History Theatre / PorgyAndBess

''Porgy and Bess'' is Music/GeorgeGershwin's famous {{opera}}, based on [=DuBose=] and Dorothy Hayward's book and play ''Porgy''.

-->''"Summer time; and the livin' is easy...your Daddy's rich, and your Mama's good lookin'..."''

%%* ChekhovsGun: The cotton hook.

%%* TheCorrupter: Sportin' Life, who is something of a devil analogue.

%%* DrugsAreBad

%%* IAmSong: "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'"

* MusicOfNote: "Summertime," "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," "It Ain't Necessarily So," "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin',"-- the list goes on and on.

%%* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations

* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations[=/=]AdaptationDisplacement

* {{Blackface}}: Always averted, despite premiering at a time when the blackface tradition was still current.

* ChekhovsGun: The cotton hook.

* TheCorrupter: Sportin' Life, who is something of a devil analogue.

* DrugsAreBad

* IAmSong: "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'"
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Porgy is arguably a TropesAreNotBad example.

* ManipulativeBastard: Sportin' Life.

* NameAndName

* SaintlyChurch
* SassyBlackWoman

* MamaWolf: When a woman finds Sportin' Life trying to hook young boys around her shop on cocaine, he asks her if they can't be friends. She responds by singing an entire song threatening to gut him with her paring knife if he ever comes near the boys again.

From TheOtherWiki:

''Porgy And Bess'' is Music/GeorgeGershwin's famous {{opera}}, based on [=DuBose=] and Dorothy Hayward's book and play ''Porgy''.

Conceived as an American Folk Opera, ''PorgyAndBess'' is Gershwin's take on the life of African-American fishermen scraping out an existence on Catfish Row, a fictitious locale based on Cabbage Row in Charleston South Carolina.

Opened to great controversy in 1935, but the music and themes are classic, and is now regarded as [[strike: one of]] '''the''' great American opera; no other American opera comes anywhere near the popularity and critical acclaim (both domestic and abroad). Part of the acclaim is that it is the show that integrated theater audiences thanks to it's original cast. The leads would not go on if the audience in Washington D.C. was not fully integrated.

-->''"Summer time; and the livin' is easy...Daddy's rich, and you're Mama's good lookin'..."''

Bess is addicted to "Happy dust" (Cocaine), and strung along by her dealer/boyfriend Crown. When Crown kills another man over a craps game he escapes to a nearby island, leaving Bess. Porgy, a peddler well-liked in the community, takes her in. The story unfolds with Porgy and Bess' blossoming relationship and what happens to them in Catfish Row.

** For it's European debut The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen had a production of white actors in blackface, in 1942 during the Nazi occupation, which irritated the Nazis to no end. It lasted 22 performances, before it was shut down due to German pressure.

* ReformedButRejected: Bess faces this mildly from the whole community, who at least tries to help her prove herself. She especially gets this from Serena, however - who has an understandably reason, given that Bess is partially responsible for her husband's death.

* MisattributedSong: The revival entitled "The Gershwins' ''Porgy And Bess''" took some flak from people who pointed out, correctly, that [=DuBose=] Hayward had even more to do with the lyrics than Ira Gershwin did.

* RapeIsLove: On Kittiwah Island, [[spoiler:Crown attempts to rape Bess, and ''in so doing'' ends up seducing her instead]].

''Porgy And Bess'' is Gershwin's famous {{opera}}, based on [=DuBose=] and Dorothy Hayward's book and play ''Porgy''.

** Averted for it's European debut. The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen had a production of white actors in blackface, in 1942 during the Nazi occupation, which irritated the Nazis to no end. It lasted 22 performances, before it was shut down due to German pressure.

** Averted for it's European debut. Nazi-controlled Scandinavia had a production of white actors in blackface which irritated the Nazis to no end. It lasted 22 performances.

Opened to great controversy in 1935, but the music and themes are classic, and is now regarded as [[strike: one of]] '''the''' great American opera; no other American opera comes anywhere near the popularity and critical acclaim (both domestic and abroad).

[[AC:Tropes used in this work include:]]

* CoveredUp: Modern audiences can be so used to hearing Summertime as a jazz standard that the original aria can be jarring.

Bess is addicted to "Happy dust" (Cocaine), and strung along by her dealer/boyfriend Crown. When Crown kills another man over a craps game he escapes to a nearby island, leaving Bess. Porgy a peddler well-liked in the community, takes her in. The story unfolds with Porgy and Bess' blossoming relationship and what happens to them in Catfish Row.

* [=~Chekhov's Gun~=]: The cotton hook.