Reclaiming Power: Disability, Desire, and Resistance in Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess production at the Washington National Opera. Photo credit: Cory Weaver
(Please note: this content includes references to domestic violence and abuse.)
Mention “opera,” and for many, it evokes a narrow cultural image—European, elitist, aging. The Washington National Opera’s revival of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, which ran last month, subverts this stereotypical conception. The WNO’s Porgy and Bess is a love story of a drug-addicted woman in an abusive relationship who seeks refuge and romance with a destitute man who is physically disabled, set against the backdrop of Catfish Row, a lower-income Black-majority community in 1950s South Carolina.
The experience of the opera Porgy and Bess began long before the performance. To make the opera’s content more accessible, the WNO partnered with the Library of Congress to host a live discussion. They also borrowed materials from the library’s George and Ira Gershwin Gallery to display in the Opera House lobby. In the Hall of States at the Kennedy Center, the The Denyce Graves Foundation hosted a special exhibition, Women of Porgy and Bess: An Evolving Perspective that payed homage to directors and actors who have shaped the four major women characters in the opera, Bess, Serena, Clara, and Maria, over several decades. The WNO also hosted several Pre-Show talks to contextualize the history and behind-the-scenes planning of the opera. Although the WNO typically hosts Pre-Show lectures, the effort put towards educating the audience about Porgy and Bess and its “Challenges and Controversies” as highlighted in the playbill shows the level of care put into educating the audience about what is regarded as the first American folk opera.
Originally composed in 1935, Porgy and Bess serves to demonstrate both what opera has been and what it can be. The archaic elements of the opera are in its foundation. George Gershwin adapted the opera from DuBose Heyward's novel, Porgy. Gershwin and Heyward, both white men, collaborated in adapting the novel into an opera. According to the interview with Dr. Naomi Andre in the playbill, the dialect of African American Vernacular English (“AAVE”) written for the characters was created by Gershwin and Heyward and is not an accurate representation of AAVE of the time period. Modern society would deem the ahistorical caricature of AAVE and Black culture in Porgy and Bess a cancellable offense. However, for 1930s America, an opera that centered the Black working class in the American South and created roles for Black opera singers would probably have been viewed as cutting-edge and socially progressive.
Chauncey Packer as Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess. Photo credit: Cory Weaver
The most contemporary, and potentially progressive, aspect of the opera itself is the romance between Porgy and Bess. While Bess falls into a number of stereotypical opera tropes as a tragic female heroine (or anti-heroine, depending on perception), her character’s experience with drug addiction and domestic violence makes her both a sympathetic and realistic character. Porgy, on the other hand, represents a rare occurrence of a physically disabled man being centered as a romantic interest.
Porgy, played by baritone Reginald Smith, Jr., in the performance, is introduced to the audience as a pitiable character. He uses a crutch for his physical disability and, because of his disability and lack of education, depends on charity and begging to support himself. The community of Catfish Row chided Bess for pursuing Porgy. They claimed she was taking advantage of his loneliness by fleeing into his home and arms because no one else wanted her after her lover and abuser, Crown, murdered a man. The neighborhood drug dealer, Sportin’ Life, teased that Bess would not be with Porgy for long because he could not provide for her fast and furious lifestyle as her previous lovers had. Crown teases Porgy for not being a real man because of his physical disability.
While the community’s initial interpretations of Bess’s intentions towards Porgy were accurate, Bess does indeed fall in love with Porgy. She shows how, although he cannot provide for her financially, he offers her emotional support. She points out that, while she is the only lover he’s ever had, he is not devoid of sexual desire. Bess does not infantilize Porgy. He fulfills the traditional masculine role in a cisgendered heterosexual relationship of being both her provider and protector, but in an atypical manner. Porgy overcomes his physical limitations and shows his desire to be Bess’s one and only lover during a battle scene with Crown. Days after Crown assaults Bess, he returns to Catfish Row to fetch her. Porgy asks if Bess would like to go with Crown, and Bess makes it clear that she does not consent to Crown’s advances. As Crown physically fights Porgy for access to Bess, Porgy overcomes his limitations to defend Bess and kill Crown. Upon killing Crown, Porgy boldly proclaims, “Bess, you have a man now!”
In operatic tradition, another tragedy of sorts follows when Bess flees Catfish Row after falling prey to Sportin’ Life, his “happy dust,” and promises of a better life in New York City following Porgy’s imprisonment. When Porgy returns to Catfish Row, the community attempts to protect Porgy by keeping Bess’s whereabouts from him. While this is admirable, Porgy overcomes how his community has infantilized him to pursue his one love, Bess.
A live recording of Porgy and Bess will be played at Opera in the Outfield at National Park (DC) in August for free. The Kennedy Center will continue its celebration of Black American culture and art with its new production of Treemonisha, which is set to premiere in March 2026.
https://www.kennedy-center.org/wno/home/2025-2026/treemonisha/
Mary Marston is an attorney based in the Washington, D.C. area. In her free time, she enjoys indulging in the performing and visual arts scene of the DMV.