1, at the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center Girshwin’s opera will be streamed live at 11:55 a.m. I saw one inspiring example this summer: Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” which the Met recently announced it would bring to New York. The response should not be to discount “Porgy,” but to champion overlooked operatic portraits of black communities by black artists and foster the creation of new ones. That “Porgy and Bess” is a portrait of a black community by white artists may limit the work. What else does he need? He may have seemed a little deluded as he sang “I’m On my Way” in the final scene - vowing to reclaim Bess, who has been lured by Sportin’ Life to New York. He’s got his gal, the sun, the stars, his life. Owens sang “I’ve Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’” with a touch of glee, but also genuine contentment. But in this production, they were high points. Some songs that smack of Broadway can seem out of place in the score. Yet the daring and intricacy of her vision came through. She may push this concept too far in a production that strives to reveal the dignity of the characters. Brown, in her Met debut, has devised movements - for a small roster of dancers, and often for the choristers as well - that are sometimes highly stylized, with stomping feet and flailing arms. In the opening scene, when Clara (the exquisite soprano Golda Schultz) sings the wistful lullaby “Summertime” to her baby boy, the chorus gently eases into the music, beautifully adding a warm harmonic cushion to Clara’s poignant phrases. The Met recruited and hired an impressive 60-member chorus of black singers. This community is depicted mostly through Gershwin’s extraordinary choral scenes, the core of the opera.

Its inhabitants are presented here like a community of oppressed but aspiring people, raising families and praying for the Promised Land, though even the working men with families can’t resist the lure of gambling.

The staging’s centerpiece is a rotating set that suggests the bare wood framing of a rundown aristocratic mansion that has become a shared dwelling for the residents of Catfish Row. James Robinson’s production, with sets by Michael Yeargan and costumes by Catherine Zuber - introduced at the English National Opera in London last year - is realistic, with atmospheric touches.

Porgy and bess met opera