Madama Butterfly by Ferzan Ozpetek at the San Carlo in Naples

Una Madame Butterfly which moves the story to the 1950s in Japan. And that’s unlike that era of well-defined powers it’s all on Cio-Cio-San’s side. Yes, the poor abandoned girl loses and commits suicide, with enormous torment and progressive consumption as with every performance, but it is enough to see her only as a victim. Ultimately, she holds her destiny in her hands. It is the bold change of perspective of Ferzan Ozpetek on the work of Giacomo Puccini, amplifies from two to three acts and up to the 28th San Carlo Theatre of Naples.

A direction already tackled in 2019 again at the San Carlo and which now, together with the scenes of Sergio Tramontithe costumes of Alessandro Lai and the lights of Pasquale Mari – in addition to the musical direction of Dan Ettinger – returns powerfully to isolate the female drama represented for the first time at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1904.

Madame ButterlfyOzpetek’s version

Even without a change of perspective, it is difficult not to side with Cio-Cio-San, a 15-year-old married to the American Pinkerton, who is as fascinated by the exotic as she is by the possibility of social and spiritual redemption. A temporary marriage to which however she bonds fervently. And on which she ends up hoping that she is not what all the elements contribute to making us believe, a gigantic illusion. Moreover with an innocent creature in charge.

Even so, it is very difficult not to sympathize and consider him a monster, a colonialist, a toxic male, just to mention the modern ones with the use of social debate vocabulary. Ferzan’s help, in taking little Cio-Cio by the hand (played by Ailyn Perez and Valeria Sepe alternately), obviously has to do with artistic choices.

For most of the time on stage, In fact, Madama Butterfly already bears the sign of her future desperationa red cocoon with which she appears to have been born, and condemned. It is the color of melodrama that impressed Puccini when he saw David Belasco’s drama in June 1900, from which the libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa was later based. A mental state that affects the scene and becomes a projection of isolation: the wake, the long wait – three years – of Cio-Cio by Pinkerton (Saimir Pirgu and Vincenzo Costanzo). But not only that, it is also the representation of a whole world of beliefs that is changing, and whose geography the young bride is no longer able to delimit.

Accompanied by the choir singing with their mouths closed, segregated in a house that seems like a prison and an ever threatening sea that peers out in two – one of the most beautiful directorial solutions of the work –, Ozpetek’s Butterfly she has the dynamism of a literary and cinematographic heroine. She feels like the companion of classic characters who have become pop celebrities like Catherine in Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, and described with the same mercilessness as the red of Ingmar Bergman in Whispers and shouts.

Cinema and theatre

Moreover. Ferzan, to underline the power of the face (the great discovery of cinema, developed extensively by Bergman), towards the end projects a close-up of Cio-Cio on a screen placed in front of the scene. It heretically brings suffering closer – music and theatrical vestments should already be enough – to the public. Naked, in short. It shows the intuition of closely as in an art film Madama, the final choice. Irreversible and delivered, discarded by Suzuki, her faithful maid, and her unconscious son.

Risky choice but effective, not unprecedented in the lyric maneuvered by “external” agents. Which often break through the cage of the stage to raise the temperature of the performance, as if the old system of scenes, lights and music, in a world of screens glued to the face, had run out of energy. But it’s a flash, and undoubtedly the close-up ties the viewer’s anxiety to that of Madama, also remembering how powerful the big screen is compared to an illuminated rectangle.

More sterile, however, the glimpse of the sexual relationship between Cio-Cio and Pinkerton on the edge of the proscenium. Already seen in 2019 with the naked breasts of soprano Evgenia Murareva (here covered by a flesh-colored band). It is true that opera is not dancing while singing, but the transgression of mutual undressing at floor level – at least from a distance – is choreographed with little grace. Despite being part of a package in which it doesn’t completely clash. Because it goes against the conformities and orthodoxies of music lovers and towards a subtle – which always means a great desire for life – scandal.

Scandal for the director coming from a glorious elsewhere and who knows what he’s up to. And for a shameless Madame, who, after leaving the theatre, remains impressed by more than one detail. None of which have to do with deference, rather with an irrepressible humanity.

The McArthurGlen partnership La Reggia Designer Outlet and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples

It represents one of the most heartfelt and extensive supports for San Carlo in Naples: for the second consecutive year La Reggia Designer Outlet of the McArthurGlen group confirms the closeness to the Neapolitan Massimo in a sharing of values ​​and cultural commitment closely linked to positively influencing the areas in which both operate. A principle confirmed by Fabio Rinaldi, center manager of La Reggia Designer Outlet of the McArthurGlen group. «We are proud to reconfirm our collaboration with the Teatro San Carlo, not only for the immense cultural value it represents. Above all because we share the same active commitment in the area.”

And how is this support coordinated, which aims to bring as much of the public closer to opera and consequently to everything that revolves around the genre and the San Carlo? Through a series of initiatives developed in the Theater and Outlet spaces. The first partnership with the first of the archived Swan Lakei took place last December 22nd, for this 2023 the calendar includes the launch of an exhibition of accessories and stage costumes in the windows of the La Reggia Center. But also a more practical part which concerns haute couture workshops and a training course within the Workshops in Vigliena (where sets and costumes are designed and created).

Furthermore, the performance of the children’s choir of the Teatro San Carlo returns in December, directed by Stefania Rinaldi.

Madame Butterflythe cast

Melodrama in three acts with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

Director Dan Ettinger. Directed by Ferzan Ozpetek. Scenes Sergio Tramonti. Collaborating production designer Sandra Viktoria Mueller. Costumes Alessandro Lai. Lights Pasquale Mari. Interpreters: Madama Butterfly, Ailyn Perez and Valeria Sepe. Pinkerton: Saimir Pirgu and Vincenzo Costanzo. Suzuki Marina Comparative. Sharpless Ernesto Petti. Goro Paolo Antognetti. Bonzo Ildo Song. Yamadori Paolo Orecchia. Kate Pinkerton Laura Ulloa. Commissioner Giuseppe Todisco. Registry officer Antonio De Lisio. Mother Linda Airoldi. Aunt Anna Paola De Angelis. Cousin Franca Iacovone. Yakusidé Giacomo Mercaldo.

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