Customer Reviews

Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly) [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think my title says it all. I like the authentic Japanese feel of the production, and the singing is mostly very good. But I consider this the weakest of the "Madama Butterfly" film versions, because I just don't like Yasuko Hayashi as Butterfly. Sure, she's actually Japanese, and her voice is near perfect for the role, but Butterfly is a role that requires good acting, and I think Hayashi falls short in that department. If you think Japaneseness (is that a real word?) is the most important thing in a "Madama Butterfly," get this one, but if you want a good dramatic performance with a convincing actress in the title role, I reccomend either the Ponnelle film with Mirella Freni, or the Mitterand film with Ying Huang.

It's easy to come to this opera with a lot of expectations and if you are looking for a conventional approach this somewhat low-keyed version may not appeal to you. But if you are in the mood for something different then this stylish and skillful production could be just your cup of tea. The show has been directed attentively in oriental style. The stylized movement and the dramaturgy, costumes and settings all reflect an eastern approach and give the opera a rare sense of authenticity. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom here and you might actually think you were in Japan for a few hours. All the power and glory of Puccini's masterpiece are here in abundance. There are no doubt more melodramatic versions but I found this one to be far easier to swallow dramatically than ... say, the filmed Karajan (Ponnelle)--- which struck me as false through and through. I thought Hayashi Yasuko's ability to convey a range of emotions in her aria Un Bel Di was very impressive. The sense of hope, despair, doubt she was able to convey at the same time was just heart-breaking. The ending, too, is quite effective as the stage turns bright red in a sea of blood. A very oriental effect-- and a mighty powerful way to end this striking production.

Here we have yet another Asian Madama Butterfly, with Yasuko Hayashi in the title role and Hak-Nam Kim as Suzuki. Peter Dvorsky's Pinkerton is a little brash, but then he is no prince charming. Giorgio Zancanaro is superb as Sharpless, this man has one of the best baritone voices on the planet. This production from La Scala is of the traditional Kabuki theatre style of Japan. Who better to stage an opera set in Japan, than the Japanese. For those who are not familiar with Kabuki, the basic rules are thus: Any persons dressed in black are NOT actually there. Your minds eye is not meant to see them as they work the sets etc. In other words they are the visible- invisible mechanics of the production. Hard for us Westerners to comprehend, but that is what it is. I actually feel sorry for the child. With all the man or woman handling he has to put up with and to be sung at fondled and squeezed, I'm surprised he made it though the opera, but he behaved exceptionally well and deserves a mention.
The Kabuki style finale is about the most breath-taking I have ever witnessed. Entering in a pure white kimono and seating herself on a pure white mat with a supernumerary at each corner, in black (so they are not there) and using the fan to symbolize the sword to stab herself with. As she stabs herself, she slowly opens the fan revealing a blood-red fan giving the elusion of blood spreading across the white kimono and as this is happening the four supernumeraries are slowing pulling the corners of the white mat towards themselves slowly revealing a blood red matt underneath, symbolizing the flow of blood. A very effective and quite a dramatic way to conclude such a wonderful opera. I have had this version on Video for many years now and I am pleased it made it onto DVD. I hope you get as much enjoyment as I have from this production.

If one can get over a need for superstars in this opera, here is the DVD to have. Directed by a Japanese director for La Scala, it is totally convincing. Butterfly and Susuki don't have to pretend that they are small Oriental women because they ARE small Oriental women. Hayashi, who sings the title role, does not have as much strength in her lower register as a western soprano but she embodies the role completely. Susuki is excellent in voice and appearance. Dvorsky's Pinkerton is one dimensional...but that's the kind of person who would marry a Butterfly and then forget about her. One cannot say enough good about Zancanaro's Sharpless. Here is a singer whose every line is beatifully shaped. His voice is effortlessly and evenly produced from top to bottom. Having no musical or techincal problems to deal with he is free to act with great sensitivity to the text. Though rarely in leading roles, his presence on a DVD is enough to make me consider owning it.

My only quibbles with this performance are 1) the distraction provided by the hooded "zombies" who enter to push the scenery around when it is required, 2) the English translation is not that faithful to the text of the libretto and 3) there are not nearly enough blossoms in the flower duet.

Aside from that...highly recommended.

Different people have different opinion. Even for the same opinion, they may have different justifications. I rather like this version, despite the fact that the part of Madama Butterfly is not the best one could expect. The reasons are:

1) we have an excellent team here and particularly the director/ costumes/sets. Right from the beginning, viewers are, visually at least transcended to another world. We have a Japanese house by the side of some paddi fields with two farmers in Japanese costumes separately tilting and plodding rather stoically in the typically Japanese way, with their heads lowered to make sure that they won't give the story away. In other scenes, the same approach is used with the faces of the pedestrians/pinic goers substantially covered by Japanese umbrellas-- and also note that even the way they moved about or gestured are all Japanese. And then the modern lighting effect is so artistically well employed. It's quite a sensation altogether.

2) talking about music, we have a first rate orchestra and chorus from Milan conducted by Lorin Maazel, one of the most celebrated conductors of our time. For the leading parts, they are all taken by not too familiar voices/faces, so that there isn't much cliche and so that the viewers can better concentrate on the drama itself. Needless to say, both the musica and singing are all marvelous including the part of Madama Butterfly herself. The orchestra under the baton of Maazel does compare favourably with Vienna Philharmonic under Karajan. So is the acting as a whole, save the part of Madama Butterfly which is in any event almost as good.

But some how the orchestra sounds as though it comes from a distant land, a bit too soft. But there's full support for the singing and for the conveyance of Puccini's music. I don't like the cover photo of Hayashi either. Fortunately or unfortuntely, it's not the typical sight of her part thoughout. Often she is in robes else wearing shawls or the like, we don't actually see the size of Madama Butterly which, according to the play is supposed to to be as "light as nothing". Other than these trivialities, it's a Puccini which is worth all your money and all your while.

