Complications in Sue

Justin Vivian Bond had the idea for Complications in Sue in response to a suggestion by actor Tilda Swinton that they do a project together. In the project, both Bond and Swinton would play the title character, a woman named Sue. Rather than materializing, the project became "a running joke", until Anthony Roth Costanzo, a friend of Bond's and general director of Opera Philadelphia commissioned the project in 2024 for the company's 50th anniversary season, 2025–26, bringing on Michael R. Jackson as librettist. Because of a short deadline of only six to eight months, Costanzo and Jackson decided to bring on multiple composers. The opera premiered at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on February 4, 2026, conducted by Caren Levine and directed by Raja Feather Kelly and Zack Winokur. In addition to Bond in the largely silent role of Sue, it featured soprano Kiera Duffy, tenor Nicky Spence, bass-baritone Nicholas Newton and mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thelwell, each singing multiple roles. JW Anderson designed costumes for Bond. ==Plot==

Each scene deals with a decade in Sue's life. ==Reception==

The Philadelphia Inquirer classical music critic David Patrick Stearns wrote, in a positive review, that "tunes weren't a priority as the composers characterized the theatrical events that Jackson gave them." He describes the singers as giving "it their all in deeply unconventional musico-dramatic assignments." The Wall Street Journal said that it is, "fresh, contemporary and thoroughly engaging." The online magazine Bachtrack described the premiere as a "sleek physical" production, writing that "Jackson's dramaturgy blossomed in a heightened sense of realism tinged with tongue-in-cheek absurdism. The music often met the mood splendidly." ==References==