THOROUGHLY MODERN MISSY: Porgy and Bess, Regent’s Park

POSTED ON AUGUST 5, 2014

While London is experiencing one of its biggest heat waves in recent history, it would seem that there is no better time to sample some of the city’s amazing outdoor entertainments. The success of Timothy Sheader’s seventh season as Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is crowned by the current production of Porgy and Bess. The sense of occasion starts from the moment you enter the circular vicinity of the actual theatre; there’s a palpable feeling of suspenseful anticipation in the air as the audience bustle around the different bars and buffets before the bell rings and we are ushered in to the beautiful space that is the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The amphitheatre provides a dramatic setting that is picked up by the minimalistic stage design. The main feature of the set, designed by Katrina Lindsay, is a crumpled copper backdrop slightly reminiscent of a craggy Richard Serra work. This backdrop with sprigs of foliage that merge with the surrounding trees of the park and two rickety metal folding chairs make up the bare set which evokes the humble situation of the inhabitants of Catfish Row.

The production begins with Bess, played by Nicola Hughes who received an Olivier Award nomination in the same role for Trevor Nunn’s 2006 production, strutting around in a ‘happy dust’ daze. Her jutting and inelegant gestures introduce this sophisticated and fresh interpretation of the Broadway classic. It would be difficult to find a member of the 1,000 strong audience who hadn’t heard the opening number of Porgy and Bess prior to the performance but Jade Ewen (Clara) reminds us and impresses with a beautiful and emotive rendition of ‘Summertime’ as she cradles her newborn baby. The rest of the equally strong cast joins Ewen and together build up a wall of sound that one imagines is resounding throughout the rest of Regent’s Park as it fades into twilight.

As the natural light surrounding the theatre becomes more dramatic, so does the production with the introduction of the other main character, Porgy, played by Broadway veteran, Rufus Bonds Jr, as well as the show’s villains, Crown, brought to life by Phillip Boykin and Sporting Life who shone thanks to Cedric Neal’s impressive and wickedly enjoyable rendition of the slippery dandy. Neal’s beguiling charisma and superb voice make his performance of ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’, one to remember.

Porgy and Bess, often considered to be an opera-musical hybrid due to its demanding music and virtuosic solos, demonstrates Gershwin’s characteristic and wonderful discordance. However, the company’s clever use of props to convey rhythm in this production also highlighted Gershwin’s wonderful use of syncopation and rhythmic incongruity. Chairs and other props were used percussively and this created an interesting and attractive cohesion between the choreography and the music. This production is a striking, refreshing and entertaining rendering of the Gershwin classic and is brought to life by a stellar cast and live orchestra under the direction of Simon Lee. Try very hard to get tickets for this memorable production before the end of the show’s run on 23rd August and also before the end of this beautiful weather when the magical world of outdoor activities closes its door once more on us Londoners for another year.

Continues until 23 August, more information and book here.

Written by a Thoroughly Modern Missy, Angelica Bomford.

- See more at: http://www.thoroughlymodernmilly.com/2014/08/thoroughly-modern-missy-porgy-and-bess-regents-park/#sthash.5hdDuX67.7pqEoJJK.dpuf

Jonathan Baz Reviews...The Gershwins' Porgy And Bess

THURSDAY, 31 JULY 2014

The Gershwins' Porgy And Bess - Review

Open Air Theatre, London

****

By George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin
Book Adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks 
Musical Score Adapted by Diedre L. Murray
Directed by Timothy Sheader

Nicola Hughes and Rufus Bonds Jr on opening night

The amphitheatre at Regents Park is dominated by a massive backdrop of beautifully buckled burnished copper. As the sun goes down and passions rise in Timothy Sheader’s inspired take on this North Carolina fable, the design reflects the light. lending its metallic nuances to the palette. Gold becomes red, becoming moonlit pale or a terrifying stormy blue. Katrina Lindsay’s stage design is breathtaking before the band have even struck up.

Sheader sets out a bold stall in the Overture. In a solo routine Bess emerges, clad only in a slip and in a lithe sensuous dance, slides into a sizzling red dress slit to the hips. Truly one of London’s Leading Ladies, Nicola Hughes owns the stage in a performance that defines her character’s complex combination of iressistible sexual magnetism with profound vulnerability.

