By , DuBose and , and A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO THE LOOK-IN Synopsis

Selected Act I – Catfish Row, South Carolina, 1950s Characters from It is evening in Catfish Row, an African-American crowded, waterfront and Bess section of town in Charleston, South Carolina. Jasbo Brown is playing the blues on the as people dance. Clara sings a lullaby (“Summertime”) to her baby while streetwise Sportin’ Life, Clara’s husband Jake, Mingo, Robbins, and some of the other men are gambling. Porgy, who is dis- abled, enters. The game gets heated as tensions rise a shopkeeper between losers and winners. Maria- (contralto) The big bully, Crown, kills Robbins, leaving his girl- friend, Bess, behind. Sportin’ Porgy- a disabled beggar (bass-) Life then asks Bess to go to New York with him, but she refuses. Helpless, Bess looks for a safe place to hide, but the religious women of Catfish Row close their doors to her. Only Porgy will give her shelter when the police arrive. The community raises money for Robbins’ funeral. Local resident Peter is arrested for killing Robbins. The undertaker con- soles Robbins’ wife, Serena, by promising to give Robbins a decent burial.

Sportin’ Life- the neigh- Act II – Catfish Row, one month later borhood hustler (tenor)

Bess- Crown’s girlfriend (soprano) Jake and the fisherman get ready to take Jake’s boat out. Clara begs her husband not to go. Porgy leans out his window singing “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’.” As the rest of Catfish Row gets ready for a picnic on Kittiwah Island, Sportin’ Life again tries to tempt Bess to go with him to New York. She refuses. Porgy warns him to stay away from Bess. Sportin’ Life leaves. Porgy sings “Bess, You Is My Woman.” Everyone is excit- Mingo- a Catfish Clara- Jake’s wife ed about the picnic. Porgy and Row resident (tenor) (soprano) Maria encourage Bess to go to the picnic. Unable to make the trip, Synopsis continued Composer

Porgy remains home, but is content with his newfound happiness with Bess. At the picnic, the Catfish Row community has a won- derful time. The Catfish Row residents are entertained by Sportin’ Life until Serena steps in. As everyone is leaving the island, Crown comes out of hiding to take Bess back. Bess fights with Crown and tells him that she is Porgy’s woman now. Unable to resist Crown, Bess misses the boat back to Catfish Row. A week later, Peter is released from jail, yet he never knows why he was arrested. Bess has returned home feverish from Kittiwah Island. Serena prays for her Courtesy of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts.Courtesy of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Used by permission. health. Bess wakes from her fever, talks with Porgy, George Gershwin at the piano, "putting the last note to and then expresses her love for him (“I Loves You, ," taken at George's apartment in New York, 1935. Porgy”). Porgy promises to protect her from Crown. The hurricane alarm bell sounds. George Gershwin (1898-1937) The community huddles in Serena’s room during the th storm. The door bursts open and Crown is standing in George Gershwin was born at the end of the 19 cen- th the doorway. The community prays to make Crown tury, during the term of William McKinley, the 25 leave. Jake’s boat turns upside down in the river. President of the . Born Jacob Gershowitz Clara hands her baby to Bess and rushes out into the in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898, George storm calling for Jake. Bess calls out for a man to go was the son of immigrants who came to the United after Clara. Crown says that Porgy is not a real man, States from St. Petersburg, Russia. When he was six since he cannot rescue Clara. Then, Crown goes out years old, George Gershwin was captivated by Anton into the storm. The other residents of Catfish Row Rubinstein’s Melodie in F, which he heard played on a pray for the storm to end. piano roll (an automatic piano) in a Harlem penny arcade (like today’s video arcades). At Public School Act III – Catfish Row, the next evening 25, he listened to fellow student Maxie Rosenzweig, It is the night after the hurricane. The residents of who was eight at the time, playing Antonín Dvorˇák’s Catfish Row sing a prayer for all those lost in the Humoresque on the violin. Gershwin would later talk storm—Clara, Jake, and Crown. As Crown sneaks back about this powerful moment: “It was, to me, a flashing to Catfish Row, Porgy catches him by surprise and kills revelation of beauty.” him. When George was 13, the Gershwin family purchased a The police detective wants Porgy to identify Crown’s secondhand piano for George’s older brother, Ira. At body. Porgy is arrested. Sportin’ Life tells age 15, George was offered a job in Broadway’s famed Bess that Porgy will be locked up for a “Tin Pan Alley” playing the piano to sell songs. By the long time and that she should begin a time George was 18, his first original song was pub- new life with him in New York (“There’s lished. In addition to Porgy and Bess, his most famous A Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New works include Rhapsody in Blue and the songs “’S York”). Bess is upset, but finally Wonderful” and “I Got Rhythm.” agrees to go to New York. Porgy and Bess opened in 1935 in New York and Porgy returns from jail. He does not to mixed reviews. Two years later, just weeks th understand why the people look so before his 39 birthday, George Gershwin passed sad. He calls for Bess but she does away in Hollywood, California, on July 11, 1937. not answer. Frantic, he cries out to her. Maria and Serena tell him that Bess was tricked by Sportin’ Life and ran off with him to New York. Porgy does not give up on Bess. He leaves for New York to find Bess (“Oh Lawd, I’m On My Way”). 2 Courtesy of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts. Used by permission.

