Last Updated on May 14, 2026
Float on, white winged Butterfly
Giacomo Puccini certainly knew how to stir a controversy, if only a century after his death. Madama Butterfly, first performed in 1904, sits alongside Turandot as most likely to cause complaint on its performance. Butterfly can be a victim of its own success. It’s legion of poor quality copycats, the certainty of its performance and the insensitivity of legacy productions make it an easy target for accusations of racism. “Untitled F*** Miss Saigon play” which premiered at the Young Vic last year made its hatred clear. Lakmé which can be far less culturally sensitive rarely gets a mention because of its smaller profile. Seriously, google ‘Lakmé controversy’ and ‘Madama Butterfly Controversy’ and count the articles.
For the 2024 return of The Royal Opera House’s production, the company has engaged with Japanese academics and performers. The idea is to adjust aspects of the production to remove ‘problematic’ aspects and increase inauthenticity. If you’ve not seen it before, you might be wondering “Why bother?” Because it’s a phenomenal piece of music. Puccini once said his art was making people cry to music and Madama Butterfly achieves this best. For just under 3 hours, Puccini wrings every last bit of bodily moisture out through the tear ducts and it’s life-affirming.
The story can be seen as racist or as a criticism of imperialism depending on your viewpoint. An American sailor (Pinkerton) arrives in Japan and marries a 15-year-old. His intention: to sleep with her and abandon her. The 15-year-old (Butterfly) can never let go of her first love. She dreams of his return for 3 years and when he finally does come back with an American wife in tow, it’s more than she can bear.
The Royal Opera House’s production, designed by Christian Fenouillat, places the action in an unadorned Japanese house. The action takes place on a raised stage with minimal props aside from low tables and tatami mats. While it’s not the busiest staging it’s an ideal partner for the music. Every moment feels picturesque.
This is a score the Opera House orchestra could probably play backwards but there was no sign of any weariness with it under conductor Kevin John Edusei. Edusei led a dynamic, heartfelt rendition like a pellucid bath of flowing melody. The singers were never overpowered and were able to do what they do best but the orchestra was neck and neck with them. A rare but delightful perfect symbiosis between pit and stage.
For an effusive man, I have no superlatives strong enough to describe Asmik Grigorian’s performance as Butterfly. Her voice is an impossibly brilliant web of contradictions. It can be like a wisp of smoke: light, delicate and ungraspable. However, at the same time, it feels all-enveloping, as if being swaddled by a warm blanket of vocals. She never sounds loud but she can always be clearly heard. Her pianissimo is delicate and sensitive and her sparingly used Forte is world-shattering. Combined with all this mastery is her gorgeous tone, staggering colour, and astonishing diction. She has a tangible change of character from Act I to Act II. Upon hearing Grigorian I felt as if I had never heard live singing before.
The sex tourist Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton is explicitly a bastard. One of the most hated characters in opera and yet Joshua Guerrero’s voice almost made me like him at times, his high notes are bright and full and his voice has charm and character. Guerrero’s Act I duet with Grigorian was a close-run piece of vocal one-upmanship. Every time one edged ahead, the other would find a new gear. Both continually reach higher until the finish of the act.
Strong performances also from a clear and sweet-voiced Hongni Wu as Suzuki. Lauri Vasar was a stentorian Sharpless although he ducked at least one high note.
This performance drained me of tears and gave me goosebumps and shivers. My vision of the surroundings blurred to a single point of focus on the stage and made me forget I was in a theatre. This is everything opera can be, a woman next to me who said she preferred Verdi left equally awestruck and teary-eyed. If you need convincing on why this show is worth keeping then there is no better argument than this production.
Madama Butterfly runs until the 18th July
Royal Opera House
Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD
It appears by the surprise casting of a dull and unsympathetic Kate Pinkerton that the civil rights movement of the 1960s was highly unnecessary after all and her husband a true liberal with no colour prejudices whatsoever. Why he dumps Butterfly then is an even greater puzzlement.
It was superb, in particular Madame Butterfly and Suzuki.
I was slightly surprised about Kate Pinkerton. It didn’t seem to go with the obvious racism of the colonial time of the Opera.
Was it supposed as a kind of statement against racism? In that case it wasn’t strong enough!
I really agree with your review. A completely different type of production in terms of its mood and message. Up in the Amphitheatre, all packed in without armrests and some standing, you could have heard a pin drop as we were all swept along in the horror of it all.