re: MADAMA BUTTERFLY: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

[cmars1010]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 5:11pm

What is the difference between the Madama Butterfly currently at the Met Opera, and the 2007 Madama Butterfly which will be @ NYC Opera?

Will it be same cast, etc? And why does it move?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 5:32pm

Those are two entirely different productions with two different directors, casts, designers, orchestra etc............... There may even be differences in the actual music and libretti used in the operas themselves.

Though they're both located in Lincoln Center, albeit in two different theatres, The Met (at the Metropolitan Opera House) and City Opera (at NY State Theater) are two completely different and totally unrelated companies. The Met has been around since the 1880s and is a world renowned company attracting the biggest opera stars on the planet (along with major name directors and designers) and have the finest orchestra of any opera company in the world. Their productions are often HUGE, expensive eye-popping spectacles.

City Opera has only been around since the 1940s and was founded to be a less expensive, more audience friendly alternative to the Met. Their productions are typically far more modest, cast with more up-and-coming talent, especially young American singers (stars rarely appear there, though it was Beverly Sills' home company in the 60s and 70s) and the ticket prices are about half what the Met's are. They're also much less formal than the Met where the audiences are usually decked out in expensive suits and gowns (the last time I was at City Opera most people were wearing jeans, chinos and sneakers).

City Opera also has been known to stage musicals (Most Happy Fella, A Little Night Music, Candide) as well as more newer works than the Met (in addition to relying on the major works of the canon). Their productions are generally solid -- about the same quality level as a good regional opera house in a small major city. They are fine especially for people who aren't real afficianados of opera, but just want to take in a new experience without spending an outrageous amount of money, whereas, The Met has an international reputation and audience base with people flying in from all over the world to see their productions (wandering through the lobbies at intermission, you will hear people chattering in a host of foreign languages).

Updated On: 11/4/06 at 05:32 PM

[cmars1010]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 6:17pm

thank you for the great detailed response! I was wondering why Butterfly @ the met is sold out, and it isnt at nyc opera!

I think i will get some butterfly tix for nyc opera, as I have never seen one of their productions. Thanks!

[hannahshule]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 7:33pm

My mom saw the production at the Met and said it was fantastic. I'm not a fan of modernized operas, but I must say that this one seems pretty special, and yeah, Margot pretty much hit the nail on the head.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 7:41pm

Did anyone see the Met version? Michael Levine, one of our biggest scenographers in Canada did the sets and costumes for it. I would love to know how it worked.

Akiva

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 10:07pm

The Met's current production of BUTTERFLY is brand new and new productions tend to sell out for their first and second seasons.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 11:04pm

I saw this in Berlin in 1993. It was amazing.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:19am

Madama Butterfly has long been one of the most popular operas in the repertoire for comanies around the world, but it was greeted with boos and catcalls at its original premiere. In the original version, Pinkerton, the tenor lead, was far less sympathetic and was something of an egotistical, jingoistic racist in the initial act, making plain that he never really cared for Cio-Cio San and thought of their marriage as something of a joke that he never took seriously which undermines the romantic ideals of the piece.

Puccini made several revisions after the La Scala premiere, that made him far more sympathetic and added a remorseful musical passage for him in the final act. That version debuted in Paris two years later and is the version that established the opera as one of the most popular ever performed and is typically the only one performed in opera houses around the world today.

Back in the early 90s, City Opera, as a sort of novelty (that attracted tons of opera fans from all over the world) performed the original version of the opera with the unsympathetic Pinkerton. It was a fascinating experiment. The opera still worked on many levels, but their legendary duet that closes Act I took on more of a bittersweet quality and the psychology of Cio-Cio San was a bit skewed, in that it made her look even more pathetic for trusting that he would return. It was still a masterpiece, though and -- even with certain key smaller musical passages missing -- a great success for the company.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:27am

I was given a tape (yes a casette tape) of Butterfly in the 80's and remains my favorite opera!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:37am

Margo,

Did you see the current Met production?

Akiva

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:53am

Not yet. I've seen a lot of productions of BUTTERFLY over the years, but haven't gotten around to this one yet.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 11:21am

I have to share this BUTTERFLY-related story:

Quite a few years ago, I was invited to the home of a family in the area. Their daughter had just played the title role in a Jr High production of ANNIE and this was an "after-party" of sorts. Almost everyone in town was there and the family was really being ostentatious--unbelievably so. Among the guests was a Mme Pringle, who had coached all of this family's children in the fine art of singing. Mme Pringle was a woman of ample girth and wore gaucho-style hat with pom poms all over the rim. She also wore too much rouge. She started a conversation with me and judged from my speaking voice that I was a tenor. She was wrong. I'm a bass/baritone. That gave me an idea of how astute this woman was in the area of vocal music.

When Mme Pringle learned that I was a great opera buff, she began telling me about her career as an opera singer. She claimed to be a lyric soprano and said she'd had a long and distinguished career in Europe. She proudly stated that she was "known throughout Europe for her Kate Pinkerton". I literally spit out the punch I was drinking!!!! If Kate Pinkertson sings more than 20 bars of music in MADAMA BUTTERFLY it's a lot. Yet that was the role that Mme Pringle was most noted for. Besides, if her waistline was anything like it is now, her costumes would have to have been made by Omar the Tentmaker.

It was then that I began to realize her Russian accent slipped in and out and I decided she was probably a native of the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

I think of Mme Pringle ever time I see BUTTERFLY these days.

Updated On: 11/5/06 at 11:21 AM

[hannahshule]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:03pm

Dollypop that hilarious!

[cmars1010]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 1:49am

what other new productions are coming to the met that might be popular? I am a little new to New York Opera, as I am from Chicago originally. Thanks!!
Updated On: 11/6/06 at 01:49 AM

[hannahshule]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 6:51am

There's a new opera called "The Little Emperor" or something, that will be conducted by Placido Domingo(!). it's in english however, and it is the world premiere I believe.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 10:23am

That's Tan Dun's 'The First Emperor' and he will be conducting the performances himself. Placido Domingo will be singing the role of the Emperor Qin.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:04am

Is Julie Taymor's version of THE MAGIC FLUTE on the Met's agenda this season? It's magnificent.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 6:56pm

I saw Rigoletto at the Met Monday night. It was amazing, and the soprano, Katerina Siurina, making her Met debut as Gilda, was INCREDIBLE. I foresee a HUGE future and maybe even legendary status. That's how awesome she was!!!!!

[hannahshule]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 7:20pm

kissmycookie- I stand corrected, I knew it was something like that!
My dad and I are going down in two weeks to see Il Barbiere di Siviglia, can't wait!

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 7:26pm

I'd love to see Taymor's The Magic Flute.
I love everything that I've seen by her.

[hannahshule]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 7:45pm

I just love Die Zauberflote in general. too bad I won't be able to see this version