(L to R) Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin, their younger brother Arthur Gershwin, and their cousin, Rose Lagowitz. A 1912 photograph, taken at Coney Island.

(L to R) George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward, and Ira Gershwin. 1935. Courtesy of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts.Courtesy of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Used by permission. Lyricist Librettists

Ira Gershwin (1896-1983) DuBose Heyward (1885-1940) and Dorothy Heyward (1890-1961) Born in New York’s Lower East Side on December 6, 1896 as Israel Gershowitz, Ira Gershwin started to On August 31, 1885, Heyward was born Edwin write lyrics while he was a student at Townsend Harris DuBose Heyward in Charleston, South Carolina. He High School in New York. In 1918, Ira began using a was the son of a mill hand from an upper class pen name, Arthur Frances, after the first name of his Southern family, once-wealthy plantation owners who youngest brother and the first name of his only sister. lost their money after the Civil War. DuBose attended Not until 1924, when the Gershwin brothers wrote the both private and public schools, but began working at musical, Lady, Be Good!, was Ira ready to create the the age of 14 in a hardware store. As a young man, long-standing collaboration with George and drop his DuBose also worked as a checker for a steamship com- pen name. pany alongside stevedores (people who load and Ira received many nominations of excellence from the unload ships, like Crown in Porgy and Bess). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Frequently sick as a child, DuBose contracted polio Oscars), and even received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama when he was 18. Always interested in literature, he for writing the musical comedy Of Thee I Sing in 1932. passed the time in his sickbed writing verses, stories, This was the first musical to ever win the Pulitzer and poetry. At 21, DuBose and a friend organized a Prize. The final project on which the Gershwin broth- real estate and insurance company. Once he had the ers worked together was Porgy and Bess. financial resources to support his writing, DuBose After the passing of his brother, Ira went on to collabo- started to pursue his writing more seriously. rate with more composers. Before his own death, Ira DuBose’s first major published work was Porgy created the Gershwin Archive at the Library of (1925), the book that inspired the opera. The Congress to preserve the Gershwin works. Ira Heywards’ stage adaptation of Porgy opened in 1927. Gershwin died in his Beverly Hills, California, home on Dorothy Heyward wrote other plays including South August 17, 1983. Pacific (1943), which later became a famous musical.

The First Porgy and Bess

George Gershwin knew that selecting the singers for Porgy and Bess would not be easy. His music required vocalists who had classical training, but were also comfortable singing jazz rhythms and tones. After having traveled nationwide to hear singers, Mr. Gershwin invited the opera singer, , to his apartment to audition for the role of Porgy. After Mr. Duncan sang just twelve bars of the Italian art song, “Lungi dal caro bene,” Gershwin asked him, “Will you be my Porgy?” That was it! George Gershwin found his Bess in Anne Wiggins Brown. For her audition, she sang the Negro spiritual, “A City from Heaven,” unaccompanied (without a Trusts.Courtesy of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Used by permission. piano). She was the first Bess in 1935, sang the role again in 1942, and per- Todd Duncan & . formed it in the 1945 movie about Gershwin’s life, Rhapsody in Blue. 3 Did you Know?

