The Central Park Five is a two-act American opera composed byAnthony Davis with libretto byRichard Wesley.[1] It premiered on June 15, 2019, at theLong Beach Opera Company in California. The premiere was directed byAndreas Mitisek and conducted byLeslie Dunner.[2] Davis was awarded thePulitzer Prize for Music for the opera on May 4, 2020.[3][4] An earlier, shorter version, titledFive, was premiered inNewark, New Jersey, in 2016 by theTrilogy Company.[5] A staged concert production has been announced byNew York City Opera; the date has not been set.[6]
The opera is based on the 1989incident in which a woman was raped and beaten and eight other people injured in New York'sCentral Park.[7][8] Five African-American and Latino teenagers were convicted of rape, sodomy, assault, robbery, and riot.[9] They served years in prison but were ultimately exonerated on a legal technicality.[10] The opera's large cast includes the five teenagers; five of their parents; Matias Reyes, the serial rapist ultimately proven to be the actual perpetrator; the prosecutor; a generic detective referred to as "The Masque"; and evenDonald Trump, then a New York real estate developer, who published multiple full-page newspaper advertisements calling for the return of thedeath penalty.[11][12]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, June 15, 2019 (conductor: Leslie Dunner)[2][11] |
|---|---|---|
| Antron McCray | bass-baritone | Derrell Acon |
| Yusef Salaam | bass-baritone | Cedric Berry |
| Kevin Richardson | tenor | Bernard Holcomb |
| Korey Wise | tenor | Nathan Granner |
| Raymond Santana | tenor | Orson Van Gay |
| Donald Trump | tenor | Thomas Segen |
| District Attorney | mezzo-soprano | Jessica Mamey |
| The Masque | baritone | Zeffin Quinn Hollis |
| Raymond's Father and Matias Reyes | bass-baritone | Babatunde Akinboboye |
| Antron's Father | tenor | Ashley Faatoalia |
| Antron's Mother and Kevin's mother | soprano | Joelle Lamarre |
| Yusef's Mother | mezzo-soprano | Lindsay Patterson |
Mark Swed of theLos Angeles Times said the premiere production offered "musical excellence, with a strong cast, an orchestra that could cook and viscerally stunning conducting from Leslie Dunner". He added that the acting provided "moments of intense drama" and the "supercharged" score created "tension, terror, dismay and, in the most revealing moments, tenderness and hope".[13]
Gordon Williams, writing forOpera Wire, called it "an incredibly effective presentation" of "a powerful work that shines a spotlight on an important event", describing it an ensemble piece with a powerful libretto and a strong cast.[2]
The Pulitzer Prize committee cited the work as "a courageous operatic work, marked by powerful vocal writing and sensitive orchestration, that skillfully transforms a notorious example of contemporary injustice into something empathetic and hopeful".[14]
Composer Davis commented, "I'm excited, thrilled and honored that this work has been recognized this way," adding "it’s exciting for me that you can create political work that has an impact and speak to issues in our society. I’ve done my career creating political works, and I never thought I would ever get a Pulitzer."[11]