If Hughes represents the best of British, then she is well matched against the trio of trans-atlantic talent, flown in under the UK-USA Equity deal, whose characters vie for Bess’ attentions. Cedric Neal reprises the coke peddling Sporting Life from his Broadway performance two years ago. His elegant peacocked flamboyance defining the fatally attractive evil of the drugs he supplies. In a show crammed with The American Songbook greats, Neal’s act two opener, It Ain’t Necesssarily So takes this most familiar of numbers and makes it sizzle with a thrilling interpretation. Philip Boykin, also over from the States, nails the muscular menace of Crown. A man as large as his booming baritone, Boykin imbues Crown with the purest of dark violence. Rufus Bonds Jr completes the set of imports, starring as Porgy. Bond gives a pathos and a power to the role that makes our hearts bleed for his crippled character. His voice and presence is inspirational, defining goodness as he craves a shaft of Bess’ love to light his crippled world. Against three such stunning performers, Hughes more than rises to the challenge. “Frailty, thy name is Bess” could define her character, desperate to be a good woman, but unable to sustain a loving commitment or resist her addictions.

The company work is flawless. Sharon D Clarke’s Mariah is a performance of wisdom and presence. Golda Rosheuvel’s Serena is a role of subtle humility, yet when this actress mourns her husband with My Man’s Gone Now, her voice as if from nowhere, fills the open-air space, tingling spines. A nod too to Jade Ewen’s Clara, the diminutive Sugababe who masters the show’s signature Summertime, with a perfectly weighted poise.

Amidst such a classy company, the use of ramshackle tables and chairs as improvised scene-setters is a distraction. Excellent performers demand an excellence in staging and the frequent shifting of tacky furniture suggests low-budget fringe rather than a production that frames world-class talent. It also remains a disappointment that a show, so steeped in the troubled, racist, tenement history of America’s South plays to a London audience that is overwhelmingly white. It deserves packed houses that reflect a broader cross-section of the capital’s melting pot.

David Shrubsole coaxes a jazz-infused delight from his lavishly furnished 15-piece band and with few finer companies in town, The Open Air Theatre’s Porgy And Bess is unmissably incisive and thrillingly provocative.

Runs until 23rd August 2014 

Video Trailer The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess

THE GERSHWINS’ PORGY AND BESS

17 July 2014 - 23 August 2014
Book Adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks Musical Score Adapted by Diedre L. Murray

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

Published on 5 Aug 2014

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre until 23 August 2014, directed by Artistic Director Timothy Sheader.

One of these mornings you’re gonna rise up singing,
Then you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky

A powerful story of love and betrayal, Porgy and Bess is celebrated as a landmark piece of American theatre.

Porgy, a crippled beggar, is devoted to taming wild Bess and saving her from a life of ruin. Yet new beginnings give way to temptation as Bess is haunted by the demons of her past.

Directed by Timothy Sheader, this musical masterpiece includes ‘I Got Plenty of Nothing’, ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’, ‘I Loves You Porgy’ and the poignantly beautiful ‘Summertime’, an icon of the Great American Songbook.

Drawing on talent from both sides of the Atlantic Rufus Bonds Jr and Nicola Hughes take the title roles. Rufus received a Drama Desk nomination for the original US production of Parade, and Nicola revisits the role of Bess following her Olivier Award nominated performance in Trevor Nunn’s 2006 production. Phillip Boykin reprises the role of Crown for which he received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for the 2012 Broadway production. Olivier Award winner Sharon D Clarke also joins the cast as Mariah.

Rufus Bonds Jr, Phillip Boykin and Cedric Neal are appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating the Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity.

Video: Jade Louise Ewen singing "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess at London's West End LIVE 2014

Jade Louise Ewen "Summertime" London's West End LIVE 2014

Published on 13 Jul 2014

Jade Louise Ewen singing with David Shrubsole piano

The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Review - Harper's Bazaar

‘THE GERSHWINS’ PORGY AND BESS’ REVIEW

George Smart reviews hit musical 'The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess' at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

4 AUGUST 2014

Even if Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess wasn’t the complete artistic triumph and outright honest-to-goodness smash hit that it is, a visit to this theatre on a languid summer’s evening must rank as one of London’s more pleasant experiences.

Audiences start assembling an hour before with their picnics. The place has the feel of a cross between Glyndebourne and Wimbledon – only more relaxed and casual. No more summer sweats in London’s Victorian theatre snugs, elbowing past your fellow sufferers to reach a glass of warm white wine. Here there’s a choice of the barbecue stand or a drink from the very, very long bar to choose from.

Porgy and Bess was possibly meant to sound more operatic than this production delivers. No matter. The performing tradition for the piece is now heavily in favour of music theatre with the recitatives, as was the case here, rewritten as dialogue. Only a few of this committed and talented cast had obviously classical voices.

The evening starts with Nicola Hughes’ brilliant Bess in a state of cocaine-fuelled delirium – a fallen woman whom the God-fearing community of Catfish Row dismiss as a ‘liquor-guzzling slut'. Timothy Sheader’s production forgoes naturalistic scenery in favour of an impressionistic sheet of crumpled metal. The cast, though, is dressed in period costume and the evening pulsates with focused energy: snappy dance moves; outstandingly beautiful singing; acting veering from power to real vulnerability.

