Portland Observer Black History Month
February 15, 2012
Page 17
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David Alan Grier
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NaTasha Yvette Williams
(left) and David Alan Grier in
a scene from "The
Gershwins ' Porgy and Bess "
in New York. (AP photo)
World Stage Theatre
6th Annual Who I Am; Celebrating ME
Maya Angelou
New Spin for Classic ‘Porgy and Bess’
Actor relishes
role on
Broadway
(AP) — David Alan Grier has a
gentle message for anyone who is
getting all hot and bothered think­
ing that he's helping ruin an Ameri­
can masterpiece.
"Relax. Let it go," he says. "We're
not killing it. We're just doing our
version."
The actor and comedian is cur­
rently starring as Sporting Life in a
reworked version of the Gershwin's
"Porgy and Bess" on Broadway.
The creative team, with the bless­
ing of the creators' estates, con­
densed the four-hour opera into a
tw o-and-one-half-hour m usical,
eliminated a lot of the repetitiveness
and tried to deepen the characters.
Their effort generated headlines
when purists complained that a
musical treasure was being cor­
rupted.
It's the fifth time on Broadway for
this Yale School of Drama graduate
best known for his scathing wit and
his fo u r se aso n s a b o ard the
groundbreaking sketch comedy TV
show "In Living Color."
The 55-year-old wanted to play
Sporting Life, the drug-pusher and
pimp portrayed in the original Broad­
way production by Cab Calloway
and in the film version by Sammy
Davis Jr.
To get into character, G rier
learned all he could about the 1930s
in South Carolina, went back to the
original notes left by the show's
creators, listened to Ella Fitzgerald
scat and watched documentaries of
pimps. He also drew on his roots
growing up in Detroit and watching
Avalon Flowers
pimps decked out in colorful clothes
stroll down 12th Street.
The controversy over the show
didn't scare him off: It made him
even m ore excited. The show
moved over the w inter from the
Am erican Repertory Theater in
Cam bridge, Mass, to Broadway's
Richard Rogers Theatre, opening
in January to generally positive
reviews.
Grier laughs that when "Porgy
and Bess" first opened in 1935, op­
era buffs were incensed by what
some considered a crass monstros­
ity: George Gershwin wasn't con­
sidered a bona fide opera writer, the
show's melting of jazz and blues into
a classical European art form was
highly unusual, and few thought
black singers could fully succeed at
singing opera. Over the years,
though, it became an opera master­
piece.
Madam C|
Jefferson High
School Auditorium
5210 N Kerby Ave -
Time:7:30p
Tickets: $5 in advance
or $7.50 at
the door
For more informatioi
A Stage Play
February 24,2012
.worldstagetheatre.org
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