© photos by Tracy Yoshida for Suburban Journals of  Chicago Inc.

Madama Butterfly
by Giacomo Puccini

review by Tracy Yoshida

Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly recently flew into Evanston, treating the audience to a day at the Opera.

The popular opera was performed at the Cahn Auditorium on the Northwestern University campus on Sunday, March 11 by the Elgin
Opera.

When the curtains opened, the audience was taken to the outskirts of Nagasaki, in 1904, in the gardens of a Japanese villa. Goro, a local marriage broker, arranged a marriage for Lt. Pinkerton of the U.S. Navy with an adolescent Japanese girl, Cio Cio San, who is known as “Madame Butterfly” because of her gentleness and femininity. In this first act, the marriage ceremony takes place and her family considers her an outcast since she has forsaken her religion.

The scenery is simple, but beautiful and mostly consists of a variety of colorful flowers and the small Japanese home. The women are dressed in bright, intricately decorated kimonos and their mannerisms accurately portray the delicateness and politeness of the Japanese culture.

Act One ends with a beautiful love duet performed by Cio Cio San and Lt. Pinkerton. Their extremely powerful voices and strong facial expressions revealed their love for one another and the intense passion they were feeling.

In Act Two, Madame Butterfly has been living in the little home with her son for many years. Her brief marriage to Lt. Pinkerton came to an end when he returned to America and she had not heard from him. Her close friend and maid, Suzuki tried to inform Madame Butterfly that there’s a possibility that he may never return. The American Consul, Sharpless, asked Butterfly what would happen if he never returns. Butterfly says that is impossible, but if did happen, she said she would end her life.

A very jubilant and vibrant part of the second act was at the end when Butterfly and Suzuki shower the home with colorful fresh flowers when they realized Pinkerton’s ship had arrived. Butterfly pranced around the house, joyously singing and spreading flowers everywhere. Just as things come to life in the spring, Butterfly was starting to come to life again, knowing Pinkerton was close by.

One of the most emotional parts of the entire opera was when Butterfly and her young son peeked out into the black sky to wait for Pinkerton’s appearance on the hillside path. Their backs were turned to the audience and while sitting closely next to each other they waited  quietly with hope.

Emotions remained intense during the final act when Butterfly sees Pinkerton’s American wife roaming in their garden and realizes it’s his new wife. Butterfly, who is emotionally shattered, blindfolds her young son, steps behind a screen and stabs herself to death. The voice of Pinkerton is heard as he called out to her and sat beside her lifeless body.

Throughout the performance, a very helpful large screen to the right of the stage displayed the English translation of what was being sung in Italian.

All of the performers were very talented with beautiful voices and what was even more impressive was that they overcame certain challenges, such as the ethnicity and age of some of the actors versus the characters in the story. Despite any differences, the performers did such an amazing job of acting and delivering the emotions of the characters that they quickly pulled the audience into the story and made every part of it very believable and enjoyable. 

Cio Cio San, Madame Butterfly, was played by Solange Sior, who also the founder and artistic director of the Elgin Opera. William Chamberlain played the part of Pinkerton, who has been a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists and has performed with other Opera theaters. The beautiful live music that included many Japanese tunes was conducted by Philip Morehead, who is head of music staff of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.