by Patrick White
Madame Butterfly, one of the most produced operas ever since its debut in 1907, takes pride of place on Glimmerglass Festival’s calendar with performances until 8/11 as the grand opera of the season. It does not disappoint.
Madame Butterfly with music by Giacomo Puccini and libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa is based on a play by David Belasco which itself was based on a novella by John Luther Long which took its premise from a semi-autobiographical book entitled “Madame Chrysanthème” by a French naval officer and travel writer Pierre Loti.
It tells of an American, Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton (Eric Taylor), who in 1904 Nagasaki buys Cio-Cio-San (Eri Nakamura) or “Butterfly” as his bride from Goro (lively Randy Ho), a marriage broker. Pinkerton brags to Sharpless (a commanding and powerful Troy Cook) American consul, that he will one day have an American wife. Butterfly is denounced by her uncle, The Bonze (Woosik Nam), when he learns that his niece has adopted her new husband’s religion.
Three years pass in the intermission and Butterfly is waiting for her man to return from the sea. Her maid, Suzuki (Michelle Mariposa), Goro and The Consul all try and convince her for their own reasons that Pinkerton is not coming back. Butterfly reveals that she has a son to The Consul, a cannon sounds and Pinkerton’s ship is seen in the harbor.
The final scenes show Butterfly holding vigil and taking action with a family heirloom, the dagger her father used to kill himself.
The production itself is a revival of the smashingly successful 2014 staging by former Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. The revival is directed by Joshua R. Horowitz. What the production has done is put America first in this imperialist tale. While Japan opens to the West, our Counsel office is the site of many scenes with the pledge of allegiance on the walls and the “Star Spangled Banner” playing on the score, the nighttime scene of American gunships in the harbor. and Pinkerton proposing to his American girlfriend Kate in front of a huge flag. The simple and stunning set design with a breathtaking effect of falling flower petals late in the play is by Michael Yeargan, lighting design by Robert Wiesel.
This may be Japan with its beautiful sliding screens and ceremonial kimonos (beautiful costumes by Anna Yavich) but America has left its indelible mark on this country and its people. When Sorrow (Prior Parker), Cio-Cio-San & Pinkerton’s son runs onstage, he’s a happy blonde boy.
Eric Taylor as Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton is a hearty, effusive presence, playful and expansively open. He is a capable good guy who can’t imagine that he could ever be in the wrong. Receiving his thunderous ovation at curtain call which had teasing boos mixed in, he jokingly turned behind himself as if saying “You can’t possibly be booing me.”
Eri Nakamura in the title role owned the stage from the first and only gained in stature as the matinee progressed with her stirring scene of waiting and hoping with Suzuki. The power of her final arias made me feel like she was a special effect, lit from within and growing, making the final moments even more devastating. The closing stage action and picture are genius.
Madame Butterfly is an exquisitely rendered representation of opera’s unique power and beauty as it uses every art at its disposal to tell this classic love story. To those waiting for a classic opera to stir your soul, your ship has come in.
The Glimmerglass Festival presents “Madame Butterfly” Music by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa, from July 11-August 17, 2026, at 7300 State Highway 80, Cooperstown, NY. https://glimmerglass.org/ Original Production Director Francesca Zambello; Revival Director Joshua Horowitz; Conductor Joseph Colaneri. CAST: Eri Nakamura as Cio-Cio-San, Eric Taylor as Lt. Pinkerton, Michelle Mariposa as Suzuki, Troy Cook as Sharpless, Randy Ho as Goro, Joseph Park as Yamadori/Ensemble, Woosik Nam as Bonze, Erin Alford as Kate Pinkerton/Ensemble, Yichen Xue as Commissioner, Alex Smith as Registrar, Prior Parker as Sorrow,
ENSEMBLE: Nia Spaulding, Laura Santamaria-Mendez, Viviana Aurelia Goodwin, Sophia Hunt, Mary Frances Miller, Maya Lacoppola, Kate Morton, Xiao Xiao, Lucy Evans, Grace Heldridge, Megan Bush, Peter Murphy, Sam Krausz, Nick Huff, Ted Brackett, Gregory Sliskovich, Luke Harnish, Jordan Spena, Ethan Clark Davis, Ying Wu, Peter Yip, Wade Chen, Mary Grace C. Penachos-Carentz.
YOUTH CHORUS: Ethan Chen, Ying Chen, Etienne Lavallee, Eva Lavallee, Yuan Lin, Pippa Werking-Yip.
CREATIVE TEAM: Set Designer Michael Yeargan; Costume Designer Anita Yavich; Lighting Designer Robert Wierzel; Hair & Makeup Designer Tom Watson, Projected Titles Kelley Rourke; Chorus Director Katherine Kozak; Principal Coach Anna Betka; Assistant Director Edward Sturm; Assistant Conductor Luke Poeppel; 2nd Pianist/Coach Maeve Berry.
Presented in Italian with English projected titles
Approx. Running Time | 2 hours and 40 minutes (including a 25-minute intermission)
Box Office Hours:
Monday – Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays
(607) 547-2255