Puccini Goes to Hollywood in L.A. Opera’s High Gloss New ‘Butterfly’
/By Truman C. Wang
9/23/2024
Photo credit: Cory Weaver
Karah Son as Cio-Cio-San and Jonathan Tetelman as Pinkerton
Last season I complained about the dwindling number of classics among U.S. opera companies in general, and L.A. Opera in particular (4 out of 12 mainstage events). This season, the ratio is even lower; only 4 out of 13 mainstage events are the classics, the rest being recitals and one leased event. Even so, we should all be grateful for what we can get: Butterfly in September, Romeo in November, Cosi in March, Rigoletto in May.
Madama Butterfly is an undemanding opera to stage. Its scenic requirements are simple. Los Angeles Opera’s 2016 sets were simple, elegant like a traditional Japanese painting. This new 2024 staging was first conceived for Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain by Mario Gas as a Hollywood movie-within-an opera. The actions take place on a Burbank soundstage in the 1930’s, where busy stagehands can be seeing making up the cast before curtain, the chorus of villagers being readied backstage before Cio-Cio-San’s entrance, and the chorus master conducting the Humming Chorus backstage. The natural landscape looks like a movie backdrop. Everything appears glossy, glitzy and artfully designed, down to the Art Deco Tiffany panels that look more Hollywood than Nagasaki. Had it not been for Franca Squarciapino’s beautiful period costumes, one could have mistaken the sets for Rusalka or Francesca da Rimini. The ‘film crew’ mostly stay out of the way and remain unobtrusive, but we are ‘treated’ to the film director’s view of the opera on a mini black-and-white screen above the stage and above the English translation. I overheard some audience members grumble about the extra screen being a distraction and giving them neck pain. On my part, I found myself mostly ignoring the ‘director’s cut’ and only glancing up occasionally to check the translation for accuracy (quite good, although some short but vital lines in fast dialogs were omitted.)
Brenna Corner directed the re-staging, with modifications to reflect, in L.A. Opera’s public disclaimer, that “Madame Butterfly portrays inaccurate representations of Asian culture. This presentation is produced in consultation with the Asian Opera Alliance, which encourages companies to continue to produce these works with care and appropriate input to examine, acknowledge and mitigate potential harm.” It should be noted that Puccini had revised Butterfly no fewer than four times after the Milan fiasco – for Brescia, Washington, New York and Paris – from 1904 through 1906. The L.A. Opera uses the now-standard Paris version, with 95% of the racist lines and stage actions (mostly in act one) already removed by the composer himself or the Paris Opéra director Albert Carré.
In the 2024 L.A. production, the stage director’s sympathies clearly lie with the Japanese: Pinkerton carelessly juggles the figurines containing Cio-Cio-San’s ancestors’ ashes and drops them; Goro the matchmaker shows off his album of underage Japanese brides – both drawing cackles and giggles from the audience. Prince Yamadori, often a caricature role in many productions, here shows genuine feelings and sympathy for Cio-Cio-San. There is one directorial oddity: Cio-Cio-San wandering about in her night vigil where she should be sitting perfectly still for the entire 3-minute Humming Chorus. (In Belasco’s 1900 play that Puccini saw in New York, she sits silently, back toward the audience, for 14 minutes.) Overall, I would argue that Butterfly, even in its original Milan version (where Pinkerton calls the Japanese servants mugs and insects), accurately represents Asian culture from the point of view of Pinkerton and the Western imperial colonialism that he represents. It is important to portray history honestly and accurately if we are to learn from the past.
For this Butterfly, L.A. Opera assembled a superb, diverse international cast who sing and act with distinction. On the opening night, September 21, Jonathan Tetelman, as Pinkerton, was sensational. His tenor voice has a ringing tone and baritonal heft (similar to that of the first Pinkerton, Giovanni Zenatello) ideal for an Italian romantic hero (or antihero in this case). Michael Sumuel’s suave bass-baritone lends an air of dignity to the ungrateful role of American consul Sharpless; in his fine singing in the act three trio, where a firm vocal line was subtly shaped by verbal expressions, I heard a future Wotan and a lieder singer. Hyona Kim and Hyungjin Son were a sympathetic Suzuki and Yamadori. Gabrielle Turgeon was a decent Kate Pinkerton.
More problematic was the Cio-Cio-San of Karah Son. Whether it was first-night jitters (the performance was simulcast live to several L.A. cities.) or something else, her lyric soprano voice took an entire act to warm up, even then it was missing the bloom and what the Italians call morbidezza – a certain fragile, soft quality – in the high notes of the flower duet and Cio-Cio-San’s entrance number. It is not an Italianate voice, but to her credit she acted well and used it sensibly, giving vividness and meaning to every phrase and shaping the musical lines fully, from act two’s “Un bel dì” onward to the tragic finale.
James Conlon, retiring after the 2024/25 season as L.A. Opera’s Music Director of 20 years, conducted Butterfly powerfully and accompanied the singers delicately, bringing out the score’s impressionist colors in the Humming Chorus, the love duet, and the letter duet (Puccini had clearly heard Debussy’s La Mer and Pelléas et Melisande.) He conducts Italian opera as if he spoke the language fluently, feeling the weights and colors and meanings of words that should inflect the music. The stage-pit balance was also ideal; I could hear every plucked string in the love duet and every word in the stormy act three trio.
Other performance dates are September 26, 29, October 5, 9, 13
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.