Opera Philadelphia Debuts Century Spanning Complications In Sue

On February 4, 2026, the storied halls of Philadelphia’s Academy of Music echoed with the first notes of a world premiere unlike any other. Opera Philadelphia unveiled Complications in Sue, a daring new opera with a libretto by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson, whose previous triumph A Strange Loop had already marked him as one of musical theater’s most original voices. This time, Jackson’s creative vision unfolds over an entire century of a woman named Sue’s life, with each decade set to music by a different composer. The result? A kaleidoscopic portrait of existence, both whimsical and profound.

The opening scene set the tone: four solemn figures pushed a vintage black baby carriage across the stage, their shadows looming as vocalists sang of “a world that’s full of wonder, a world that’s full of woe.” It felt like something straight out of Edward Gorey, but with a twist—Death, usually a harbinger of endings, here became the welcoming committee. Then, cabaret legend Justin Vivian Bond, dazzling in an iridescent feathered sheath and matching headpiece by Jonathan Anderson, burst through the audience, announcing, “Hi! It’s my birthday!” Instantly, the audience was swept into Sue’s complicated, century-long journey.

According to Opera Philadelphia, the idea for Complications in Sue was seeded in a conversation between Bond and her friend Tilda Swinton, who encouraged her to develop the concept. When Anthony Roth Costanzo, the celebrated countertenor who took the reins as Opera Philadelphia’s general director in June 2024, began planning the company’s 50th-anniversary season, he reached out to Bond for ideas. At the same time, Jackson expressed interest in writing a libretto, and Costanzo, recognizing the potential for something extraordinary, brought them together. With just a year to prepare—far too short for a single composer to tackle a full-length opera—Jackson proposed dividing the work into ten sections, each with its own composer. “It would be a kind of musical buffet,” Jackson explained, “with Viv as our leitmotif.”

The list of composers reads like a who’s who of contemporary music: Andy Akiho, Alistair Coleman, Nathalie Joachim, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Rene Orth, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Kamala Sankaram, Dan Schlosberg, and Errollyn Wallen. Each brought a distinct flavor to the table, from Grammy-nominated Missy Mazzoli’s haunting lyricism to Cécile McLorin Salvant’s jazz-infused innovations. Nico Muhly, who composed the final section, praised Jackson’s libretto, saying, “The rhythm of the text was incredibly generous—I didn’t change anything.” The composers worked in a sort of creative relay, each given only a one-sentence-per-scene synopsis, with little knowledge of the others’ contributions. Muhly admitted, “A lot of us were calling each other, being like, ‘Girl, what are you doing?’”

On stage, Bond’s Sue is joined by a stellar supporting cast—Kiera Duffy, Rehanna Thelwell, Nicky Spence, and Nicholas Newton—who tackle a variety of roles across Sue’s century-spanning life. Caren Levine, described by co-director Zack Winokur as a “spitfire” with “perfect pitch” and a photographic memory, conducts the orchestra, holding together the opera’s shifting musical landscape. The production itself is a visual feast, with sets by Krit Robinson, lighting by Yuki Link, and costumes for the ensemble by Victoria Bek. Bond’s show-stopping wardrobe, crafted by JW Anderson, adds a layer of glamour and whimsy; Anderson, fresh from his debut couture collection for Dior, designed each piece specifically for Bond, whom he’s known since college.

As for the narrative, Jackson’s libretto zigzags between the real and the surreal, the topical and the timeless. One scene features Santa Claus suffering a depressive meltdown under a kitschy midcentury silver tree. In another, Sue’s college classmates spread rumors about her supposed rhinoplasty as she picnics in a trench coat inspired by Brideshead Revisited. At one point, Sue’s imagination conjures a TV newsroom, and later, she dons a spiral-print caftan emblazoned with the word “doom” in a nod to algorithmic malaise. By the time Sue arrives in a retirement community, her neighbor—armed with a kiddie pool and a semi-deflated flamingo—sings, “Nothing will soothe my soul… but to click and to scroll.”

Jackson’s writing deftly captures the absurdities and anxieties of modern life. A particularly biting aria from a retiree laments, “Free speech is $7 a month, and I pay it to the richest man in the world,” drawing uneasy laughter from the audience. “I write in that place of ambivalence and ambiguity,” Jackson told Opera Philadelphia. “To me, what’s thrilling is that the music of opera can really put a shiny box around certain ideas that might, in another medium, go in one ear and out the other.” He admits that some lines—like the refrain, “There is only death and algorithms, there is only death and algorithms”—have a tendency to become earworms, even if he’d rather they didn’t.

The creative process behind Complications in Sue was as unconventional as the opera itself. The composers’ segmented approach echoed the Surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, with each contributing their own vision without knowing the full arc. This patchwork structure, far from feeling disjointed, mirrors the fragmented, unpredictable nature of life itself. “There are few things like this,” Muhly remarked, “but I think there should be more things like this.”

Bond, reflecting on the significance of contemporary opera, recalled seeing Nixon in China as a young artist at the Kennedy Center. “I do think that opera was created as a popular art,” she said, underscoring the importance of works that speak to the present moment. Jackson, too, was inspired by operas like Jackie O, which broke new ground with their musical idioms and humor. Complications in Sue continues this tradition, paving the way for more composite works that invite fresh voices into the fold.

This world premiere is the first of two for Opera Philadelphia’s 2025-26 season, curated by Costanzo, whose contract was recently extended through 2029. The company’s commitment to accessibility is evident in its “Pick Your Price” initiative, which keeps tickets for all performances as low as $11—a move aimed at making opera a living, breathing part of the city’s cultural fabric.

Complications in Sue runs through February 8 at the Academy of Music, inviting audiences to experience a century of life, loss, and laughter through a truly original lens. For those who crave opera that’s as unpredictable as life itself, this is one not to miss.