Act One

The opera opens on Catfish Row in Charleston. Some of the inhabitants are dancing, some of the men are playing craps, and Serena sings the lullaby, "Summertime" to her baby. Jake laughingly warns the baby that "A woman is a sometime thing." Some of the men sneer at Bess, Crown's latest lover, and when he defends her, tease the lame Porgy that he's in love with Bess. But he denies it, saying God meant him to be alone. Crown and Robbins fight over the game, and Crown kills Robbins, escaping in the subsequent tumult. Sportin' Life, the local drug dealer, takes the opportunity to try to persuade Bess to leave with him, but she rejects him. She tries to seek shelter with the other women, but they shut their doors. However, Porgy opens his door to her.

In Serena's room, she is holding a wake for Robbins. Neighbors are gathering to pray and collect money for a funeral. Porgy enters with Bess and leads a prayer, and Serena laments her husband's death ("My man's gone now"). A pair of white detectives come in and tell Serena to bury the body the next day, and, without any grounds, drag Peter off. After they leave, the undertaker agrees to bury Robbins although there isn't enough money to pay in advance. Bess leads a spiritual, "Oh, the train is in the station."



Act Two

The second act also opens on Catfish Row. Porgy and Bess are now lovers. As the men work, Porgy describes his happy life ("I got plenty o' nuttin"), pitying rich folks who are terrified of losing their wealth—all the things that he prizes are free. Maria chases Sportin' Life away from her shop ("I hates yo' struttin' style"). The cheerful mood is disrupted by a buzzard flying overhead, and the residents perceive it as a sign of coming misfortune ("Boss, dat bird means trouble"). Sportin' Life again tries to persuade Bess to leave with him, but Porgy frightens him off. Porgy and Bess sing of their love ("Bess, you is my woman now"). Rather than go to the big picnic on a nearby island, she wants to stay with him, but he tells her to go have fun, for her and himself. On Kittiwah Island, Sportin' Life sings ("It ain't necessarily so"), putting his cynical spin on biblical stories and expressing his own skepticism. Crown is in hiding on the island, and, catching Bess alone, half-forces, half-persuades her stay with him.

A week later, Jake ignores the signs of an impending storm and gets ready to go fishing. Bess has been ill, but the community is looking after her, and she is recovering. Bess admits to Porgy that she promised Crown she would return, and Porgy promises to help her ("I loves you, Porgy"). In Serena's room, after the storm has broken out, everyone is praying. Crown bursts into the room. He scandalizes everyone by mocking their prayers with the irreverent ("A red-headed woman"). Clara sees Jake's boat overturn, and only Crown will go to help. Clara rushes out, asking Bess to take care of her child.



Act Three

On Catfish Row once again, the women are mourning Clara's, Jake's, and Crown's deaths, but Sportin' Life tells them that Crown is still alive. They all leave, and from Porgy's room the voice of Bess is heard. Crown, seriously injured, comes onstage and goes to find Bess, but Porgy strangles him. Later, the police have no evidence but demand that Porgy view the body. He refuses, believing that a corpse will bleed in the presence of its murderer, and he is taken to jail. Bess is desolate and laments that "My man's gone now." Sportin' Life again tries to persuade her to leave with him, painting a glamorous picture of the life they would lead together in Harlem ("There's a boat that's leaving soon for New York"). Again she turns him down, but he leaves a package of "happy dust," drugs, on the doorstep. She waits for him to leave, then emerges and takes the package. A week later, Porgy returns, released for lack of evidence, which he credits to his closing his eyes when they made him look at Crown. Increasingly agitated at her absence, he asks where Bess is ("Oh, Bess, oh where's my Bess"), and they finally tell him she has left for New York with Sportin' Life. Even though they tell him New York is a thousand miles away, he gets into his goat-drawn cart and heads out to find her ("Oh, Lawd, I'm on my way").

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Act 1 - 2.Scene 1: Summertime

Summertime is one of the most popular numbers from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, what the composer called a folk opera and what many consider his finest achievement. He was inspired to compose the work after reading Edwin Dubose Heyward's novel Porgy in 1926. It was not until 1934, however, that Gershwin, his librettist brother Ira, and Heyward collaborated on the effort. Heyward fashioned the libretto and worked with Ira on the lyrics to the songs, though Heyward alone is credited with having written them for Summertime. Sung by the character Clara, this lullaby is presented shortly after the brief overture that opens the opera and is the first vocal number heard. Its theme is absolutely striking in the way it conveys a lazy, blues-imbued serenity. The mood of the song emerges from thick, mesmerizing mists in its brighter second subject, which begins with the words "So, hush little baby...." Some will hear a sensual undercurrent in Summertime, and others will be enchanted simply by the catchy, slow lilt and atmospheric harmonies. Gershwin's highly evocative writing brilliantly mixes elements of jazz and the song styles of blacks in the southeast United States from the early twentieth century. Gershwin, of course, adds his own unique voice to the music and the results are utterly charming. Without doubt, this is one of the finest songs the composer ever wrote.

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