Photo Michael Cooper
Canadian Opera Company/Madama Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, based on the play by David Belasco, conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, revival direction by Jordan Lee Braun, original direction by Michael Grandage, Four Seasons Centre, closes Feb. 16.
There is not one more drop of emotion that American conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson can wring out of Puccini’s unabashedly soppy score. The orchestra literally drips with romantic heartache and I’m sure the notoriously sentimental composer himself would have been deeply affected by Wilson’s interpretation.
Let’s face it. For those of us who have seen our fair share of Butterfly productions, we might think that this time we can finally rise above Puccini’s gotcha score, but he gets us every time, particularly when you have music-making that literally throbs with passion. The impact of Wilson and the excellent COC orchestra is tantamount to an assault.
And then there is tragic and courageous Cio-Cio San, Butterfly herself, and when she is brought to life by an extraordinary singer/actor like Japanese soprano Eri Nakamura, you just have to surrender to Puccini’s musical entrapment. Nakamura begins slowly, weaving and bobbing daintily as a fragile doll, but when it comes to Acts 2 and 3, she fires up every emotional cylinder and hit us with a full-frontal attack. Nakamura’s purity of voice is without a shred of shrillness, while her upper register produces a thrilling sound. The soprano’s solo bow at opera’s end generated the cheers she so richly deserves.
And while we’re on the subject of Butterfly, why did the English surtitles say she is 18, when she is supposed to be 15? Clearly this is an act of misguided wokeness and makes no sense when Sharpless says Butterfly is at an age when she should be playing with dolls.
Photo Michael Cooper
Chinese tenor Kang Wang’s callous Pinkerton is not only sung uncommonly well, he shows just the right amount of American swagger to generate a good-natured boo or too at the curtain call, which the singer took with a smile as a job well done. Oddly, Wang has a slender frame, yet he can belt out the so-called meat and potatoes repertoire (aka Verdi and Puccini) with the same force as his barrel-chested tenor compatriots. In fact, the bold, commanding sound he produces is a genuine surprise, yet it is also a voice of genuine sweetness.
I absolutely declare that Korean mezzo-soprano Hyona Kim is the best Suzuki I have ever seen and heard. She is a formidable actor – outstanding in fact – and more to the point, she has a stronger, richer voice than most Suzukis display. Not surprisingly, her credits show that Kim sings Wagner, and nothing is more powerful than that. Having a dramatic mezzo-soprano certainly makes for a more impressive Suzuki and enriches the role.
American bass-baritone Michael Sumuel is a sympathetic Sharpless, although his pleasant voice is on the lighter side. It does have an interesting vibrato, however. Sumuel is more restrained as an actor than his fellows on the stage, but more importantly, he does radiate all the key character traits that Sharpless must possess – compassion towards Butterfly, regret and shame towards Suzuki, and growing anger with Pinkerton.
The secondary roles are very strong both in acting and singing.
American character tenor Julius Ahn makes for a suitably slimy Goro, Canadian baritone Gene Wu is a chilling Bonze, while Canadian baritone Samuel Chan caught my ear as both Prince Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner. Sometimes you hear promise in a singer, and there is a richness in Chan’s voice that really came to light as the Prince. He is definitely one to watch. Emerging soprano Emily Rocha is a vision of beauty as the all-American Kate Pinkerton.
The COC chorus is superb in the Humming Chorus and because they are good actors, make for a lively wedding party. And let us not forget adorable Naleya Sayavong, who at only age five, does an accomplished job of playing Sorrow, Butterfly’s young son.
This production was created in 2013 for the opera companies of Houston, Geneva and Chicago by the English team of director Michael Grandage and set and costume designer Christopher Oram. Jordan Lee Braun, the revival director, is a long-standing house assistant director at Chicago Lyric, and has done a credible job with mounting this production.
While Oram’s costumes are quite fetching, his set is both wonderful and awful.
On one hand, we have a very eye-catching scenic hill with a curved path depicted by a ramped stage, with a clever walkway behind the main set that gives the illusion of people climbing up the hill, who then appear at the top which allows then to climb down. That’s the good part.
Then there is the traditional translucent shoji wall that pulls out from the side of the stage to depict Butterfly’s house. That’s all well and good, but then the wall has to keep being pushed back and pulled forward when needed which makes for an awkward stage picture. In fact, it got to the point where I was going to scream if that damn wall got pushed in/pulled out one more time.
Oram’s greatest sin occurs during the famous Humming Chorus. Butterfly, Suzuki and Sorrow are sitting at the top of the hill facing backstage where presumably the harbour is, waiting for Pinkerton. Canadian revival lighting designer, Mikael Kangas, has created a beautiful dusk that moves slowly to dawn, and I thought, how clever – we are seeing the back of the watchers during the beautiful musical interlude.
And then, horror of horrors, the hill begins to rotate to bring the watchers to the front, and we hear the creak of the machinery as it mars the music. What had Oram been thinking of to create this monstrous mistake that practically ruins the music? Had director Braun been smart, she would have opted not to turn the stage forward, which then, to pour further salt on the wound, has to be turned back.
Nonetheless, this production, from a musical point of view, at any rate, is Puccini perfection.