Porgy and Bess – London Coliseum

A scene from Porgy and Bess at the London Coliseum. Picture: Tristram Kenton 

Porgy and Bess continues at the London Coliseum until 17 November 2018.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

This co-production of Porgy and Bess (the Gershwins, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward), directed by James Robinson, is to be seen at the Dutch National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera New York in later seasons.

The ensemble of 40 singers, specially recruited from the UK, US, South Africa, Germany and New Zealand is elite casting. Voices in small cameo roles are excellent. Outstanding is South African Nozuko Teto as the Strawberry Woman selling her wares. The choral numbers, whether the entreaties to ‘Oh Doctor Jesus’ to save them from the storm or the raucous ‘I Ain’t Got No Shame’ are highlights of the evening.

Eric Greene is Porgy. Ditching the originally scripted goat cart, he wears a caliper as was usual for victims of polio, but is tall and commanding with an impressive voice. His opening aria, ‘They Pass by Singin’, is plaintive and moving.

Bess is Nicole Cabell. As expected from the winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World she has a voice of great beauty, though those used to hearing this role sung with a less veiled sound may find it overly operatic.

Their relationship seems rather brother/sister than a romantic one, he more of a protector, and sadly this carries through to their duet ‘Bess, You Is My Woman Now’. Sung flawlessly, it seems unconvincing.

Nmon Ford as Crown, Bess’ former lover to who she is sexually enthralled is gripping. Looking like a stevedore, with rippling muscles, his voice is thrilling and soars. Having killed Robbins, he takes refuge on Kittiwah Island and at the picnic reveals himself to Bess.

Their duet, ‘What You Want Wid Bess’, blazes with raw passion as foregoing Porgy she succumbs to Crown’s sexual advances. Latonia Moore as Serena gives us ‘My Man’s Gone Now’ with all the power that befits a singer who sings Aida. It brings the first round of applause, which sets the tone for this appreciation of numbers as in a musical, less frequently seen in the opera house.

Sporting Life is Frederick Ballantine and he somehow misses the underlying menace of the role. He sings his two big numbers well enough, but, perhaps at an attempt to deconstruct the song, ‘There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New York’ is taken at such a slow pace, it loses its swing completely.

Jake and Clara are played well by Donovan Singletary and Nadine Benjamin. The latter opens the show with a beautifully sung ‘Summertime’.

There is one other standout performance. Tichina Vaughn as Maria. Whether tirading at Sporting Life in her rap number, while gutting a large rubber swordfish, or singing more conventionally with emotion, she is compelling. Her truthful acting adds to her impact.

Sadly, for this reviewer, the production is flat and dull. A very elegant set conjures nothing of the poverty of Catfish Row and the costumes seem to be out of some MGM musical from the 1950s, all pristine and colourful. A bit of dirt wouldn’t go amiss. It all seems a bit twee and nice, other than the Crown/Bess duet. One looks on rather than being involved.

The chorus has to resort to carrying out domestic chores to frame the goings-on front stage until they seize the opportunity to let go in the gospel numbers. It’s all desperately old-fashioned, perhaps aimed at the notoriously conservative audiences of the Metropolitan Opera. There are cuts too, we lose the ‘Buzzard Keep On Flyin’ song and Jazzbo Brown’s solo piano at the opening.

Whether it’s the inability of the ENO Orchestra to swing this score, or whether it is the conducting of John Wilson, musically it also feels flat.

Since its first performances in 1935, it has been performed in many different versions, either as an opera or as a musical with dialogue spoken rather than sung. Ditto the singers, some from more of a musical rather than an opera background.

Audra McDonald won a Tony for her Bess in the musical version on Broadway. Musical theatre audiences who may be familiar with the well-known numbers from performances by non-operatic singers may find it all a bit square. I kept longing for the band from An American in Paris at the Dominion to be playing this score.

Overall a long dull evening enlivened by superb singing and some standout performances. One had expected rather more from the ENO.

Leon Ferguson