Robert O’Hara Brings Black Stories To The Met

Though opera is seen as a very white, very high-brow space and art form, O’Hara is attempting to transfigure it into a temple devoted to Afro-futurism

An opera about the life of Malcolm X, aptly titled X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, debuted at the Metropolitan Opera on Nov. 3.

According to NPR, the show has been running off and on since 1985 and has largely remained a family affair. Anthony Davis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, wrote the music, and his brother, actor/director Christopher Davis, wrote the story. A cousin, scholar, historian, and writer, Thulani Davis, wrote the libretto.

The newcomer to the production is its director, Robert O’Hara. One of the few Black theater directors working, in 2021, O’Hara used his influence to create a showcase for other Black directors and playwrights. In 2022, O’Hara was chosen to revive Lorraine Hansberry’s seminal play A Raisin In The Sun. O’Hara chose to put his spin on the production, re-interpreting the story as a tragedy focused on the female characters in the play.

The music is as much of a character as any of the faces on the stage, something that the play’s lead, baritone Will Liverman, recognized as he discussed how the music dovetails with changes in Malcolm X’s life. Liverman told NPR, “It’s just the energy — it never settles at any point; it’s always kind of in the forefront,” Liverman explained. “And it really represents Malcolm’s story — lots of turmoil and transformations. There is nothing that was just kind of even-keeled throughout. He was always evolving and changing.”

Much like he did with Hansberry’s play, O’Hara has transformed the source material into something that subverts the arena in which it will be seen. Though opera is seen as a very white, very high-brow space and art form, O’Hara is attempting to transfigure it into a temple devoted to Afro-futurism, as he told NPR, “A spaceship has crashed into the Met,” O’Hara said, “and a future race of people are telling the story of this icon.”

At one point, the spaceship will display names of Black victims of police violence, and Thulani Davis says that particular moment is one that emotionally stuck with her. Davis told NPR about her recollection of the first time she saw O’Hara’s version of the play, saying, “The reason I cried so long after the first scene was that the spaceship started showing names, and it was a stab in the heart — all these names from all different generations,” Davis explained. “It’s as if somewhere somebody saved those names. You know, we historians try to keep those names alive, but it was as though society wants to forget.”

O’Hara knows what this means for him and the history of Black people in the operatic space, and he is both proud and staunchly critical, telling NPR that the achievement is bittersweet for him, “It’s significant. But you also have to acknowledge the fact that something hasn’t been going great in this situation. No one gets a hero cookie for doing this, right? It should have been done much sooner. I should not be the second. I should be the 200th Black director.”