I so totally wanted to go see Porgy and Bess... until I went to the McCaw Hall website and saw how much the tickets would cost.

I still don't think I've quite recovered from the shock. :/

Wasn't that great! The perfect evisceration. I appreciate your efforts to parse what he said. I adore how he still gave full props to Audra for her amazing vocal artistry. How I love that woman.

I've seen the operatic version of Porgy and Bess, and frankly, the filmed "Broadway" version is better.

It's annoying and sloggy when all the dialogue is that operatic sing-song, and the songs themselves seemed to be slowed down to operatic molasses.

However, even the filmed "Broadway" version didn't rewrite for a "happy" ending!

last time i checked, Stephen Sondheim ain't black. might we hear from some black folks on this, like Stew? or perhaps Spike Lee?

Sondheim didn't have a problem with the vile revival of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, which set the play in a walk-in freezer and reduced Seurat's paintings to a powerpoint presentation, or with Trevor Nunn's appalling revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, set in what looked like an abandoned funeral home and rethought Anne Egerman as a frigid castrating c*nt from hell.

@4 - Yes, let's hear the official black word on this. Who's the current president of black people?

@4 yeah.. because Gershwin and Heyward are unavailable for comment...

@4 You bring up a good topic. The theater industry, (as well as film) have reached a creative dead end. I don't think it's because the amount of genius has dried up, but because no one wants to risk their money on something that hasn't been proven. Nothing truly original is being produced, it's all remakes, re-images, remixes, and, in this case, essentially using the title to draw an audience and not much else.

Also, I'd like proof that Mr. Mudede didn't write his review before he bothered to show up for the performance. We all know his methodology in regards to film/theater criticism.

No kidding, @1.

I was surprised to see a link on the Seattle Opera site to the e-book "Porgy & Bess Spotlight Guide, Kindle edition."

Is this a thing? Do wealthy, busy people whip out their Kindles in unison as the house lights dim to bone up on the culture they're about to imbibe?

I hope not. I'm irritated by all the cell phones lighting up at random during movies, and by their owners' indignant conviction that they couldn't possibly be annoying anyone as they're "only" texting.

@ 5, could it be that those revivals didn't change the story or music? This new Porgy and Bess does just that.

is sondheim is the current president of gay broadway people? hmm?

@11 - He's an elder statesman. The gay broadway equivalent of Benjamin Franklin, but with more French hookers.

I've reread the Times piece and still can't tell if this is the "operatic" version, or the Broadway version, played as a musical.

If the "operatic" version, I predict that Broadway theater goers reject it, no matter a happy ending and backstory for the leads.

@1,

For the future, if you plan way ahead, you can get tickets for as low as $25, but those go fast. The next tier up is $54, I think.

You can also get a subscription for a cheap seat for about as much as you would pay for a last minute single ticket.

@13:

They're one and the same. The original operatic version premiered on Broadway in 1935, and a pared down "musical theatre" version, which merely shortened the script and reduced the cast and orchestra sizes, ran on Broadway in 1942.

@ 14 - Thanks. I looked around the site at all the 'Ways To Save', but it seemed I was either too old or too young to save money...

Just not used to the three-figure ticket, I guess...

You can get standing room tickets for only $15 at the Seattle Opera office on John St. I did and after the first break I sneaked into an empty seat.

@4 and @6: I am neither Stew, Spike nor the president of all black folks but I am black and i detest the original version of Porgy and Bess. I like the music, hate the dialect which does not ring true to me. I am excited to see the new production which from the description I think has possibilities. I will reserve judgment until I've seen it. l

@4 and @6: I am neither Stew, Spike nor the president of all black folks but I am black and i detest the original version of Porgy and Bess. I like the music,but hate the dialect which does not ring true to me. Yes, I realize that uneducated black folks in 1935 did not speak the King's (or is it the Queen's) English but the dialog in Porgy seems just off.

I am excited to see the new production which from the description, I think has possibilities. I will reserve actual judgment until I've seen it. l

I'd be more skeptical of the "rewrite" if it wasn't being workshopped by some very prominent black women theater artists. Susan-Lori Parks is a MacArthur Genius and a Pulitzer winner (and a Tony, and a Drama Desk, and an Obie...). She hasn't been at it as long as Sondheim, but she's at least as good a writer as he is and a lovely, grounded human being as well.

So I'll wait and see, thanks.