Is Porgy and Bess racist?
I’ve seen Porgy and Bess several times alone and with others. I’ve asked my African American friends if they thought this play was racist or stereotyping towards their race. None of them thought so, and said it portrayed a reality seldom acknowledged at the time Porgy opened. I myself found it made a strong statement about the isolation and prejudice so deeply embedded in our culture. Yet it did it in a subtle and very effective way, without hammering audiences over the head. it is a play filled with raw energy, rage, sorrow and ultimately love. Porgy and Bess stands alone after all these years on stage, as a potent and proud testament to the African American culture. The first song, Summertime, is a hauntingly beautiful lullabye. Many of the songs became eternal classics in American music. The operetta is based on a story about a crippled black man who falls in love and kills a man. When it first opened in 1935, but didn’t do well. Many years later it took off and became the well love
