Madama Butterfly

Composed by Giacomo Puccini. Libretto by Luigi Illaca and Giuseppe Giacosa. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Jan 3 – Mar 25, 2026.

The opening of 2026 saw Opera Australia reach back into its vaults to revive the delightful 1997 Moffatt Oxenbould production of Puccini’s classic.

Already this decade the company has staged a modern Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour production (2023) with contemporary suits and jeans.

A year earlier, when AV was all the rage, Graeme Murphy directed a sci-fi looking production with giant screens, futuristic avant guard costumes set on a giant glass circle and acrobats descending off ropes.

Oxenbould’s production resembles the inside of an exquisite Japanese doll house.

Panels rise and fall, light peeps through the windows, then they become transparent when the stars and full moon come out at night.

All of this is framed by shallow water - laden with flower petals.

Having been lucky enough to review all three I must confess that this original version is not only the simplest and most beautiful, but it makes the most sense.

The seamless blend of beautiful traditional costumes, wind and light floating in through the panels, candles floating on the moat creating flickering shadows and a rain shower of rose petals are some of the highlights.

The company stages Madama Butterfly so regularly that it has a handy pool of understudies.

Diego Torre, one of the Pinkertons in the outdoor season, was called in on the day of the opening performance to fill in the role in place of a US star tenor who sadly had to withdraw.

Torre looked right at home on the set and in the role with his glorious trumpet-like voice. Remembering an opera that he sung two years previously for him is a piece of cake.

Pinkerton is of course an American Captain stationed in Japan. Inspecting a house which he will lease for 999 years, but with the option of leaving with one month’s notice, he is enticed to marry a 15-year-old geisha girl Cio-Cio-San on the same terms.

The score includes dashes of the Star-Spangled Banner mixed in with Puccini’s famously beautiful melodies.

In the role of Butterfly, making her Opera Australia debut, was Guanqun Yu – a tier one soprano with New York Met credits.

Yu and Torre’s voices melded together beautifully for their end of Act One duet "Vogliatemi bene, amor" ("Love me, my love"). It felt like their voices were made for each other.

The Opera’s most famous aria Un bel dì, vedremo comes at the top of Act Two with Cio-Cio-San yearning for the return of her husband: “One good day, we will see. Arising a strand of smoke. Over the far horizon on the sea. And then the ship appears.”

The splendid orchestra under the baton of Andrea Battistoni and Yu did this aria justice.

In the role of the US Consulate Sharpless, some fine acting from Samuel Dundas nicely set the tension of the moment when reading a letter from Pinkerton to Butterfly.

Also impressive was fellow Moffet Oxenbould Young artist Sian Sharp as Suzuki -Butterfly’s maid.

Act Three is a maelstrom of emotion and tension, albeit a little on the long side.

Wealthy men exploiting young women in vulnerable circumstances remains a live issue to this day. The recent circumstances of notorious paedophile Geoffrey Epstein and the fate of some of his victims comes to mind.

Yu received a thunderous ovation on opening night and Torre a few boos – not for his performance of course – but the character he portrayed.

David Spicer

Photographer: Keith Saunders