Watch ‘A Marvelous Order’ creators, until Feb. 19, in discussion about their multimedia opera

In fall 2019, the creative team for “A Marvelous Order” brought their modern opera to Eisenhower Auditorium for a weeklong developmental residency.

Director and animator Joshua Frankel and composer Judd Greenstein introduced their multimedia work-in-progress on Feb. 10 with a virtual discussion called “New Opera as Art and Social Discourse.” A recording of the event will be available for streaming until 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19.

The free event features a video highlighting their artistic journey and discussion of the opera. 

Find more information about the event. 

Contributions from the members of the Center for the Performing Arts and a grant from the University Park Student Fee Board help make the program free of charge.

The program is part of the Center for the Performing Arts 2020–2021 “Up Close and Virtual” season. It’s also a part of “The Reflection Project,” funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

“A Marvelous Order” tells a tale of opposing sides of a New York City community — the desire to develop and expand pitted against the need to maintain character and intimacy. It is based on the real-life public battle between author and urban studies activist Jane Jacobs and “mid-20th-century master builder” Robert Moses. It features a libretto by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.

“This is a story that is important to anyone who lives in or near buildings,” Frankel said in a Center for the Performing Arts interview. “Anywhere things get built, there are disagreements about what is to be built and where and when and why.”

Read the interview with Frankel. 

The world premiere performance of the opera is tentatively scheduled for November 2021 at Eisenhower. The performance will be part of a residency at Penn State.

In conjunction with “A Marvelous Order,” Woskob Family Gallery, at the Penn State Downtown Theatre, is hosting an exhibit of Frankel’s opera animations that can be viewed from 6 p.m.–1 a.m. daily through the windows of the facility at 146 S. Allen St., State College. The exhibit is scheduled to last until mid-March.

Geisinger and Northwest provide support for virtual presentations by the Center for the Performing Arts.

Find details about forthcoming “Up Close and Virtual” events.