Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Madama Butterfly, opera in two acts (1904)
Libretto by Guiseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, after the book by John Luther Long and the play by David Belasco
Cio-Cio-San: Asmik Grigorian (soprano)
Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: Joshua Guerrero (tenor)
Suzuki: Hongni Wu (mezzo-soprano)
Sharpless: Lauri Vasar (baritone)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House/Kevin John Edusei
Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier (direction)
rec. live 19, 23 & 26 March 2024, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, UK
Reviewed in surround sound
Opus Arte OABD7328D Blu-ray [160]
It is sometimes said that we should judge an opera company by the strength of its revivals. This Madama Butterfly, a co-production with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, was new at the Royal Opera House in 2003. It has had notable revivals, two of them filmed. In March 2017, a strong cast was led by the Cio-Cio-San of Ermonela Jaho and the Pinkerton of Marcelo Puente. The company’s Music Director Antonio Pappano conducted its 2018 issue on Opus Arte (review). This release comes from performances in March 2024. Asmik Grigorian and Joshua Guerrero were the leads, and Kevin John Edusei conducted.
The production is largely the same, except the altering of some details – now judged to be inappropriate in the presentation of Japanese characters – by adjustments to make-up, costume and movement. There is a slightly more authentic feel to some scenes as a result, but nothing I think would distract those who know the production, from London, Barcelona or the 2018 film. Christian Fenouillat’s attractive and effective set design still works well in its traditional way. The bare interior of the hilltop house is spread across the stage. Its panels slide up and down to show us Nagasaki harbour in a black-and-white photo, and later the pink cherry blossom-filled surroundings, and to allow for entrances and exits.
We are visibly in a sea port in late 19th-century Japan, a country still coming to terms with its all-powerful imperial American ‘neighbour’ across the Pacific Ocean. In that era and place, the first American a Japanese girl met could well be a U.S. Naval Officer who carries certain assumptions about how a spell of shore leave could be spent in this distant place. The scope for an individual tragedy is there from the start.
The strong cast is led by Asmik Grigorian’s consummate performance as Cio-Cio-San. She sings with her now familiar virtues. She is vocally alluring, with a strong sense of line and rhythm, and with good diction. When required, she has some spinto power (she is, of course, a Salome). She deploys all this along with persuasive acting and compelling stage presence. She is a rather tall 15-year old, perhaps, almost the height of her Pinkerton, and too mature one in facial close-up; filmed opera is never an unmixed blessing. She manages nonetheless to persuade us that she is first a naïve girl, then a still infatuated woman awaiting the return of the man she calls a husband. Finally, she confronts betrayal first with despair, but then with the resolution to embrace what she sees as her only means of escape. From a poignant and powerful Un bel di onwards, she has us in thrall, obviously not without a little help from the composer.
Pinkerton is the excellent Joshua Guerrero. He looks well in the part, has a good tenor sound, quite ringing enough even when the highest notes are a slight stretch. He also acts well, and he and Grigorian provide a fine account of their splendid long Act One love duet; their musical and histrionic interactions are natural and persuasive. Suzuki is another strong performance. Mezzo-soprano Hongni Wu is impressive in her acting and singing of a role that is often under-characterised as a mere supporting act. The Sharpless of baritone Lauri Vasar is less effective than the other leads, because he does not seize his role as the moral compass that Pinkerton has misplaced. Vocally he does not make quite enough of his concerns and warnings about the situation he sees unfolding before him.
The smaller roles are well taken, not least the marriage-broker Goro, tenor Ya-Chung Huang. The Royal Opera Orchestra and Chorus play and sing very well for conductor Kevin John Edusei, who directs with mostly well-judged tempi, supportive of the singers. The filming and sonics are well up to the high Opus Arte Blu-ray standards at this venue. This stands very high amongst Butterfly options on film, not least for Grigorian’s important interpretation and her interaction with Guerrero in Act One. But it does not displace the earlier version of this production. Ermonela Jaho and Antonio Pappano – the doyen of Puccini conductors – make an unmissable team. That would still just be my first choice, but it is hard to pass over Asmik Grigorian in the title role. I saw both singers in the title role at Covent Garden when these films were shot, and still would not live without either soprano singing the role.
Roy Westbrook
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Other cast and production staff
Goro: Ya-Chung Huang
Imperial Commissioner: Romanas Kudirašovas
The Bonze: Jeremy White
Prince Yamadori: Josef Jeungmeen Ahn
Kate Pinkerton: Veena Akama-Makia
Royal Opera chorus director: William Spaulding
Revival director: Daisy Evans
Set designer: Christian Fenouillat
Costume designer: Agostino Cavalca
Lighting designer: Christophe Forey
Directed for the screen by Bridget Caldwell
Extra features
Cast and creatives discuss Madama Butterfly
Lighting the stage for Madama Butterfly
Cast gallery
Technical details
Picture format: 1080i/16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM 2.0/DTS-HD MA 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Sung in Italian
Subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean
