Tuesday, January 12, 1999
Ideal soprano brightens colors of fading ‘Butterfly’
THEATER: L.A. Opera, Watanabe bring Puccini favorite back to the
stage
By John Mangum
Daily Bruin Contributor
Her house may need a new coat of paint and her porch could use
some carpentry work, but L.A. Opera’s "Madama Butterfly" is
certainly worth a visit anyway.
The company revived its production of Puccini’s favorite on
Sunday evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for seven
performances, bringing an ideal cast to the stage. Unlike their
previous "Butterfly" revival, which featured an imperious soprano
in the title role and an underwhelming Pinkerton, Sunday’s
performance boasted two experts in soprano Yoko Watanabe and tenor
Richard Leech.
The simple story is set in Nagasaki, Japan, at the turn of the
century. Pinkerton, an American naval officer on shore leave and
looking for a diversion, arranges to buy a bride. The American
consul, Sharpless, warns him that the girl’s devotion should be
taken seriously, but Pinkerton ignores the advice.
The 15-year-old Madama Butterfly has gone to great length to
impress her husband, converting to Christianity and trying to
become a "good American wife." But Pinkerton leaves for America,
making empty promises to return.
When he finally does – three years later – he brings his
American wife, Kate. Butterfly and her son by Pinkerton have
waited, but when she discovers the truth, she commits suicide,
disgraced and humiliated.
With its simple, melodramatic plot and overwhelmingly beautiful
score, "Butterfly" guarantees big box office profits for any
company that stages it. But it is not bulletproof and can, in the
wrong hands, develop into a seemingly endless and miserable evening
of theater. Luckily, the wrong hands were nowhere in sight on
Sunday.
Watanabe, the Japanese soprano making her L.A. Opera debut in
this revival, was an expert Butterfly. She has sung the role over
400 times, and the experience shows. Thankfully, Watanabe avoided
the danger that is sometimes handmaiden to such experience – the
bland, generalized characterization that marks a bored artist.
Her Butterfly was dramatically sung and right on the mark in
terms of characterization. Instead of a soprano in her mid-40s
acting arch, the audience got something much closer to a
15-year-old girl in the first act, full of innocence and smiles.
Three years later, as she waited for Pinkerton, Watanabe’s
Butterfly was wildly obsessed, yet still sympathetic. Her suicide
was as heart-wrenching as mimed, bloodless, on-stage death can
be.
Pinkerton is a pretty simple character who requires heroic
singing effort. Leech, with his ample voice, made a nearly perfect
Pinkerton on the stage. Like Watanabe, "Madama Butterfly" is one of
the cornerstones of Leech’s repertoire.
While he didn’t use his voice in a particularly expressive or
colorful manner, his tenorizing thrilled in an elemental way,
riding the orchestra in climaxes and ringing out to fill the
auditorium whenever the music gave him the opportunity. He made up
for the few expressive shortcomings physically, tracing Pinkerton’s
development from sexual imperialist to remorseful coward with a
series of convincing facial expressions and gestures.
Among the rest of the cast, the Sharpless of baritone John
Atkins really stood out. His compelling singing and sympathetic
acting enlivened a character that can seem boring and
one-dimensional.
Mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman reprised the role of Suzuki,
Butterfly’s maid, and seemed to be inspired by her surroundings to
a memorably dramatic portrayal. In the second half of the opera,
the maid was almost as tragic as her mistress.
Francis Egerton made a delightfully decrepit and smarmy
marriage-broker, and Malcolm MacKenzie was ideally pathetic as
Butterfly’s other suitor, Prince Yamadori. Louis Lebherz deployed
his sepulchral bass once again as Butterfly’s uncle, the Bonze, who
casts her out of the family when she rejects tradition to become
"American."
Marco Guidarini, who last led the L.A. Opera orchestra in
volatile, spirited performances of Rossini’s "Barber of Seville"
two years ago, returned to conduct an all-out, Hollywood-style
reading of Puccini’s score, wringing every ounce of potential
expression from each note.
The whole evening, from the music to the performance to even the
sets, were met with rapturous applause in the end. It was
recognition of an impressive evening of opera.
OPERA: L.A. Opera presents Puccini’s "Madama Butterfly" for six
more performances, through Jan. 28. Tickets range from $25 to $137
with $20 student and senior rush one hour prior to curtain, subject
to availability. For more information, call (213) 972-8001.L.A.
Opera
Pinkerton (Richard Leech) is greeted by his adoring bride,
Cio-Cio-San (Yoko Watanabe) in the L.A. Opera production of "Madama
Butterfly."
L.A. Opera
Cio-Cio-San (Yoko Watanabe) sings of her devotion to her
faithless American lieutenant as Sharpless (John Atkins) looks on
in agony.
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