'PORGY AND BESS': PLENTY OF SOMETHIN'

Good opera communicates the emotional gist of the story no matter how foreign the words. The dialect sung and spoken in "Porgy and Bess" is not foreign to Americans, in fact is as stamped in the American brain as Gershwin's melodies.

Opera or folk opera, the beautifully staged and expertly choreographed Living Arts production of "Porgy and Bess" presented Tuesday night at the Show Me Center before an audience of 1,129 at times soared with majesty.

It's summertime and the livin' is easy, for awhile. Offering murder, lust, gambling, unquenchable love, drugs, humor, survival and suicide amid a hurricane, "Porgy and Bess" is the stuff of grand opera.

Against a set that made Charleston, S.C.'s impoverished Catfish Row look like a rickety sailing ship at sunset, the sterling cast brought to life this tragic love affair between a harlot and the heroic "cripple" who has lived his life on his knees -- literally but not figuratively.

Both the orchestra and the highly disciplined singers were first rate. As Porgy, Samuel Clark Stevenson spread his rich baritone far into the cavernous Show Me Center and rolled about the stage with agility and naturalness. As Bess, Jerris Cates could be both ribald and make you just want to hold her hand. Together, as in the classic "Bess You is My Woman Now," they turned the air to gold.

Can a declaration of love be any clearer and heart-felt than "Bess, You is My Woman Now"?

Stevenson and Cates did it again in the duet "I Loves You Porgy."

At the end, Stevenson nearly stopped the show when he realized Bess was gone and sang "Where's My Bess?"

Also outstanding were Stephen B. Finch as the murderously muscular Crown and Duane A Moody in a rakish turn as the drug dealer Sportin' Life, always ready to supply some "happy dust." His strutting rendition of "It Ain't Necessarily So" didn't mock the Bible so much as pay homage to its importance.

Kim Sylvain was a hoot as the saucy Maria as was Leon Browne as Peter The Honey Man.

"Porgy and Bess" occasionally has been criticized for fostering stereotypes of African Americans. But the characters in this production were imbued with a dignity that made you forget any such concerns.