Thursday, September 15, 2011
It Is Necessarily So: Revamped 'Porgy and Bess' Will Come To Broadway
NYTimes.com: A controversial version of “Porgy and Bess,” the famous 1935 opera, will move to Broadway as planned this winter now that the estates of the opera’s creators have signed off on the adaptation, its producers announced on Wednesday.
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3 comments:
I wish I could see the two operas (the original and this new one) to better understand what the reviewers are talking about. I think an interesting point that was made was the one about how the changes made were for modern audiences. This argument is made often, and it somehow seems to insult the original piece of work in a way that says it is not timeless and needing to be fixed to keep it interesting. The fact that the ending was almost entirely changed makes me hesitate to call it “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” if that much has been altered. Perhaps it should be labeled "Inspired By The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess" or something that makes it clear that there were changes made that were drastic.
This is an interesting controversy. It brings up questions like: How much change has to occur to make the play new and not an adaptation? When does a play lose it's appeal because it has been changed so much? Is Porgy and Bess to infamous of a production that changing it even a little bit will make audiences unhappy?
Controversy is always a good thing because it makes people come to the theater. I think that change is also good if the new ending updated and revamped the original then I am all in favor.
I'm also not that familiar with the specifics of this production, but it seems wise for adaptations to be made in order for it to be "aimed toward modern audiences." As I was reading this post, I was wondering how well an opera like this would succeed on Broadway, having to compete with more user friendly shows like Spiderman, etc. Of course you're always going to get someone, or a few someones, who aren't okay with change- I feel like many classic plays that undergo modern change receive this criticism. But especially with an audience as enormous as Broadway, it is definitely necessary to adapt, thus improving, classical productions to a current time.
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