Puccini: Madama Butterfly ***
Glyndebourne, 19th May 2018
It’s easy to get sucked into the sentimentality of Madama Butterfly. Puccini’s luscious score, infused with Japanese pastel colours, showers the audience in orchestral cherry blossom and the story of Cio-Cio-San’s blind devotion to the man who’s abandoned her is a real tear-jerker. But the plot is deeply troubling and Annilese Miskimmon, in Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s first production, doesn’t pull her punches. When given its initial outing on the 2016 tour, I found it provocative, in a good way, but her vision didn’t always seem coherent. These problems have only partially been ironed out.
Olga Busuioc (Cio-Cio San)
© Robbie Jack
Read the full review on Bachtrack.