Rating: 
Summary: Did someone say "original" ?
Review: I have read through the eighty-some posts here and was surprised to read over and over "I want to see the 'original' with Sidney Poitier..." The "original" opera opened in 1935 and starred Todd Duncan and Anne Brown. Selection from this original production are available on Decca records (recently re-issued on CD). Also, on a CD entitled "Gershwin Plays Gershwin" there are excerpts from rehearsals of the original production! In the 1950s, Porgy and Bess was mounted on Broadway as a musical as opposed to its original operatic form. All of the recitative was replaced with dialogue. So much of Gershwin's amazing score was cut. This is the form of Porgy that was used for the Preminger film. It is not the Porgy and Bess that Gershwin intended - but only a "Readers Digest" version. At about the same time, Lyontine Price was touring in a new production of Porgy and Bess which brought the opera back to the public and which made her a star. There is an "excepts" version of this production which is nothing less than electrifying. It is a crime that Price never recorded a complete Porgy and Bess. She was a GREAT Bess. The next great production would come in the 70s with the Houston Opera's production, which is still considered definitive. I have seen the Glyndebourne Opera version when it was broadcast on TV, and I thought it was beautiful. The settings are very natural and the acting is quite good. One very unfortunate cut in this production (or at least from the DVD) is Porgy's "Buzzard Song", which is one of my favorite arias from the opera. I now finally have the DVD version, and the sound is very clear and well balanced. Using Dolby Pro-logic, there is a good separation between voice and orchestra. Try to get the Hollywood version out of your head and enjoy Porgy and Bess the way the Gershwins and DuBose Heyward intended it. It is THE great American opera and deserves nothing less.
Rating:
Summary: As I have already said on Internet Movie Database......
Review: this is an exceptionally well-done version of the opera and in many ways vastly preferable to the 1959 movie (of which I have only seen clips;I also have the movie soundtrack on LP-it also was my introduction to this work.) The Sidney Poitier movie is strictly an "adaptation" only---about a third of the work-maybe more-has been cut and replaced with spoken dialogue. All the important numbers remain,but they have been slicked up by arranger Andre Previn---the bell tolling for Robbins' wake has been replaced by a tremendous cymbal crash,and photographed on a setting that never suggests Charleston as much as it does Hollywood's idea of Charleston. The set on THIS videocassette,while also studio-built,conveys much more of the flavorful yet shabby ambience of a place like Catfish Row. As for those seduced into wanting to rent the Sidney Poitier version because of its cast,don't let sheer "Star Power" sway you. The cast here is mostly unknown(TV fans may recognize Damon Evans ,who plays Sportin' Life,as one of the two actors who played Lionel in "The Jeffersons"),but they are all splendid and familiar with their roles,having sung them onstage many times.The original Gershwin orchestrations are used,and only about 10 minutes of his music are cut. As for the viewer who was so inspired when Porgy dropped his crutches at the end and presumably walked under his own power---being disabled myself,that was the only false and condescending touch I found in this TV version---director Trevor Nunn,though,has argued that Porgy only TRIES to walk under his own power,and that the scene fades out before he actually falls---which makes a lot more sense,if you buy his explanation. All you negative viewers and first-time readers of these comments,give this 1993 "Porgy" a chance
Rating: 
Summary: It' s OK to change
Review: This version has the undoubted advantage of containing most of the original score and is more faithful to the concept of the opera held ( we suppose) by the Gershwins. However, we have been denied for some 40 years the chance to see the Goldwyn version, which contains the Sammy Davis performance of Sportin' Life, arguably the role he was born to play. The review of the performance history of this important work will of necessity be incomplete as long as the Goldwyn production remains unavailable. Previous reviewers have referred to the presence of great stars in the Goldwyn version as distracting. I would counter that stars are stars because they bring something unique to the production, simply because of who they are. In closing, I personnaly am not offended by cuts and changes to the score of a work that bridges the classical and jazz worlds. Once you have invited jazz to the party, you have opened the door to personal interpretation that goes far beyond anything permissable in classical music, and this might be the best reason for such an invitation. One of the big obstacles to a real marriage of classical and jazz music is that classical music wants to make all the rules. I have no problem with a great arranger like Andre Previn with excellent credentials in both jazz and classical music reworking arrangments.
Rating:
Summary: Did someone say "original" ?
