Pre-Show Lecture - Madama Butterfly | Boston Lyric Opera

Listen to Boston University professor, Allison Voth speak about the history and music of Madama Butterfly in this 40-minute lecture.
Video by Ball Square Films | www.ballsquarefilms.com
Purchase tickets to Madama Butterfly: blo.org/butterfly/
Learn more about the Butterfly Process: blo.org/butterfly-process/
Madama Butterfly
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Directed by Phil Chan
A new BLO production
Emerson Colonial Theatre
Thursday, September 14, 2023 | 7:30PM
Sunday, September 17, 2023 | 3PM
Friday, September 22, 2023 | 7:30PM
Sunday, September 24, 2023 | 3PM
Sung in Italian with English surtitles
Running time: 2 hours and 45 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission after act 1.
Amid Puccini’s lush and sweeping score, Madama Butterfly unfolds in 1940s America under the shadow of World War II. In a brand-new production from Boston Lyric Opera, wander through the nightlife of San Francisco on the eve of Pearl Harbor through the story of Butterfly, a nightclub performer contributing to the war effort, and Pinkerton, a young soldier, on the eve of his deployment. A culmination of BLO’s three-year exploration of authentic storytelling through The Butterfly Process, this production examines the experience of Japanese Americans during a critical moment in U.S. history.
Learn more: blo.org/butterfly
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Website: blo.org

[@jokeyjax]

Love it! Can’t wait to see it tonight!!

[@claudiazamora4750]

I´m watching this before a Butterfly at the MET of NY...I hope their will represent what Puccini writed....I hope !

[@paulasteffen9854]

Thank you! This was fabulous! Can't wait to see the opera tomorrow :)

[@vivianaplanine2612]

Thank you, I love your presentation, but I didn't like the BLO performance, it didn't make sense. The translation was terrible and the whole scene where Madame Butterfly tells she is 15 and about her father MORTO! is sang by Pinkerton? The first act in the club while singing about la "casa a sofietto" is totally absurd. The second and third acts worked better because Suzuki and Ciociosun are good singers, but "un bel di" from the table top ? how can you see the Lincoln? Also at the end the child died, if you change the ending you better killed Pinkerton! If you want to approach new themes write new operas and let "Madama Butterfly" represents the time in which the opera was written.

[@velvet_echo]

Haha I love your critique. Who are you? What are your credentials? I am very curious now :)

[@JosephJones-jj5sm]

Really sorry I cannot get to see this work

[@user-xu3wo1sf8b]

FriendlyFire:: "Star-Crossed Love" is universal as in the German operetta, "Land of Smiles." Even, (maybe, same gender) "love" can never told enough. ( Show Boat, Romeo and Juliet). In the "real world" ture love does NOT always triphumpf...How many people die 💔 broken hearted ? Love lost...

[@thegreatatheismo5005]

So, this is what we Opera lovers have to look forward to? Beloved historical works that will be watered down and symbolically castrated for fear of …maybe… offending someone? Is this what they mean by “woke”? Is this professor who presents this nonsense so much more sensitive or is it just willful ignorance or denial of historical context? What's next on the list? Turandot might offend a Chinese person? Carmen is pro-tobacco and therefore unacceptable? You can forget about Porgy and Bess. I’m appalled. I tuned out after about 5 minutes.

[@notAsoccerMom]

EXACTLY. Higher education in 2024 is a joke.

[@thegreatatheismo5005]

@@notAsoccerMom I wouldn't go THAT far.

[@notAsoccerMom]

@@thegreatatheismo5005 I would. It’s been illustrated very well these last few weeks

[@thegreatatheismo5005]

@@notAsoccerMom Maybe so, but what does that have to do with Mdm. Butterfly and this idiotic commentary from a BU professor who shoud know better??

[@notAsoccerMom]

@@thegreatatheismo5005 You answered your own question. These schools are filled with professors like her. I pisses me off that she teaches kids who are serious about music this 'progressive' nonsense. She's not alone.

[@notAsoccerMom]

This is the problem with higher education. NO artist should be subject to the limits, creative and otherwise, of DEI ! Shame on you.