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Madama Butterfly

  • Theatre
  1. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  2. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  3. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  4. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  5. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  6. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  7. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  8. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  9. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  10. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  11. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  12. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
  13. Photograph: Prudence Upton
    Photograph: Prudence Upton
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Time Out says

Madama Butterfly is Puccini’s heart-tugging 1904 opera about a former geisha who marries a philandering American naval officer who callously abandons her. Its big operatic banger is 'Un bel di vedremo' (‘One Beautiful Day’), Cio Cio San’s aria imagining the day her beloved Pinkerton will return – a piece brimming with optimism, but with an undertone of sadness that foreshadows the opera’s tragic conclusion. 

One of the most powerful of all he-done-her-wrong tales, Madama Butterfly has made it into popular culture via contemporary musical Miss Saigon and the 1987 Hollywood phenomenon Fatal Attraction, in which a woman spurned after a one night stand takes a potent revenge. Both borrow plot and score snippets from Puccini.  

This production of Madama Butterfly was directed by Australian dance legend Graeme Murphy and originally staged in 2019. It was one of the company’s first "digital" productions, using 12 massive high-definition LED panels that fly in and out of the space, spin around and feature custom-made animations and film content. Jennifer Irwin and Michael Scott-Mitchell designed a hyper-real vision of a timeless Japan, alongside digital artist Sean Nieuwenhuis, with references to shibari (Japanese bondage), Harajuku street fashion, Japanese minimalism, and American iconography including an ’80s perm and even a copy of Jackie O’s pink Chanel suit.

In-demand South Korean soprano Sae Kyung Rim makes her Opera Australia debut in the title role, while Mexican-born tenor Diego Torre plays Pinkerton and Carlo Montanaro conducts.

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