11
May
2024
Madama Butterfly
The Friedman Auditorium
130 W. College Ave. State College, PA
Anthony Davis
X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
Live Broadcast
Pre-Show Talk
PSU Professor Dr. Ted Christopher will resume his popular pre-opera talks beginning with X: The Life and Times of Malcom X on Saturday, November 18 at 12:15 pm. Dr Christopher is the artistic director of Penn State Opera Theatre.
Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking and influential opera, which premiered in 1986, arrives at in cinemas on November 18. Theater luminary and Tony-nominated director of Slave Play Robert O’Hara oversees a potent new staging that imagines Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. An exceptional cast of breakout artists and young Met stars enliven the operatic retelling of the civil rights leader’s life. Baritone Will Liverman, who triumphed in the Met premiere of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, sings Malcolm X, alongside soprano Leah Hawkins as his mother, Louise; 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. Kazem Abdullah conducts the newly revised score, which provides a layered, jazz-inflected setting for the esteemed writer Thulani Davis’s libretto.
Content Advisory: X:
The Life and Times of Malcolm X contains strong language.
Estimated Run Time: 3h 42m
At The State Theatre, we have an active opera community, The State Theatre Opera Buffs. Every year it keeps growing and we’d love to see it continue. We offer great benefits for those that show their support by joining. The continuation of the opera broadcasts hinges on your support.