BWW Reviews: MADAMA BUTTERFLY Returns to Adelaide for a Third Season

Reviewed Saturday 23rd November 2013

The State Opera of South Australia are restaging the 1997 Opera Australia production of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. It was last seen here in 2006 and so popular is this production that it is back again at the Festival Theatre for another season. The original Director of this production was Moffatt Oxenbould, with this production's Revival Director being Matthew Barclay.

Japan closed itself off from the rest of the world until 1853, when an American Fleet, under Commodore Perry, gave them no choice but to open its doors to the west. Puccini's opera is set in 1904, near the end of the Meiji Period, after the Japanese had accepted and adopted western ideas and culture, seen in the dress of some of the characters, and power had been returned to the Emperor. Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton is part of the occupying force and has organised an omiai kekkon, or arranged marriage through the marriage broker, Goro, to marry the fifteen year old geisha, Cio-Chio-San, known as Madame Butterfly. Sharpless, the American Consul in Nagasaki, warns Pinkerton that there could well be unhappy consequences, but he continues to treat it all lightly. Although this sounds reprehensible, taking a temporary wife for the duration of one's stay was actually a common thing to do at the time.

Three years later, Butterfly, and her servant, Suzuki, are waiting patiently for Pinkerton's return from America, refusing to even consider that he might not return and fighting external pressure to take another husband, even one as exalted as Prince Yamadori, who is willing to overlook the fact that she has been tainted by her relationship with a gaijin, a foreigner. When Pinkerton does eventually return, however, he is bringing Kate, his American wife from a "real" marriage. What he did not expect, though, was that Butterfly had been pregnant when he left and that they now have a small boy. The tragedy that Sharpless foretold comes to pass, and Butterfly accepts an honourable death to escape from this dishonourable situation; the act of seppuku, or hara-kiri, using the same traditional samurai knife, or tant?, that her father used to take his life.

The foundation of any opera is the musical score, and Puccini had a knack of combining great lyricism with huge emotional ranges that both reflects and drives the action. The members of the wonderful Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, under the inspired conducting of Nicholas Braithwaite, surpass themselves, in a truly informed interpretation of the score. When combined with the offstage State Opera Chorus, in the Humming Chorus, the emotional content is palpable. The State Opera Chorus, under their Chorus Master, the State Opera's CEO and Artistic Director, Timothy Sexton, once again demonstrate why they are held in great respect.

In her first lead role in a major production, Joanna McWaters leaves no doubt that there will be many more roles to follow this one. She gives a superb performance as the girl who waited, her faith in Pinkerton unwavering, even in the face of pressure to remarry, and barely disguised warnings from Sharpless. McWaters begins her performance with that naivety of an inexperienced young girl, full of the joys of becoming a bride, and discovering a bright new future away from the world of the geisha, with the expectation of a future in America as the wife of Pinkerton. She develops that character into the resolute young woman, expecting her husband to return at any moment, then demonstrates the maturity that Cio-CIo-San finds herself forced to embrace Not only does her acting take us through all of this development but her voice has subtle changes, too, particularly as she goes from the positive affirmation at the beginning of Act 2 in Un bel di (One Fine Day) to the despair of giving up her son to Pinkerton and his wife and her suicide at the end of the opera..

James Egglestone plays Pinkerton with such a superb characterisation that the audience rewarded him with loud booing for his character, as he came forward for his final bows, before erupting into applause for his performance. He is a fine choice for the role, in his portrayal of which one can see many of the young men of today, out on the town looking for a good time, with no plans to make any real commitment to the women with whom they have a dalliance, sometimes, like Pinkerton, already having another person that they do intend to commit to, eventually. Egglestone invests Pinkerton with bravado, and loads of charisma, making it easy to see how he swept Butterfly off her feet and into his arms. His demeanour, characterisation, and sensational voice, all combine to create a striking young naval officer in whom we can believe as possibly more destructive through his ignorance of the Japanese, than intended malice. He trivialises her religion and culture, and she accepts this, converting to Christianity for him and the sake of their future together, in which he callously allows her to believe.

Adam Goodburn makes yet another welcome appearance with the company, this time as the unscrupulous and opportunistic nakodo, or marriage broker, Goro. Goodburn embraces the cynicism of Goro, presenting the marriage to Pinkerton as a contract, a 999 year lease that can be cancelled at any time with a month's notice. He is the ideal choice for the role, offering hints of an oriental Arthur Daley, a crafty, conniving rogue, the sort of thing that demands the acting skills that he has, as well as the ability to bring that out in his singing.

As Sharpless, another Adelaide favourite, Douglas McNicol, gives a sensitive portrayal, caught between his friendship with Pinkerton and his sympathy for Butterfly. In a strong performance, McNicol shows us the anguish of Sharpless, caught in the middle and expected to explain everything to Butterfly and give Pinkerton an easy way out.

Catriona Barr gives a marvellously empathetic characterisation to the role of Suzuki, sharing the emotional upheavals of Butterfly and doing all that she can to protect and support her, and making her mark in the role as well. Steven Gallop explodes onto the stage, a mass of indignations and fury, as Butterfly's uncle The Bonze, and Desiree Frahn manages, in quite a brief appearance, to convey the awkwardness and conflicting emotions of Kate Pinkerton. In other supporting roles, Jeremy Tatchell, as The Imperial Commissioner, David Perry, as the Official Registrar, and Luke Gabbedy, as Prince Yamadori, all contribute more interest and consistency to the production.

In Japanese noh and kabuki, a koken is a masked person who appears on the stage to makes changes to the props and scenery, and they are traditionally dressed in black. It is accepted that performers and audiences ignore the presence of a koken, and this is a device used in this production, although the props and costume ninjas in this production are dressed in light, not black clothing. They also resemble the rooks on a chess board in a way, as they seem to primarily move vertically and/or horizontally. This reference to older Japanese forms of theatre makes for a nice touch.

The marvellous costumes and the set were designed by Peter England and Russell Cohen. Vertically sliding panels around the rear and sides of the set reflect shoji, the paper covered sliding screens, doors, and windows of traditional Japanese buildings. The entrances from the centre rear and either side cross over a shallow moat to a central square in which the bulk of the action occurs, with the koken sitting still and silent until needed to remove or bring in props.

There is everything to like in this excellent production, but there are only four performances, so there is no time to delay in booking.

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