Was Gershwin being racist when he insisted on an all-black cast for Porgy and Bess?

Hungarian State Opera director Szilveszter Ókovács thinks that George Gershwin’s all-black cast requirement today is racist.

Porgy and Bess was first staged on Broadway in 1935; the music was composed by George Gershwin and the libretto was written by his brother Ira Gershwin in collaboration with DuBose Heyward, who wrote the original story. The authors prescribed an all-black cast for the opera. Today the Gershwin estate owns the rights to the opera and requests an all-black cast except for the few minor white roles.

When the Hungarian State Opera recently decided to stage Porgy and Bess they opted instead for an all-white cast. It is hard to assemble an all-black cast in Budapest and this is not the first time that Porgy and Bess is presented with white singers. In 2002 Anthony Tommasini argued in the New York Times that the all-black cast is not necessary for the opera. (Read Tommasini’s article here.)

Scene from the all-white cast Porgy and Bess / Bea Gergely – Kanadai Magyar Hírlap

After negotiations over the all-black cast requirement ended, the Hungarians added a statement in the printed materials that the production would be taking place without authorization and “is contrary to the requirements for the presentation of the work.”

This would have been the end of the story, but Opera director Ókovács went one step further. Ókovács started to give interviews stating that that the Gershwin estate’s requirement of an all-black cast is racist. (Read Hungarian article about Ókovács accusations here.) He also called Gershwin a “Jewish genius” while blasting his casting requirement. Connecting Gershwin’s Jewishness to the all-black cast requirement has a hidden message in Hungary: Jews are oppressing Whites; racism is their fault. This is eerily similar to the mantra of American fascist David Duke.

Opera Director Ókovács thundered on Hungarian TV that the all-black cast requirement is racist.

It is important to note that Ókovács was hand-picked for his post by right-wing Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán who thinks that “ethnic homogeneity” is key to Hungary’s success. He opposes race mixing in Hungary. (Read about Orbán’s ideas here.)

The fear of people of color, particularly migrants is appalling. In 2015 Prime Minister Orbán argued in his Tusványos speech that black African immigration was an existential threat to European nationhood and civilization. “And the real threat is not from the war zones, Ladies and Gentlemen, but from the heart of Africa. . . . There are 1.1 billion people in Africa today, more than half of them under the age of twenty-five. . . . In other words, what is at stake today is Europe and the European way of life, the survival or extinction of European values and nations – or, to be more precise, their transformation beyond all recognition.”

Opera Director Ókovács may have raised some valid concerns related to the all-black cast requirement of Porgy and Bess. Unfortunately, his distasteful accusations of racism dragged the casting question of the opera into the swamp of daily Hungarian politics. He should apologize for his public insult of the Gershwin estate.

György Lázár

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