Esta es una 'Madama Butterfly' buena en el terreno escenico, para empezar por la interesante creacion actoral que del papel titular hace YOSUKO HAYASHI, convincente en escena. Pero vocalmente el papel la supera con creces, y por muy aplaudida que sea es una 'CioCioSan' muy corriente en lo vocal. La línea de canto inestable por momentos del tenor PETER DVORSKY lo convierten en un muy discreto 'B.F. Pinkerton', que ademas actua de forma bastante pobre. Como 'Sharpless', GIORGIO ZANCANARO se convierte en lo mas interesante de la velada, rindiendo a gran nivel, tanto vocalmente como escenicamente. H. N. KIM dota a 'Suzuki' de una acertada personalidad escenica, pero solo esta suficiente vocalmente. El largo etcétera de comprimarios (donde encontramos por ejemplo a una jovencisima ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI en el brevisimo papel de 'Kate Pinkerton') es muy discreto, a excepcion del correcto 'Goro' de ERNESTO GAVAZZI. Los conjuntos estables de la Scala, cumplen de manera satisfactoria a las ordenes de LORIN MAZZEL.
La produccion de KEITA ASARI esta muy basada en el teatro japones, y aunque aporta muchos momentos de gran belleza plastica e inteligencia escenica puede ser acusada por momentos de algo monotona, lo que le resta algun interes. Pero de todas formas es una produccion muy interesante.
En resumen, a nivel actoral se ha conseguido un trabajo muy digno, y a nivel vocal suficiente ¿Basta con que una 'Madama Butterfly sea solo suficiente para que satisfaga totalmente? En mi opinion no. Busquen la version de Raina Kabaivanska en Verona y disfruten de una 'Madama Butterfly' emocionante hasta el maximo grado imaginable.

Perhaps this Puccini's Madama Butterfly won't be the best ever made but with great reason must be rated as a "great japanese performance". This 1986 version of Teatro Alla Scala in Milan has all what Puccini wanted to express according to his personal ideas and concerning the plot and good sense of the japanese culture inside the drama. Japanese opera singer Yasuko Hayashi is quite good for the role because she put all her sense and feeling require in the tragedy, by the other hand, her voice despite of not having the lower dramatic intensity of singers as Maria Callas, Renata Scotto or Mirela Freni does have an apropiate pitch and charm (Cio-Cio San indeed was a teenager in the real drama as a matter of fact, she must act and sound as a young girl but never as a mature woman). Tenor Peter Dvorsky does a great job in the role of the unfaithful lover Pinkerton and his singing is accurate without mannerisims and the italian baritone Giorgio Zancanaro is excellent in his Sharpless role interpretation of the american embassador. Korean singer Hak-Nam Kim is quite good in his role of Suzuki. Maestro Lorin Mazzel conduct with great force and passion La Scala Orchestra and Chorus. This is a marvelous theatrical experience and we highly recomend it to be collected for all opera lovers as an issue of the last golden years of the old theater La Scala in Milan.

It is very rare to find Asians participating in operas as primadonnas performed by western groups. In this video, conforming to the story itself, we saw 2 Asian faces, i.e. Yasuko Hayashi and Hak-Nam Kim as Cio-Cio San and Suzuki. They show brilliantly their due sophistication by the excellent singing and performance and give the opera a real exotic nuance of the tragical Japanese faithfulness of the woman in Madama Butterfly. We also enjoy the excellent singing of all the role-players and the divine music of Puccini, also the magnificent costumes and extra-ordinary simple background setting. This video will give opera lovers most enjoyment as to the performance and singing.

I thought this performance was cold. I thought Butterfly's voice was weak in her entrance and in Un bel di, though strong during the love duet and adequate the rest of the time. I was stunned to find out at last (I never read librettos) what Butterfly and Pinkerton are saying to each other during the duet. She is rhapsodizing about flowers and oceans and stars, and he's pleading vehemently with her to shut up and come to bed! It's their wedding night. From the professional Amazon reviewer I learned that the staging was Japanese. I thought it was beautiful, perfectly and artfully done, but I also thought it was inappropriate for the deeply emotional music and story, it is after all an Italian opera. The artifice that impressed me the most was the symbolism of the suicide scene. That was fantastic. No blood or guts, of course. I thought overall it was a mediocre show, maybe subdued or low-key are the words I should use, maybe this is typically Japanese. I thought everyone did a good job, expecially Sharpless, who was very kind and warm and with that warm baritone. As for the plot, I want to mention that Butterfly got a little of her own back (though it cost her her life) by telling Pinkerton he'd have to come back in half an hour if he wanted his son. Just time enough for him to find her dead. The subtitles were in white letters frequently on white backgrounds, which made them hard to read. Also, as for the subtitles, why did they have "'neath" instead of "beneath"? Was it supposed to have been a literal translation or something? The music was lush and rich. The staging was cold (albeit clever) and spare. Sigh. It did not to me make a good combination. I wish I'd bought a conventional performance. I have Tebaldi and Callas on CD. Neither of them is 15 years old, but both have stronger voices. I would see this performance for INTEREST, not to be wrapped in Puccini's music or to get involved in the story, opera. Butterfly, I should add, which may qualify all I've said, is not my favorite opera anyway, by Puccini or anyone else.

I had been stationed in Japan in the early fiftys as a young Marine. I first saw the movie at a "classics' type theatre in Honolulu in 1956. Have been trying to get VHS version of it ever since. It's scenery(on location in Japan), its cast, its direction...has not been approached or surpassed since. I have seen almost all the great operas.