The Metropolitan Opera's 2023–24 Live in HD Season to Continue With Anthony Davis's X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X

The Metropolitan Opera's 2023–24 Live in HD season will continue with the company premiere of Anthony Davis's X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X on Saturday, November 18, at 12:55PM ET. The influential opera, which had its world premiered in 1986, is newly staged by Tony-nominated director of Slave Play Robert O'Hara, who imagines Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends space and time. With a libretto by Thulani Davis and story by Christopher Davis, the opera explores how one man's fight to define his life on his own terms becomes a battle cry for justice for an entire people.

Conductor Kazem Abdullah conducts the newly revised score, which features a layered, jazz-inflected setting for this powerful historical drama. The cast stars Grammy Award–winning baritone Will Liverman, who triumphed in the 2021 Met premiere of Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones, as Malcolm, alongside soprano Leah Hawkins as his mother, Louise, and wife, Betty; mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis as his sister Ella; bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as his brother Reginald; and tenor Victor Ryan Robertson as Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. 

X follows Malcolm's journey from his original identity as Malcom Little, born to Reverend Earl Little and his wife, Louise, in Lansing, Michigan, to Malcolm X after he studies and accepts the teachings of the Nation of Islam, and beyond. The opera represents Malcolm's life as one of boundless evolution, whose messages of Black self-sufficiency and self-determination were often at odds with the mainstream but continue to resonate today.

Led by O'Hara, the creative team also includes set designer Clint Ramos, costume designer Dede Ayite, lighting designer Alex Jainchill, projection designer Yee Eun Nam, wig designer Mia Neal, and choreographer Rickey Tripp—all in their Met debuts. 

Gary Halvorson will direct the Live in HD presentation for cinemas, with award-winning actress Angela Bassett serving as host. Bassett starred as Dr. Betty Shabazz, alongside Denzel Washington as Malcolm, in the 1992 film Malcolm X. She will provide exclusive behind-the-scenes access and conduct interviews with the cast and creative team during intermission.

The Stars of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X

Kazem Abdullah, conductor; Indianapolis, Indiana
Leah Hawkins, Louise/Betty; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Raehann Bryce-Davis, Ella/Queen Mother; Keene, Texas

Victor Ryan Robertson, Elijah/Street; Atlanta, Georgia

Will Liverman, Malcolm X; Virginia Beach, Virginia

Michael Sumuel, Reginald; Odessa, Texas

For further details on X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, please click here.

The 2023–24 Live in HD season continues with Florencia en el Amazonas (December 9), Nabucco (January 6), Carmen (January 27), La Forza del Destino (March 9), Roméo et Juliette (March 23), La Rondine (April 20), and Madama Butterfly (May 11). All performances will be Saturday matinees transmitted live from the Met stage. An encore screening of Mozart's The Magic Flute from 2006 will also be presented in select venues on December 2, with dates varying internationally. 

Photo credit: Marty Sohl / Met Opera

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