Music: Giacomo Puccini
Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Conductor: Vasyl Vasylenko
Director: Ellen Kent
Ellen Kent Productions mount an astonishing tour of three operas over three and a half months, performing not far off every night, with only limited double casting. Admittedly the operas are excessively popular choices – very often the same ones – but they take opera to many places that otherwise never see it, plus places such as Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh where other companies visit regularly.
Productions are always traditional, none the worse for that, though the sight of European singers tripping around in imitation of supposed Japanese movement becomes tiresome. The set and costumes of Madama Butterfly are handsome, again totally traditional.
The policy is to recruit singers, mostly from Eastern Europe, and team them with a chorus and orchestra from one of the former Soviet republics. The fact that in recent years Kent has joined up with the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kyiv has, not surprisingly, generated much good will towards the company: the conclusion of the evening with the singing of the Ukrainian National Anthem had a powerful emotional impact.
As always the singing of the principals is excellent. A real star of Ellen Kent Productions, Elena Dee from South Korea sings Butterfly beautifully, making much of the drama and pathos of “Un bel di” and powerfully emotive across the whole range. If she can’t really convey the naivete of the character, she suggests her anguish vividly and brings out the humour of her “American-ness”. Armenian tenor Hovhannes Andreasyan is similarly effective, with a rock-solid technique, though he never quite convinces us what a scoundrel Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton is.
Moldovan baritone Vitalie Cebotari sings well enough as Sharpless, if without much colour, but never establishes the bond (with Pinkerton, Butterfly and, indeed, the audience) that Sharpless can create. Similarly the only Ukrainian principal, Yelyzaveta Bielous, who sings Suzuki well, but is never a sympathetic character. Only the terrifying Valeriu Cojocaru (the Bonze) makes much impact among the minor roles, though the underpowered Ruslan Pacatovici, no doubt responding to direction, capers to the point of distraction as Goro. Nina MacLaren, a convincing three-year-old, is totally delightful as Sorrow, Butterfly’s child.
Vasyl Vasylenko conducts the orchestra with uninhibited energy, at times excessively so, with the moments of dramatic percussion poised between dramatically effective and overpowering. There are no insights in Ellen Kent’s production, simply a competent straightforward performance of the opera with two excellent principals at its centre.
Reviewed on 17th April 2025. Touring nationwide.
The Reviews Hub Score
Competent and straightforward
