Butterfly soars to emotional highs
02 October 2009 Filed in: Madama Butterfly
If there was one moment in the Canadian Opera Company's production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly that tugged at my emotions was when Yannick-Muriel Noah, one of two sopranos who plays the young Japanese geisha Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), keeps watch for the return of her American Navy husband Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton.
After a three-year wait for her husband's return from the U.S., Butterfly sees his warship heading to shore from a distance, and so eagerly awaits his impending arrival. But, soon, the day turns into night. She at first waits with her son, who she calls Sorrow, and her companion, Suzuki, but they fall asleep exhausted from waiting. But, Butterfly keeps watch. She stands and gazes into the distance, hoping to see him soon.
During all this, not a word is uttered. Noah captures the anxiety and emotional ache of Butterfly with her posture and facial expression. The COC's orchestra, led by conductor Carlo Montanaro, plays in the background, reflective of the poignant moment in Butterfly's life, when she still has hope. Daylight slowly leaves the room as the darkness of night creeps its way in, brilliantly depicted by lighting designer Michael Whitfield.
This was one of many gripping scenes from the performance on Tuesday, Sept. 28. Earlier in Act 11, Noah renders an emotional aria, "Un bel di" (One beautiful day), where Butterfly sings about the day Pinkerton will come home. Noah captures the character's fragility and vulnerability. Her performance, while yet powerful, does not overshadow Butterfly’s delicate and graceful nature.
The most powerful scenes are the moments before Butterfly kills herself after she agrees to send her son to the U.S., to be cared for by Pinkerton's new “American” wife. She is overcome with pain, but stresses that “she must obey him." Pinkerton's new wife asks Butterfly for forgiveness, but she tells her, "Don't be sad for me."
Two of my memorable, yet sobbing, scenes in the opera come after this, when Butterfly sings "Tu, tu piccolo Iddio (You, you little God)" to her son before taking her life. The next and final song, "Con onor muore" (To die with honor), catapults the emotional tension to its dénouement. Butterfly concludes that those “who cannot live with honour must die with honour." She tells her son not to be saddened but to keep a faint memory of her face.
Noah, along with Bryan Hymel, one of two tenors who plays Pinkerton, made their characters believable, beyond just the delivery of their lines. With Hymel, you despise his character, who is selfish and cowardly -- even up to the point when he is given the chance to own up to Butterfly, but chooses to run away.
Butterfly is a tragic figure in the end, since she is robbed of her innocence, optimism and youth. It is difficult to watch this character reduce from exuberance to disheartenment, which Noah captures with precision. Noah's standing ovations and cheers are well-deserved.
Madama Butterfly is on stage at the Four Season Centre for the Performing Arts until November 3.
After a three-year wait for her husband's return from the U.S., Butterfly sees his warship heading to shore from a distance, and so eagerly awaits his impending arrival. But, soon, the day turns into night. She at first waits with her son, who she calls Sorrow, and her companion, Suzuki, but they fall asleep exhausted from waiting. But, Butterfly keeps watch. She stands and gazes into the distance, hoping to see him soon.
During all this, not a word is uttered. Noah captures the anxiety and emotional ache of Butterfly with her posture and facial expression. The COC's orchestra, led by conductor Carlo Montanaro, plays in the background, reflective of the poignant moment in Butterfly's life, when she still has hope. Daylight slowly leaves the room as the darkness of night creeps its way in, brilliantly depicted by lighting designer Michael Whitfield.
This was one of many gripping scenes from the performance on Tuesday, Sept. 28. Earlier in Act 11, Noah renders an emotional aria, "Un bel di" (One beautiful day), where Butterfly sings about the day Pinkerton will come home. Noah captures the character's fragility and vulnerability. Her performance, while yet powerful, does not overshadow Butterfly’s delicate and graceful nature.
The most powerful scenes are the moments before Butterfly kills herself after she agrees to send her son to the U.S., to be cared for by Pinkerton's new “American” wife. She is overcome with pain, but stresses that “she must obey him." Pinkerton's new wife asks Butterfly for forgiveness, but she tells her, "Don't be sad for me."
Two of my memorable, yet sobbing, scenes in the opera come after this, when Butterfly sings "Tu, tu piccolo Iddio (You, you little God)" to her son before taking her life. The next and final song, "Con onor muore" (To die with honor), catapults the emotional tension to its dénouement. Butterfly concludes that those “who cannot live with honour must die with honour." She tells her son not to be saddened but to keep a faint memory of her face.
Noah, along with Bryan Hymel, one of two tenors who plays Pinkerton, made their characters believable, beyond just the delivery of their lines. With Hymel, you despise his character, who is selfish and cowardly -- even up to the point when he is given the chance to own up to Butterfly, but chooses to run away.
Butterfly is a tragic figure in the end, since she is robbed of her innocence, optimism and youth. It is difficult to watch this character reduce from exuberance to disheartenment, which Noah captures with precision. Noah's standing ovations and cheers are well-deserved.
Madama Butterfly is on stage at the Four Season Centre for the Performing Arts until November 3.