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| Issue #24, September 8, 2006 |
preview: madama butterfly at guild hall
The final performance of the Opera of the Hamptons’ regular season will be a memorable one. One of the most beloved of all the operas comes to the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Saturday, September 9th at 7 p.m., shortly before the theater closes for its major renovation project.
The story of a geisha wife (Cio-Cio San or Butterfly) who comes as part of the fixtures and fittings of a house in Nagasaki leased by Lt. Pinkerton, a young American naval officer based in Japan, has captivated audiences for many years. Puccini displayed all of his talents for glorious music when he composed the opera, but at first it was not a success. The La Scala audience greeted it with outright hostility, causing him to rewrite a lot of it. With this revision there was no mistake – a great opera had come to life. This ultimately tragic story has also been the source for the hit musical, Miss Saigon, where the setting was changed to war-time Vietnam. The essence of the story is how Pinkerton is entranced with Butterfly and marries her, even though he is not totally sure of his commitment to her long term. He leaves her after the wedding night to return to his ship. When he does return after several years, to Butterfly’s dismay she sees he has brought another wife with him – an American one this time! What Pinkerton does not know is that Butterfly gave birth to his son, who is now three years old. When he finds out he is overcome with guilt and wants to take the child back to America. Butterfly, totally distraught at the loss of her honor, stabs herself and dies.
For this production, the role of Butterfly will be sung by Rosa D’Imperio, who has given many great performances with Opera of the Hamptons including last season’s much acclaimed Aida. Rosa is an internationally acclaimed soprano who has sung around the world, for her resume reads like a travel history. Magic Flute in Italy; Opera de Puerto Rica singing Tosca and Mimi; New York Grand Opera; Palm Beach Opera; Richard Tucker Foundation in Shanghai; Deutsche Opera in Berlin; Bosnia Children Foundation Concert in Vienna, Prague and so the list goes on.
For this very demanding role of Madama Butterfly, Rosa is joined by a young tenor whose resume is equally interesting but very different. Ta’u Papua is of Tongan heritage, but was born in the United State. Ta’u is a relative newcomer to the world of opera, but has already aroused a lot of interest from agents and impresarios. Primarily their interest comes from his extraordinary big and still developing tenor voice, a voice coupled with great physical and stage presence that thrilled audiences earlier in the season when he performed at the From Opera to Broadway production at Pindar Vineyard. Ta’u also has a background rather different from the typical singers’ background. He was a college football star who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns of the NFL as a defensive end. He later played for the Baltimore Ravens before his career was cut short in 1995 by an injury. Defensive ends and arias are a most unlikely combination but in his case it works and the football injury may have brought to light an opera star of the future.
Other major roles are being taken by Mark Lin, Magdalens Llamas, Charles Bosselman, Masami Morimoto, and Nathan Baer. Atarah Hazzan, as always, will conjure a wonderful accompaniment as well as being the Music Director for the company.
Within this production Barbara Giancola, the Artistic Director of the company, features a modified version of the ancient Japanese art form of Bunraku. Actors will take the parts normally played by puppets as the traditional stories of conflicts between the responsibilities of societies contrast the human foibles that come from emotions are depicted.
Tickets for this production are $45 before the day and $55 on the day and may be obtained at (631) 728-8804.
–Roy Bradbrook
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