Yankee vagabondo
Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier direct Madama Butterfly in London (****½) [cinema]
Could there really be people with hearts of stone who could sit through Madama Butterfly and remain unmoved in the process? Perhaps the psychopaths who dropped the fatal "Fat Man" on Cio-Cio-San's hometown of Nagasaki in 1945? Puccini could never have imagined how his story of cultural usurpation would get another violent follow-up when he docked his gunboat, the USS Abraham Lincoln, with "yankee vagabondo" B.F. Pinkerton in Nagasaki harbor. While the dirty proxy war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza fatally exposed the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the West, today we are once again heading for a nuclear catastrophe. Once again, the same demonic forces are at work. Do you also see the crescendo ? It is high time for a diminuendo.
For twenty-one years this production by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier was seen in London. Today it is already in its tenth revival. That even the most conventional production of Madama Butterfly manages to hold up well is indicative of Puccini's brilliant intuition for what works in a theater and what doesn't. The last cinema relay of this production was with Ermonela Jaho and Antonio Pappano. Back then I had expressed my amazement that this super-conventional production was applauded without restriction in the British press, and across the spectrum, from conservative to progressive. I also wrote at the time that I could well imagine how Japanese spectators might have sat through the show with curled toes watching the japonaiseries on display. Surely greater authenticity had to be possible even though it was an Italian opera. And so now we read that the production was touched up a little by "Japanese practitioners and academics." The authenticity of the Japanese sets and the movement direction of soloists and chorus members were being worked on. This time there was effectively nothing to get irritated about. But it is still a very austere scenography. One that is efficient and also grabs you by the throat but lacks the much more creative visual charm of Anthony Minghella's production, which will be revived next month in New York.
The stage is built around a unitary setting, a traditional Japanese house. The paper windows are like shutters that open and close, giving us a sparse glimpse of Nagasaki, a flower garden or a starry sky. Although very predictable it did not prevent this performance from taking the course of a inescapable crescendo. The long black strands in Cio-Cio-San's hair are gone. Too un-Japanese? The hair put up with hairpins now give her a geisha look. Remaining are the wings of her kimono that should give her the look of a butterfly. In her last breath, by the way, she will try to fly. The love duet "Viene la sera" often disappoints but Asmik Grigorian and Joshua Guerrero manage to make it the highlight of the first act. They have the looks, they both have the voice to match the role, there is chemistry and the actors' direction is austere but engaging enough. Then again, the humming chorus ("coro a bocca chiusa") is a real highlight in all its simplicity: there is nothing to see except an expectant mother and her infant son. I did not notice the tears running down her cheeks this time. In the finale, she ties a blindfold on her infant son and sends him off to meet his father with an American flag in his hand. Meanwhile, a branch of a cherry tree loses its blossoms. The coward himself does not show himself. His last words he barks from the wings. As mentioned, all very classic but ever so irresistible.
Joshua Guerrero cannot produce a real ringing top that shines as the sun. But he is really fantastic in his acting. The best I've seen from him yet. Very nuanced, he navigates between the macho sex tourist and the officer overwhelmed by love ecstasy. And he has the perfect looks in his navy blue officer's uniform as in his three-piece suit in the finale. I am very curious to see if Jonathan Tetelman can top this performance interpretatively (vocally, no doubt) when he will face the very same Asmik Grigorian on the Met stage next month as the male half of the new dream couple. Afterwards, Guerrero was booed by part of the audience. Of course, that had nothing to do with his vocal performance but everything to do with the convincing way he had portrayed the yankee vagabondo on stage. It is therefore complete madness to cut "Addio, fiorito asil," his final aria in which he can save his skin a bit, as rare productions of the original version tend to do.
Was it Asmik Grigorian who had filled up the Cinema Sphinx auditorium? She will be on screen for years to come and it will be interesting to follow this dazzling career and the evolution of this voice. Her delivery is pure of intonation with great suppleness in phrasing, the timbre leaning toward mezzo is beautiful, the register transitions are flawless, the control of vibrato is total. Musicically this was again top notch with real spinto outbursts that seem to suggest her voice has grown a shade since her Manon Lescaut of a few years ago (Frankfurt, 2019). She is quick to show what she has up her sleeve for the finale. Piano passages like "un bene da bambino" are crystal clear and easily heard (at least in this relay) indicating good technique. "Un bel di vedremo" has her dynamically expanding into explosive moments. I have rarely heard it more thrilling. In the scorching finale, she can fully assert her lirico-spinto qualities. Grigorian's Butterfly is an overwhelming experience, but of course the same can be said of all the other great performers of this great role.
Lauri Vasar as Sharpless remains on the surface of his character. Neither vocally nor interpretively does he make a great impression. He cannot give his reaction to the sudden confrontation with Butterfly's infant son the necessary weight. Hongni Wu as the empathetic Suzuki was largely outsung by her more famous colleague. I didn't hear a mezzo in her voice either. Ya-Chung Huang articulated the part of the conscienceless marriage broker Goro very nicely and engagingly.
Kevin John Edusei couldn't quite make Puccini expert Antonio Pappano forget but it really didn't make much difference. With a razor-sharp fugato he dashed off during the overture. Much orchestral detail could be heard in this relay. He pushed the intermezzo to an intense orchestral climax. The brass, the timpani, the gongs, all were heard to great effect in a crushing finale.
As with Romeo et Juliette last week at Kinepolis, the auditorium at Cinema Sphinx-Ghent was well packed. It seems as if the "opera in cinema" project is experiencing its second breath after the sad covid pause.