Madame Butterfly — Classic Puccini opera of love, betrayal is audience favorite

Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" has the distinction of being one of the most produced operas in the United States. It's a crowd pleaser, with its beautiful melodies and heart-wrenching story of passion and shattered love.

It was also one of Puccini's favorites. Notorious for constantly revising his scores, Puccini labored for years after "Madame Butterfly" premiered at La Scala in 1904 to perfect it. There are no less than seven revisions, but no matter which version is performed today, it manages to fill the house.

Utah Opera is bringing "Madame Butterfly" back to the Capitol Theatre starting Saturday, its fourth production of the opera in two decades.

Conducting will be Joseph Mechavich, who is making his Utah Opera debut. He isn't surprised that "Madame Butterfly" ranks high on everybody's favorites list. "It's lasted because both the drama and the music are crafted so well," he said. "It was one of Puccini's favorite pieces, and he created some subtle and magical moments in the music."

Unlike Puccini's other operas, "Madame Butterfly" is very intimate, he added. "And you have to capture that intimacy onstage and in the pit."

What gives the work this feeling is the character of the young geisha Cio-Cio San, known as Madame Butterfly. She falls deeply in love with the young American naval officer Pinkerton, who abandons her without knowing she is pregnant. And when he finally returns to Japan some three years later, it's with his American wife. She convinces Cio-Cio-San to give up the son she had with Pinkerton and let them take the boy back to the United States.

"You see this young girl become a woman through her horrible experience," Mechavich said. "She changes from a 15-year-old girl in the first act to a woman by the end."

Soprano Barbara Shirvis, making her Utah Opera debut as Cio-Cio San, agrees with Mechavich, adding that "she is young but wise beyond her years. She is idealistic, but her feelings are honest and real."

Shirvis and "Madame Butterfly" go back a long time. "I was in the chorus and also sang Mrs. Pinkerton when I was with New York City Opera more than 20 years ago," she said.

She has sung the title character twice, but both times were concert versions, although the second was with costumes and props. So, this production is the "first real thing," as she put it. And she is still thrilled about discovering who her character really is. "I'm having a great time with that."

Everything Cio-Cio San does is motivated by pure love, Shirvis said. "And you can't fault her for that." Even when she gives up her child to Kate Pinkerton because she believes her son would have a better life in America. It's an act grounded in love, but it breaks Cio-Cio San's heart. Without Pinkerton and her son, her life is over. And the only way for her to find release is by committing suicide.

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