Heart-Wrenching Madama Butterfly

It’s been a long road but, as a musical theatre man, I promised never to judge this ‘less accessible’ artform until I had seen at least a dozen or so operas. Verdict? Loved Madama Butterfly. I must have arrived!

Steeling myself last Thursday I prepared to see all three of Ellen Kent’s touring operas at Bradford’s Alhambra: Puccini’s La Boheme followed by Madama Butterfly last night, and finally, tonight, Verdi’s Aida.

From a personal perspective if you overly focus on the libretto – if it’s in Italian then you are continually reading an interpretation screen - you miss the music, but if you close your eyes to truly ‘listen’ to the glory of Puccini’s score, then you can quickly get out of sync with the storyline, certainly if it is not familiar!

However, with every man and his dog advising that Madama Butterfly was the inspiration for Miss Saigon, then you are never going to go far wrong! The parallels are striking.

Pinkerton, an American naval officer (Vitalii Liskovetskyi), falls in love with a Japanese geisha girl, Cio-Cio-San (Elena Dee) known as Butterfly, and goes through a ceremony of marriage with her, despite the warning of the American Consul, Sharpless (Olexandr Forkushak).

Pinkerton goes back to America, but Butterfly waits for his return with their child Sorrow (Bryony Boardman) and her servant Suzuki (Natalia Matveeva). He finally returns with his new American wife and, learning that he has a son, wants to take him back to the US. The grief-stricken Butterfly kills herself.

Elena Dee in the title role pulls her emotions from a place deep within and Act II, when she is waiting for Pinkerton’s return, is gut wrenching as you feel her pain and sense of loss – he has been away for three years – only to witness her joy at his pending return.

However, the audience know that he is not returning for Butterfly but, ultimately, his son and, as silent witness, you feel her pain.

The real power of Madama Butterfly is in the main protagonist, Elena Dee. I saw her play Mimi in La Boheme many years ago and she has matured as a performer across the many years she has toured with Ellen Kent. Wonderful.

Vitalii Liskovetskyi as Pinkerton was pleasantly portly! “You are tall and strong and laugh with such ease,” sang Butterfly. Not sure we were looking at the same bloke, however, he did have a fine set of pipes!

And that I fear is the dichotomy of opera. On the one hand you need to mature as a singer / performer but, as that vocal experience and maturity arrives, so some of the dashing good looks disappear.

Kent’s performers from the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kiev, are brilliant singers but some of the leading men, don’t always fit the visual bill!

This is an opera full to the brim with passion, sorrow and a sense of helplessness and overwhelming despair.

It speaks to your sense of humanity. The woman behind me said: “It is the first opera I have been to and I am full of tears.”

I must confess to having had a few myself. Bravo director Kent. Paris on Thursday, Japan on Friday and tonight Egypt. Must go, got a bus to catch!