Royal Opera's Madama Butterfly

[alison]

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.

[Geoff]

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!

[MAB]

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.

[alison]

Thanks, Geoff.  And MAB, I know what you mean: I feel the same way about Turandot!

[Coated]

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.

[alison]

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?

[Scheherezade]

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, 2024 by Scheherezade

[Richard LH]

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...

[Richard LH]

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, 2024 by Richard LH

[Richard LH]

On 25/03/2024 at 17:55, alison said:

Worth going?

Definitely!

[Lindsay]

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!

[Scheherezade]

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. 

[alison]

I'm guessing you didn't have any problems with the subtitles where you were, then, Richard?

[Richard LH]

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).

[alison]

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.

[Mary]

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!