Puccini: Madama Butterfly ***
Glyndebourne, 14th October 2016
How picturesque do you like your Puccini? Do you take your Turandot sweet or sour? How much lacquer is layered over your ideal Madama Butterfly? If you imagine a backdrop of Nagasaki Harbour for the latter, strewn with cherry blossoms and bejewelled with Japonaiserie, then Annilese Miskimmon’s new production may come as a shabby little shocker to your sensibilities. This is the first time Glyndebourne has mounted Butterfly, and if the opera isn’t quite pinned down, it’s a thoughtful, provocative staging, given in a musically satisfying performance.
Rupert Wade (Sorrow), Karah Son (Cio-Cio San) and Claudia Huckle (Suzuki)
© Clive Barda
Read the full review on Bachtrack.