The main difference is in the way the music is treated. This version offers very nearly the entire opera complete, with Gershwin's original 1935 orchestrations. Almost the entire work is sung; only the white characters speak their lines all the time, and they are onscreen for a total of maybe eight minutes. The black characters (i.e., most of the cast) will very occasionally speak one phrase, but sing almost all of their lines.
The 1959 film version, with Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge (who don't really sing in the movie, but are dubbed) is nearly forty-five minutes shorter than this television one, which runs a full three hours, even without intermission. The earlier film changes all of the recitative in between the arias, duets, trios and choral numbers to spoken dialogue, in effect turning the opera into an unusually dramatic operetta. But because of the way the original libretto of the opera was written, the lines that were changed to ordinary dialogue in the '59 film did not have to be rewritten because the words in those lines do not rhyme. That is the difference between "song" and "recitative". For a more thorough discussion of how recitative works (it amounts to being the equivalent of sung conversation), those who are interested should seek out the Leonard Bernstein Omnibus program "What Makes Opera Grand?", available on DVD along with the rest of Bernstein "Omnibus" lectures. Or, just check this page out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitative
Another change in the music is that in the 1959 film, much of it was completely reorchestrated by Alexander Courage and several others , not so much in the songs themselves as in the background scoring and in the film's overture, while every other production of "Porgy and Bess", except the 2011 one which opened on Broadway in September of that year, uses only the original George Gershwin orchestrations. The music during the fights in the 1959 production, for instance, is completely different from that which Gershwin specifically wrote for those fights. The 1993 version (this one) presents the music almost exactly as Gershwin composed it, although the orchestral prelude normally heard just before the final scene is shifted to the closing credits at the very end, and the "Buzzard Song", usually cut from stage productions, is also cut from both this version and the 1959 one.
The 1959 film also adds an extended orchestral dance sequence for Sammy Davis, Jr. during the song "It Ain't Necessarily So", even though Gershwin never wrote an orchestral dance sequence for this number. The dance sequence is not in this 1993 made-for-television "Porgy and Bess" (nor, for that matter, in the 2002 New York City Opera version, televised on "Live from Lincoln Center").
One other difference between this television version of "Porgy and Bess" and the film is that in the 1959 film, the scene on Kittiwah Island was very obviously shot outdoors, while in this TV version, everything was done in the studio, and the scenery on Kittiwah is artificial.
The 1959 film version, with Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge (who don't really sing in the movie, but are dubbed) is nearly forty-five minutes shorter than this television one, which runs a full three hours, even without intermission. The earlier film changes all of the recitative in between the arias, duets, trios and choral numbers to spoken dialogue, in effect turning the opera into an unusually dramatic operetta. But because of the way the original libretto of the opera was written, the lines that were changed to ordinary dialogue in the '59 film did not have to be rewritten because the words in those lines do not rhyme. That is the difference between "song" and "recitative". For a more thorough discussion of how recitative works (it amounts to being the equivalent of sung conversation), those who are interested should seek out the Leonard Bernstein Omnibus program "What Makes Opera Grand?", available on DVD along with the rest of Bernstein "Omnibus" lectures. Or, just check this page out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitative
Another change in the music is that in the 1959 film, much of it was completely reorchestrated by Alexander Courage and several others , not so much in the songs themselves as in the background scoring and in the film's overture, while every other production of "Porgy and Bess", except the 2011 one which opened on Broadway in September of that year, uses only the original George Gershwin orchestrations. The music during the fights in the 1959 production, for instance, is completely different from that which Gershwin specifically wrote for those fights. The 1993 version (this one) presents the music almost exactly as Gershwin composed it, although the orchestral prelude normally heard just before the final scene is shifted to the closing credits at the very end, and the "Buzzard Song", usually cut from stage productions, is also cut from both this version and the 1959 one.
The 1959 film also adds an extended orchestral dance sequence for Sammy Davis, Jr. during the song "It Ain't Necessarily So", even though Gershwin never wrote an orchestral dance sequence for this number. The dance sequence is not in this 1993 made-for-television "Porgy and Bess" (nor, for that matter, in the 2002 New York City Opera version, televised on "Live from Lincoln Center").
One other difference between this television version of "Porgy and Bess" and the film is that in the 1959 film, the scene on Kittiwah Island was very obviously shot outdoors, while in this TV version, everything was done in the studio, and the scenery on Kittiwah is artificial.
Yes, emphatically. Director Otto Preminger deliberately shot the 1959 "Porgy and Bess" with no real closeups; everything is in either medium shot or long shot, as in very early Cinemascope films, in which real closeups were avoided for fear the actors' facial features would distort. Although it was made in Todd-AO, which does utilize closeups, Preminger deliberately filmed "Porgy and Bess" without using them, according to reports, in order to keep producer Sam Goldwyn from meddling in the editing of the film, something he loved to do. The 1959 version is thus full of what are known as "tracking shots".
This television production, on the other hand, has few if any tracking shots, was made before the era of widescreen TV and has quite a few closeups, as many as in an ordinary non-widescreen film. The duet "Bess, You Is My Woman Now", for instance, is shot almost entirely with closeups in the TV version, while in the 1959 film, it is filmed entirely in long shot.
This television production, on the other hand, has few if any tracking shots, was made before the era of widescreen TV and has quite a few closeups, as many as in an ordinary non-widescreen film. The duet "Bess, You Is My Woman Now", for instance, is shot almost entirely with closeups in the TV version, while in the 1959 film, it is filmed entirely in long shot.
This 1993 TV version, although using artificial shrubbery, evokes South Carolina more convincingly than does the famous 1959 film. The architecture of the buildings resembles the kind one would easily find in a place like Hilton Head, S. C. The 1959 version looks as if it were taking place in some fantasy version of South Carolina. Neither version of the opera was shot on location, but the 1993 "Porgy and Bess" is scenically more convincing than the 1959 one.
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