performances, are MaryAnn McCormick
as Suzuki, Christopher Purves (debut)
as Sharpless, and David Cangelosi as
Goro. The conductor is Marco Armiliato
(
debut). Michael Black is chorus master.
“
The point of the production is to go
back to the basics and tell the story simply,
clearly, and in a very detailed way,” says
Louisa Muller, who assisted Michael
Grandage for the 2010 Houston production
and will direct it at Lyric. “Visually the
production is stunning, but going beyond
that, it focuses on the relationships and
the characters in a nuanced way. There’s
nothing extraneous in it. You go away from
this Butterfly feeling that everything in
the production is completely necessary.”
“
It’s a production that looks incredibly
beautiful,” says Freud. “Fairly spare in
appearance but unequivocally set in 19th-
century Japan, it’s not a production that
seeks to transplant the story to a different
era. That’s not Michael’s way of working.
But in its sparseness and lack of clutter it
develops the intensity of Greek tragedy.
The stage in all its simplicity and beauty
is evocative of 19th-century Japan, and the
characters are always in sharp focus.”
The main characters are all very
captivating. It’s easy to become committed
to each of them.
“
Butterfly has a certain strength about
her,” says Muller, who has experience
with Puccini heroines – she directed last
season’s La bohème here. “Even in the
first scene where Butterfly is hopeful and
quite naïve, she still has real strength.
She’s already renounced her religion for
this marriage. In the second and third
acts, she remains hopeful, which, of
course, is heartbreaking. She maintains
her strength and she makes her final
sacrifice not because of weakness, but
because she sees taking her own life as
the best thing she could possibly do.
“
Pinkerton is difficult because it’s
hard for us to like him. In the very first
scene, he talks about his union with
Butterfly not being a real marriage. He’s
looking forward to the marriage he’ll
have someday with an American wife.
Still, there’s a charm about him. He
doesn’t understand the consequences of
his actions until it’s too late. Then he’s so
remorseful that you almost like him – even
though he’s done this terrible thing.
“
Suzuki is a beautiful character.
Through every step of the opera, she’s
always there for Butterfly – it’s the closest
bond that either of them has. There’s
always a deep love between them.
“
Sharpless is the conscience of the
piece. From the very beginning he’s
trying to warn Pinkerton what might
happen. In Act Two, he’s left with the
unenviable task of breaking the hard
news to Butterfly. He has a gravitas
about him. He’s a truly good man.”
The story the characters find themselves
in is a three-act tragedy that takes place
in a house high on a hill overlooking
Nagasaki, Japan. Lieutenant Pinkerton
of the U. S. Navy marries 15-year-old Cio-
Cio-San (Butterfly). She takes the marriage
seriously. He does not. Pinkerton ships
out and leaves her pregnant in his leased
house. He returns three years later with an
American wife and tells Butterfly they want
to adopt Butterfly’s child. Butterfly reads
the inscription on her father’s suicide knife,
“
Death with honor is better than life
without it.” She then kills herself.
“
This production of Madama Butterfly
allows people to get to the heart of the piece
that audiences might take for granted,”
says Freud. “If our hearts don’t break for
Butterfly, we as an opera company are not
doing our job. If all we do is remind people
that Butterfly has great tunes, we’re failing
in our responsibility. Of course, we have to
deliver the great tunes as memorably as our
audiences have ever heard them. But a great
opera is more than great tunes – a great
opera is great music theater. And what this
production does is bring this piece to life in
an extraordinarily moving and vivid way.”
New Lyric Opera coproduction generously
made possible by Mr. and Mrs. J.
Christopher Reyes, James N.
and Laurie V. Bay, the Walter
E. Heller Foundation in honor
of Alyce H. DeCosta, and the
Estate of Howard A. Stotler.
D i s cov e r y S e r i e s :
Weds., Oct. 16 at 6pm
Civic Opera House –
20
N. Wacker Drive
312-332-2244
ext. 5600
for tickets
amanda echalaz
Cio-Cio-San (Oct 15-30)
james valenti
Pinkerton (Oct 15-30)
patricia Racette
Cio-Cio-San (Jan 11-26)
stefano secco
Pinkerton (Jan 11-26)
Felix Sanchez (Houston Grand Opera)
Felix Sanchez (Houston Grand Opera)
9
terfly
