Songs like Summertime and It Ain’t Necessarily So made Porgy and Bess a moving portrayal of life for African-Americans. A new tour by the Cape Town Opera has taken the spirit of the opera to South Africa, writes Nancy Groves.

Was there ever a song as seasonally appropriate as Summertime? This standard of the American songbook has been covered more than 25,000 times by artists including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Janis Joplin – and even The Doors. In fact it’s been reworked so many times it’s easy to forget it started life as an operatic aria in George Gershwin’s 1935 masterpiece, Porgy and Bess.

This summertime, however, the tune will be restored to its rightful origins by Cape Town Opera. The South African company took the UK by storm in 2009 and return for a six-venue tour, stopping at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre.

Transferring the story from the sweltering humidity of Charleston, South Carolina, to the deep heat of South Africa’s Western Cape, the production boasts a cast including Soweto-born soprano Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi, last seen in the title role of Carmen Jones at the Royal Festival Hall.

Given the rapturous reviews Cape Town Opera received last time round, bringing Porgy and Bess back to the UK was a no brainer, said managing director Michael Williams.

“It was a revelation to see how warmly the Brits took to a South African company tackling an American standard with such vigour and in such a novel fashion,” said Michael. “People were taken a back by our enthusiasm, the quality of our voices and the opportunities for those voices which Gershwin’s score provides.”

Porgy and Bess was George Gershwin’s attempt to write an opera that showed off the depth and range of African-American voices. Despite the beauty of his music, the concept challenged both white and black audiences alike, and for many years the opera was presented in a watered-down ‘musical’ format.

“Even by Gershwin” Michael pointed out. “He wrote the piece to give black singers an opportunity but when it turned out that it wasn’t cutting it with the opera glitterati – the mink and pearls brigade – he tried to make it into a Broadway show.”

Happily, Porgy and Bess is now a stalwart of the operatic canon and “people know they shouldn’t tamper with it.” At least not with the music – transferring the setting is another matter, said Michael, who insisted the South African relocation is faithful to the themes and spirit of the opera. It also sits well with the characters of Catfish village – beautiful but broken Bess, her brute of a boyfriend Crown, no-good drug pusher Sportin’ Life and, of course, noble but crippled Porgy himself.

“If you pick up any newspaper in South Africa, you’ll see the issues we deal with,” said Michael. “First, there’s the poverty – in South Africa the gap between rich and poor is the largest in the world. Then, the drugs – there are many Sportin’ Lives roaming our schools and city landscapes. And finally, the male on female violence – South Africa’s rape statistics are well known.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

“In amongst all this death and misery, there is an abundance of joy to Porgy and Bess, which is what we have in this country too,” said Michael.

“You’ve got to realise that singing is a way of life here. We have choral competitions that last five days, every high school has two or three choirs, and when I do auditions for our ensemble, at least 500 people turn up.”

Porgy and Bess is at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre from Wednesday, June 27 to Saturday, June 30. Tickets £21 to £49.50. Box office 01227 787787.