FROM AROUND THE WORLD: CAPE TOWN.(Review)

In June, Cape Town Opera, the privately-funded company (founded 1998) that grew out of a previously state-subsidized body, mounted a lush, memorable version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, as part of an action-packed winter season. "As we build a new generation of African audience-members and operatic practitioners, a work of this richness, specifically intended for black singers, is an ideal vehicle," said Angelo Gobbato, director of this production and chief executive officer of Cape Town Opera.

The South African production history of Gershwin and Edwin DuBose's 1935 opera -- an infectious blend of blues notes, jazz rhythms and mournful, catchy melodies -- parallels its controversial track record in the U.S. The full-blown opera version only made its debut in Houston in 1976; it took another twenty years, following the lifting of the cultural boycott in 1991, for the opera to reach the boards in South Africa. U.S.-based Rhoda Levine directed that production, featuring a largely American cast, for Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB), Cape Town Opera's predecessor, in 1996. The company had a fast-track vocal training program at the time, and local singers understudied the Americans. Since then, CAPAB's training program has borne fruit in terms of experienced local talent; with them, and in his own production, Gobbato rendered Gershwin's spirited, complex "folk opera" (the composer's description) into effective local terms. In the leading roles, two Americans made their Cape Town ...