In April of 2019, Pacific Opera Project put on a unique production of Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly. What made it unique is the original Italian libretto was translated into English and Japanese to reflect the story being told. POP is holding a watch party of this production on Wednesday, July 15th at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on their YouTube channel and Facebook page.
For the uninitiated, Madama Butterfly tells the story of an American naval officer (Peter James Lake) who falls in love with a Japanese girl (Janet Todd). They get married and he returns to America. She is desperately in love with him and is pregnant. He continues his life in America until circumstances require he return, with his American wife, to Japan. What follows is opera at its most tragic.
The revised libretto was written by Pacific Opera Project’s Josh Shaw and Houston’s Opera in the Heights’ Artistic Director Eiki Isomura. (Opera in the Heights co-presented the opera. After its final performance in Los Angeles, the company headed to Houston for additional performances.)
Making this change in the libretto is not the only thing that makes Pacific Opera Project’s Madama Butterfly interesting. All the Japanese roles are sung in Japanese by Japanese-American artists. Every singer in the chorus is Japanese-American.
Shaw conceived, designed, and directed this bilingual Butterfly. The performance was conducted by Eiki Isomura.
None of this would matter if the production wasn’t good. I attended the matinee on April 14th, 2019 at the Aratani Theatre. It is good. Quite.
Pacific Opera Project does not to do conventional productions of opera. There is always something interesting to see and hear in their work. Last year I spoke with Shaw about this production. I encourage you to read that interview before you watch this take on Madama Butterfly.
Photo: Pacific Opera Project’s Madama Butterfly (Photo by Martha Benedict/Courtesy of Pacific Opera Project)