Gershwin

Dress rehearsal of Porgy and Bess at Washington National Opera. A beautiful, touching, funny night in the theatre. I know that it took a long haul to get here (as they say), and that’s no surprise for a piece as complicated and sprawling as this one. But what a wonderful thing to finally welcome Porgy to D.C., and in such great style.

I won’t even start mentioning individual performances, for great care and talent was lavished on roles large and small. And I know better than to “review” dress rehearsals. But I will be partisan and brag about the two generations of Wolf Trappers in the cast. Laquita Mitchell (’04,’05) and Alyson Cambridge (’04) are double-cast as Clara, Michael Forest (’86,’87) is Robbins, and Gordon Hawkins (’85,’86) sings Porgy. (I still have vivid memories of playing the piano for Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood at the Theatre-in-the-Woods with Gordon playing the big bad wolf.)

Short entry – auditions start tomorrow in Philadelphia!