Simple yet elegant opera from WNO

Madame Butterfly

Welsh National Opera

Wales Millennium Centre

Open Dress - 13th Feb 2013

Imagine a marriage contract that you could terminate at the end of every month, where abandonment of the bride is equal to divorce. In Nagasaki this is the reality for Madame Butterfly, yet in her young heart marriage is forever, no matter how long her sweetheart is absent.

American Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (Gwyn Hughes Jones) thinks he has found the perfect part-time bride in fifteen year old Cio-Cio-San or Madame Butterfly (Cheryl Barker).  His plan is to enjoy life with his young wife before moving back to America to find a real, American Mrs Pinkerton.

The first half leisurely shows us Butterfly’s marriage to Pinkerton and beautifully encapsulates all her hopes for their joint future. Marrying an American is such an honour that she is prepared to renounce her faith in order to become a Christian. Her family do not approve and their initial joy and excitement over the wedding soon turns to scorn and they shun her in a wonderfully chilling choreographed scene. Despite their abandonment Butterfly is still overjoyed at her future prospects and the curtain goes down as the newlyweds prepare to send their first night as man and wife.

Conversely the second act seems to move too fast. We discover Pinkerton has been absent for three years leaving Butterfly alone in their hilltop house with her faithful maid Suzuki for company – tenderly played by Claire Bradshaw. Despite countless offers from the marriage broker (Phillip Lloyd Holtam) to remarry a rich prince, Butterfly holds onto the marriage that is now dissolved in Japanese law - she still loves Pinkerton and can’t wait to introduce him to their son, who she had whilst he was at sea.  With little time between Butterfly discovering her husband’s betrayal –he returns to Japan with his new American wife (Sian Meinir) -  and subsequently deciding to take her own life leaves  no room for real emotion and the scenes became a little melodramatic yet somehow still moving. 

The beautiful set by Reinhart Zimmermann provided the backdrop throughout – Butterfly’s traditional Japanese home, complete with sliding panels, provided a bright and airy scene of potential hope in act one, yet it really captured the feeling of a beautiful young spirit being crushed towards the finale. This combined with the subtle lighting and costume choices by John Waterhouse and Eleonore Kleiber respectively, made the visual experience rich in its imagery even though the set remained the same throughout. 

Despite the melodramatic second half Madame Butterfly is a really enjoyable opera and would be a great introduction to WNO’s work for anyone who has not seen it before. The performances are all captivating to watch and of course their voices are top notch.  Lacking the frilly decadence usually associated with opera makes this is a really accessible and engaging production.

Catch it now:

• Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff 22 Feb - 9 Jun
• Birmingham Hippodrome 6 Mar - 14 Jun
• Venue Cymru, Llandudno 13 Mar - 16 Mar
• The Mayflower, Southampton 20 Mar - 23 Mar
• Milton Keynes Theatre 28 Mar - 30 Mar
• Theatre Royal, Plymouth 3 Apr - 6 Apr

More info at : www.wno.org.uk