'X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X' Is a Powerful Reflection of Malcolm X's Legacy

by Jas Keimig

Malcolm X is among the most mythic figures in American history. The radical life that saw him go from hustler to skilled orator calling for uncompromising Black liberation to political martyr leaves room for legend to bloom.

Malcolm X's mythic quality is what was going through my mind as I sat in the dark, packed McCaw Hall last weekend, watching his life play out onstage in the opera, X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X. Particularly just before intermission when Malcolm is serving time in prison for larceny and burglary and is visited by Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam. As the promise of a movement greater than him beckons, Malcolm (played by bass Kenneth Kellogg) looks out into his future — the audience — and you can almost see destiny form before his eyes. It's a powerful moment.

Running from now until March 9, X is being staged at Seattle Opera for its West Coast premiere nearly 40 years after its 1985 debut in Philadelphia. Written by librettist Thulani Davis and composed by Anthony Davis, the opera follows Malcolm X's life from his father's questionable death in East Lansing, Michigan, in 1931 to Malcolm's own assassination in Harlem in 1965.

The work is — at times — a transcendent experience, not least due to Clint Ramos' truly jaw-dropping stage design. A mobile red velvet-curtained box is positioned right in the middle of the stage, serving as an entrance and exit point for the actors as well as a framing device. Above floats a giant spaceship which the production uses to add an extra dimension to the dialogue, like projecting the names of Black people unjustly murdered in the past half-century. I poked my opera mate when lanterns descended from the ceiling during Malcolm's Hajj to Mecca, wowed and transported by the warmth and introspection they conveyed.

Most of the best scenes came in Act I and the first half of Act II. Like at the beginning when Malcolm's mother Louise (soprano Leah Hawkins, who later plays his wife, Betty) worries when her husband, the Rev. Earl Little, fails to come home when he said he would. "When Earl is away the air seems thin and fragile like it cannot carry the day," she sings before she learns of his death and descends into despair, leaving young Malcolm to live with his older sister. It's absolutely gut-wrenching, and I could feel Hawkin's powerful voice from several rows back.

Louise's brokenness forms the force behind Malcolm's later nihilism and eventual fall into drug dealing and hustling as a young man in Boston. "My truth is rough. My truth could kill. My truth is fury," he seethes while being held in an interrogation room. Kellogg as Malcolm cuts an impressive figure, physically evoking the real-life Malcolm's smart and spry physicality (I also loved his conked hair wig in Act II, 10/10 no notes). He brings a needed gravitas to the proceedings without which nothing would truly work.

All these emotions are threaded together by Anthony Davis' wily score. In the opera's book, Davis writes that he wanted to evoke the era of music Malcolm was listening to — like the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and, later, the likes of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. It's a heady blend of polyrhythmic African diasporic music and more European orchestral influences, which is fun but at times feels like a Blaxploitation score got drinks with one from a Greek tragedy. A little discordant, but nonetheless reflects Malcolm's times.

I found myself disappointed by the latter half of X. While the story beats and character motivations felt clearly defined before it broke for intermission, the later scenes felt repetitious and stagnant. Rather than really digging into Malcolm's knotty political praxis, the opera stalls into esotericism and subsequently loses its momentum. If you came in knowing little about his relationship and subsequent falling out with Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, those details — even from an emotional standpoint — came off murky.

However, his Hajj to Mecca towards the end remains a poignant moment in X, one that reflects Malcolm's immense capacity for change and his desire for all people to be freed from the shackles of racism and bigotry. Over three decades (or, in the audience's case, three hours), the man at the center of this grand opera goes from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X to el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, denoting his own personal, political, and spiritual growth. It's a journey well worth uplifting.

"X: The Life & Times of Malcom X" is on at Seattle Opera now through March 9. Friday, March 1, is a Pay What You Wish performance. And on Thursday, March 7, Malcolm's daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, will be at the Renton Ikea Performing Arts Center in Renton to speak on her father's legacy. Get more information about performances and events on Seattle Opera's website.

Editors' Note: This article was updated on Feb. 29, 2024, to change the phrase "dealing dope" to "larceny and burglary" for accuracy in describing Malcolm X's charges.

This article was updated on March 4, 2024, to correct the year "X" debuted.

📸 Featured Image: "X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X" had its West Coast premiere at McCaw Hall last weekend. (Photo courtesy of Philip Newton)