One Fine Evening

WHY DO WE ENJOY “Madame Butterfly”? It has great tunes that invite amazing performances. It tells a story that, despite its exotic trappings, comes from the abandoned-wife mode of melodrama that was so popular at the time, and is at heart a story of social class. We believe all over again the promises of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Pinkerton as he insincerely woos his Japanese child-bride, yet we know it’ll be a three-handkerchief finish.

Eric Taylor(left) and Randy Ho (right)
Photo: Kayleen Bertrand/
The Glimmerglass Festival

The Glimmerglass Festival has brought back a “Butterfly” most recently staged there in 2014, and my main question is, Where has it been? This is the essence of opera. If political-correctness concern have delayed it – well, read on. But first let’s have some quick shouts of praise for a top-notch cast and creative team, whom we’ll return to in a moment.

Before mass-media – before much of any media, really – we learned about exotic foreign cultures through spoken and written accounts, and sketches and paintings. And it certainly could seem exotic viewed from within one’s cultural cocoon. But it also invited cultural imperialism as a country’s self-perceived exceptionalism justified all manner of exploitation.

By 1904, when Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” debuted, Japan was only a half-century beyond its 250 years of isolationism, broken when US Commodore Matthew Perry forced the island nation to trade with the West. A fascination with “all things Japanese” followed, per Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Patience” and especially with “The Mikado” – although the latter borrowed and caricatured Japanese characteristics to drive home a satire about the British. 

Puccini also sought to use the exoticism of Japanese custom and music to draw an audience into the story – in this case, a story of tragic love. Cio-Cio San’s arias tend to be based on a pentatonic scale, for instance, and there’s an important presence of natural elements in the tale’s Nagasaki setting. Traditional Japanese songs are quoted – and so are American ones, which is an easily overlookable point. This opera is as much an indictment of American attitudes as it is anything else. Pinkerton is a selfish boor. His friend Sharpless comes to realize it, but Pinkerton’s own delayed insight comes too late. As “The Star-Spangled Banner” sounds behind his arias, its jauntiness grows sadly ironic.

Francesca Zambello directed the 2014 production, which was revived this year by Joshua Horowitz, again using set designer Michael Yeargan’s clean, open-air playing space. The house that’s toured at the top of Act One becomes a scale model, easy to ponder, and adding to the visual excitement as it travels from hand to hand. 

At first it’s big, bluff Pinkerton dominating the scene as he discusses the details of his new house with Goro, the local pimp-cum-matchmaker. Eric Taylor’s white-garbed lieutenant knows what he wants and is amused by it all. Taylor’s tenor is a fabulous instrument, sometimes sounding as if not even he can contain it. And he knows this role – he has recently sung Pinkerton with North Carolina Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, among other companies. As for the character he’s playing, “He’s not satisfied with life unless he makes the flowers of every shore his own,” he sings. “America for ever!” This sentiment never will not be ironic.

Eri Nakamura and Eric Taylor.
Photo: Kayleen Bertrand/
The Glimmerglass Festival.

Placing Asian singers in Asian roles evaded casting controversy, and I think we’re enough accustomed now to see racial characteristics authentically mirrored that it took me a while to realize that this was the case. Randy Ho, a member of the company’s Resident Artists Program, is a first-generation Vietnamese American, and played the fussy, intrusive Goro with bursts of manic energy and a powerful voice to match. But to his credit, he kept the character under control, allowing it ease into the background when necessary and even standing still for astonishingly long periods.

We met baritone Troy Cook in “Oklahoma!” earlier this season; here he has the more demanding role of Sharpless, the U.S. Consul, which placed him in duet situations with Pinkerton in the first act (“Dovunque al mondo”) and brief but effective moments with Butterfly in the second (“Ora a noi” and “Io scendo al piano”), where Cook demonstrated the elusive skill of supporting a fellow-singer.

In the case of the powerful Taylor, Cook had some work to do; with Cio-Cio San, he met a more subdued challenge. Soprano Eri Nakamura sang that title role, bringing formidable credentials to her appearance here both in a range of roles (she replaced Anna Netrebko at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and as Cio-Cio San, which has become something of a specialty. The test in this opera, of course, is “Un bel dì, vedremo,” at the top of Act Two, which was as good as this aria gets – but she also provoked a massive ovation with her Act One-finishing duet “Bimba, Bimba, non piangere,” holding her own against Taylor as they cruised up to a high-C together with the marital futon beckoning in one of the most gorgeous love duets in all of opera.

Praise, also, for mezzo Michelle Mariposa, as Cio-Cio San’s maidservant Suzuki, a role that calls for much in the way of support and not much in the way of flash. She’ll also be seen this season here as Dorabella in “Così.” Erin Alford, whom we saw as Gertie in “Oklahoma!,” has the more subdued role here as Kate Pinkerton, which she essays with impressive dignity. 

Eri Nakamura and Prior Parker.
Photo: Brent DeLanoy/
The Glimmerglass Festival

Butterfly has a son whom she has named Sorrow; it’s a non-speaking role for a versatile child, and Prior Parker performed it wonderfully, never giving the audience enough “Oh, isn’t the child-actor wonderful!” ammo to inspire unearned applause. 

Glimmerglass music director Joseph Colaneri conducted the exceptional orchestra, which colored every scene with just the right amount of texture, and never more so than in the celebrated “humming chorus” that ends Act Two and will leave you in tears. The finish of it all is tragic, of course, but here gets an extra dimension of Noh-meets-Grand Guignol as Butterfly’s seppuku finish plays out with a startling curtain of scarlet.

Seven years ago, a NY Times opinion piece by Katherine Hu suggested that “opera has to confront the depth of its racism and sexism point-blank, treating classic operas as historical artifacts instead of dynamic cultural productions. Opera directors should approach the production of these classics as museum curators and professors – educating audiences about historical context and making stereotypes visible.” This production goes a long way to satisfying that idea.

Madame Butterfly
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa
Conducted by Joseph Colaneri
Original Production Directed By Francesca Zambello
Revival Director - Joshua Horowitz
The Glimmerglass Festival, through August 17