Strong and compelling, this is a would-be darkly gritty yet lyrical adaptation of the Madama Butterfly story as made famous by Puccini’s opera. However, it is transposed to 1930’s Shanghai and Puccini’s much loved music is nowhere to be heard. The production has both Chinese and Australian producers.
The score by Cheng Jin throbs and hums at appropriate moments. It is in some ways operatic (there are ‘arias’ for Butterfly and Pinkerton for example) but in style it is more a rock opera mixed with a huge musical (think Les Miserables or Miss Saigon) but with a much smaller cast. There are also some Kabuki/Peking Opera elements in the score and staging.
The script (provided in both Chinese and English surtitles) is a rather odd and awkward mix of banality and vulgarity .There is no poetry (although it tries very hard) but rather references to placental blood, vaginal odour, spittle, vomit and excrement, among other things.
Wang Zheng in the eponymous role of Cho Cho was superb, with fabulous, heartfelt singing combined with tenderness, hidden sadness and fluid, elegant grace. She acts as narrator in places, and details both the delicate beauty of the wedding night and her catastrophic fall into poverty as Pinkerton leaves her behind. She is strong, patient and determined, focusing all her love on her small son while waiting for Pinkerton’s return; once she is married, she gives a fiery denunciation of Guma and Luo Shu. This is contrasted with lyrical songs to her son and a major chilling ‘aria’ in Act 2 about how, in a dark dream, she sees a boat that is sailed by Death. Yet I am afraid that her suicide at the end was rather rushed and disappointing.
Pinkerton was brilliantly performed, strongly acted and sung by handsome Scott Irwin (Hairspray, They’re Playing Our Song). Here he is portrayed as a cad, caught up in the exotic strangeness of Shanghai and taking his pleasure yet always consciously intending to seek a ‘proper’ American wife later. As Kate warns of him, ‘his heart is greedy; he will give up nothing that is his’. His painful refusal to see Cho Cho towards the end is rather cowardly.
There is exquisite, delightful use of life size puppetry as delicately performed on stage by Han Xing, who in some aspects becomes the ‘Suzuki’ character we are familiar with as well. One large puppet represents Cho Cho when she is sold off as a 15 year old bride, clad in a stunning red dress and veil, to Pinkerton (a breathtaking dramatic beautiful entrance). There is also a beautiful puppet of Butterfly’s child, enchantingly rendered.
Guma (Du He) and Luo Shu (Dong Wenliang), Cho Cho’s ‘aunt’ and marriage broker, are in some aspects presented like the Thernardiers in Les Miserables, or the Engineer in Miss Saigon – cold ,cynical, only out for the money. There are also hints of comic crooks/servants from Peking opera or Kabuki in the stylised way they are shown.
Sharpless, the US Consul (David Whitney in fine voice) is shown as world weary, caring but cynical, caught by the mysterious magic of the Orient. He is dressed in a summer suit, as if he is an escapee from Guys and Dolls. Both he and Pinkerton drink and smoke a lot. Danielle Barnes in the dual role of Kate and the Bar Singer was terrific.
The quartet of musicians are on stage (stage left) squashed behind a large piano. This actually works quite well for the bar singer scene in Act 1. The set design – a thrust arrow-like shape, with Kabuki-like walkways and a moat – has several levels . There was wonderful visual use of bamboo screens and tilted telegraph poles. Also of interest was the more than fabulous dramatic, atmospheric lighting.
A well performed, at times visually stunning, but ultimately somewhat unsatisfactory reworking of the Madama Butterfly story.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Cho Cho
Playwright: Daniel Keane
Composer: Cheng Jin
Director: Peter Wilson
Designer: Richard Jeziorny
Lighting Design: Wang Qi
Choreographer: Josh Consadine
Musical Director: David Piper
Assistant Director: Felix Ching Ching Ho
Cast includes Scott Irwin, Wang Zheng, Daniel Whitney and Danielle Barnes
Running time: 1 hour 45 mins (approx) including one interval
The Concourse, Chatswood
24 – 28 September
Arts Centre Melbourne
2-6 October
