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New York Times
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Detroit Opera Steps Into Trump's Cross Hairs With ‘Central Park Five'
A rehearsal of 'The Central Park Five,' an opera about the Black and Latino boys wrongly convicted of raping a Central Park jogger, was just a few days old this month when the tenor who plays Donald J. Trump began to sing. 'They are animals! Monsters!…Support our police! Bring back the death penalty!' he bellowed. The opera, which chronicles how the young men were forced to confess and later were exonerated, depicts President Trump as an inflammatory figure who, in 1989, bought several full-page newspaper ads that demonized 'roving bands of wild criminals,' adding, 'I want them to be afraid.' When the work — composed by Anthony Davis with a libretto by Richard Wesley — premiered in California in 2019, Mr. Trump's approval ratings were low and Democrats were itching to challenge him. Now, as a new production opens next month at the Detroit Opera House, the setting is quite different. Mr. Trump is a resurrected, emboldened political force who, since returning to office, has wielded power to shutter federal agencies, cut grants and strong-arm law firms and universities, all of which has led some opponents to worry about retaliation. None of this has been lost on Detroit Opera, as the company braces for blowback and hopes for applause. Its leadership team understands the perils of mounting a production that waves a red cape at a pumped-up, reactive presidency. Surprisingly, the opera is partially financed by the National Endowment for the Arts, with some $40,000 of the production's $1 million cost coming through a federal grant. It was awarded, and paid, before the agency canceled most of its existing grants at the Trump administration's direction. Todd Strange, the tenor who plays Mr. Trump, said in an interview that he could not deny feeling some trepidation at portraying a president who so consistently hits back at his critics. Still, Mr. Strange said, it was important to press forward. 'The fear can't shut me down from doing that,' he said. 'I'm not going to run away from the role.' The stakes were certainly lower during Mr. Trump's first term, when he largely focused on broader issues and left cultural organizations alone. Round two has been different. The president has taken direct aim at culture and arts institutions — inserting himself as the head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and challenging the leadership and programming of the Smithsonian Institution in an effort to align them with his view of America. Mr. Trump has criticized the Kennedy Center for celebrating 'radical left lunatics' and the Smithsonian for coming 'under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' But Detroit Opera says it is prepared for what might be looming, that it confirmed the backing of board members, alerted donors, considered the risks and took stock of its core mission. 'This piece is so worth telling,' said Yuval Sharon, the company's artistic director. 'We are not a political organization. We are a cultural organization that serves the city of Detroit and the greater region. And we are not taking a position with this opera, but it's obviously going to be inflammatory to have the character of Donald Trump onstage.' Patty Isacson Sabee, the company's president and chief executive, said she thought it was important to have 'a healthy amount of fear,' adding, 'That will help drive me to make the best decisions about how to take care of everyone.' The company has put in place additional precautions — beefing up security and preparing audience members for metal detectors at the door. Detroit Opera has also enlisted an employee assistance program for this production in case any of the artists, creative team or staff decide they need additional support. Mr. Davis, the composer of the work, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020, said this is a moment in the country that calls for artistic courage. 'They're trying to erase history, whether it's slavery or the civil rights struggle, or the history of racism,' said Mr. Davis. 'I don't think we can allow that. Particularly as African-Americans, we have to speak up.' 'We're seeing now with deportation the casualties that happen when there is a rush to judgment, when they don't follow procedure, when they ignore evidence, when you ignore the law, when you ignore the system that protects us,' he added. 'That can be the cost of dissent. We're allowed to say what we want, and that's part of our country. That's part of who we are.' Mr. Trump has bristled in the past about his depiction on shows like 'Saturday Night Live' that have satirized him, but his reaction to the opera, a more serious work whose libretto incorporates Mr. Trump's own words, is so far not known. The White House press office did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Trump did not apologize for his characterization of the young men, and just this month a federal judge refused to dismiss a defamation lawsuit they brought against the president. The five men — Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson and Antron McCray — sued the president for his remarks in a 2024 presidential debate with Kamala Harris. Mr. Trump falsely said that the men had pleaded guilty to the crime and that someone had been killed during the attack. At the Democratic