Back in March, I went to a conference in DC and Senior Jefe drove up to see me. He surprised me with tickets to Porgy and Bess. Porgy and Bess is considered to be the first American Opera. It was composed by George Gershwin, Dubose Hayward and Ira Gershwin and first performed in 1935. I watched an old black and white version of it back in A.P. US History and fell in love with "Summertime", which is the main aria of the work. I performed it in college as part of a vocal performance class. So as you can imagine, when Geoff got me the tickets I almost died of joy.
It was a more beautiful and magnificent experience than I ever could have imagined. The characters were so rich and full of life and I truly felt for Porgy who fell in love with a woman who had made all the wrong decisions in life. Through his faith in her, he lifts her up and dignifies her. In turn, she provides love, care and affection to a man who is crippled and thus may not be what most women want. The most stunning piece in the opera was "I love you Porgy", unfortunately most of the published recordings do not do the song justice in comparison to this live performance, but a portion of the song is shown in the promotional video embedded below. Bess is so earnest about her weakness around her former lover and there is a clear yearning to be better than who she is. Ultimately she fails in this and hooks up with a drug dealer, and the opera closes by Porgy setting off to find her and bring her home.
Unfortunately the Washington National Opera did not film the production, so I only have their promotional clips to share.
I think that part of the reason I loved this particular performance was the interaction between Porgy and Bess. I thoroughly understand feeling torn between someone you love and some other part of your life. While the things that pull at our relationship are clearly dramatically different from the Opera, the sheer need and pain expressed by Bess in "I loves you Porgy" is something I have felt thanks to the Navy and my job taking turns pulling at us and it is always Senior Jefe, who like Porgy, reassures me that as long as I hang in there everything will work out.
I found out there was no ful recording when I emailed them after the performance and told them how wonderful and special it was to share such a stellar performance of my favorite opera with Senior Jefe, especially since we don't get to see each other all the time. I am frequently caught humming on singing the opera in the lab. Then I left town after school got out for the summer and when I came home, I had a poster tube sitting on my desk. It was from the Washington National Opera, the signed poster you see in the picture at the top of this post. I sat down at my desk and cried I was was overwhelmed by their generosity. I have been waiting for months to save enough to get this framed. I am so excited to finally have it up on the wall. It is something I will treasure for all of my life and I am really grateful to the Washington National Opera for this beautiful memory and wonderful treasure. This was one of the best nights of my entire life and it was so generous of the WNO and the cast of Porgy and Bess to share this treat with me.
I don't think I will ever be able to thank them enough for this wonderful experience.
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