Scottish Opera: Madama Butterfly @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Scottish Opera revive Sir David McVicar’s production of Madama Butterfly and kick off their Scottish tour at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh.

The jubilance and power this particular performance lends to Puccini’s heart-wrenching score comes as no surprise, rather reinforcing the timeless beauty of this work of art. The audience is left with little to be disappointed in, given the beautifully designed set, powerful voices and the abiding beauty of the work itself. Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee’s performance of Butterfly comes across as positively revolutionary, given that Butterfly is most often portrayed as the painfully retiring martyr to Pinkerton’s selfish, galumphing dolt.

In this performance, the character that, in many ways, created a trope for female characters that would pervade performance for the next century is torn from her own tradition. Hye-Youn Lee’s Butterfly is hardly a shy and accepting victim of fate, and her fiery heart seems to explode from her chest throughout the second and third acts, communicating its harsh desires through the medium of Lee’s astounding voice. Pinkerton is also played soulfully and delicately by Jose Ferrero, whose tender sadness upon his return to Japan in the third act lends a subtle edge of despair to the tragedy of Butterfly’s final act of suicide.

However, the noticeable lack of chemistry between Butterfly and Pinkerton seems to undermine the production as they dance gently towards their first night together at the end of the first act. Both Hye-Youn Lee and Jose Ferrero are impressive in their own right, but in the one scene where their teamwork matters most, their performances fall somewhat short. Even so, this production of Madama Butterfly is nonetheless a triumph, one that is worthy of the fame that Madama Butterfly commands as a revered piece of opera. [Dale Neuringer]