alison Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Having not been taken by ENO's version, which I think is the only one I've ever seen, I was wondering whether I should give this one a go. Thoughts on the production and the scheduled casts would be most welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Alison, as it happens I loath Butterfly, the music, the story, the whole thing of it (sorry everybody) and am not sure there is such a thing as a good production. However Ermonela Jaho is one of the greatest singers it has been my privilege to see in over fifty years of opera going all over the world: do anything you can to see her do this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Alison, as it happens I loath Butterfly, the music, the story, the whole thing of it (sorry everybody) and am not sure there is such a thing as a good production. However Ermonela Jaho is one of the greatest singers it has been my privilege to see in over fifty years of opera going all over the world: do anything you can to see her do this! Know what you mean about the story. A friend went to hear the Glyndebourne Touring Opera's Butterfly recently and told me at the end Pinkerton was roundly booed by the audience, the character not the tenor. Quite understand the reaction, I'm all for organizing a lynch mob at the end of Butterfly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 Thanks, Geoff. And MAB, I know what you mean: I feel the same way about Turandot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I'm not a huge Butterfly fan, but much prefer the ROH version to the ENO, which annoyed me for some reason. Also, the Italian just sounds better to me. I'm not entirely sure that I will survive Jaho's Butterfly with my heart intact. You should absolutely get a ticket for her if you can. If you just want to try the ROH version, I have a spare standing for the Martinez Butterfly on the 25th of April. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 I see - entirely by accident, because I'm pretty certain I haven't received the email - this is on in the cinema tomorrow. Worth going? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scheherezade Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 (edited) Asmik Grigorian is said to be the sole reason for seeing this cast. She is also the reason why I booked but I won’t be going until the weekend so can’t report back and just hoping the casting doesn’t change between now and then. Would be interested in what anyone else thinks. Edited March 26 by Scheherezade 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Sensational, emotional and extremely heartfelt performance last night from Asmik Grigorian, very well supported by Joshua Guerrero as the cad Pinkerton and Hongni Wu as the faithful Suzuki. Brilliant in the cinema, but it must have been fantastic to see it live; the ROH audience seemed to be in raptures... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 (edited) 23 hours ago, Scheherezade said: Asmik Grigorian is said to be the sole reason for seeing this cast "Unfair" I would say to whoever said that... I thought all the three leading singers I mentioned are excellent in their respective roles and well worth seeing. Edited March 27 by Richard LH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 On 25/03/2024 at 17:55, alison said: Worth going? Definitely! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Agree, I saw this in the House last night and while Grigorian was by far the strongest singer (and really this IS Butterfly's opera!) some of the supporting performances, especially Suzuki and Sharpless, were excellent too. I wasn't so sure about Pinkerton and this production has nothing particularly interesting about it but at least the director is not undermining the tragedy of Butterfly's story and the music sounded beautiful! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scheherezade Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I am very happy to read your views, Richard LH and Lindsay and having booked months ago purely to see Grigorian due somewhat to Butterfly fatigue over the last few seasons, would have looked forward to this coming weekend’s performance whatever the strengths or weaknesses of the rest of the cast. I can’t recall which review pointed to Grigorian as the sole reason to see this cast, although most of the critics point to her performance as something of a class apart. Bety glad that you both rated the supporting cast too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 I'm guessing you didn't have any problems with the subtitles where you were, then, Richard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 15 hours ago, alison said: I'm guessing you didn't have any problems with the subtitles where you were, then, Richard? No they were fine thanks, and good surround sound too (Cineworld Bedford). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 That's good. I reckon we probably lost 90% of the subtitles (my Italian is VERY limited!), and for those we did get, sometimes we only got the top few pixels of them, or we'd get multiple titles being flipped through very quickly, like someone desperately trying to find the right slide in a Powerpoint presentation, or occasionally we did get the proper subtitle, and as far as I could tell synchronised with what the singers were singing (which is more than I can say for their mouth movements!). It did rather detract from my appreciation of the performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 I am also not much of a fan of this opera, brilliant as the music is, but thought Asmik Grigorian was simply wonderful. Interestingly, I have just noticed, she sings the role at the Met next and is the cast for their live screening in May! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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