helped change that in 1976, when it celebrated the United States’ bicentennial by reviving Porgy on a grand-opera scale, with Gershwin’s multifaceted score virtually complete. HGO’s production went on to Broadway, where it won a Tony award, and an RCA recording of it landed a Grammy. Other opera companies gradually came around.
HGO looked toward the 50th anniversary of its production by opening its season with Porgy Friday night at the Wortham Theater Center.
In a tip of the hat to 1976, HGO brought back that cast’s Porgy, baritone Donnie Ray Albert, in the cameo role of Lawyer Frazier. Never mind the passing of time: Albert boasts a voice that’s still lively and colorful, and he easily put over the shyster’s slyness and fake bonhomie. His scene was a miniature master class in the singing actor’s art.
The principals sometimes matched him at that, sometimes less so. But they all had red-blooded voices that readily encompassed the larger-than-life emotions that burst from Gershwin’s score.
Playing the kindly Sharpless in Madama Butterfly for HGO in 2024, bass-baritone Michael Sumuel brought the role a heftier voice than it sometimes receives, with deep, commanding tones welling up from his Porgy. From the start, they helped establish that Porgy—who relied on a crutch to walk, as one leg dragged behind him—had an inner strength of his own. (Sumuel’s sturdy build hinted at Porgy’s physical power, which would eventually defeat his rival Crown.)
Yet Sumuel’s Porgy was most compelling when he didn’t sing at full throttle. His “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” was buoyant and jovial, exuding Porgy’s optimism. Sumuel gave the “Buzzard Song” a baleful gravity. And in the last scene, when everybody but Porgy knew that Bess had run off while he was in jail, Sumuel’s tenderness as Porgy displayed the gifts he had bought her filled the moments with pathos.
Soprano Angel Blue, who debuted with HGO in 2022 as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, returned as the very different man-magnet, Bess. Blue’s voice sounded less plush than on that occasion and greater richness would have been welcome in “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” or “I Loves You Porgy.”
Nevertheless, marshalling the hefty tones of a soprano who has portrayed Verdi’s Aida, she still brought Bess’ music ardor and intensity galore. When Bess led the way in the rousing “The Train Is at The Station,” Blue threw in gospel-style melismas that vaulted aloft. Her “I Loves You Porgy” poured out in broad, grand phrases. And whenever Bess was beset by the story’s temptations and confrontations, Blue filled her outcries with almost wailing abandon.
Between his burly build and big, sonorous voice, Blake Denson soon established the menace of Crown, Porgy’s rival for Bess. At times, his booming tone seemed overdone, the stuff of stereotypical crank-out-the-sound opera singing rather than an expression of Crown’s ferocity. But then the aggressive edge would come through again. And Denson let loose with a brash, in-your-face rendition of “A Red-Headed Woman.”
The mechanics of singing never got in the way of tenor Demetrious Sampson Jr., who played the “happy dust” vendor Sportin’ Life. Sampson’s voice rang out like a trumpet in the drug dealer’s flashiest moments, from the scat-singing refrain of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” to the high-life anthem “There’s a Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New York.” Sampson gave the role just enough oiliness, humor and cynical bite. And he cut just as colorful a figure theatrically, dancing and prancing as Sportin’ Life’s mischief unfolded.
As Sportin’ Life’s nemesis, the iron-willed Maria, contralto La’Shelle Q. Allen fired back at him with a voice like a punch in the face.
Among the opera’s other vivid roles: As Clara, whose “Summertime” helps launch the story, soprano Raven McMillon contributed some of the evening’s gentler, more lyrical moments. Soprano Latonia Moore filled “My Man’s Gone Now,” Serena’s lament for her slain husband, with from-the-gut intensity.
Baritone Justin Austin, as the fisherman Jake, brought vibrancy and gusto to “It Takes a Long Pull to Get There.” In the Crab Man vignette, tenor Kameron Alston gave Sampson a run for his money when it came to clarion tones. And actor Chris Hury gave a sneering pomposity to the speaking role of the Detective.
The HGO Orchestra, conducted by James Gaffigan, embraced the delicacy of Gershwin’s peaceful moments—such as “Summertime”—as readily as the snappiness of the cheerful numbers, the warmth of the lyricism and the drive and ferocity of the hurricane scene. The likes of a high-spirited clarinet riff accompanying Sportin’ Life enhanced the score’s vividness. And the HGO Ensemble sang with vigor, although shaky intonation skewed some of the chorus’ most intricate moments.
Stage director Francesco Zambello’s production moved quickly and captured the story’s violence unabashedly: The climactic Porgy-Crown bout, for instance, began with Porgy chomping into Crown’s thigh, then turned into a tumbling, rolling battle for control of a knife.
Designer Peter J. Davison’s Catfish Row drew on the corrugated-metal look of a dilapidated warehouse, evoking the toil of the story’s laborers and fisherman. During the hurricane, the set’s falling panels made the turmoil all the more visceral.
Along the way, the production trimmed various bits of Gershwin’s score to judge by the recording, in 1976. The opening Jasbo Brown piano blues were gone, as was the character of Mr. Archdale, who berates Frazier for his scam. But those aren’t essential to the story. Now that Porgy has earned its place in the opera house, there is room to be flexible with this American classic.
Porgy and Bess runs through Nov. 15. houstongrandopera.org
One Response to “HGO marks the 50th anniversary of its “Porgy and Bess” with a grand and red-blooded revival”
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Posted Oct 31, 2025 at 9:10 am by Charles Tittsworth
What a glorious production, and what a fine review that covered all aspects of the evening. HGO again proves itself to be a world class opera company.