The Tamesis
in the opening scene Sue’s complications, Four stately figures push a vintage black pram across the stage as Opera Philadelphia’s new commission begins a four-night run tonight at the city’s conservatory. Long shadows loom; the singers foretell a “world of wonder, a world of sorrow.” As far as birth stories go, the vignette seems to have an Edward Gorey-esque mood, and playwright Michael R. Jackson won a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for the musical strange loop– Let Death play the unlikely role of the welcoming committee.
But just then, a voice came from the nearby aisle. “Hi! It’s my birthday!” vaudeville legend Justin Vivian Bond danced in the audience in a rainbow-colored feather sheath and matching headpiece by Jonathan Anderson. A star is born, and Sue’s life, as complicated as advertised, is about to unfold.
If it’s not already clear, this is not your typical opera. For that, we have Anthony Ross Costanzo to thank. When the famed falsetto tenor takes over as general manager and president of Opera Philadelphia in June 2024, he has to waste no time planning the company’s 50th anniversary season. he asked his 2021 show collaborator Bond The difference is only one octave, If she had any ideas, she would provide a title that was already settled. (Sue’s Complications was a prototype of a concept she discussed with her friend Tilda Swinton, who quickly encouraged her: “‘Honey, develop it,'” Bond recalls.) Jackson, meanwhile, separately expressed his interest in writing the script, and Costanzo matched it.
With only a year’s performance time – too short for the composer to undertake a full project – the plan was to divide the opera into 10 parts, with each part assigned to a different composer. “It’s going to be a musical buffet,” Jackson said, “with Viv as our theme.”
The result, says Bond of the eclectic creative team, was “like a star-studded movie from the ’70s.” Co-directors are Raja Feather Kelly (Jackson’s longtime collaborator) and Zack Winokur (octave). Bond said Anderson, who had just launched his first couture collection for Dior, had designed an outfit for the leading lady, whom he had known since college. The list of composers includes Grammy nominee Missy Mazzoli, jazz musician Cécile McLorin Salvant and Nico Muhly, whose prolific work spans the Metropolitan Opera and Sufjan Stevens.
