It would be impossible to not have recently read about the infamous case of five African American and Latino teens being wrongly accused and convicted of a rape in Central Park that they did not commit. Only through DNA evidence was that wrongful conviction overturned. The story remains in the headlines (more on that below) and it is a story that has been told several ways (more on that, too). The Central Park Five, a new opera by composer Anthony Davis and librettist Richard Wesley, is being performed by Long Beach Opera at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro. Saturday marked the world premiere production of The Central Park Five. There are two additional performances on June 22nd and 23rd.
Long Beach Opera’s timing couldn’t have been better. Linda Fairstein, the attorney who prosecuted the five men, wrote an op-ed defending her actions in response to Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us on Netflix. The increased scrutiny she faced as a result of that documentary has lead to her resigning from the boards of several charities, being dropped by Dutton who published crime novels she wrote and her agency, ICM Partners, dropped her as well.
The Central Park attack on Trisha Meili occurred in 1989. Intense police interrogation by officers with the New York Police Department lead Antron McCray, 15; Kevin Richardson, 14; Yusef Salaam, 15; Raymond Santana, 14; and Korey Wise, 16 to admit to the crime. In 2002, after an admission of guilt by serial rapist Matias Reyes (plus the DNA evidence), the wrongful convictions were overturned.
Donald Trump, who is depicted in The Central Park Five, published full-page ads in several New York newspapers in 1989 calling for the death penalty for the five youths. When the City of New York settled with the five men, Trump railed against the payout as a sign of incompetence. As recently as this week he still made comments about the guilt of the five men.
Davis has written several operas and seems keenly interested in true stories. Amongst his operas are X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Tania (about Patty Hearst) and Amistad (about a slave uprising on board a ship.)
Derrell Acon plays Anton McCray, Bernard Holcomb plays Kevin Richardson, Cedric Berry plays Yusef Salaam, Orson Van Gay II plays Raymond Santana and Nathan Granner plays Korey Wise. The production is directed by Andreas Mitisek. The conductor is Leslie Dunner.
This is perfect story for an opera. There’s a crime, five young men are falsely accused and imprisoned, there’s the real perpetrator, a media circus and the man who would be President ignoring science and confessions to prop himself up in the public eye.
For tickets go here.
Main Image: Nathan Granner as Khorey Wise, Cedric Berry as Yusef Salaam, Derrell Acon as Antron McCray, Orson Van Gay as Raymond Santana, and Bernard Holcomb as Kevin Richardson
All photos by Keith Ian Polakoff/Courtesy of Long Beach Opera
