When Summertime Found Me Again
- joie
- Feb 24
- 2 min read
A Song That Lived in My Bones
The year was 1983 when I first walked into Lincoln Center, an elementary school kid on a field trip to see The Nutcracker. Our normally rowdy bunch fell silent, wide-eyed before the costumes, the dance, the sheer spectacle of live performance. My mother and teachers were adamant about exposing us to the arts, and it worked. Somewhere in those formative years, I first heard "Summertime" — a melody that burrowed into my bones long before I understood where it came from.
In 2004, Fantasia Barrino answered that question for millions when she performed the Gershwin standard on American Idol, a rendition so hauntingly powerful that judge Paula Abdul called it an "Oscar-worthy performance." She was channeling every ancestor that day. 2025 was a brutal year on many levels, but it taught me one critical lesson: I needed to rediscover my passions. So when the opportunity came to finally see Porgy and Bess — an item that had long lived on my bucket list — I took it. I nearly wore sweats to a four-hour opera. Thank God for that little voice in my head. When I arrived, I stopped me cold. Beautiful Black people, old and young, draped in gowns and tuxedos. My friend Daryl, an opera veteran, guided me through the evening. I had fully expected to fall asleep. Instead, I was moved to my core.
The Opera That Changed American Theater
George Gershwin premiered Porgy and Bess on October 10, 1935, at the Alvin Theatre in New York. Set in Charleston's fictional Catfish Row, the opera featured an all-Black cast of classically trained singers — revolutionary for Depression-era America. Initial reviews were mixed and the run lasted only 124 performances, yet the Metropolitan Opera now calls it "a supremely American masterpiece." Soprano Grace Bumbry, who starred in the 1985 Met production, initially resisted the role but came to see it as "a piece of Americana." The opera launched careers spanning generations — from Leontyne Price and Maya Angelou in the 1952 revival to Audra McDonald's Tony-winning turn as Bess in 2012.
Its songs have transcended genre, with over 25,000 recorded versions of "Summertime" alone. Three arias in particular have become permanent fixtures of American music: "Summertime" — recorded by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, it remains one of the most covered songs in history. "I Loves You, Porgy" — Nina Simone's 1959 version became a Billboard Top 20 hit and introduced the song to R&B audiences. "It Ain't Necessarily So" — Sarah Vaughan's rendition helped cement the tune as a jazz standard that questions blind faith with sly wit.
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