Madama Butterfly

Published Tuesday 18 September 2007 at 11:20 by Kevin Berry

The first new Butterfly from Opera North for almost a dozen years will grip, engross and enthral its audiences. In the title role, Anne Sophie Duprels is irresistible.

Tim Albery has opted for sombre, austere staging, though having the story opening and closing in a night club dressing room is still puzzling, as is the identity of one alarmingly wigged character in the dressing room. Large sliding screens are pushed by the cast and there are sloping walkways. Not much more. No pretty costumes to coo over. The contrasts between two civilisations are made stark and insurmountable. 

Duprels sings warmly and hopefully and movingly, wrapping her words in absolute emotions. Her lack of vocal weight is not too apparent. What she has is musicality and exquisite expression. Her Butterfly is naive rather than submissive and is no more than an exotic diversion for her American lover Pinkerton. The sudden appearance of a holy man who condemns Butterfly is quite a shock.   

Peter Savidge’s American Consul, the good guy in the story, is a reliable presence. Ann Taylor delights as Butterfly’s nimble maid Suzuki.

The Opera North chorus is in good fettle, though when they all attend Butterfly’s wedding as her relatives, they do not appear to be doing anything. Even milling about at a wedding needs some choreographic guidance.

What of Pinkerton, the scoundrel American? The amiable Rafael Rojas plays him rather amiably. Not an absolute scoundrel, more someone bewitched by the romance of the Orient and the delectable Madama Butterfly. But oh dear, what consequences.