Puccini, Illica and Giacosa
Opera and Ballet International, Ellen Kent, Senbla
Opera House, Manchester
February 22, 2025; 2hrs 35 mins
(also Grand Opera House, York, March 1; Sunderland Empire, March 18; Sheffield City Hall, March 8; Darlington Hippodrome, March 14; Bradford Alhambra, April 17)
Butterfly is the tale of a Japanese lady, fragile and tough at the same time, who is betrayed by a despicable Yankee, who marries her then deserts her. The Yank believes in a purely business view of the world: " Japanese marriages are for 999 years but they are cancellable at a months notice". Sound familiar?
Korean soprano Elena Dee plays Cio Cio San – better known as Madama Butterfly – as a Painted Lady. Entomologists among you will know this butterfly is as tough as old boots, migrating up and down continents over several years, surviving because it believes in the unbelievable. Cio Cio San believes a change of religion will ensure her love returns, once again to sweep her off her feet. She also believes in herself; her singing is charged with self-belief.
Dee has been singing this role for years - principally for Ellen Kent's Opera and Ballet International - and she commands it like few others in the opera world, with great power and grace.
Pinkerton - who does return to the faithful Cio Cio San, but brings his real American wife along on the trip - is played by Armenian renor Hovhannes Andreasyan as a rather down at heel US pirate, using terms of trade between a new nation and the older, richer one to extract the greatest advantage for himself, Even his sort-of apology is dragged from him, the singer's well-shaped voice helping us to believe Pinkerton's words aren't entirely genuine.
Vitalie Cebotari has the relatively minor role of the US consul, but makes the most of it thanks to his powerful voice and acting ability. He commands all the attention when he is on stage, and can show how he feels about the callous behaviour of Pinkerton, his countryman, without raising his eyes or belittling him.
Behaving almost as badly as Pinkerton on Saturday night were sections of the audience. I'd like to believe an opera audience wants to be there, loves the music and knows how to behave, but the number of people going out to the toilet during the performance, noisily eating popcorn and sweets, and the number with their phones switched on was a new and unpleasant experience for me. What this sort of thing does to the performers, I dread to think.
The final moments of the performance, still bring tears to your eyes though; as does the final part of the evening, as the company - many of them Ukrainian - stand and sing the Ukraine national anthem, while displaying the country's national flag. The audience all stands with them - which almost redeems their previous behaviour. Almost.
More info here