Review: I have read through the eighty-some posts here and was surprised to read over and over "I want to see the 'original' with Sidney Poitier..." The "original" opera opened in 1935 and starred Todd Duncan and Anne Brown. Selection from this original production are available on Decca records (recently re-issued on CD). Also, on a CD entitled "Gershwin Plays Gershwin" there are excerpts from rehearsals of the original production! In the 1950s, Porgy and Bess was mounted on Broadway as a musical as opposed to its original operatic form. All of the recitative was replaced with dialogue. So much of Gershwin's amazing score was cut. This is the form of Porgy that was used for the Preminger film. It is not the Porgy and Bess that Gershwin intended - but only a "Readers Digest" version. At about the same time, Lyontine Price was touring in a new production of Porgy and Bess which brought the opera back to the public and which made her a star. There is an "excepts" version of this production which is nothing less than electrifying. It is a crime that Price never recorded a complete Porgy and Bess. She was a GREAT Bess. The next great production would come in the 70s with the Houston Opera's production, which is still considered definitive. I have seen the Glyndebourne Opera version when it was broadcast on TV, and I thought it was beautiful. The settings are very natural and the acting is quite good. One very unfortunate cut in this production (or at least from the DVD) is Porgy's "Buzzard Song", which is one of my favorite arias from the opera. I now finally have the DVD version, and the sound is very clear and well balanced. Using Dolby Pro-logic, there is a good separation between voice and orchestra. Try to get the Hollywood version out of your head and enjoy Porgy and Bess the way the Gershwins and DuBose Heyward intended it. It is THE great American opera and deserves nothing less.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Movie of Gershwin's Opera
Review: You must disregard many of the earlier customer reviews of this DVD; apparently a lot of people thought they were going to be seeing a straight movie, or a Hollywoodization of the opera made in the 1950s. This, kind readers, is the REAL opera as its creators [George Gershwin and his brother, Ira] intended it and the Glyndebourne Opera production is beautifully opened up, as they say, for the movie camera by the eminent British director, Trevor Nunn. It's all under the direction of that nonpareil British conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, who has since moved on to the plum job of the conductorial world as music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. The cast is superb. Willard White owns the role of Porgy and his acting is superb as the cripple whose heart is broken. Cynthia Haymon sounds wonderful and looks terrific as Bess. Gregg Baker not only has the huge, sonorous bass that Crown requires, but he looks the part better than anyone I've ever seen in this opera-- and I've seen at least five productions, going back to Leontyne Price and William Warfield at the old New York City Opera. Damon Evans is a suitably oily Sportin' Life. Marietta Simpson, the eminent Mahlerian contralto, sings an absolutely riveting (and hilarious) Maria. Serena, Jake's widow, is ably taken by Cynthia Carey. Some of the 'minor' roles are portrayed by an actor while the singing is done by a trained singer; there is absolutely no problem with the lip-synching--indeed I didn't know until I saw the credits. Clara, the character who sings 'Summertime,' is acted by a beautiful young woman named Paula Ingram, and sung by the delectable Harolyn Blackwell. The ill-fated Jake is acted by Gordon Hawkins, and sung by the talented Bruce Hubbard. Visually the production is as detailed and realistic as any I've seen. The videography is fluid and unobtrusive. The denizens of Catfish Row are sung superbly and their movements intricately, and realistically, choreographed. I don't imagine I'll be wanting any other DVDs of this, one of my favorites operas (and certainly my favorite American opera) for a long time to come. Scott Morrison
Rating:
Summary: Portier and Sammy
Review: I remember seeing this movie with Sidney Portier and Sammy Davis Jr. I enjoyed it very much and all my children were rocked to sleep to 'Summertime'. It ain't necessarily so, was probably sung no where else in town except in my house. I'd like to be able to get THAT movie.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story...but...
Review: What is up with the acting inthis. I mean everyhtign is pretty much gorgoues but the acting is ghastly. However the music can sweep you away from all that and bring you down to what "porgy and bess" is at the core... beautiful, enchanting and captivating.
Rating: 
Summary: Lackluster
Review: While the singing is lovely and the music, in general, is well performed -- the dramatic content of this production is severely lacking. I've never seen such a low-key bunch of mourners in my life! The ensemble looks embarrassed to be singing. In fact, everyone in this production seems to be trying to avoid the obvious -- IT'S AN OPERA! They all look like they are trying to pretend that they are speaking rather than singing. The emotions are small and this production falls far short of the mark. Gershwin's musical and emotional masterpiece presented musically, but without emotion. Sad.
Rating:
Summary: Original?
Review: Wasn't Porgy and Bess an opera before it was any film?
Please don't make ignorant coments about the opera, as presented on this disc, being a "remake"
It's the other way around.
Just like Carmen Jones the movie shouldn't be confused with the opera Carmen by Bizet.
Rating: 
Summary: OK OK OK
Review: It was just okay. That's all.
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