A Marvelous Order

A Marvelous Order is an opera by Judd Greenstein to a libretto by Tracy K. Smith about New York urban activist Jane Jacobs and urban planner Robert Moses. The work was conceived by three artists—Greenstein, Smith and director Joshua Frankel,[1] who also created animation that is projected throughout the opera.

A Marvelous Order
Opera by Judd Greenstein
LibrettistTracy K. Smith
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.amarvelousorder.com
External media
Audio
audio icon Discussed on WNYC's On The Media
audio icon Discussed on KCRW's Design & Architecture
Video
video icon Footage from a workshop presentation, 2016

A Marvelous Order was given a work-in-progress "pre-premiere" in March 2016 at the '62 Center for Theater and Dance at Williams College.[2][3][4] An excerpt was presented in June 2017 at the Fulton Center in New York City by the River to River Festival.[5][6] In 2021, excerpts of A Marvelous Order were presented by Brooklyn Public Library in the plaza in front of the Central Library, outdoors, in concert, with animation projected onto the building’s Art Deco facade.[7]

The completed opera had its world premiere on October 20, 2022 at the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State, in the culmination of a multi-year partnership which included three creative development residencies.[8][9]

History

From the opera's earliest stages, the mixture of libretto, music, and visuals defined the project. All three of the opera's creators worked in tandem.[10]

Plot

The opera is set in the 1960s and centers around the feud between two characters: Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and their domination of Washington Square Park and the area around the Lower Manhattan Expressway.[11] Moses plans on destroying the home of Jacob who, in response, begins a riot which eventually effects everyone within and outside the city. The narrative foregrounds the role of urban development and the influence it has on the lives of people as shaped by music and protest.[10]

Cast
Character Singer
Jane Jacobs Megan Schubert
Robert Moses Rinde Eckert
Melisa Bonetti
Kelvin Chan
Tomás Cruz
Blythe Gaissert
Christopher Herbert
Tesia Kwarteng
Kamala Sankaram
[Guest appearances] Dashon Burton, Eric Dudley, Jeffrey Gavet, Avery Griffin, Jonathan Woody

References
  1. "F*&% Robert Moses. Let's Start Over". WNYC. May 17, 2021.
  2. Lange, Alexandra (May 4, 2016). "Imagining Jane Jacobs". Curbed. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  3. McArdle, Molly (May 25, 2016). "A Marvelous Order: A Gentrification Opera for Our Times". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  4. Marcisz, Christopher (March 11, 2016). "Urban myth and reality ignite new opera". The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  5. Zax, Tayla (June 21, 2017). "New Opera Tells Story Of Robert Moses And Jane Jacobs — In The City Where They Battled". The Forward.
  6. Barone, Joshua (April 12, 2017). "An Opera About Robert Moses Is Among the River to River Festival Highlights". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  7. Jacobs, Karrie (April 21, 2022). "Why Libraries May Never Stop Being People Places". The New York Times.
  8. Waleson, Heidi. "'A Marvelous Order' Review: Battling the Power Broker". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  9. Weiner, Natalie. "A 'Marvelous' Endeavor". PennStater Magazine. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  10. Frankel, Joshua. "A Marvelous Order". www.amarvelousorder.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  11. "This Urban Planning Battle in NYC Was So Epic, It's Being Made into an Opera". Architectural Digest. February 12, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2023.

Further reading
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