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Chinese soprano Chen Sue portrays Cio-Cio San with
heartfelt passion.
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There are bound to be people who will stay away from the Cincinnati Opera's latest production of Madame Butterfly (culminating in its 107th presentation locally) due to a growing sense of apathy toward the tried and true. Unfortunately, these cynics will miss an expressive and passionate interpretation of Giacomo Puccini's classic opera that's truly transcendent. Watching a production as beautifully eclectic as American director Francesca Zambello's Madame Butterfly quickly removes any sense of redundancy.
Tenor Marcus Haddock generates a great deal of stage presence with his broad shoulders and booming voice as Pinkerton, the American naval officer who arranges a marriage to the pretty Cio-Cio San (Chinese soprano Chen Sue), a Japanese girl known as Madame Butterfly. But it's soon clear that the musical spotlight belongs to Butterfly. The crystalline beauty in Chen Sue's voice and the heartfelt passion in her performance provide Puccini's classic opera with everything it needs to be successful. When one isn't still dazed by Chen Sue's vocal and theatrical gifts, baritone Ashley Holland's near-perfect portrayal of the American consul, Sharpless, and mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao's sparkling performance as Butterfly's servant, Suzuki, quickly grab hold of the production.
The hostility that drives Puccini's tragedy is made immediately apparent in the first act. After listening to Pinkerton discuss with Sharpless his plans to marry Butterfly, it's clear he is a wanton man.
Stage director Garnett Bruce captures Zambello's sense of the grim patriarchy surrounding Butterfly through the stark office of the American consul and the massive Golden Buddha that flanks Butterfly's disapproving uncle, The Bonze (Dong-Jian Gong).
Still, Zambello's production of Madam Butterfly is painterly in its depiction of tragic romance. Its onstage architecture is more simple than extravagant. Far removed from the Broadway-like scale and pastel loveliness that drives most productions of Madame Butterfly, Zambello's production comes alive through the interplay of light and shadow created by Resident Lighting Designer Thomas C. Hase.
More importantly, Zambello's Madame Butterfly deftly captures the sexual conflict inherent in John Luther Long's short story by showing Butterfly and Pinkerton undress on their wedding night behind two separate scrims.
The time-tested romanticism of Madame Butterfly remains evident in Puccini's familiar music. Butterfly will always be the idyllic lover who refuses to accept the truth. But Zambello's visual artistry creates an undeniable sense of doom. While Butterfly waits for the return of Pinkerton, the distant shadows of American warships appear in ghostly fashion.
The dramatic force of Zambello's vision is best felt when an expansive blood-red curtain plunges to the stage at the opera's climax. More than the pastel dazzle of fluttering cherry blossoms, it's bloody fatalism that Zambello's Madame Butterfly ultimately emphasizes.
MADAME BUTTERFLY, staged by the Cincinnati Opera at Music Hall, Over-the-Rhine, has its final performance on Friday evening.
