Hello opera lovers!
Today I write a review of an opera that should be on everyone's bucket list: Puccini's masterpiece Madame Butterfly. I myself had actually never seen it all the way through until the other night and I absolutely loved it. So here we go:
Madame Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
Portland Opera, 2012
(sung in Italian with English supertitles)
THE CAST:
B.F. Pinkerton: Roger Honeywell
Goro: Jon Kolbet
Suzuki: Kathryn Day
Sharpless: John Hancock
Cio-Cio San (Butterfly): Kelly Kaduce
THE 411:
Madame Butterfly is a tragedy, plain and simple. Be prepared and bring tissues if you are even the least bit sentimental! The setting is Japan in the early 20th Century. US Navy Lieutenant Pinkerton has made a deal with the marriage broker Goro to marry Cio-Cio San, a geisha also known by her professional name Madame Butterfly. While Pinkerton sees this only as a temporary arrangement (i.e. he is just leasing a house on the hill that happens to come with a geisha wife), Cio-Cio San falls head over heels for the dashing Naval officer, and even goes so far as to abandon her own faith and convert to Christianity for him, thereby alienating her whole family from her life in the process. At the end of Act 1, we see the happy couple going off to celebrate their newfound love for each other. When the curtain goes up again, however, we find it is three years later, and Cio-Cio San has been waiting for her husband to return, even though her maid Suzuki and the ever-bothersome Goro both try to persuade her to forget about the American and move on with her life. Soon the American consul, Sharpless, brings news from the States: Pinkerton does not intend to return. Cio-Cio San then drops a bombshell on Sharpless by showing her three year old son, Sorrow, to him, insisting that if Pinkerton knows he has a son, he will return. Pinkerton eventually does return, but it is only to collect his son and to reveal that he has married an American girl. They intend to take the child and return to the United States, for a "better life". Butterfly is devastated and sends her son off to play while she stabs herself.
HIGHLIGHTS:
The main highlight of this fabulous production was the incredible performance of Kelly Kaduce as Butterfly. She captured the innocence and heartbreak of the incredibly complex geisha to the last movement on stage. Her voice was strong enough to make us believe that she was capable of making her own decision, but yet her sensitivity to the nuances of Puccini's music really made you bleed inside for her. The last scenes in the opera were some of the most heart-wrenching to watch. Also, it was just fun to discover how incredibly informed Puccini was of the cultures that he wrote about. Numerous times in the music he quoted the Star-Spangled Banner while referring to the greatness of America in the libretto and also the music sounded inherently Japanese throughout the show, reminding us of where we were.
LETDOWNS:
The biggest disappointment in the show was the overall weak performance of lead tenor Roger Honeywell as Pinkerton. While his high notes were strong and resonant, he lacked that same quality throughout his mid and lower ranges; from what it sounded like he was simply overcovering, creating a swallowed up sound that I affectionately call the "constipated tenor timbre". In the ensemble numbers, he was all but drowned out by the other singers.
CONCLUSION:
Another successful production for Portland Opera. The set and costumes were beautiful, the acting superb, and the story an interesting journey into a foreign time and culture. Portland Opera has yet to disappoint me. Try out Madame Butterfly if you're looking for beautiful music in an ethnic setting.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Turandot (Puccini), Aida (Verdi), Carmen (Bizet), La Traviata (Verdi), Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
