The Central Park Five is a two-act American opera composed by Anthony Davis with libretto by Richard Wesley.
[3][4] An earlier, shorter version, titled Five, was premiered in Newark, New Jersey, in 2016 by the Trilogy Company.
[6] The opera is based on the 1989 incident in which a woman was raped and beaten and eight other people injured in New York's Central Park.
[10] The opera's large cast includes the five teenagers; five of their parents; Matias Reyes, the serial rapist ultimately proven to be the actual perpetrator; the prosecutor; a generic detective referred to as "The Masque"; and even Donald Trump, then a New York real estate developer, who published multiple full page newspaper ads demanding "Bring back the death penalty!
"[11] Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said the premiere production offered "musical excellence, with a strong cast, an orchestra that could cook and viscerally stunning conducting from Leslie Dunner".