'U' Music prof.'s film set to air nationally

One of America's most famous operas - and a University professor - will receive national attention tonight when PBS airs the documentary "Porgy and Bess: An American Icon." The program is the result of more than 12 years of researcher by Music Prof. James Standifer, the film's producer.

University archives provided most of the resources for the documentary. Eva Jessye, the opera's original choral director, donated her collection of African American music materials to the University in 1974. Using scores and manuscripts from this collection and items from the Standifer Video Archive in West Hall, Standifer has worked to present the documentary from an African American perspective.

SARA STILLMAN/Daily Music Prof. James Standifer begins his secondary general music methods class with a musical warm-up lesson with Music juniors Jessica Alles and Alissa Mercurio, Rackham student Fred Dade, Music senior Heather Grush and Music junior Janeece Freeman.

Standifer said getting funding to create the documentary was a challenge. The University provided significant funding for the project, and organized the on-campus advance screening that drew an audience of more than 1,500 people on January 25.

"We saw the University community arm in arm talking in very candid terms about some very negative things and some things that were intrinsically educational," Standifer said. "The message of this opera and the message of the documentary is that because the themes in 'Porgy and Bess' are universal, they are directed toward all of us, and they bring us together as Americans."

When "Porgy and Bess" first opened at New York's Alvin Theater in 1935, no one, not even its creators George and Ira Gershwin, imagined the opera would become the national icon that it has. Sixty-three years later, the opera that has sparked debate since its origination has become an example of American creative genius.

"'Porgy and Bess' has gradually evolved into a true American icon that is reflected and permits itself to be reflected in generational changes that we've seen in African Americana and in Americana," Standifer said. "In this sense, maybe the opera is more American than we could have ever perceived."

From its beginnings as a novel by southern aristocrat DuBose Heyward in 1925, "Porgy and Bess" has had a difficult performance history.

"Because it is a piece of material on black culture and reflects different aspects of black culture, from the beginning, it was a minefield of sensitivities having to do with racism, stereotypes and gender," Standifer said.

The opera presents a universal drama about the transforming power of love in a relationship between a man and a woman through the lens of African American "folkloric" life and music.

"I think Gershwin knew that he needed to give that extra authenticity and he needed to communicate aspects of the black culture," Standifer said. "Putting those words of DuBose Heyward and those melodies of George Gershwin into the minds and mouths of the black performers made a difference between what was authentic and what was authentic black."

The political, cultural and artistic focus of "Porgy and Bess" raises issues that have created tension since the opera's first performance. Today's performers continue to struggle with the same difficulties that original cast members experienced.

"The documentary lets the performers themselves speak about the problems and the angst and the stereotypes, so you have these people from 1935 on up to the present talking about their feelings of rejection, their feelings of elation, their feelings of opportunity," Standifer said.

"But by the time they got to the '80s, the opera had proved itself all over the world," Standifer said. "After it had gone to La Scala, to Vienna, to opera houses in Russia, it was finally accepted in America when it came to the Metropolitan Opera in 1985."

Racial tension prevented "Porgy and Bess" from running in its hometown of Charleston until 1970.

"On the one hand, (blacks) were accepted on the stage by primarily white audiences in the '30s and '40s, but by the time they walked out the stage door, they couldn't go into the same restaurants," Standifer said. "But 'Porgy and Bess' gave blacks and opportunity to really show what they could do as actors or singers."

02-04-98