MUSIC REVIEW;How a Staging Evolves, Like 'Madama Butterfly'
By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: February 17, 1996
The Metropolitan Opera's current production of "Madama Butterfly," which has returned to the repertory, is a study in the way stagings evolve at the house these days.
When this production opened last season, the graceful naturalism of Giancarlo del Monaco's stage picture, abetted by Michael Scott's sets and costumes and Gil Wechsler's lighting, delighted the eye, but its characterizations were unspeakably crude. Pinkerton, hardly an appealing figure in the best of circumstances, was portrayed as a pistol-waving licentious thug. Butterfly was more steely than vulnerable, and her suicide was given a horror-movie ending: after stabbing herself in silhouette, she crashed through the paper wall of her house, while her blindfolded son sat on a swing in the garden.
It was as if Mr. del Monaco felt that the characters and their gestures had to be magnified if they were going to touch a modern audience that had grown familiar with every emotional move in this Puccini tear-jerker. But the effect was just the opposite.
Now most of the distracting excesses have been swept away, with only the silhouetted suicide and its wall-destroying aftermath remaining. Paul Mills, the stage director, appears to have encouraged the singers to bring a measure of tenderness to their portrayals. And in the pit on Monday evening, Julius Rudel's pacing perfectly caught the nuances of false hope and unrecognized futility in the second act.
Yet emotional depth remains a scarce commodity here. On the surface, there is much to admire in the efficiency with which Diana Soviero transforms Cio-Cio-San from a giggly child bride into a dignified matron. But nothing in her performance drew the listener into Cio-Cio-San's world or tugged irresistibly on the strings of empathy. Vocally, Miss Soviero gave no cause for complaint, but also no reason to leave the house with the thrill of having heard something special.
Much the same could be said of the other singers. Pinkerton still swaggers a bit, but Franco Farina has rounded off his edges enough to suggest that there are human feelings in there somewhere. Consequently, Pinkerton's justifiable burst of self-loathing in the third act is not entirely inconsistent with the Pinkerton of the first act, as had been the case last season. Mr. Farina, too, was in good voice, as was Juan Pons, who gave a sympathetic portrayal of Sharpless. Wendy White's Suzuki was adequate, but could have been more consequential, and Bernard Fitch contributed a slapstick performance as Goro.
The orchestra played well for Mr. Rudel, who pointed up Puccini's exoticism and picture painting without covering the singers.
Photo: Diana Soviero as Cio-Cio San and Franco Farina as Pinkerton.(Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)