Following a small-scale production of Bluebeard’s Castle at Kennesaw State University, The Atlanta Opera began its 2022-23 main stage season in full force Saturday at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre with a sweeping performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the classic East-meets-West tale of love and betrayal in early 1900s Japan.
While Atlanta’s mainstay institutions for high art have always enjoyed a spirited and robust patronage, there was an undeniable sense of added enthusiasm among the cheerful throngs that filed into the auditorium — the men in tuxedos and women in all the accoutrements of elegant fashion spoke to the level of grandeur and excitement that The Atlanta Opera commands.
As that resplendent crowd filled the theater to capacity, it became readily apparent that the cultural pulse of Atlanta’s art scene was to be strongly felt in the evening’s lavish production. Madama Butterfly will continue through this weekend with performances on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
A collaboration with the Japan-America Society of Georgia, Madama Butterfly sees The Atlanta Opera tackling a work infused with cross-cultural undercurrents. On the surface, it tells a relatively simple story — a beautiful young Japanese woman, and the American naval officer who marries and eventually betrays her.
On a deeper level, it is a mediation on the delicate nature of the burgeoning relationship between previously disparate countries. That dual nature makes for a production that is at once epic and intimate — capturing the small moments of human interaction and the larger implications with which they are imbued.
The first and most commendable accomplishment of that goal came in the form of Erhard Rom’s set design, which captured the look of a traditional Japanese home in the harbor town of Nagasaki. Here the minimalist, squared-off design of the period’s architecture served as a boon to the presentation. The tatami floors and shoji doors created a large open space for the action while still conveying the intimacy of home and creature comforts.
That simplicity, much like the architecture that inspired it, served as a gently textured canvas upon which the variegated costuming could radiate. Costume designers Allen Charles Klein and Kathleen Trott clearly went to great lengths to recreate the fashions of the time.
The visual trappings, while extraordinary, are only a footnote to the performers themselves. Madama Butterfly features a colorful cast of characters, but hinges on the chemistry between Butterfly (aka Cio-Cio San) and her suitor, Lieutenant Pinkerton.
The romance on display requires a delicate balance between Butterfly’s innocence and the suspicious intentions of Pinkerton. Yasko Sato carries the title role with tremendous grace and sincerity, giving a heartbreaking look into the inner world of a young woman whose hopes and dreams are cruelly destroyed.
Sato is a veteran to the role, having already performed the opera at Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro dell’Opera di Firenze, the Trapani Festival and the Seattle Opera. Her experience is readily apparent — she takes on the role as if wearing a warm glove and her effortless command of the part’s dynamic vocal range would sound like an afterthought were she not so filled with ravaged agony in the performance’s final moments.
By contrast, Gianluca Terranova’s interpretation of Lieutenant Pinkerton seemed almost meek by comparison. While his captivating vocal performance was certainly exemplary from a technical standpoint, there was, nevertheless, a sweetness to his read on the character — even in the moments leading up to the revelation of his betrayal — which seemed to make Pinkerton entirely too likable.
Madama Butterfly is a story deeply rooted in the conventions of the classic Greek tragedies and tells the story of two lovers whose genuine affection is undercut by the Achilles’ heels in their respective natures — Butterfly’s innocent naivete and Pinkerton’s occidental arrogance. To play the man as overly likable is to undercut the patriarchal trappings that belie his darker nature. Nevertheless, Terranova’s interpretation does allow for sharper tugs on the heartstrings in the opera’s final moments.
The Atlanta Opera’s orchestra was in fine form, with conductor Timothy Myers turning in a straightforward performance that captured the bombastic nature of the score while never clashing with the singers. The score of Madama Butterfly, like its narrative, is a world of cultural intersections — the pentatonic runs associated with Eastern musical conventions laid across the contrapuntal voice leading of the Western classical tradition.
The rich tapestry that emerges speaks to Puccini’s deep respect for exotic musical conventions as he is able to invoke the harmonic principles of the far East without ever creating melodies that sound like demeaning variations on “Chopsticks.”
With its enthusiastic rendition of Madama Butterfly, The Atlanta Opera has carried itself to its usual high standards. The enthusiasm of the opening night’s audience speaks volumes to the place the opera occupies in the hearts and minds of Atlanta’s arts lovers.
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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.
