Posted: 10/6/19 at 8:08pm
As I set forth, the Great Depression decimated Broadway financially, limiting the number of productions from 233 in 1929 to 98 in 1939. Many theaters were forced to slash prices to a range of 25 cents to a buck. And most of the shows were, as I noted, on the light side in both musical and drama. There had never been an opera staged on Broadway, none the less one with an all classically trained Africa American and I think that it is perfectly logical to presume that Gershwin did not expect a long running hit.
This is expounded on the journal of Park Square Theatre:
You can tell from this description alone how vastly different it is from the Roaring ’20s that Gershwin is so famously associated with. As those previous orchestrations were products of their time, so was Porgy and Bess which premiered in Depression-era New York in 1935....
The run lasted four months and Porgy and Bess languished in mediocrity for decades until 1976 when the Houston Grand Opera produced the work to glowing reviews. This is when the piece secured its reputation as a classic.... One of the greatest merits of Porgy and Bess today, is conversely a reason for its initial short run. Gershwin was adamant that the show be entirely cast with classically trained African American singers. Of course this was a radical casting idea in 1930s America as the common practice was for a white performer to don blackface. Al Jolson, for example, had himself almost produced an adaptation with this idea in mind. Gershwin’s casting was brave and inspiring, giving work to dozens of African American performers on the mainstream Broadway circuit.
Complimentary to Gershwin that he chose to stage his opera on Broadway with the likelihood of a shorter run to help keep the cast employed.
Sadly, George died less than two years after the opening. What more would he have produced?
There was just as much controversy over casting and the use of racial stereotypes then as now. According to NPR, although "Porgy and Bess" closed a commercial after only a few months run, today it is widely hailed as a classic. But the great black composer and bandleader Duke Ellington said, "When "Porgy and Bess" came out, Duke Ellington said, `"The times are here to debunk Gershwin's lamp black Negroisms," by which he meant, `What is this white Jewish guy from New York trying to do caricaturing and stereotyping blacks that he sees in Charleston, South Carolina?'"
Reminiscent of the casting controversy of the recent Carousel?
I f any of you have problems with future assumptions, I strongly recommend that you read on that topic. You would be surprised at much you can learn.