National Convention that year, four of the five men — who now prefer to be called the Exonerated Five — said that what Mr. Trump did to them was devastating and disqualified him for a second term. The men spent between seven to 13 years in prison until their sentences were overturned in 2002 when the district attorney determined that the assault was committed by a man named Matias Reyes. The five subsequently received a $41 million dollar settlement from New York City and have since been the focus of films, including a documentary by Ken Burns, and the fictionalized, Emmy Award-winning Netflix series 'When They See Us,' by Ava DuVernay. As is typical with opera production calendars, Detroit scheduled 'The Central Park Five' two years in advance, before Mr. Trump's second-term aspirations had gathered steam. Yet when Mr. Sharon, the artistic director, reached out to Mr. Davis after the 2024 election, the composer first thought he was calling to cancel the 'Central Park Five.' 'That was the first indication to me that there is likely going to be a great cooling-off effect in our culture,' Mr. Sharon said, 'that we had to actively fight against.' The board chairman of Detroit Opera said that he and his fellow trustees have been unwavering in their support of the production. 'There was never a moment where we questioned this,' said the chairman, Ethan D. Davidson. 'Audiences are increasingly demanding stories that are relevant to their lived experiences. There is no better example of that than the 'Central Park Five.' People in this community want to see themselves represented onstage.' Those who are depicting members of the Central Park Five expressed a similar sense of resolve. 'The job of art is to be society's mirror,' said Chaz'men Williams-Ali, who plays Santana. 'Who could have foreseen that we would be back with this person in the White House with this opera being what it is? But here we are, and we can't let that stop us from taking a swing at it and saying what we got to say.' Nataki Garrett, the opera's director, said that as a Black woman who has held leadership positions — she recently served as the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival — she already felt vulnerable under Mr. Trump, given his termination of diversity efforts and his history of disparaging women. 'I have to go into this with my eyes wide open, and I have to be bare in the face of my own fear,' she said. 'But it is of the utmost importance to make sure that this story is told. You keep telling a story like this until you don't have to anymore.'
The Independent
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Detroit production of Mozart opera turns its female characters into automatons
Audiences at the Detroit Opera House expecting their performance of 'Cosi fan tutte" to begin with the overture may be surprised to hear instead a product launch from a tech company CEO. It's Mozart meets Artificial Intelligence, in the latest mind-bending production by Yuval Sharon, the company's adventurous artistic director. The opera, first performed in 1790, was the last of three collaborations between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, and despite its sublime music it has proved the least popular. That's due In part to the work's uneasy mix of light-hearted farce and the cynical worldview it seems to endorse. Even the title, which translates as 'Women are Like That,' suggests a misogyny that is openly expressed by one of its main characters, Don Alfonso. But Sharon rejects the idea that the opera itself is meant to demean women. 'It's going too far to call Mozart a feminist,' he said. 'But when I listen to the music, it seems to me he doesn't want us to agree with Don Alfonso. He and Da Ponte can't possibly want us to take half the population of humanity and constantly denigrate it.' Instead, Sharon believes, the collaborators are 'representing a character and perspective that might actually not be the perspective we're meant to sympathize with.' In the opera, Don Alfonso, a jaded philosopher, bets two young friends that, given the opportunity, their girlfriends, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, will prove unfaithful. The men switch identities, adopt disguises, and each pursues his friend's sweetheart. Eventually both women succumb to their new suitors. Don Alfonso as AI entrepreneur Sharon's production turns Alfonso into the head of an AI company called SoulSync. Under his guidance the younger men have created two female automatons (Alfonso doesn't like the term robots) designed to be 'perfect companions.' This concept of Alfonso as a soulless tech guru may sound far-fetched, but Sharon insists it's not so far from the truth. 'He's actually a replica of what we see in the tech industry,' Sharon said. 'There's a messianic belief that we must transcend our own humanity and that AI is making up for all the terrible ways we behave. People really do believe that the future of humanity is robotic.' Thomas Lehman, a baritone who is singing the role of one of the lovers, Guglielmo, in his fourth production of the work, thinks Sharon is 'taking the story and turning it upside down in the right ways. 'The original libretto leans heavily toward the men,' he said. 'Yuval has found a way to give the women the strength they deserve, to make it a level playing field.' Mezzo-soprano Emily Fons, who is portraying Dorabella for the third time, sees the updating as part of a broader movement of 'trying to figure out how to take pieces that are old and do something new.' The automatons may be programmed to act a certain way, but 'we're all programmed to some extent,' she said. 