Madama Butterfly gets a Grand Designs-style makeover for Opera Australia

Madama Butterfly has been given a Grand Designs-style makeover by director Graeme Murphy for Opera Australia with stunning video backdrops and a superb singing cast.

Karah Son as Cio-Cio-San in Opera Australia's new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Picture: Prudence Upton

• The Lang Lang effect
• From Sufjan to Szymanowski
• Four at the cutting edge
• Return of our Emma

The minimalist set of this latest production abounds with symbolism, from the ominous knifelike edges of the sloping, angular revolving stage and the floor-to-ceiling screens which act as a three-sided video backdrop for most of the action. A red belt becomes a rope which in turn becomes a spider’s web to entrap the butterfly.

Puccini’s pivotal love scene between America-loving geisha Cio-Cio San and the exploitative Yankee naval lieutenant Pinkerton is given a tasteful erotic charge as film of two ballet dancers is projected on to a transparent screen dropped from the fly loft while the singers perform the long duet Viena la sera (Night is falling).

Korean soprano Karah Son makes a triumphant return in the title role after her 2017 appearances at the Capitol Theatre in the well-worn Moffatt Oxenbould revival. Hers is a magnificent voice, full of power, rich and effortless across the whole range. Her high note in Ancora un passo as she and her attendants trudge up the hill to Pinkerton’s house pinned the audience back in their seats.

CLEVER

The big number Un bel di vedremo (One fine day), when she dreams of Pinkerton’s return as his ship sails into Nagasaki harbour, brought the house down. Sean Niewenhuis’s clever black and white video backdrop of Japanese ideograms superimposed on a satellite map was a master touch.

If there is a slight negative to Son’s performance it is that sometimes she doesn’t quite capture her character’s vulnerability.

Andeka Gorrotxategi as Pinkerton and Karah Son as Cio-Cio-San. Picture: Prudence Upton

Spanish tenor Andeka Gorrotxategi was a good fit as Pinkerton, his fine voice ringing out in the love scenes and full of carefree pigheadedness as he explains his easy get-out marriage contract to his diplomat friend Sharpless, sympathetically portrayed and sung by Opera Australia’s newest baritone star Michael Honeyman.

The other key supporting part, that of Butterfly’s conscientious maid Suzuki, was also a faultless performance by mezzo Sian Sharp (formerly Pendry), who has made this one of her specialist roles.

HAUNTING

Italian Australian tenor Virgilio Marino was convincing as the unscrupulous marriage broker Goro, with long silver dreadlocks and a shiny costume that made him look like a Dr Who villain.

Opera Australia's chorus in wintry mode for Madama Butterfly. Picture: Prudence Upton

Conductor Massimo Zanetti kept his crack troops, the Opera Australia Orchestra, moving briskly along and the chorus, as ever, were in top form, especially for the haunting humming chorus when they brought a wintry touch dressed improbably as a snow-clad clump of trees.

But the night belonged to Son — whose ovation raised the roof — and Murphy and his creative associate Janet Vernon and their team who have breathed new life into this tear-jerker favourite.

The leading roles are alternated throughout the run until August 10 with Mariana Hong and Diego Torre appearing as Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton.

DETAILS

● OPERA Madama Butterfly

● STARRING Karah Son, Andeka Gorrotxategi, Sian Sharp, Michael Honeyman

● WHERE Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House

● WHEN Friday, June 28

SEASON Until August 10

BOOKINGS 9318 8200, or go to opera.org.au/whatson/events