How is Trevor Nunn's PORGY & BESS?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 12:29pm

I'd really like to see the full opera and see that the Nunn production is on DVD. Is it worth buying?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 3:28pm

Abso-freakin'-lutely!!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 3:35pm

Ooh look. Footage of the cast of the Houston Grand Opera production, but on the set of a French television show.

http://www.ina.fr/divertissement/chansons/video/I07117039/larry-marshall-porgy-and-bess.fr.html

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 4:16pm

Doesn't the Metropolitan Opera have their production available on DVD? It was magnificent.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 4:23pm

I haven't seen Nunn's version, but if I'm remembering what I read on here correctly, it was another attempt to turn it into a "musical" instead of just doing the traditional version. That said, I have no idea of what quality it is, though people on here seemed to say that it suffered some of the same issues that the current revival/revisal did. I think it planned to go to Broadway but ended up scrapping those plans.

[vassey]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 4:35pm

There are two Trevor Nunn directed Porgy and Bess.

The first was done in the 1980s at Glyndebourne Opera case, and was later recorded on a soundstage, and is now on DVD. This was the full opera version.

The second was done in around 2006/7 at the Savoy Theatre in London, starring Clarke Peters, where Trevor reworked it into a conventional musical theatre form, with additional music/arrangeemnts by Gareth Valentine to fill the gaps, which IIRC was well received and Olivier dominated.

[porgyandbess2011]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 5:12pm

Disgustingly bad.

[Simon4]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 5:13pm

Yes, very much worth buying. The DVD is of the excellent Glyndebourne production, not the later West End version.

Updated On: 1/17/12 at 05:13 PM

[ChenoKahn]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 5:58pm

Ha! The only person saying bad things about this production is a huge "fan" of the current revival.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 6:21pm

Ah, so the production I was thinking about was not the one of DVD. It's interesting that some remember the production doing well, when I distinctly remember others on the board saying it crashed and burned. I think I read this around the time that the current production was at ART, which is why comparisons were being drawn.

[temms]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 6:26pm

Here's a sample: Cynthia Clarie's brilliant "My Man's Gone Now". I haven't seen the entire DVD, but I absolutely love the recording.
My Man's Gone Now

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 11:22pm

Nunn's recent version did close VERY much earlier than expected, despite good reviews, didn't it? I wish someone would compare it to the current musical theatre version.

I'm mixed on the Glyndebourne production in general. Simon Rattle REALLY draws out the tempi. Sometimes this works but at other times it steals the power of some of my favorite moments (audio wise, the Thomas Sheperd produced Houston Opera recording is preferable as a complete recordingm, and I like the Leontyne Price album of best of all but it's just highlights). Still it has much to recommend it.

I'm more mixed on the DVD production. I'm in the minority but I find the soundstage recording oddly frustrating (just as I do with Nunn's soundstage recording of his Oklahoma production though at least Porgy and Bess doesn't insert fake audience reaction shots). I would have much rather just filming it on stage--on the soundtage it feels like a weird mix of live recording and cheap TV production to me. But, like the recording, there still is a lot to recommend it...

[mikey2573]

Posted: 1/20/12 at 10:18pm

Didn't PBS air an actual THEATRICAL version of the opera (that is, filmed on stage in front of an audience)? I did not like the fact that Nunn's version was shot on film in a studio. I had originally thought it was a video of his stage version. But I seem to recall a full out opera production that aired in the 90s I think. On GREAT PERFORMANCES or maybe LIVE From Lincoln Center.
Anyone know?