The cast of the original production of “Porgy and Bess” at opening night in Boston, September 30, 1935. Credit: Robert Wachsman Collection at the Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee Theater Research Institute of The Ohio State University Libraries
Ohio State’s School of Music was first established in 1925. As the school looks back at the past century, it also looks back at the first few classes of students and the accomplishments they went on to achieve.
Ruby Elzy was an African American soprano who graduated from Ohio State in 1930 and performed among the stars on Broadway, originating the role of Serena in George Gershwin’s classic opera, “Porgy and Bess.”
Elzy was discovered at Rust College in Mississippi by Dr. Charles Chester McCracken, an Ohio State professor, and Dr. Walter C. John of the U.S. Office of Education, according to David Weaver, historian and author of “Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy.”
In 1927, Weaver said John and McCracken were on a voyage around 60 Black schools down south, seeking for students to help their administrations claim accreditation.
Weaver said one of the schools they came across was Rust College; as they went to meet with Dr. L.M. McCoy, the college’s president, they heard an echoing voice.
“It got to the point where [John and McCracken] just couldn’t concentrate,” Weaver said. “[John] said either we make that girl shut up, or we bring her to sing for us.”
Weaver said Elzy entrusted John and McCracken and set out to follow her dreams at Ohio State in September of that year, where she studied music under then director of the School of Music, Dr. Royal Hughes. Prior to her studies, Elzy could not read music — at the end of her three years, Elzy was able to perform in several different languages, according to The Lantern archives.
Elzy was among the first few classes in the School of Music and one of many who left a historic legacy.
Elzy graduated with honors in 1930, leaving Columbus to further pursue music after she was accepted into graduate school at The Juilliard School in New York City, Weaver said.
During her time in New York, Weaver said Elzy made her Broadway debut singing in the chorus of “Brown Buddies,” a musical comedy, and picked up other small roles here and there.
That was until 1933, when she played the role of Dolly in “The Emperor Jones” — a film adaptation of the play of the same name — whose screenwriter, DuBose Heyward, was also the author of a book called “Porgy.” Weaver said during Elzy’s time as Dolly, Heyward was getting ready to create an opera based on the novel with composer George Gershwin.
“Porgy and Bess” follows the story of Porgy, a Black, disabled street beggar who sought to help Bess, a woman struggling with drug addiction, escape her abusive partner and drug dealer, according to the Houston Grand Opera.
A portrait of Ruby Elzy taken at the Woodard Studios in New York City in 1937. Credit: Courtesy of David Weaver
Gershwin followed in Heyward’s footsteps and auditioned Elzy, who Weaver said then became equally captivated by her voice. The audition led to her being cast as a lead role in the opera as Serena, wowing audiences with her performance of “My Man’s Gone Now.”
Elzy made her debut Sept. 30, 1935, at Colonial Theatre in Boston. Weaver said just 10 days later, Elzy took the Broadway stage as Serena.
“[Elzy] stayed with it through both the original production and the first tour,” Weaver said. “[She started with] the West Coast tour in 1938, came back to Broadway in 1941 [and] stayed with it … she performed the role more than 800 times.”
Elzy not only performed on Broadway, but also appeared in radio shows, films and was even invited to perform at the White House by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, according to the Black Past website.
Weaver said Elzy gave her last performance as Serena in 1943 and died just a week after at the age of 35, after complications with a tumor removal surgery, according to NPR.
From then on, Elzy’s impact echoed throughout the campus walls of not only Ohio State, but Rust College and Juilliard as well. Weaver said Elzy was recognized for her vocal talent and stage presence, as well as for breaking barriers as an African American woman performing in a major Broadway opera, especially in a time where those opportunities were scarce.
Michael Ibrahim, director of the School of Music, said Elzy’s background is inspiring to others following in her footsteps.
“Ruby Elzy is cherished first and foremost by our voice area and by our opera studies,” Ibrahim said. “There is something humbling to think about the giant shoulders we stand on. On a personal level, I find it inspiring to think of how she came from a rural town in Mississippi, became a Buckeye where she studied music and took that education and experience truly to the stars.”
90 years after Elzy’s debut in “Porgy and Bess,” her voice still reverberates — not only through the halls of Ohio State, Rust College and Juilliard, but through the legacy of American opera itself, Weaver said. He said though the show sparked controversy — since the creators were white, writing about the struggles of African Americans — it remained a turning point in the industry as one of the first major operas with an all-Black cast.
“There are so many lessons and gifts [Elzy] passes onto us,” Ibrahim said. “To name just one, I think it’s that we can choose to be the architects of our future. She took risks, she believed in herself and she kept her gift of music as her North Star.”
This story was updated Oct. 30, 2025 at 11 a.m. to clarify that Hughes did not discover Elzy at Rust College with McCracken.
