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

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Glass took his inspiration for this opera from Frank Kafka’s In der Strafkolonie (In the Penal Colony), which was published in 1919. It details the final use of a cruel and unusual form of punishment in which the convicted finds the sentence he’s been given carved on his skin before he’s allowed to die.

Rudolf Wurlitzer wrote the libretto. Glass confined his score to a string quartet with the addition of one double bass.

Director Jeff Janisheski has included the words and comments of students from California State University of Long Beach who have had experiences dealing with the criminal justice system in America. It isn’t a reinvention of Glass’s intention with this work. Rather it fits completely with what the composer and Wurlitzer had designed.

Doug Jones plays “The Visitor.” Zeffin Quinn Hollis plays “The Officer.” Morgan Pimentel plays “The Guard.” Ariana Carter, Isidro Cortes, Mayra De Leon, Kimberly English, Madison Lewis, Matthew Limas, Mark Oliver and John Pizzini plays “Prisoners.”

The orchestra is lead by Long Beach Opera’s Andreas Mitisek.

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