I’ve been getting horribly behind in commenting on the operas we’ve seen this season at Chicago’s Lyric Opera. The picture above is from this season’s production of Puccini’s beloved opera, Madama Butterfly. This is the Hal Prince production that we’ve seen perhaps seven or eight times over the period of the last 25 years. It’s a spectacularly good production with a working set, No-style stage hands, gorgeous period costumes. The production is well worth seeing if you’ve never seen it.
Unfortunately, I thought the performances of Cio-Cio San and Pinkerton, the principals, were merely adequate in the case of the former and barely adequate in the case of the latter.
It’s clear that the critics saw and heard something other than I did. I can only relay my own experience. Perhaps our leads were having an off night. A friend who attended the closing performance of the opera tells me that the tenor was booed by the audience and that they clearly weren’t booing Pinkerton’s faithlessness but the tenor’s performance suggests that my view is a little closer to the truth.
The season so far: Manon, Porgy and Bess, The Pearl Fishers, Lulu, Madama Butterfly. Advantage Manon.
