Madama Butterfly

It is the late 1800's. An American naval captain, Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (Nazzareno Antinori) is stationed in Japan. As is a tradition he has a girl in every port. That is except Japan. So, he is matched up with a poverty-stricken teen Cio-Cio-San, known as Butterfly (Raina Kabaivanska.) Butterfly dumps her old religion (which infuriates her relatives) and clings to Pinkerton. Naturally, the day will come when Pinkerton needs a proper American wife. So how does Cio-Cio react? (Puccini music at its best). The story is based on John Luther Long's novella about the relationship between an American naval officer and a former geisha.

This is one of Giacomo Puccini's most popular operas. This was taken from John Luther Long's novella about the relationship between an American naval officer and a former geisha.

I normally appreciate the subtle differences in different presentations of this story. However, this particular one (in Verona in 1983) grated on me as the characters were played by stuffy snobs that mostly walked through the story.

However, the scenery was excellent, and they had the space to do more with props. Also, the music was up to par. I also felt that I was sitting in an outdoor audience.

Even though I know the story it was still good to have fairly accurate subtitles that kept up with the action.

Bulgaria born Raina Kabaivanska has played parts in several made for TV operas.