The men of this African-American community eking out a living on Catfish Row are shooting craps when Bess’s boyfriend, Crown, drunk and high, murders one of them in a fight. Philip Boykin as Crown cuts a heavy, menacing figure with a powerful baritone voice and comes to Regent’s Park from Broadway.  On the edge of the action and another New York import is Cedric Neal’s seductive drug-dealing Sportin’ Life, all big-city dance steps, dandified in a canary-yellow suit, and plying his ‘happy dust’. He later brought the house down with one of the show’s famous numbers, 'It Ain't Necessarily So'. Rufus Bonds Junior, as a damaged yet dignified Porgy, completes an American trio of stars.

Crown goes into hiding; Bess stays behind. She redeems herself with the love of Porgy and gains acceptance into this community led here by Sharon D Clarke in imperious form as Mariah. The ensemble is outstanding and includes memorable performances from Leon Lopez as the upwardly mobile Jake and Jade Ewen as his wife Clara. Clara gets the show’s standout hit, 'Summertime', and Ewen sings it with limpid tone. Hopes are dashed by a storm and another murder, with Porgy arrested and Bess tempted back to the big city. The show ends with the indomitable Porgy starting out on the long journey to claim her back.

You would have to go a longer way to find a more perfect evening. 

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (openairtheatre.com) until 23rd August. 

The Guardian: Porgy and Bess review – exquisitely sung Gershwin in the fresh air

Porgy and Bess review – exquisitely sung Gershwin in the fresh air

Regent's Park Open Air theatre, London
The singing is easy but life is hard in Timothy Sheader's refreshingly spare production

• 
• • Lyn Gardner
  •  
  • The Guardian, Tuesday 29 July 2014 12.32 BST
  • Jump to comments (1)

Shorn of sentimentality … Cedric Neal, centre, in Porgy and Bess. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

For the poor, black residents of Catfish Row, Georgia, in the 1920s, the living is never easy. But in the Gershwins' story of the unlikely coupling of two outsiders, the disabled Porgy (Rufus Bonds Jr) and the outcast, drug-taking Bess, life may be hard as iron but it's always tuneful. In Timothy Sheader's sensibly trimmed, finely nuanced and exquisitely sung revival, the lullabies, laments and spirituals shiver in the air like a series of reproaches to a world of hardship and rough justice. As night falls across Regent's Park, the music stalks and haunts the shadows.

The show – and here it is more show than opera – comes wrapped in a 19th-century melodramatic operatic tradition. Katrina Lindsay's ugly, beaten-copper design serves little purpose, despite glowing red in moments of high tension and as the deadly hurricane descends. But being outside the walls of a theatre releases the show from artificiality, and there is a spareness in Sheader's production that cuts through the sentimentality. It reveals the realities of a world where local police can treat the black population with casual viciousness.

But the rules of the community itself are laid bare, too. The production highlights what it means to be a man in a community where manhood is constantly undercut by white outsiders, and seldom has the judgment of women by women seemed quite so harsh. There are moments when Catfish Row seems like the loneliest place in the world, when the isolated, "indecent" Bess sees nothing but turned backs. Imaginative use is made throughout of tables and chairs, particularly in the closing moments as the limping Porgy sets out – a tiny David against the Goliath of the world, intent on an impossible task.

In a crimson dress, Nicola Hughes's mesmerising Bess is a real scarlet woman. She twirls like a dangerous, dancing flame, her limbs jerking to the puppetmaster-like directions of two useless men: the brutal, murderous Crown (Phillip Boykin), and the dandyish, Sporting Life (Cedric Neal), who supplies her with the "happy dust" she uses to self-medicate her pain.

There are also fine supporting performances, particularly from the women. Sharon D Clarke is powerfully defiant as Mariah, Golda Rosheuvel finds both the pain and generosity as the widowed Serena, and Jade Ewen brings a moving simplicity to Clara, who follows her heart and pays the price.

• Until 23 August. Box office: 0844 826 4242. Venue: Regent's Park Open Air theatre, London.

Review : The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess - officiallondontheatre.co.uk

THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS

Reporter: Matthew Amer, first published Tue 29 Jul 2014 12:01

Sharon D Clarke and Golda Rosheuvel in The Gershwin's Porgy And Bess (Photo: Johan Persson)

The cast of The Gershwin's Porgy And Bess (Photo: Johan Persson)

What’s it all about?

The Gershwins’ great folk opera reframed as a musical. No, this doesn’t mean jazz hands and high kicks. It means there’s just as much tragedy and drama as ever in the tale of a woman addicted to drugs, alcohol and the wrong type of man, and the strong-willed, weak-legged man who would help her, but the production is no longer sung through, the score has been re-arranged and, at the Open Air Theatre care of Liam Steel, there are some striking dance routines.

