Madama Butterfly: Speight's Corner with Patricia Racette

In our latest behind-the-scenes video, General Director Speight Jenkins sits down with soprano Patricia Racette to discuss her abiding love of Puccini and the universal appeal of the iconic title character. Includes footage of singers in rehearsal.



Learn more about Madama Butterfly on the Seattle Opera Website

Meet Our Singers: DOUG JONES, Goro

Madama Butterfly starts with Goro, showing Pinkerton the house he’s rented and demonstrating all the shoji screens. (“Where’s the bridal chamber?” asks Pinkerton. “Here or there, it depends,” answers Goro, prophetically.) So we’ll start meeting our Butterfly cast with tenor Doug Jones, who returns to our stage, and to this wonderful role, which he also sang in Seattle Opera’s last production of Madama Butterfly in 2002.

 

 
Doug, last season we saw you as Monostatos, and now Goro...in your career you get to play lots of evil characters.
Not so many! But some.

Where do you rank Goro, in terms of wickedness? Is this “marriage broker” (you might also call him a pimp) the most evil character you play?
Nah. He’s neither/nor. He’s an opportunist. What happens in this opera isn’t his fault. I mean, it is, but it isn’t. Who’s more culpable, Pinkerton or Goro? Goro maybe should know better, but Pinkerton has no idea.

I remember last year your Monostatos was like Alberich, we understood how he’d gotten to be this depraved figure.
Right, and Goro is just trying to make a buck! Sure, he’s going to try and come back and sell her again, for lots of money, and all her sisters and her nieces. And get Sharpless as a customer.

Christine Brandes (Pamina) and Doug Jones (Monostatos) in Seattle Opera's 2011 production of The Magic Flute.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

That’s the thing that seems the most horrifying to a Westerner, although I guess...
It was a different culture, and I suppose either you accept it or you don’t. Nobody is forcing her to get married. That’s the problem! Nobody can force her to get married.

Is Goro well-connected in the geisha world?
Oh, yes, those are the best ones to offer up as brides. They’re the ones the sailors want.

What happens to Goro after the events of this opera?
He probably has a heart attack at some point. He’s drinking a lot...

Milk-punch and whiskey?
No, scotch. He’s adapted to Western fire-water. And he probably smokes. He’s probably gonna have a heart attack in about five years time and die.

Does he even figure out what happens to Butterfly? You’re not in Act Three.
Ah, but his spies. He has fingers in every pie. We were talking about that the other day in rehearsal: does he know about the letter Pinkerton sent Sharpless? Why do Sharpless and I arrive at Butterfly’s house at the same time, in Act Two? Am I stage-managing that so that Sharpless will see she has a good option, in Yamadori, and will try to convince her to marry him?

Ashraf Sewailam (Pistol), Weston Hurt (Ford), Steven Goldstein (Bardolph), and Doug Jones (Dr. Caius) in Seattle Opera's 2010 Falstaff.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

That’s right, Sharpless says to her, afterwards, “Butterfly, I think you should marry that rich Yamadori!” Say, who’s been paying the rent on Butterfly’s house these past three years?
The libretto doesn’t say. We think it might be Sharpless.

Tell us what you remember about Seattle Opera’s previous Butterfly production.
The rake was so steep! I remember asking for ski poles, because it seemed like a very sharp slope to me. That was the first show in the Mercer Arena, and our dressing rooms...well, let’s just say it was a different situation, with curtains instead of doors...it was fine. I remember my hair was dyed dark black and spikey.

Morgan Smith (Yamadori), Doug Jones (Goro), and Richard Stilwell (Sharpless) in Seattle Opera's 2002 Madama Butterfly.
Photo by Gary Smith

How many times have you done this opera?
This is my fifth. The first was in Belfast, and we did the Brescia edition, with the longer Act One. You know, with Butterfly’s drunken Uncle Yakuside and all that. There’s more music, it goes on for a while. I’ve never done it since...I understand why people prefer to not do that version. I’ve done it in Austin, and in Hawaii. And now twice in Seattle.

