A Marvelous Order 
An opera about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs
Music by Judd Greenstein
Libretto by Tracy K. Smith
Animation and Direction by Joshua Frankel

A Marvelous Order concerns the battle between Robert Moses, the master builder, and Jane Jacobs, the self-taught oracle of unparalleled urban insight, over the fate of New York City. When Moses plans to demolish Jacobs’ home and neighborhood, she leads a revolt igniting a conflict that continues to shape built environments — from small towns to global cities — around the world. The opera humanizes the struggle between power and protest as only music, poetry, and art can do.

From the start, A Marvelous Order was conceived through an unusually deep interdisciplinary collaboration among the three lead artists. The addition of an animator to the traditional composer-librettist combination allows the opera’s visuals to integrate with its music and poetry at a foundational level.

The work forgoes common constraints of opera. It uses amplification and embeds pre-recorded vocalists in the animation. It also inverts the female-heroine-victim trope — too common in opera — with the formidable Jane Jacobs character.

In conjunction with the debut of A Marvelous Order, the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State will host the exhibit Every Night We Chase Our Shadows, featuring a collection of Frankel’s “blueprint” cyanotypes created in parallel with the visual development of the opera. The display will be on view from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 18, through Friday, October 21, in the Print Study Room.

Frankel will give a free public artist talk at 11 a.m. Friday, October 21, in the museum. Visit Palmer Museum for more information.