Who’s in it?

A trio of leading men from the US. The excellent Phillip Boykin is a powerful, bull-like, oppressive presence as the barrel-chested, bicep-bulging Crown; Rufus Bonds Jr delivers an iron-willed Porgy who melts with uncompromising joy in the love of Bess; and Cedric Neal commands the stage as drug dealer Sporting Life, who is somehow a credible cross between The Mask and The Jungle Book’s Kaa, but with ‘Happy Dust’ instead of hypnotic eyes.

Nicola Hughes is a remarkable Bess; a dangerous, whirling, uncontrollable ball of unstable, animal energy under the influence of drugs and Crown, but warm, loving and repentant under Porgy’s care.

What should I look out for?

Katrina Lindsay’s eye-catching set, which resembles a cave wall of beaten bronze.

Inventively theatrical use of the tables and chairs that will make your everyday, functional use of furniture feel terribly pedestrian and unimaginative.

The moment when, if you’re lucky, nature and theatre combine to spine-chilling effect. As talk turns to an impending hurricane, the wind rushed through the Regent’s Park trees ominously.

What will I be humming?

The Gershwin standards, of course. Like it or not, you’re going to come away with Summertime and It Ain’t Necessarily So stuck in your head for days.

Who was in the press night crowd?

Alumni from last year’s Open Air Theatre musical The Sound Of Music, Charlotte Wakefield and Stuart Matthew Price were back to support this year’s contingent, as was former Open Air Theatre Artistic Director Ian Talbot.

In a nutshell?

The Gershwins' tragic classic feels fresh and dynamic in the hands of surely one of London’s most spectacular casts.

What’s being said on Twitter?

@artifartblast Best #PorgyAndBess I've ever seen @OpenAirTheatre. Superb singing & band. Tim Sheader's programming hits its logical, wonderful heights.

@davidmcalmont Thunderous applause to @OpenAirTheatre for their fascinating, moving, transcendent production of #porgyandbess Incredible and then some! Go!

Will I like it?

Director Timothy Sheader has a history of creating award-winning musicals at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. While this is far from a grin-bringing crowd pleaser, its exceptional cast and powerful drama make it a must see. And what better way to start a summer evening than with Summertime performed as a warm breeze whispers through the trees.

Porgy And Bess runs at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 23 August. You can book tickets through the theatre’s website.

Photos + Review: Opening Night of PORGY AND BESS at Regents Park Open Air Theatre - Pocket Size Theatre Blog

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Opening Night of PORGY AND BESS at Regents Park Open Air Theatre

Last night, Monday 28 July, was the Opening Night of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess which runs at Regents Park Open Air Theatre until 23 August. After the show, cast, creative team and invited guests enjoyed a summer drink of Canard Duchêne Champagne on the lawn of Regents Park Open Air Theatre, accompanied by Belly Pork Croquettes with Roasted Corn Cream and Lemon Cone Trees.

Celebrated as a landmark piece of American theatre with iconic songs including ‘Summertime’, ‘I Got Plenty of Nothing’, ‘I Loves You Porgy’ and ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’, Porgy and Bess is directed by Regents Park Open Air Theatre’s Artistic Director Timothy Sheader, with a book adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks and a musical score adapted by Diedre L. Murray.

Drawing on talent from both sides of the Atlantic, Rufus Bonds Jr plays Porgy and Nicola Hughes plays Bess, with Phillip Boykin as Crown, Cedric Neal as Sportin’ Life and Olivier Award-winning Sharon D Clarke as Mariah.

The full cast of Porgy and Bess also includes David Albury, Angela M. Caesar, Jade Ewen, Alex Giannini, Owain Gwynn, Tyrone Huntley, George Ikediashi, Claudia Kariuki, Arthur Kyeyune, Oliver Lidert, Leon Lopez, Jay Marsh, Tania Mathurin, Ellen O’Grady, Golda Rosheuvel, Yemie Sonuga and Marvin Springer.

Rufus Bonds Jr, Phillip Boykin and Cedric Neal are appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating the Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity.

Porgy, a crippled beggar, is devoted to taming wild Bess and saving her from a life of ruin. Yet new beginnings give way to temptation as Bess is haunted by the demons of her past.

Photos: Jade with Nicola Hughes and Porgy and Bess cast at opening /press night

Jade Louise EwenVerified account‏@JadeEwen

These two amazing ladies! Love that I get to watch and learn from some of the best! @TheNicolaHughes #SharonDClarke

Jade Louise EwenVerified account‏@JadeEwen

Press night @OpenAirTheatre #porgyandbess @TheNicolaHughes @cedricnealnyc @theboycan @RufusBonds #cheese