Both Todd Duncan and Anne Wiggins Brown lived right here in the nation’s capital! Born in Danville, Kentucky in 1903, Todd Duncan was already a famous bass-baritone (the middle male singing voice) and was teaching voice at in Washington, D.C. when Gershwin heard of him. In 1945, Duncan became the first African-American singer to perform at Opera. Born in 1915 to a wealthy family, Anne Wiggins Brown attended the Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore) and of Music (New York). It has been said that without Ms. Brown, Porgy and Bess might be known by its original name, Porgy. Anne Wiggins Brown was able to convince George to rewrite the third act so that she could sing “Summertime” (the character Clara also sings “Summertime” in act one) and to change the title of the opera to Porgy and Bess.

Lights! Camera! Action!

Well-known stars from the opera world and Hollywood have played the characters in Porgy and Bess both on stage and in the movie based on the opera, which came out in 1959.

All-around entertainer Opera singer and actor Singer, songwriter, First African-American to be who danced, sang, told from the popular 1970s- and bandleader nominated for the Academy jokes, and played many 1980s television show, known for his jazzy Award for Best Actress for musical instruments. The Jeffersons. scat vocal style. the film, Jones, which was inspired by the Bizet opera, Carmen.

Ruby (opera): Maya Angelou Porgy (film): Sidney Poitier Maria (film): Pearl Bailey

Bess (film): Dorothy Dandridge Sportin’ Life (film): Sammy Davis, Jr. Clara (film): International Diahann Carroll opera star.

Sportin’ Life (opera): Bess (opera): Sportin’Damon Life (opera): Evans Entertainer and United States Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations. 4 Let Every Voice Sing!

The singers in Porgy and Bess had performed on the finest concert stages around the world. Some even sang for kings and queens! Still, here in the United States, these talented artists were not allowed to sing in many concert halls and theaters just because of the color of their skin. There was a rule many years ago that was called a “white performers only policy.” This rule and others, such as

the signs next to drinking fountains or Trusts.Courtesy of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Used by permission. at restaurants that said, “For whites George Gershwin and the cast, opening night bows, at only,” supported a form of racial dis- the Alvin Theatre, New York, October 10, 1935. crimination called “segregation” (separation of African-American and white peo- ple in public places). George Gershwin thought this policy was unfair. As the Metropolitan Opera did not allow African-American artists to perform in its hall, he decided not to accept a special opportunity presented to him by the Met in 1930 to compose an opera, even though it was a great honor. Gershwin made this choice because he and his brother felt strongly that the cast of Porgy and Bess should be all African- American. George Gershwin was not the first composer to portray the African-American community in opera. In 1915, the well-known ragtime musician Scott Joplin wrote Treemonisha, an opera about an African-American community as it recov- Actor who was the ered from slavery. Joplin was forced to pay for all the opera’s expenses, so he first African- could not do a fully-staged production with costumes and orchestra. Many years American man to after he passed away, Treemonisha won the Pulitzer Prize. win an Academy Award for Best Actor.

First African- Brain Booster : American actress Can you connect the star with their accomplish- in television histo- ment? Ask a teacher, friend, or family member if you ry to star in her need help. Interview them to learn whether they can tell you own show. about the Porgy and Bess celebrities mentioned on the left. Prepare questions for them beforehand such as: “When did the star live?,” “What was the first movie you saw this person in?,” “Did you ever hear this singer live?” Then, write what they told Pulitzer Prize winning you in your journal or notebook and share their thoughts writer who was only the with your teacher and classmates. Please remem- second poet in U.S. ber to thank the people who helped you! History to be asked to write and recite an original work at a Presidential Inauguration. 5 So This is Jazz, Opera, Broadway, Folk, Blues and...!

George Gershwin was fascinated by different types of music and he liked mixing the styles up. To create an opera that would be truly American—a “melting pot” of cultures —he felt it was important to use music from many styles and influences: folk (blues, jubilees, praying songs, street cries, work songs, spirituals, gospel songs), popular (jazz, Broadway’s Tin Pan Alley theater music), and classical (instrumental and vocal, including operatic elements such as recitative, aria, and leitmotifs).

