X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X

The story of Malcolm X is an important one in the political and social history of American. He was a man who, after living through the effects of white supremacy, institutionalised racism, and social prejudice, had found an identity through faith. His conversion to Islam can with a new belief in the power of the black nation to rise up and take back the lives that they had lost under the hands of the slave owners, and their descendants. Partly through his own politically targeted religious sermons, and partly through the exaggeration of the media, Malcolm X became an icon for the Islamic overthrow of America, and was believed to be the instigator for religious violence in Harlem in the 1960s.

Anthony Davis’s opera X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X presents the biography of Malcolm Little, from a balanced perspective. It follows the key events in Malcolm’s life as his father is murdered by white supremacists, is separated from his family by social workers, is brought up in Boston and falls into a life of drugs and crime, and ends up in prison, where he seeks solace in the message of the Quran, and the promise of an African god: Allah.

On leaving prison, he continues his religious life and his teaching, and takes the name Malcolm X, with an X to represent the African name that was taken from him. His words of violence and retaliation appeal to his followers, but when Malcolm makes the Hajj to Mecca, he realises that the message of Islam is one of peace. There he takes the name El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, and returns home to face a world of violence, which finally ends with his assassination in 1965.

Overture

Act One

Scene 1

• ‘Africa for Africans’ - Louise, Young Malcolm, Young Reginald, Postman, Garvey Preacher, Neighbors,
• Louise’s Aria: ‘Earl should have been home by sunset’ - Louise, Neighbors
• ‘A man was on the tracks’ - Policemen, Friend, Neighbors, Louise
• ‘What’s going on here’ - Social Worker, Neighbors
• Young Malcolm’s Aria: ‘Momma, help me’ - Young Malcolm Little

Scene 2

• Ella’s Aria: ‘Come with me child’ - Ella, Malcolm, Bootblack, Clothes Salesman
• ‘The Hustler gets them all’ - Street, Ella, Malcolm, Players, Dope Fiend, the Blonde, Dancers
• ‘A white man’s home isn’t safe anymore’ - Policemen, Street, Ella, Malcolm, Players, the Blonde, Dancers

Scene 3

• Malcolm’s Aria ‘I would not tell you what I know’ - Malcolm

Act Two

Scene 1

• ‘It has been so long / Living graves’ - Reginald, Malcolm, Inmates
• ‘You are not empty’ - Elijah, Reginald, Malcolm, Muslims
• ‘Malcolm who have you been’ - Elijah, Malcolm, Muslims
• ‘We have been blind’ - Elijah, Malcolm
• ‘Allaho Akbar’ - Elijah, Reginald, Malcolm, Muslims

Scene 2

• ‘We are an African people’ - Woman Preacher, Garvey Preacher (Orator), Muslims
• ‘Where are we now brother?’ - Malcolm, Reginald, Garvey Preacher (Orator), Muslims

Scene 3

• ‘My son I hear you speak’ - Elijah, Muslims
• ‘If we are going to be free’ - Malcolm, Muslims, Reginald

Scene 4

• ‘We are a nation’ - Malcolm, Muslims, Reginald, Betty, Elijah
• ‘Mister X, what do you make of the recent tragic events’ - Reporter, Malcolm
• ‘Chickens come home to roost’ - Muslims, Elijah

Act Three

Scene 1

• ‘Betrayal is on his lips’ - Muslims
• ‘As Salaam Alaikum’ - Elijah, Malcolm, Muslims
• Interlude
• Betty’s Aria ‘When a man believes’ - Betty

Scene 2

• ‘Bismilah, hirrahman-irrahim’ - Pilgrims, Malcolm
• ‘My name is Shabazz’ - Malcolm

Scene 3

• ‘Mister X, Mister Malcolm X’ - Reporters, Photographer

Scene 4

• ‘I have learned so much in Africa’ - Malcolm
• ‘America is a house of glass’ - Reporters, Elijah, Muslims
• ‘Who set the bomb, destroyed your home?’ - Reginald, Malcolm
• ‘They can call me names’ - Malcolm

Scene 5

• Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm’s Assassination - Malcolm, Followers, Gunmen