Show: Madama Butterfly
Format: Opera
Genre: Drama
Date: March 3 2018
Location: Empire Theatre, Liverpool
Award-winning producer Ellen Kent is celebrating 26 years of producing opera and ballet in the UK. And now she brings the popular Madama Butterfly back to Liverpool‘s Empire Theatre.
Madama Butterfly
Synopsis Of Madama Butterfly
In two acts, set in the house on the hill, depicting Nagasaki with the most beautiful kimono costumes, hair and make-up, the simple story of the opera tells how an American naval officer (Pinkerton) ‘acquires’ a 15-year-old Geisha wife during a stay in Japan, but with no real intention of staying with her.
After a while, he returns to the USA and marries his fiancée. Meanwhile, Butterfly waits for him for three years, cut off from her family, religion and culture by being an American wife. And she is now a mother. When he finally returns, she is overjoyed – but he brings with him his new wife.
Analysis Of Madama Butterfly
Butterfly is played by Korean soprano Maria HeeJung Kim, and she demonstrates the right balance of youthful innocence and hot headedness. Her voice is delicate, yet strong – at times reducing the audience to tears. Her maid Suzuki’s beautiful and rich-toned vocals complement Butterfly’s as she tries to talk sense into her charge. Other members of the cast support magnificently, the orchestra not overwhelming the singing as can sometimes happen at dramatic interludes in a production.
There are helpful subtitles above the stage, but the emotion and the acting of the cast enables you to see and understand the desperation felt by Butterfly, and the sadness she experiences as a result of Pinkerton’s betrayal which leads her to her distraught demise, which to be honest seems over and done with very quickly. In the final scenes, she holds her small son for the last time. Then, she must hand him across to Pinkerton and his new wife Kate so they can give him a better life in America.
Summary Of Madama Butterfly
On the whole, Madama Butterfly lives up to my expectations by providing true drama and emotion. Definitely take a look if you’ve never seen this show before!
