Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
Central City Opera Review
A very enthusiastic full house was most appreciative of Saturday’s Central City Opera opening night performance of an often performed opera, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. And well the audience should have been enthusiastic. It was a strong and triumphant performance. The most repeated remark as the audience filed out was “Wasn’t that great?”
The opera is a bittersweet tale of love and betrayal that reminds us of “the ugly Americans.” The American Naval Lt. B. F. Pinkerton arranges a marriage to a beautiful Japanese girl while he is stationed in Japan, although he has no intention of it being a permanent one. His plan is to have a “real” marriage with an American woman one day. Cio-Cio-San aka Butterfly, on the other hand, gives up family and religion to marry this man she truly loves. Pinkerton is warned by Sharpless, the American Consul, that this is a mistake but Pinkerton doesn’t listen.
Pinkerton, played by tenor Chad Shelton is elegant. He is a more than the usual bastard most tenors make him out as. You cannot like him from the start. He is arrogant and overbearing. This said, however, Shelton is a striking figure with a wonderful tenor voice that rings throughout the hall. His presence on stage is, if a little wooden, a compelling and demanding one. He expects to get his way and does. You almost believe his grief in the last scene where is tormented by what he has done, but not quite, because his grief focuses back on how hard this is on him, and not what he has done to others
Shelton has been highly acclaimed both nationally and internationally as a having a rich high tenor which he uses with confidence, and with excellent diction, and this was certainly the case on opening night.
Grant Youngblood, a CCO favorite appearing for a fourth straight year here was the Consul, Sharpless. His is a great baritone voice that gave body to his role and his acting was truly believable as he found himself caught up in this dilemma that he had tried to stop in the first place.
Kudos go also to mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu who returned as Suzuki after her performance in that role in the 2005 CCO presentation. Suzuki is Butterfly’s faithful maid, friend, and companion. She is very real in her emotions throughout the evening and although she has a limited amount of singing, her voice is rich, very pleasing, and blends well with Butterfly.
But the night belongs to Madama Butterfly portrayed by nationally and internationally acclaimed soprano, Yunah Lee. Hers is a magnificent performance in which she matures before our eyes from a love struck fifteen year old through the three years after she is abandoned by Pinkerton (who returns to the U.S. and marries) into a woman, destitute, having lost her honor, and reason for living. In the end, with her father’s sword, Butterfly commits hari-kari rather than live without the love of her life and in dishonor, begging on the streets to provide for the beautiful son she dearly loves, born a Pinkerton after he leaves.
Ms. Lee is a soprano of amazing talent that allows compelling quiet and beautiful moments to sooth the soul but also to bring out in the concert listener the feeling of rage and despair that comes to the fore when betrayed. She pays close attention to detail in making her character real.
The patience of Madison Ana Anderle as Dolore, Butterfly’s son, really has to be noted. It was a non-singing, non-speaking part in which there seemed to be perfect calm no matter how much cuddling and loud singing into the face there was. This was much to ask of a small child.
There were other commendable supporting roles that went into making this a very emotional and satisfying performance. Among these were Joseph Gaines as the Marriage Broker, and Nicholas Nelson as The Bong.
Matthew Halls returned as Conductor leading an excellent orchestra which initially at times from where we sitting seemed a little loud. In the first act the orchestra played loudly, which made the singers to have to sing a little louder to be heard. Lee and Shelton were equal to the task, but it was somewhat overwhelming. The balance in the 2nd half of the opera seemed to be better.
The chorus has little to do in this opera, but it did it well. The famous “humming chorus” performed off stage was really beautiful. The chorus master this year is Andrew Altenbach.
Director Catherine Malfitano put together a drama that made the most of the passion of this opera. The interaction of the lovers was beautifully staged. On the other hand much use was made of having characters creep onto the stage, which got a little old. Good use was made of parasols, and the lighting of the central characters with the rest of the stage muted was good. Dany Lyne was responsible for both costume and set design. The set was very well contained in one house that showed the shoji screens of a typical home in Japan at the beginning, but for some reason or another disappeared to leave an open stage as the interior of the home.
In other productions, we do not remember ever seeing much of the American flag, but in this one, it was a bit overdone, draped obviously here and there, held up by Butterfly and Suzuki at one point near the end as a backdrop for her son to stand in front of, worn by her on occasion, and even draped over her and her son as she committed hari-kari. Perhaps a bit overdone without adding that much to the opera.
Overall, Madama Butterfly is a very dramatic and emotional success. A must see event! Next on the list of openings is Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach.