PORGY & BESS

Saw a preview of  Diane Paulus's controversial new staging of PORGY & BESS today and it's not controversial at all. Apart from a few dodgy musical arrangements which suddenly take the show out of its 1930s period and hurtle it towards '60s Vegas, this is a very worthy and touching reading of the piece.

I loved the choreography by Ronald K. Brown and  the costumes by ESosa.

There are very fine performances from the entire cast including David Alan Grier as Sportin' Life and the incredible Joshua Henry (in red braces) as Jake.

And then we have the wonderful Norm Lewis as a funny, proud and sexy Porgy and Audra McDonald's tortured, ravaged and self-loathing Bess, a wounded animal who desperately clings to every kindness that is shown to her before backsliding time and again into self-destruction. This Bess is so far gone when we first see her, a vicious scar across her face telling her history, that she doesn't stand a chance. Especially while she remains in sexual thrall to the monstrous thug Crown.