Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly
Composer: Giacomo Puccini. Libretto: Luigi Illica & Giuseppi Giacosa . Based on John Luther Long’s short story and the play by David Belasco. Opera Q with Housten Grand Opera, Grand Theatre de Geneve & Lyric Opera Chicago Production, with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Johannes Fritzsch. Director: Michael Grandage. Revival Director: Louisa Muller. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 12-19 May 2016

Opera Q’s first staging in Australia of Michael Grandage’s acclaimed production of Puccini’s masterpiece Madama Butterfly is exquisitely beautiful on many levels. Its production design by Christopher Oram is sparse, delicate and artful, his costumes detailed and stylish, Grandage’s direction is lean and true to the text, whilst the singing by the principals could not have been more assured. Whether it was your first or fifty-first exposure to the plot, Grandage gave it a clean-cut interpretation that allowed audiences to experience and wallow in the drama of Puccini’s lyrical tragedy.

It was the fifth time the production has been staged since it premiered at Housten Grand Opera in 2010 and Lindy Hume deserves kudos for mounting it in Opera Q’s current season.

The story of a teenage Japanese Geisha girl who marries an American naval officer, renounces her faith to follow his, bears him a child, and blindly waits for him to return to her, is melodramatic in the extreme but coupled with Puccini’s emotional score, it’s one of the theatre’s most heart-breaking operas.

Looking barely out of her teens herself, Australian Opera Company soprano Hyeseoung Kwon brought youth, passion and vulnerability to the role of Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly). The early scenes had a teenage boisterousness brimming with undying faith and love, whilst the wait for her lover’s return always had hope despite the reality of the truth. The audience could barely contain the tears with her version of Act 2’s gold-standard of aria’s “Un bel di” (“One Fine Day”). It was heart-breaking.

Matching her performance was Opera Q stalwart Bradley Daley as Pinkerton. His tenor with its full and powerful tones easily scaled the vocal heights of the role while his acting performance blunted the cavalier attitude of the character to make him more acceptable to modern audiences.

When baritone Jonathan Summers as Sharpless joined Kwon and Daley a trio of excellence was completed.

The production also had the luxury of major singers in minor roles, with Virgilio Marino as Goro and Andrew Collis as Bonze who only added lustre to a top flight cast. Hayley Sugars’ mezzo-soprano was a touching Suzuki with her voice blending perfectly with Kwon’s for the flower duet a magic moment when they and Butterfly’s son, Sorrow, strew flower petals over the stage.

Oram’s set, with its half-moon raked ramp, worked a treat, especially when it revolved to bring Butterfly’s all-night vigil waiting for Pinkerton’s return centre-stage. Neil Austin’s lighting lit the stage with wondrous atmosphere, the highlight being the awakening dawn to Act 3. Colour in all its forms came from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Johannes Fritzsch who continually brought out the subtlety, the sweetness, and the drama of Puccini’s iconic score.

Peter Pinne

Photographer: Steve Henry

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