There is continuing debate about how to stage Madama Butterfly in the 21st century – and even whether to stage it all. Covent Garden’s programme book for this ninth revival of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s straightforward and uncluttered 2003 production goes through these uncomfortable issues of race, gender and politics at length. But, as Kunio Hara’s essay admits, the reality remains that audiences keep coming back to Madama Butterfly because of the emotional truth of the human voice in Puccini’s music.
And that is emphatically true in this revival. Performances of Madama Butterfly do not necessarily stand or fall by the performance of the title role. There is too much else of musical and operatic interest in Puccini’s dark masterpiece for that. But Asmik Grigorian (who shares the role of Cio-Cio-San with Hrachuhí Bassénz in this run) is beyond question the standout attraction here.
