Opera Australia’s 70th anniversary year has begun its first production with the return of one of its most loved productions, Director Moffat Oxenbould’s production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY (composer Giacomo Puccini, librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa).
The scenario sees a beautiful young Japanese woman Cio-Cio-San, the Madama Butterfly of the title, falling madly in love with handsome Navy Lieutenant, B.F. Pinkerton, whose ship has docked in the port of Nagasaki, only recently opened up to global traffic, after centuries of isolation, for a time. They have a shot-gun marriage which sees Butterfly renounce Buddhism and convert to Christianity. Pinkerton leaves Port, and Butterfly bears a son. Pinkerton doesn’t arrive back in port for three years. Has Pinkerton’s heart strayed or will he still be devoted to Butterfly?!
Matthew Barclay guides the production well as the show’s Movement and Revival Director. In the same vein as the original production, the directorial style is intense and gimmick free.Maestro Andrea Battistoni, beginning his tenure as OA’s Music Director, brilliantly conducts a very fine Opera Australia orchestra.
Puccini studied Japanese melodies and folk songs weaving their influence in to his lush Italian score. With its central theme of innocent love against cultural arrogance Puccini felt that only an opera production could do its justice.
Puccini’s score is exquisite. There are of-course many highlights. The most memorable; Guanqun Yu’s evocative rendition of Un bei di vedremo. And then for me the most powerful scene, which felt like it was frozen in time, when Guanqun Yu’s Butterfly, Angus Flint’s Sorrow and Sian Sharp’s Suzuki achingly looking out to the audience from the centre of the stage, waiting interminably for Pinkerton to return, hoping that everything will work out.
All the performances were strong, and they showcased great voices. Guanqun Yu’s gives a beautifully crafted, heartfelt, memorable performance as Madama Butterfly and she deserved the standing ovation that she received.
Diego Torre portrayal of Pinkerton depicted a cold hearted, arrogant military man. Sian Sharp is superb as Butterfly’s very caring, devoted maid, Suzuki. Suzuki so wants things to work out between Butterfly and Pinkerton but she is cynical about Pinkerton and her heart says that things won’t.
Samuel Dundas gives a poignant performance as Sharpless. the United States Consul of Nagasaki, an intermediary between Pinkerton and Butterfly. Sharpless warns Pinkerton not to proceed with his pursuit of Cio-Cio however the warning falls on deaf ears.
Virgilio Marino plays the opportunistic, insensitive marriage broker Goro who arranges the marriage. David Parkin is Butterfly’s forceful Buddhist priest uncle Bonze who is furious when Butterfly renounces her religion, and embraces Pinkerton’s world. Bonze goes on to disown her.
Jane Ede plays Pinkerton’s elegant American wife Kate who finds herself caught in a love triangle that she nothing about. Angus Flint played Butterfly and Pinkerton’s young son appropriately named Sorrow.
Leon Vitogiannis is the polite, confident and self assured nobleman Prince Yamadori who the community want to matchmake with Butterfly. Yamadori is bemused by Butterfly’s devotion to Pinkerton after he has long (three years) gone.
Russell Cohen and Peter England’s set and costume design and Robert Bryan’s lighting set the production’s tone. The productions’ aesthetics were Zen like. The set is surrounded by a pool of water which serves as a metaphor for Butterfly’s sense of isolation. During the great ‘flower duet’, Guanqun Yu’s Butterfly and Sian Sharp’s Suzuki drop petals from their baskets as well as well as petals exquisitely fall down from the roof of the stage.
The set utilises sliding shoji (paper) screens, often illuminated, at each side of the stage. Four Koken characters, dressed in white, are constantly moving through the stage, with ritualistic movements, acting as haughty, mesmeric stagehands.
Bryan’s lighting exemplified the changes in time. Cohen and England’s costumes featured traditional Japanese silks contrasted with Lieutenant Pinkerton’s stark naval uniform.
This was a memorable production. A tale, with many tangents, of a beautiful heart given to one totally unworthy of receiving it.
Opera Australia’s production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY is playing selected dates at the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House until the 25th March 2026.
