View full sizeKelly Kaduce as Butterfly with Finnegan Grab, 3, as her son.Portland Opera's heavy programming of well-worn works in recent years has given some of its patrons occasion to grouse about the lack of less familiar fare, but it's easy to overlook that one fresh performance can turn even an old production of a warhorse into a revelation.
Friday at Keller Auditorium, opening night for the company's current production of Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly," soprano Kelly Kaduce's singing of the title role did just that.
Kaduce made her acclaimed Portland debut in 2009 as Mimi in "La Bohème," in a portrayal that gave the vulnerable heroine an unusual degree of strength at her core. Her Butterfly -- Cio-Cio-San, the young geisha married and then betrayed by Pinkerton, a callow American naval officer -- was similar, with a sense of fierce focus that derived in large part from beautifully controlled tone and finely nuanced acting.
The story, derived from a variety of late 19th century sources, sees Butterfly progress from youthful happiness to suicidal despair as she is abandoned by Pinkerton, thrown into poverty and then impelled to give up their son when he returns with his American wife. Within this long arc, Kaduce flitted from emotion to emotion with deft transitions and abundant vocal colors.
In the first act, she went from pride over her formerly noble upbringing to blissful excitement over her new prospects, from suspicion about Pinkerton's feelings to agony over her family's renunciation; in the second, she was rapturous in the show-stopper, "Un bel dì ;" in the third she convincingly combined maternal love and utter anguish.
The rest of the cast lent able support, though no one matched her. Roger Honeywell brought a radiant tenor and fine musicality to Pinkerton, but he was frequently lost in Puccini's orchestral swells. John Hancock's Sharpless (the American consul) and Kathryn Day's Suzuki (Butterfly's servant) were somber and sympathetic, but their otherwise sensitive vocals were similarly sometimes overwhelmed.
Gustav Andreassen was vocally strong as Butterfly's uncle, the Bonze, but his scene in the first act came off awkwardly; Jon Kolbet was capable as the marriage broker Goro. As the child Sorrow, 3-year-old Finnegan Grab got one of the night's biggest ovations without singing a note.
Anne Manson led the orchestra with taut direction and attentiveness to the singers, and the chorus was, as usual, well prepared by Robert Ainsley.
review
Portland Opera presents Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly"
When:
2 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Feb. 11
Where:
Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St.
Tickets:
$20-$150, $10 rush students/military, $20 rush seniors; 503-241-1802 or Ticketmaster, 800-982-2787;
Originated by Frank Corsaro at New York City Opera in 1967, with period scenery and costumes now owned by Portland Opera, the production is still serviceable. The sets are unobtrusively attractive, with bright fabrics and bamboo here and there to freshen them up.
Stage director Christian Smith is a longtime Butterfly veteran -- this is his 22nd with this production alone. Movement of characters in the third act is sometimes confusing (where exactly are the walls supposed to be?); the cigarettes in the first act were authentic but smelly; and Smith wrestled as every director has to with mixing up the action without compromising the sound by having the singers spend too much time back from the apron of the stage (in the Keller, every foot matters).
He wisely refrained from extraneous action in order to keep Kaduce's Cio-Cio-San rightfully in the center of the show.