Last Saturday, Washington National Opera opened its new production of George Gershwin's classic American opera Porgy and Bess (1935), and this DCist was happy to be in the Kennedy Center Opera House for the performance Wednesday night. We know that many DCists wonder why we bother to cover things like opera and classical music, which seem too stuffy and expensive for many people. However, this opera especially is part of our heritage as Americans, and WNO has tried to make some more affordable tickets available. At the time of this writing, most of the remaining performances are sold out, but there are still tickets available for November 12. Regular tickets start at $45, and there are special deals for members of the Generation O program, for students and young professionals, ages 18 to 35. Sign up if you qualify. If you really cannot spend money on opera or cannot find a ticket, go to the National Mall this Sunday (November 6, 2 p.m.) for the live simulcast of the opera on a giant video screen near the Capitol. It's free.

We certainly share the opinion of the newspaper reviewers (Tim Page in the Post and T. L. Ponick in the Times) that this is an excellent production and a rare chance to see an American treasure in a live performance. DuBose Heyward published the original novel, Porgy, in 1925 (available in a hypertext version by Kendra Hamilton), which he and his wife, Dorothy, then made into a play, on which Gershwin based his opera. As we mentioned in our preview of this opera, the first Porgy, Todd Duncan, taught voice at Howard here in Washington for many years. Although the action is set in South Carolina, its central concerns -- poverty, alcoholism, drug use, racism, segregation -- are no less relevant to our city today. Although the opera's creative team relied a lot on stereotypes as they created most of the major characters, they come across at their most human in this production. The effect of watching a largely white audience react to this opera -- in which the only white characters are racist law enforcement officials, who answer the beautiful singing of the black characters with bigoted lines in plain speech -- still packs a punch, although perhaps not as much as at its premiere. In 1935, Todd Duncan had to make a special plea to convince the National Theatre here in Washington to drop its normal segregated seating policy. It does all of this over a fabric that weaves together hit melody after hit melody -- a remarkable number of famous Porgy and Bess tunes have become jazz standards -- with the sounds of the Dixieland and swing jazz bands. Saxophones and clarinets are featured prominently, as are percussion (especially mad, whirling xylophone parts) and the plink of the banjo.

To be sure, Porgy and Bess has its faults, and it could probably stand to have a few more judicious cuts than the WNO chose to make. Director Francesca Zambello has created an excellent staging (see some images in this photo journal from Playbill Arts), one that captures the desperate circumstances of the story, in a Catfish Row tenement house, while at the same time ennobling it. The single-scene set has an industrial factory-like quality, admirably warmed and iced by the beautiful lighting, designed by Mark McCullough. The only performance that should have been reigned in was tenor Jermaine Smith, as the drug dealer Sportin' Life, which was too much acrobatic slapstick, perhaps to compensate for a lack of vocal power. Given American experiences with weather disasters this fall, the hurricane scene seemed particularly timely. Zambello elegantly and effectively creates the hurricane shelter, with a rickety metal backdrop, some blown air and thunder sounds, and a swinging ceiling fan. As the water rises to envelop poor Clara, the mother who, at the opera's opening, soothes her crying baby with perhaps the most famous lullaby ever composed ("Summertime"), the scene is all too familiar.

The cast is good, with bass Terry Cook, as Bess's drug-addled and abusive boyfriend, Crown, standing out to my ears, for his power and dramatic acting. Both leads, Indira Mahajan (Bess) and Gordon Hawkins (Porgy), did well that night but did not seem at the top of their form, perhaps tired out after the dress rehearsal and premiere. Hawkins, who was profiled by Jacqueline Trescott in the Post, will be back at WNO this March as Alberich in Wagner's Das Rheingold. This meant that some of the supporting singers stood out, too, including Laquita Mitchell as Clara (who sings that memorable lullaby the first of three times it appears) and especially soprano Angela Simpson as Serena, whose performance in the funeral scene was very moving. This night at the opera will be worth your time and money, especially if you can see and hear it for free this Sunday.