Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, which premiered in 1986, arrives at the Met at long last. Robert O’Hara, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2020 for his direction of Slave Play, oversees a new staging that imagines Malcolm as an everyman whose story transcends time and space.
A cast of breakout artists take part in the operatic retelling of Malcom X’s life. Baritone Will Liverman, who triumphed in the Met premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, sings Malcolm. Soprano Leah Hawkins plays his mother, Louise; mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis is his sister Ella; bass-baritone Michael Sumuel is his brother Reginald; and tenor Victor Ryan Robertson is the Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. Kazem Abdullah conducts the newly revised score, which provides a layered, jazz-inflected setting for the esteemed writer Thulani Davis’s libretto.
Librettist: Thulani Davis
Production: Robert O’Hara
Set Designer: Clint Ramos
Costume Designer: Dede Ayite
Lighting Designer: Alex Jainchill
Projection Designer: Yee Eun Nam
Choreographer: Rickey Tripp
Kazem Abdullah (Conductor), Leah Hawkins (Louise/Betty), Raehann Bryce-Davis (Ella), Victor Ryan Robertson (Elijah/Street), Will Liverman (Malcolm), Michael Sumuel (Reginald)
Runtime: 3 hrs, 22 min (1 intermission)
Advance Tickets: Adult $23, Senior $21, Student (with I.D.) and $19, Child (12 and under) $17, plus applicable fees. Lincoln Theatre Members receive $2 off all price levels. Full Season subscribers receive an additional 10% discount.