America, the Proud and Beautiful

Porgy and Bess is considered by many people to be “The Great American Opera” because Gershwin expressed in this work important elements of American life and people. This opera has been compared with Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which represents the culture and traditions of Germany. Wagner once said of his opera, “There’s not just a chorus of mastersingers. Each one of them has a name, character, and all emerge as real people.” Porgy and Bess is considered truly American with real-life characters, in the same way that Boris Gudunov by Modest Mussorgsky is perceived as the opera of the Russian people. Many do consider Georges Bizet’s Carmen to be the quintessential Spanish opera, even though its composer was French.

“I consider Porgy and Bess the greatest of all American , setting the standard for all American musical theatre works to follow. It is rooted in American traditions; it conjures a world long forgotten yet one rife with potent contemporary stories. The aim of our production is to remain true to the spirit of the work, while bringing to it a more contemporary esthetic and interpretation.” -Francesca Zambello, the award-winning director of WNO’s Porgy and Bess

6 Gullah-A People Past and Present

DuBose Heyward’s novel, Porgy, was based on a real-life man from South Carolina— Samuel Smalls. Mr. Smalls’ nickname was “Goat Cart Sammy” because he was unable to stand up and had to travel in a goat-drawn cart. Goat Cart Sammy became the character of Porgy in Porgy and Bess. Goat Cart Sammy’s family roots came from the Gullah peo- ple. The characters in Porgy and Bess who live in Catfish Row represent the Gullah tradi- tions. The Gullahs have been in the United States for many generations (since the late 1600s). Originally, the Gullah people who settled in the Sea Islands off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida were from Senegal, Sierra Leone, and the coast of West Africa. Entire villages of the Gullah were forced to leave their traditional lands and families. They were enslaved and cruelly brought to America, but arrived with their own unique beliefs, foods, skills, folktales (such as Br’er Rabbit), and language. The traditions of the Gullah people are very much alive today such as their sewing of sweet grass baskets (see below) and customs surrounding life on the coasts and near fishing docks.

A basketmaker from the early

20th century. Courtesy of Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston

7 Washington National Opera

Founded in 1956, Washington National Opera is recog- nized today as one of the leading opera companies in the United States. Under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo,Washington National Opera continues to build on its rich history by offering productions of consis- tently high artistic standards and balancing popular grand EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY opera with new or less frequently performed works. PROGRAMS ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF As part of the Center for Education and Training at THESE FUNDERS: Washington National Opera, Education and Community as of September 1, 2005 Programs provides a wide array of programs to serve a diverse local and national audience of all ages. $50,000 and above Mr. and Mrs. John Pohanka Our school-based programs offer students the opportunity $25,000 and above to experience opera first hand -- through in-depth yearlong Bank of America school partnerships, the acclaimed Opera Look-In and the Prince Charitable Trust District of Columbia Public Schools Partnership (for ele-

$10,000 and above mentary schools) and the Student Dress Rehearsal (for Dominion high schools) programs. Opera novices and aficionados alike Mr. and Mrs. Ken Feinberg have the opportunity to learn about WNO’s 50th anniversary Jacob & Charlotte Lehrman Foundation season through the Opera Insights series, presented The Washington Post Company throughout the season on the Kennedy Center Millennium $5,000 and above Stage. All Insights are free, open to the public, and archived The Honorable Max N. Berry and Mrs. Berry on the WNO website. Outreach to the greater Washington, Mr. and Mrs. Melvin S. Cohen International Humanities D.C. community is achieved through our numerous public Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Rotberg Library Programs, as well as through the Family Look-In. TJX Foundation For more information on the programs offered by $2,500 and above Washington National Opera, please visit our website at Mr. Walter Arnheim www.dc-opera.org. Clark-Winchcole Foundation The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Target Stores The K.P. and Phoebe Tsolainos Foundation

$1,000 and above CREDITS Paul and Annetta Himmelfarb Foundation Horowitz Family Foundation Researcher and Writer: Adina Williams George Wasserman Family Foundation, Inc. Ms. Diane Wolf Graphic Design: LB Design Costume Renderings: Paul Tazewell, the award-winning costume designer of WNO’s Porgy and Bess Special thanks to the: Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts and Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston

The Official Airline of Washington National Opera Some students at today's event are participating in the Arts for Every Student Program, an initiative of the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative.Washington National Opera is a member of the Collaborative.