A popular touring production of this opera in 1952 had a cast including Cab Calloway and Maya Angelou. For 10 points each:
[10e] Name this George Gershwin opera set on Catfish Row which features arias such as “Summertime.”
ANSWER: Porgy and Bess
[10m] This artist refused to play Porgy in Otto Preminger’s film version of Porgy and Bess because he refused to spend the entire movie on his knees. This artist of “The Banana Boat Song” helped popularize an entire genre with his million-selling 1956 album Calypso.
ANSWER: Harry Belafonte [or Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.]
[10h] This composer fumed, “Gershwin does not even know what an opera is” after seeing Porgy. This American composer’s own operas include Four Saints in Three Acts, with libretto by Gertrude Stein.
ANSWER: Virgil Thomson
<Michael Bentley, Fine Arts - Opera> ~20428~ <Editor: Young Lee>