|
|
Madama Butterfly
|
Villarroel, Matz/B>
Photo by Robert Millard
|
By Michael Van Duzer
In the years since its 1993 premiere in Paris, Robert Wilson’s production of Madama Butterfly has gained the stature of a contemporary classic. At first glance, Wilson’s austere brand of minimalism seems a curious environment for Puccini’s lush romanticism. But, in Los Angeles Opera’s North American premiere of the production, this apparent collision of opposites makes for a compelling, fresh, and decidedly innovative interpretation.
Wilson strips away all the expected trappings. There is no house. Butterfly’s tragedy is staged on a series of simple platforms in front of a vast cyclorama lit with a delicate palette of colors that change with the opera’s mood. The costumes are timeless, retaining only vestigial clues to their cultural origin. Even more surprising, Wilson has dispensed with props: Sharpless has no visible letter; Suzuki spreads imaginary flowers and, most astonishingly, Butterfly has no knife. It shouldn’t work, but it does. And, although I have been moved by the deaths of many Butterfly's, this is the first time I have viscerally felt the dying convulsions and understood desperation and terror of a butterfly being pinned to a card. As with all Wilson productions, the performer’s physicality is scrupulously specific and daringly stylized. With a lesser artist, one might be tempted to dismiss this as Butterfly done in Noh Theatre style, but Wilson isn’t interested in style as decoration. He is searching for something more universal and primal.
Verónica Villarroel’s Butterfly managed the tricky Wilson/Puccini merger adroitly. She sang with full-throated fervor and intelligence while incorporating Wilson’s stage business. This was a somewhat more mature Butterfly, less interested in playing at the simpering teenager of the first act. But her journey was all the more powerful for it. In keeping with the production, John Matz’s Pinkerton was a steely-toned and virile cad. Even his most rapturous music was undercut by Wilson’s icy blocking—-a constant reminder of the man’s basic callow nature. Alan Opie blustered beurocratically as Sharpless, while Susanna Poretsky was a sympathetic Suzuki. Greg Fedderly’s savvy Goro commanded the stage whenever he appeared.
Kent Nagano conducted with his customary élan and William Vendice’s chorus sang with distinction. Infrequent as opportunities to see Wilson’s work are in Los Angeles, adventurous opera-goers and theatre lovers of all varieties should experience this production.
Los Angeles Opera, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion February 12-March 14, 2004
(213) 972-7219 www.losangelesopera.com
|
|
|
|