'What speaks to me is how they learn to feel things and take those feelings to have a say in what happens next.' Sharon said that's exactly what he's aiming for. The women 'start out incredibly mechanical and become much more human in a way,' he said. 'As if we're really watching their consciousness and their emotional life develop before our eyes.' The men, on the other hand, increasingly reveal their limitations and become less interesting as the opera progresses. What up with the magnet? The notion of humans as machines is actually embedded in the opera as Mozart and Da Ponte wrote it — something Sharon said he first realized while attending a performance years ago. 'I was watching a traditional production, very crinoline, hoop skirts, big dresses, lots of buffoonery. I was quite bored,' he recalled. 'And then we get to the Act I finale and suddenly there's this magnet. And I thought, what's up with that?' What was up was a medical treatment advanced by Franz Mesmer, an 18th century German physician who was a friend of Mozart and whose name has given rise to the term 'mesmerism.' He believed that the human body contained metals that could be realigned by moving a magnet over the skin. In the opera, a character named Despina poses as a physician and uses a magnet to 'cure' the two suitors who have pretended to swallow poison. Though the production, which opens April 5 for three performances, raises serious questions about the use of AI, Sharon has made sure to keep the tone light. And he's built in some twists and turns of his own devising to take the audience by surprise. That's why the plot summary in the written program ends abruptly after Act 1. In place of the remainder of the story there's just this note: 'The director has intentionally withheld a synopsis for Act II to avoid spoilers. Enjoy the drama as it unfolds.'
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Legendary Alvin Ailey dance troupe returns to Detroit with world premiere performances
The world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater troupe will return to the Detroit Opera House this weekend, with multiple world premiere performances on the schedule. Chief among them is 'Sacred Songs,' a new work choreographed by Ailey interim artistic director Matthew Rushing, with music by Du'Bois Akeen. The piece is unique and highly anticipated as a spiritual sequel to the late Ailey's masterpiece, 'Revelations.' 'Revelations,' which must be witnessed to be believed, is more than just the company's signature piece; it is a singular, dam-bursting emotional achievement in art that leaves audiences weeping with gratitude and shouting with praise. So, too, does 'Sacred Songs,' which utilizes songs discarded from Ailey's original, longer draft of 'Revelations.' The piece was originally commissioned by New York's Whitney Museum as part of an Ailey exhibition and used dancers from Ailey Extension, a program where non-professional dancers with nine-to-five jobs take dance classes and perform. Last December, Rushing redeveloped it for the main company for its New York debut. 'Oh, it was a massive process,' Rushing said of the collaborative process with A'Keen. 'It was one of the most gratifying experiences I had in 2024. First of all, it's taking on the task of creating a work celebrating 'Revelations.' It's huge and it's intimidating at the same time because you don't want people to think that you're trying to create another 'Revelations.' Instead, I just wanted to pay tribute to the ballet. So, when I found out the original version of 'Revelations' was over an hour long and Mr. Ailey condensed it to take it on tour, I found the songs that Mr. Ailey took out, and decided to make a contemporary version of these songs so that the ballet I created would speak to not only past generations, but also our current and hopefully future generations. 'Normally, I'm in the studio with other dancers and our focus is creating choreography, but in this sense, teaming up with a musical director like Du'Bois was a new experience, but extremely fruitful, inspiring … all the good things.' A'Keen also spoke glowingly of the creative process with Rushing. 'When I started dancing,' he said, 'probably one of the first dance pieces I saw at, like, 19 was 'Revelations,' with Matthew performing in it. It was brilliant. We reconnected in 2020 or 2021, and then in 2023, we were grabbing a coffee or something, and he mentioned that he had this idea for a work that would be made up of these songs that were originally omitted from 'Revelations' for touring purposes. There were nine or so pieces of music that were cut, and he wanted to resurrect those and make a new work. 'I'm like, 'Absolutely – that would be a dream come true, to be able to work with Matthew in any capacity.' And he had known of my work in opera and dance, had seen me singing and performing and directing choirs. Those gospel roots, the choir, the opera, all of it kind of became a perfect storm for us to work together.' A'Keen said they began receiving requests for recordings of the music heard during the work, so "Sacred Songs" was released as an album. The music itself is powerful and refreshing, mighty yet gentle. The strong foundation of Negro spirituals is reshaped with operatic adventures, a heavy layer of jazz, and even rock influences. 