Giacomo Puccini
Madama Butterfly
LIVE IN HD
Overview
Extraordinary soprano Asmik Grigorian tackles the demanding role of Cio-Cio-San, the loyal geisha at the heart of Puccini’s devastating tragedy. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman stars as the callous American naval officer Pinkerton, whose betrayal destroys her. Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong reprises the role of the steadfast maid Suzuki, and baritone Lucas Meachem is the American consul Sharpless. Acclaimed maestro Xian Zhang takes the podium on May 11 to conduct Anthony Minghella’s vivid production. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
English StreamText captioning is available for the Met’s transmission of Madama Butterfly here. A transcript of the transmission will also be available to view after the live performance.
Buy tickets for Madama Butterfly live in the opera house here.
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera and the Lithuanian National Opera
Production a gift of Mercedes and Sid Bass
Revival a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Austin T. Fragomen, Jr.
SUNG IN
ITALIAN
Timeline
Timeline for the show, Madama Butterfly
ESTIMATED RUN TIME
3 HRS 15 MINS, with one intermission
World premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1904. The title character of Madama Butterfly—a young Japanese geisha who clings to the belief that her arrangement with a visiting American naval officer is a loving and permanent marriage—is one of the defining roles in opera. The story triggers ideas about cultural and sexual imperialism for people far removed from the opera house, and film, Broadway, and popular culture in general have riffed endlessly on it. The lyric beauty of Puccini’s score, especially the music for the thoroughly believable lead role, has made Butterfly timeless.
Creators
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) was immensely popular in his own lifetime, and his mature works remain staples in the repertory of most of the world’s opera companies. His librettists for Madama Butterfly, Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, had also collaborated with the composer on his previous two operas, Tosca and La Bohème. Giacosa, a dramatist, was responsible for the stories and Illica, a poet, worked primarily on the words themselves.
PRODUCTION
Anthony Minghella
DIRECTOR / CHOREOGRAPHER
Carolyn Choa
SET DESIGNER
Michael Levine
COSTUME DESIGNER
Han Feng
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Peter Mumford
PUPPETRY
Blind Summit Theatre
COMPOSER
Giacomo Puccini
Setting
The opera takes place in the Japanese port city of Nagasaki at the turn of the last century, at a time of expanding American international presence. Japan was hesitantly defining its global role, and Nagasaki was one of the country’s few ports open to foreign ships. Temporary marriages for foreign sailors were not unusual.
Music
Puccini achieved a new level of sophistication with his use of the orchestra in this score, with subtle colorings and sonorities throughout. But the opera rests squarely on the performer of the title role: On stage for most of the time, Cio-Cio-San is the only character that experiences true (and tragic) development. The singer must convey an astounding array of emotions and characteristics, from ethereal to fleshly to intelligent to dreamy-bordering-on-insane, to resigned in the final scene.
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