By Joanne Nesbit

James Standifer wants to put the opera Porgy and Bess into perspective for today's and future audiences. "Ever since its 1935 premiere, it has tantalized, teased and tested performers, audiences and critics with its contradictions," Standifer says of the Gershwin opera about characters in "Catfish Row," a mythical Southern Black ghetto.

In his proposed 90 minute film documentary, Porgy and Bess: An American Voice, Standifer will interview some of the principals who played in the initial 1935 production as well as other entertainers who have appeared in the many subsequent performances around the world. Through these oral histories and commentaries, Standifer hopes to examine the opera from historical, racial, social and gender perspectives.

The opera's kaleidoscope of images and strong social implications, and range of characters from rascals to heroes, has disturbed many artists and viewers. Harry Belafonte refused the lead in the 1959 movie version. Sidney Poitier voiced concerns about the demeaning portrayal of Blacks, but played the lead under industry threats that he'd never work again if he declined the role.

The poet and former singer-actor Maya Angelou, however, recalls the "extraordinary magic" that she (in the role of Ruby), other members of the cast, and the audience experienced at the historic 1954 opening night performance in Rome's La Scala opera house.

Written by George and Ira Gershwin (two Jewish brothers from New York) and adapted from the book by DuBose Heyward (a member of the Southern landed gentry), the opera immediately opens itself to probing questions. Can this literary and musical combination adequately express the story and music of Blacks of the 1920s who migrated to cities where they were segregated in ghettos? Does the story erase or reinforce that era's stereotype of Blacks as primitives and clowns? How well do the enduring Gershwin melodies and the folk music drama represent Black musical forms?

"These are only some of the questions Standifer will address in his documentary. Other experts who will present their views include cultural historian Lawrence Levine; David Levering Lewis, author of the recent The Life and Times of W.E.B. Dubois; and U-M faculty including the social historian Harold Cruse, professor emeritus; Richard Crawford, an expert on American music; and composer and pianist William Bolcom.

Writers for the documentary are novelist and playwright Gloria Naylor, author of The Women of Brewster Place and Mama Day, and Ed Apfel, whose film credits include the PBS Emmy Award winning documentaries Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter, and D. W. Griffith: The Father of Film.

Charles Hobson, producer of the 1986 PBS/CBS series, The Africans, will serve as executive producer, and the actors Ruby Dee and Roscoe Lee Brown will narrate.

The script is written. The cast is set. Production will begin later this year when funding becomes complete.