Porgy Orgy (Contd.)

Catfish Row had its finest hour last week. After nearly three years of triumphantly touring the U.S., Canada and Europe, with stops in dozens of cities including London, Paris, Berlin, Zagreb, Tel Aviv, George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess reached Milan, the world's opera capital. At La Scala, it ran for eight performances (solidly sold out four days before opening night) and was a smash hit. Milan cheered the all-Negro cast and the mayor toasted it in champagne.

Despite program notes, the Italian audience was puzzled by the plot. The gay-sordid doings of Catfish Row reminded them of Naples and Palermo slums, but the dialogue and lyrics were unlike anything they had ever heard before, and such translations as Io ho assolutamente nulla, e nulla e molto per me* did not help much. One critic, though presumably hardened to hate-filled Toscas, murderous Alfios and impassioned Canios, complained: "It is the violence of the show that surprises us." Despite such scattered reservation, Milan went on a real Porgy orgy of praise. Even the Communist paper called it "one of the masterpieces of the lyric stage." Summed up another critic: "It has brought new life and new enthusiasm to the semi-deserted conservatories and to Europe's lyrical stages now on the verge of death."

Next stops for Porgy: Genoa, Florence, probably the French provinces, Brussels, Amsterdam.

* "I have absolutely nothing, and nothing is much for me."

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