MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Cio-Cio-San’s marriage to B.F. Pinkerton of the U.S. Navy is a joke to the callow lieutenant, but a matter of complete seriousness to the 15-year-old geisha, who’s known as Butterfly. She abandons the ways of her people for him, and is in turn abandoned by her people. When Pinkerton finally returns with his Anglo wife, Cio-Cio-San commits suicide rather than enter the life of genteel prostitution that seems her only alternative.
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Earlier this season Malfitano was the best feature of the Lyric’s rather indifferent Antony and Cleopatra. One of the problems of that production was the relative vocal weakness of her Antony. In this production she’s much better paired with Richard Leech as Pinkerton. He gave a most pleasing rendition of the role, his clear and youthful tenor being appropriate for the young lieutenant and strong enough to fill the house. He also played Pinkerton in a rather loutish fashion, which is fair, since Pinkerton is the consummate lout. Richard Stilwell’s dry baritone is getting drier with age, but he handled the well-meaning but ineffective Sharpless with deeper dramatic feeling than during his last go-round with this production.
