As Betty, expressing doubt for her family’s future and in Malcolm’s conflict with the Nation of Islam, Morrison’s lush vocals were radiantly lovely.Ĭonductor Kazem Abdullah led the pit orchestra through Davis’ tricky changing meters and difficult polyrhythms. She was poignant as Louise, relating the story of how their house was burned down by the Klan and later going catatonic after her husband’s death. Soprano Whitney Morrison doubled as Malcolm’s mother Louise and his wife Betty.

When he later depicted Nation of Islam leader Elijah, Robertson’s tenor was more traditional, most climactically in a laser-beam-bright high note held at the end of Elijah’s first aria. For the character of Malcolm’s criminal mentor, Street, Robertson deployed a musical theater tone to complement Davis’ big-band influenced accompaniment, even scat singing for a few bars.

Victor Ryan Robertson successfully portrayed two contrasting roles. He projected the serenity and wonder of Malcolm’s religious conversions as well as Malcolm’s rage at the plight of African Americans. The gravity of Tines’ stage presence - boosted by Dede Ayite’s period costumes - is exceeded only by his powerful bass-baritone voice, an unwavering vocal prowess displayed in singing from the top of Act 2 until the penultimate scene of Act 3. The cast and instrumentalists were champions for Davis’ music, none more so than Davóne Tines as Malcolm X.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2023 performance of ‘X’ is set to be filmed for an HD theatrical release The daring, genre-leaping work, released as a 1992 double-album, will be recorded anew in June. Music Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Davis revives ‘X,’ his prescient 1986 opera about Malcolm X: ‘A tragic hero’

Malcolm X by Thulani Davis