White singers in Hungary claim to be African-American, for an opera: NPR

In January 2018, the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest was widely criticized for staging the George Gershwin Opera House. Porgy and Bess – whose history fights against racism, drug addiction and poverty – with a predominantly white cast, despite the fact that the Gershwin Domain demands performances featuring an all-black cast.

Now, Hungarian production is back for another series of performances from Porgy this month – and its almost entirely white distribution would have been invited to sign testimonials saying that they were African-American.

The Hungarian news site Index stated that he had obtained the statement and had it published last Friday. According to Index, it says, "Afro-American origin and consciousness are an integral part of my identity, which is why I am particularly happy to be able to play George Gershwin." Porgy and Bess"The Hungarian TV channel ATV has announced that a majority of the cast – 15 out of 28 artists – had signed the statement.

The application for such an affidavit would have been made by the general manager of the company, Szilveszter Ókovács.

The 1935 opera was a collaboration between three white creators, with music by George Gershwin, a libretto by Ira Gershwin, and novelist DuBose Heyward (who wrote the 1925 novel). Porgy, from which the opera was adapted). It was created for black artists – and when it grants a license to the work, the Gershwin domain expressly states that any performance includes an entirely black cast. (According to the Hungarian media, the performers would use photocopied music.)

The performances in Budapest, which continue until Wednesday evening, carry a disclaimer on the opera company's website and in the hall: "The way this production of Porgy and Bess is produced is no authorized and contrary to the requirements of the presentation of the work "

Index has approached Ókovács about the race affidavit. He answered with a long series of questions, including: "What is the color of all the dominant blacks on the Pantone scale?[[[[sic]Barack Obama's grandparents were "white": would he think that he would be right Porgy and Bess? Can you do that at all? … George Gershwin, [from] a Ukrainian Jewish family emigrating to America would not be allowed on the scene of his own work because of the color of his skin and / or his origin and in reference to him. Do you find that okay? Do not you think that all operas should ignore this rotten and odorous disposition? "

For the Hungarian production, the director András Almási-Tóth has moved the scenery of the opera into an aircraft hangar, the characters having been moved to become refugees from an unknown place and crisis .

"This piece [has] almost disappeared from the world of opera for the well-known legal restrictions, "said Almási-Tóth in a promotional trailer of the production published in January 2018." We will now have some sort of unreproduced production because we do not need to have an entirely black distribution. "On the website of the Hungarian opera company, there is a small section called" Critics Respond ", with the quote of only one Hungarian critic, who states, in essence, that Porgy is too important – and curiously, "melodious" – so that his performances are reserved for black artists.

In New York, the Metropolitan Opera will open its 2019-2020 season in September with a new production of Porgy – the first presentation of the work at home for almost three decades. The Met recruits an all-black choir for the Porgy performances; his regular choir currently includes six black singers out of about 81 in total. "It's certainly more complicated, but the complications are worth it, because it's an excellent piece," said Met general manager Peter Gelb. There is also a complex story: George Gershwin refused a Met commission for Porgy and Bess in 1935, because the New York company wanted to use its white choir singers performing in blackface. Instead, the artwork was created in Boston before moving to Broadway.

In June, the Hungarian State Opera canceled 15 performances of Billy Elliot, the musical about a young boy growing up in an English mining community who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. Just before the show starts, an article from the conservative newspaper Magyar Idők called the show "sharp and unrestrained gay propaganda."

The document is aligned with the government of the right-wing Prime Minister, nationalist nationalist Viktor Orban; According to the BBC, the same newspaper reportedly published attacks on various "liberal, globalist and cosmopolitan ideas" which, he says, are encoded in various Hungarian media platforms and institutions, including the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Czechoslovakia. official news agency. the Billy Elliot The production was also supervised by Ókovács.