A very human tragedy, told for the culturally sensitive moment
Madam Butterfly WNO, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff ★★★★ ☆
Any new staging of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly is a major challenge for Welsh National Opera: their famous production by Joachim Herz mounted in 1978 lasted more than 40 years in the repertory. Puccini’s melodramatic story of Butterfly, the young geisha Cio-CioSan, married and then abandoned by the American naval officer Pinkerton, has been repeatedly criticised for its emotional manipulation and imperialist naivety. In these days of acute cultural sensitivity, WNO has evidently been very nervous about the reception of the opera and has surrounded this new production with contextualising talks and discussions.
Yet Madam Butterfly continues to maintain its place at the centre of the operatic repertory because of its ravishingly beautiful music. And the Australian director Lindy Hume’s new production offers one answer to the problematic Japanese setting: lose it. She boldly sidesteps the question of whether the opera is culturally exploitative. Instead, in Isabella Bywater’s sets, we are in a neutral bright white box, with a sharp-edged, neon-lit cube room that revolves repeatedly – certainly characterful, but somewhat at odds with the atmospheric sensuality of the music.
In the continuously demanding role of Butterfly, Joyce El-Khoury has a magnificent range of vocal colour and emotion, with a strong middle range and a beautifully floated upper register. She is at her best in the powerfully tragic later scenes: in “Un bel di, vedremo”, she seems to be desperately persuading herself that Pinkerton will return to her. Earlier, she is not helped by the beehive hair-do with which she first appears, which does not convincingly create the innocent 15-year-old of whom Leonardo Caimi’s Pinkerton takes advantage. He is a casual and brazen seducer, vocally ardent yet deliberately unappealing.
As the inevitable drama of betrayal unfolds, the cube in Act II reveals a downstairs modern kitchen and dingy utility room, and an enormous amount of energy is spent by the characters negotiating the tricky staircases and doors. A touching cameo by Zoe Broido-Green as Butterfly’s child tugs at the heartstrings, creating wall paintings of the flowers that bring a splash of much-needed colour to the ascetic scene.
The balance of the drama is strongly held by Anna Harvey’s totally sympathetic maid Suzuki – a constant warm support for Butterfly, wonderfully sung – and by the blue-suited Sharpless of Mark Stone, a well-projected Michael Portillo-like diplomat who aims to please everyone. There are brief moments from Keel Watson as the Bonze and Neil Balfour as Butterfly’s suitor Yamadori, while Sian Meinir is forceful in the unenviable role of Pinkerton’s American wife, Kate.
In the pit, the WNO Orchestra under their former music director Carlo Rizzi know this score intimately: on Friday evening, I felt there were moments where the tension sagged, but the sounds created at the big moments resonated through the Wales Millennium Centre with elemental power.
This is a production for the culturally sensitive moment: whether it will be as long-lasting as the classic Herz staging remains to be seen, but it effectively pares down Puccini’s contested version of culture wars into a simpler, sad tale of emotional betrayal.
In Cardiff until Oct 2, then touring until May 14. Tickets and details: wno.org.uk