Puccini Madama Butterfly opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. This is a 2017 revival of a production first directed by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier at the Royal Opera House in 2003. Stars Ermonela Jaho (Cio-Cio San), Marcelo Puente (Pinkerton), Scott Hendricks (Sharpless), Carlo Bosi (Goro), Elizabeth DeShong (Suzuki), Jeremy White (Bonze), Emily Edmonds (Kate Pinkerton), Gyula Nagy (Imperial Commissioner), and Yuriy Yurchuk (Prince Yamadori). Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of The Royal Opera House (Co-Concert Master Sergey Levitin) and the Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Master William Spaulding). Set design by Christian Fenouillat; costume design by Agostino Cavalca; lighting designabandstruggling by Christophe Forey. Directed for TV by Matthew Woodward. Sung in Italian. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Mark Pullinger, writing in the December 2018 Gramophone at page 119, is full of praise for Ermonela Jaho as Cio-Cio San calling Jaho “one of the great singing actresses of our time.” He states also that Pappano “draws ardent playing from the ROH Orchestra.” Pullinger admits that the mise-en-scène is bland, but suggests this helps the viewer to focus on Jaho’s performance. We saw this back in 2017 in a movie house and felt that the uninspired set detracted from the performance. And I also had trouble connecting the strong image of Jaho to a 16-year-old mom, abandoned by her husband and her family, struggling to survive.
Here's a very nice YT clip from Opus Arte and the Royal Opera House:
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