Porgy and Bess (1993) (TV)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Trevor Nunn

Writers:

DuBose Heyward (libretto)
DuBose Heyward (play)

Release Date:

6 October 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Music

Plot:

The story of a disabled beggar in Charleston,S.C. who falls in love with a prostitute, this is the first...

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Disability | Hurricane | American | Drugs

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Willard White	...	Porgy
Cynthia Haymon	...	Bess
Gregg Baker	...	Crown
Cynthia Clarey	...	Serena
Marietta Simpson	...	Maria
Damon Evans	...	Sportin' Life
Paula Ingram	...	Clara, and singing voice of Annie
Gordon Hawkins	...	Jake
Harolyn Blackwell	...	Clara (singing voice)
Bruce Hubbard	...	Jake (singing voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Steve Agyei	...	Dancer
Maureen Brathwaite	...	Lily
Barrington Coleman	...	Mingo
Colenton Freeman	...	Nelson / Crab Man
Yolanda Grant	...	Annie
Joshuez Harriott	...	Scipio
Camellia Johnson	...	Strawberry Woman
William B. Johnson	...	Frazier
Bruce Leader	...	Dancer
Wayne Marshall	...	Jasbo (piano player at honkytonk)
Ted Maynard	...	Mr. Archdale
Billy J. Mitchell	...	Coroner
Austris Paige	...	Undertaker
Linda Thompson	...	Neighbor
Alan Tilvern	...	Detective
Ron Travis	...	Policeman
Mervin Wallace	...	Peter
D. Alonzo Washington	...	Robbins
Curtis Watson	...	Jim
Johnny Worthy	...	Robbins (singing voice)

Also Known As:

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

184 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Bass-baritone Bruce Hubbard appeared as Jake in the Glyndebourne stage production on which this television production is based, but he died suddenly in 1991, so he was not able to appear in this film. Because the original recording of the Glyndeboune production was used, however (instead of having the cast make an all-new recording for the TV filming), Hubbard's singing voice is still heard as Jake, while Gordon Hawkins plays the role onscreen and lip-synchs to Hubbard's voice.

Quotes:

Serena: [singing] My man's gone now. / Ain't no use a-lis'nin' / For his tired footsteps / Climbin' up the stairs.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Porgy and Bess: An American Voice (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York

Too Many Transitions

This starts with what is now called the Black experience. From whatever the reality of that was, we (with the active help of bad blacks) have abstracted a highly romanticized notion, in the same manner we've burdened Native Americans.

From both the real and idealized emerged jazz, the real jazz. That was refined and incubated in the larger society to become the basis of American music. Out of that came Gershwin's music.

On that was built a stage show, an opera. From the opera was extended a TeeVee staging. And from that presentation, we are clearly intended to see the original layer, the real Black experience.

Well, that's a lot of translations, and few of them are done artfully and consciously. What we end up with is a jumble of visions, each coherent but chopped into discrete pits and served up as a stew.

You are forced to focus on any one level, be it the staging, the dive into the idealized society, the music, the performance, the images... The only way in my mind to get the best experience from Porgy is without images, because that's the only presentation that can be conceived and delivered as a coherent thing.

These images, this staging, these evocations of a society are rather clever and are interesting enough to keep your eye occupied. But they cannot engage your imagination.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.