This year marks the 90^th anniversary of George and Ira Gershwin’s folk opera, “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway. Many major opera houses around the country have planned productions, including the Washington National Opera, the Houston Grand Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. While there are many biographies about Gershwin that include chapters devoted to “Porgy and Bess,” the only book that exists about any of the members of the original cast is “Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy,” by David E. Weaver, a professionally-trained singer.

OperaWire  asked David E. Weaver about his passion for opera, how he came to write the story of Ruby Elzy, who sang the first Serena; and other insights about the role of “Porgy and Bess” as it celebrates its 90^th year.

OperaWire: When did you realize you loved opera?

David E. Weaver: My sister was a big fan of tenor Mario Lanza. She hooked me through her record collection and took me to see his movies. I was 10 and fell in love. Although not a full-time singer, I’ve done more than 30 operas professionally; if you add in operettas and musicals, I’ve performed in nearly 60 between 1973 and 2013.

OW: Ruby Elzy studied voice at Ohio State University, having transferred from Rust College, a traditional Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Mississippi. How did you hear of her?

DW: In 1998 I was working for WOSU-FM, the public broadcasting station for Ohio State. At a lunch for its new classical music station, I met a radio broadcaster named Madge Cooper Guthery. We chatted about how we both loved opera and theatre. Madge asked me if I’d heard of Ruby Elzy.

OW: And you hadn’t?

DW: No. Madge told me Elzy had been a classmate of hers at Ohio State, graduated in 1930 and then went to Juilliard. She was a classmate of Anne Wiggins Brown, who starred as the first Bess. Curious, I purchased the CD of the 1937 Gershwin Hollywood Bowl Memorial Concert, in which both Ruby and Anne sang. When I listened to Ruby sing “My Man’s Gone Now,” I was stunned. I’d never heard a voice like that. Then I began researching Ruby’s life and career.  It took me more than five years. I interviewed her family members, cast members from the original production, including several telephone calls with Anne Brown, and read through her letters.

OW: Tragically, like Gershwin, Elzy died young. What’s her greatest legacy? Why is she so unknown?

DW: Like so many other Black singers of her time, Ruby was overlooked. Adding to this was the fact that she died so young, at age 35. She was the first of the original cast of principals in “Porgy and Bess” to die; and many years before any of the others. Some of the original cast, like Todd Duncan and Anne Brown, lived to their 90s. As far as legacy, being one of the handful of singers that George Gershwin personally handpicked to create their roles in “Porgy and Bess” – and the overwhelming acclaim she received as Serena – that alone would ensure Ruby’s place in music and opera history.

OW: “Porgy and Bess” continues to be controversial. Some singers say it pinholes them, some say it’s an essential part of the American opera canon. Where do you fall?  What role does the opera play nationally?

DW: To me, it is no more a negative and stereotypical portrait of Blacks than “The Godfather” is a negative and stereotypical portrait of Italian Americans. Both of these works tell stories about specific characters and situations – but they are not meant to be representative of those races as a whole. Whatever one can say about “Porgy and Bess,” one thing is absolutely true: it is the most popular opera ever produced by an American composer. And the songs are an indelible part of the what we call the Great American Songbook.

OW: What do you credit to the continued popularity, both in the US and abroad of “Porgy and Bess?”

DW: The issues which people have with “Porgy and Bess” in the United States do not seem to resonate overseas. If anything, the opera is even more popular abroad than it is here. It’s not so much for the opera’s themes that it’s popular – but for the fact that it has rich, wonderful characters, a timeless story, and of course, one of the greatest musical scores written for any opera.

“Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy,” by David E. Weaver is available from the University Press of Mississippi.