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London Review
London ReviewMadame Butterfly
| One fine day he will return — Madame Butterfly
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The mechanics of this staging are carried out by black costumed Ninja dancers, with black veils affording them complete anonymity. They unobtrusively slide bamboo reinforced paper panels across the stage or rearrange furniture and supply new costumes for Butterfly (Judith Howarth) without intruding on the singers. The costumes make you gasp at their exquisite execution whether it's the parade of ornately dressed geishas with their black curling paper hairstyles and headdresses that quiver as they walk or the magnificent costumes of the Japanese men, the marriage broker Goro (Michael Colvin) in his hat with its long black flyaway curving strap or the suitor Prince Yamadori (Richard Burkhard) in a silk costume which curves standing proud of his body and conveying power. Michael Levine's set has angled mirror panels at the rear where reflections double the pattern of the action. Words seem inadequate to convey the stunning visuals.
Judith Howarth sings with such beauty and emotional depth that we are absorbed by the tragedy of her terrible predicament. She ensures the future for her son in America with the treacherous Pinkerton (John Marshall substituting for Bryan Hymel,who woke that day with a fever) and his new American wife (Madeleine Shaw) leaving herself with nothing to live for, no husband, no son, no funding. From the beginning Lieutenant Pinkerton is not covered with glory as he sings about how Americans can get out of marriage contracts in Japan as easily as a housing lease. He marries the fifteen year old Cio-Cio-San, a minor, and almost immediately abandons her for three years. Butterfly, with her maid Suzuki (Christine Rice), waits for him watching every ship that docks in the harbour for his ship to return and her hopes for their reunion are expressed in the famous aria "One Fine Day."
Butterfly's young son Sorrow (he would be renamed with a happier name on the return of his father) is played by a Japanese Bunraku puppet with three disguised puppeteers and although I found the child's head too small for its body, it is delightful how expressive the puppeteers can make the child as he reaches for his mother to pick him up.
Of the supporting cast, Christine Rice as Suzuki has some common sense as she tells Butterfly that she has never heard of an American husband returning once he has left. Brian Mulligan is strong as the sympathetic US Consul, Sharpless.
The choreography is striking. As Butterfly is accused of abandoning her traditional religion and renouncing her birthright, her uncle The Bonze (Mark Richardson) orchestrates many ninja dancers with black swirling ribbons on sticks conveying havoc and confusion. The marriage night scene is lit by paper lanterns held by dancers arranged into a guard of honour. Cherry blossom falls down on strings like a curtain of blooms. Later there is a ballet of Butterfly's hope that she will be reunited with Pinkerton and the dancers fly white flapping paper birds on long poles. As she realises she is doomed the sky changes to smoky greys which lift for the pink dawn. Butterfly's suicide sees the red silks flowing from her body like her blood in a supremely moving finale.
The director and choreographer is Minghella's now widow Carolyn Choa but this is still billed as Anthony Minghella's production. What better legacy from the great Anthony Minghella than this very beautiful production of Madame Butterfly!
Incidentally the ENO programmes are great value, always stuffed with interesting articles and photographs. The Butterfly programme tells of the inspiration for Puccini's story and details of the lifestyles of geishas and the "rashamen", women who were mistresses to Western men. Butterfly is thought to be a hybrid of these two, something that would have been impossible. The Frenchman Julien Viaud wrote autobiographically of himself as Pierre Loti and of his mistress, Madame Chrysanthyméme, a rashamen, who was not the elaborately trained and cosseted geisha but a woman who was bought for sex and who would not have been in love with her purchaser.
| Madame Butterfly
Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Giuseppe Giacos abd Luigi Illica based on John Luther Long's short story which was in turn based on Pierre Loti's tale Madame Chrysanthéme English translation by David Parry Production by Anthony Minghella Directed and choreographed by Carolyn Choa Conductor: Edward Gardner Starring: Judith Howarth, Christine Rice, Bryan Hymel (John Marshall), Brian Mulligan, Michael Colvin and Richard Burkhard With: Mark Richardson, Philip Daggett, Paul Napier-Burrows, Roger Begley, Lyn Cook, Melodie Waddingham, Morag Boyle, Madeleine Shaw, Martin Barron, Stuart Angell, Eugenijus Sergejevas Set Design: Michael Levine Costume Design: Han Feng Lighting: Peter Mumford Puppetry: Blind Summit Theatre, Mark Down, Nick Barnes Assistant Conductor: Murray Hipkin Chorus Master: Martin Merry Leader: Janice Graham Running time: Two hours 45 minutes with two intervals Box Office: 0870 145 0200 Booking to 10th July 2009 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 12th June 2009 performance at the London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2 (Tube/Rail: Charing Cross) |
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