Libretto: DuBose and Dorothy Heyward with Ira Gershwin; Score: George Gershwin. At: Lyric Opera of Chicago, 20 N. Wacker Dr. Tickets: 312-827-5600 or www.lyricopera.org; $20-$249. Runs through Dec. 20
Porgy and Bess may be considered by many critics to be "The Great American Opera," but that hasn't stopped ongoing debate about how and where this 1935 opus by composer George Gershwin should be produced. The Lyric Opera of Chicago's current revival of director Francesca Zambello's production isn't in the direct firing line of the most recent controversy, but it inadvertently affects Windy City audiences.
Composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim publicly condemned the 2012 Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess when he got word that director Diane Paulus was making changes and cuts with playwrights Suzan Lori-Parks and Diedre Murray to make the work more palpable for today's musical theater audiences. The score was also reworked for a drastically reduced orchestra and keys were lowered, all with the permission of the Gershwin estate.
Despite the controversy, Paulus' Porgy and Bess would win the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, later prompting a national tour that went out in 2013. But Chicago audiences never got to see that tour, most likely because the Lyric had already planned its full-scale revival for 2014.
Having seen Porgy and Bess on Broadway in 2012, the Lyric's 2008 production and Court Theatre's intimate 2011 staging rescored for a jazz ensemble, I'm glad to see the work performed again with Gershwin's own original orchestrations with a large chorus to get the full effect of its aural grandeur. And that's even though Zambello's production features a number of minor cuts to Gershwin's full score, which would only be noticeable to die-hard fans.
The Lyric's Porgy and Bess is also ideally cast with unamplified singers doing plenty of vocal justice to the score. Bass-baritone Eric Owens' imbues his beggar Porgy with plenty of burnished vocal power, which contrasts and blends with the gorgeous floating upper range of soprano Adina Aaron as the good-time girl Bess.
Tenor Jermaine Smith returns to the role of Sportin' Life, once again proving invaluable with his sly and convincing turn. Also making an impressive return from 2008 is baritone Eric Greene, though this time he's graduated from the family man Jake ( assumed securely now by Norman Garrett ) to the hulking villain Crown.
If there are drawbacks to the Lyric's Porgy and Bess, it's with the level of acting. Though vocally impeccable, the Serena of soprano Karen Slack was marred by a performance that indicated her tragic character's emotions instead of fully embodying them. The big fight scenes choreographed by Chuck Coyl also came off as very stagey.
Yet the Lyric's revival of Porgy and Bess presents Gershwin's masterpiece on a grand and gripping operatic scale. And for that, Chicago audiences should be very grateful.