Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2016/17: Madama Butterfly (2017) Full Movie

Madama Butterfly is a very moving, if sometimes implausible, opera and contains some of the most beautiful music that Puccini ever wrote the Act 1 love duet, the Humming Chorus, Un Bel Di Vedremo and the final scene particularly It is blessed with a strong recording competition, and on DVD the only one not really worth bothering with is the visually ugly and distasteful Daniela Dessi production, which was like Madama Butterfly goes to insect land This is an utterly amazing, unforgettable production of Madama Butterfly, the best Madama Butterfly that has been seen by me in quite some time and actually one of my favourites ever not sure how popular this view will be Of the Royal OperaBallet Live Cinema simulcasts, this Madama Butterfly is one of the best This, The Nutcracker 2016, The Sleeping Beauty 2017 and Le Nozze Di Figaro 2015 are examples of productions done with taste and being musically and performance wise outstanding while having enough fresh touches to set them apart Not all the simulcasts worked for me though, if you dislike ugly, swamp drama visuals, irrelevance, strangeness, distaste and variable musical values Guillaume Tell 2015, Norma 2016 and Il Trovatore 2017 are notable examples but were seen as an operaballet fan and for completest sake Visually, this Madama Butterfly keeps things simple but the production values are also evocative and sumptuous It was all elegant in its simplicity and wisely doesnt go for the cheap modernism, drabness or overblown symbolism that would have had potential to have distracted from the drama and the meaning of the opera itself, instead letting the drama and music speak for themselves It is riveting in the staging as well No irrelevance, weird distractions, nothing being over directed or static or distaste, just compelling character interaction especially between Cio Cio San and Suzuki, a good thing because its the most interesting and important relationship in Madama Butterfly, plausible drama overcoming any potential implausibility and genuine pathos It was wonderful to see the Act 1 love duet, Un Bel Di Vedremo and The Humming Chorus performed in their proper context, very different from when theyre heard on record, but the highlight was the final scene which was so emotionally devastating that it made me leave the cinema with tears running down my face Cant fault it on a musical level The orchestral playing is rich and warmly beautiful in tone, while the tenderness, lyrical sweep, dramatic tension, passion and nuances all come through The chorus sing ravishingly, with great musicality, phrasing and diction and there are no obvious balance issues Their stage manner is very involved and hardly static Antonio Pappanos conducting has a lot to thank, full of feeling, detail and the ability to let the emotion breathe but not letting the momentum slip Ermonela Jahos Cio Cio San is a emotional roller coaster performance of a lifetime Vocally, its a very beautifully sung, musical and nuanced account with an ideal balance of the girlish and mature Does she look like a teenager Perhaps not, but thats true of many sopranos singing the role Marcelo Puente effectively gives Pinkerton charm, ardour and likability, a hard feat with one of the most dislikeable tenor roles in opera along with Normas Pollione, and he sounds glorious throughout The love between them makes the heart melt, which makes the final scene even more devastating Scott Hendricks is as sympathetic and nuanced a Sharpless as one can fine today, not quite Dwayne Croft or Juan Pons but very close He has a lovely voice, not large but used with a lot of intelligence Elizabeth DeShongs Suzuki is very heartfelt and richly sung, her reactions and chemistry to Jaho are firm and deeply affecting Jeremy White looms ominously but authoritatively as Bonze and Carlo Bosi manages to be terrifyingly serpentine but also fully dimensional Yuriy Yurchuk fares strongly as Yamadori The little boy also wrenches the heart Overall, amazing production that left me emotionally shell shocked 1010 Bethany Cox