'I always tell people I'm a student of Black culture,' said A'Keen, 'and I think that American culture is Black culture – that's my hot take. And so all of those musical influences from further back than we even explored in this work, from the field holler to the Negro spiritual, to the blues, to the gospel, to the R&B – all of these sounds are alive inside of us. They're blood memory, as Mr. Ailey would say. 'So it felt important for me to tap into those different sonic frameworks and explore the potential and possibility of using these Negro spirituals as a base, but also see how far they could go. 'Can it be a rock and roll song?' 'Can it be a calypso celebration song?' 'Can it be a quintessential '90s/early 2000s gospel sound?' And we have a jazz swing piece. We really wanted to play with form, and that was a big part of my research process – thinking about how to bend and mix genres.' Both collaborators said the response to 'Sacred Songs' has been wildly enthusiastic. 'It has been pretty amazing, I'm gonna be honest,' said Rushing. 'One of the challenging things about being a choreographer (is) you never know how the public will receive the work. Of course, you want everybody to enjoy it and embrace it, but you never know. But it's been extremely good feedback. People have said that they have been brought to tears and they've experienced peace by seeing the ballet, so I'm very happy.' 'Sacred Songs' will be performed at Friday night and Saturday afternoon's shows, along with Elisa Monte's 1981 classic, sensual duet 'Treading' and Ronald K. Brown's rapturous 1999 'Grace,' which taps into Duke Ellington, Jennifer Holiday and Fela Kuti for a 12-dancer journey to the Promised Land. Also this weekend: Detroit Public Theatre's 'Confederates' examines struggles of Black women in America Saturday night and Sunday afternoon's programs will include the world premiere of choreographer Hope Boykin's 'Finding Free,' set to a jazz and gospel-influenced score by prodigy Matthew Whitaker, and – another world premiere – 'Many Angels,' choreographed by Lar Lubovitch to the music of Gustav Mahler. These two performances will also close with the foundational 'Revelations.' One of the dancers in Monte's 'Treading' duet is 11-year Ailey veteran Jacquelin Harris, who is not from Detroit but has a major family presence in the Motor City. 'I'm originally from Charlotte, North Carolina,' she said, 'but I have family on both my maternal and my paternal side coming to see me in Detroit. A maternal grandmother and all of my aunts and uncles and cousins are coming. I think they've bought almost 100 tickets. They're really excited about that. And then, on my paternal side, I have some aunts and some cousins who are up in the Detroit area, so it always feels like a homecoming, even though I'm not technically from there.' For the troupe's 2024 Detroit performance, so many of Harris' relatives attended that they rented a bus to deliver them all to the opera house. 'They're getting the bus this year, as well,' she said, laughing. 'They were able to revive that tradition. So it's going to be a packed house. I told them to scream loud, so I hope they bring the energy!' Harris also paid tribute to the late Judith Jamison, Ailey's muse, who danced with the company from 1965 – 1980 and then served as artistic director for more than two decades after Ailey's death in 1989. A legendary, towering figure in American arts, Jamison died last November at 81. 'I'm excited to bring these works,' she said. 'I feel like this season, we're really celebrating dancing's spirit, honoring the life and legacy of Judith Jamison. All of the works that we bring definitely speak to humanity. They speak to our souls. They allow our spirits to shine. I hope that the community feels the Ailey spirit and enjoys our presence, as we enjoy their presence every single year.' Rushing added to the Jamison praise. 'One of the beautiful things about legacy,' he said, 'is that as one passes and makes their transition, the things that they have given their life to continue. And it is very clear that Ms. Jamison committed her life to extending Mr. Ailey's legacy. She was a visionary, a mentor, a trailblazer, an incredible dance artist as well as choreographer, and so we're committing the rest of our time here on this earth to celebrating her life and legacy. 'Our mission of dance came from the people, and we have to deliver it back to the people. Detroit has always been a faithful audience, and this is a partnership that we're going to honor as much as possible.' Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will perform four times between Friday, March 14, and Sunday, March 16, at the Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St. Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased at or by calling 313-237-7464. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Co. members will offer a masterclass at the Detroit Opera House on Saturday, March 15, at 11 a.m. The class will include modern technique and movement from Mr. Ailey's signature works and is most suitable for intermediate/advanced dancers ages 13 and up. Pre-registration is required due to space limitations; to reserve a space, visit contact the box office at 313-237-7464, or email tickets@ Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Legendary Alvin Ailey dance troupe returns to Detroit this weekend