Hawaii, fun! What’s it like to work on an opera in Hawaii? Is it sort of, “We rehearse until 1 pm, and then we go and surf!”
No!!! We rehearse till 1, and then you go and eat a lot of great sushi.

Are you a Puccini fan?
Yes, we know all his tricks, we know the music and what’s gonna happen, but still it’s hard not to be moved!

What’s your favorite Puccini opera?
Turandot, because the silly tenors have the most prettiest music they will ever get to sing. [Demonstrates]: “Addio amore, addio razza...” There are some wonderfully sentimental moments for Ping, Pang, and Pong, in their big scene, reflecting on the lives they’ve left behind, and wondering wouldn’t they like to go back to those earlier quiet, peaceful lives. They have a moment of real honest reflection. I honestly don’t think they would want to retire—they like being in the center of power too much—but what pretty music they sing there.

Doug Jones (Beppe) and Nuccia Focile (Nedda) in Seattle Opera's 2008 Pagliacci.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

True, because a lot of the the roles you play, as a character tenor...
[Quotes a line of Goro’s, sung on a monotone]: “C’è. Entrate.” Doesn’t send your pulse racing!

You sang a pretty tune as Beppe in Pagliacci—
Yes, he’s got that little arietta. But Turandot, they’ve got the best music. And it’s a great opera!

David Belasco in the Pacific Northwest

Puccini first encounted the character of Butterfly when he went to a performance of the play by David Belasco (left), Madame Butterfly (they changed the name to “Madama” for the opera because it’s more singable) in London in 1900, starring Evelyn Millard. Following the performance, the composer reputedly charged backstage to demand that Belasco let him make the play into an opera; as the playwright recalled in his memoirs, “I told him he could do anything he liked with the play and make any sort of contract he liked--because it is not possible to discuss business arrangements with an impulsive Italian who has tears in his eyes and both his arms around your neck.”

The name of David Belasco, a hugely important figure in the theater world a hundred years ago, survives today in three different contexts: buildings, operas by Puccini, and the early history of the cinema. You can still go to the Belasco Theater on Broadway which, as of this writing, is showing a play about Judy Garland, End of the Rainbow. And there are theaters named after Belasco in other cities, too. As for Puccini, of course we’re gearing up now for Madama Butterfly, but eight years ago at Seattle Opera we were fortunate enough to hear a terrific production of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, based on Belasco’s hit play The Girl of the Golden West—the first western, and the first great opera Puccini wrote which doesn’t end with the soprano’s death! And if you like silent films, it’s uncanny how many of the movers and shakers in the first generation of the movies—D. W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, Mary Pickford, the Barrymores—worked with and learned from Belasco. When you actually read Belasco’s plays, which are way too dated to perform nowadays without Puccini’s music to make them palatable, the exhaustively comprehensive stage directions indicate that he was the “control-freak” type of director who didn’t want to leave any room for actors, stage managers, or even props personnel ever to question his intentions—the play was to be performed exactly this way, every time. He’d have had an easier time making movies.

The 34 year-old Belasco, left, with fellow playwright Clay M. Greene, photographed in 1887

Belasco’s most significant contribution to the history of theater is actually in lighting design. A generation before Belasco, Richard Wagner was the first theater artist to insist on a darkened auditorium for his shows (so the audience wouldn’t be distracted by what everyone was wearing, or who was talking to who. “Eyes up here, on my stage!” said RW). But Wagner’s lighting tools were crude at best, and often malfunctioned. Belasco pioneered the use of more sophisticated electric lighting equipment, which became a tremendous art form of its own during the twentieth century. In fact, in his original Madame Butterfly play, there was a fifteen-minute-long scene with no dialogue, during which the sun set, the stars came out, then faded, and the sun rose again—an abbreviated version of the night Cho-Cho-San and Trouble spend waiting for Pinkerton to arrive. Apparently, the lighting effect was so spectacular it floored audiences completely, a hundred years ago. (Another reason why this play will never be performed today! Luckily, in the opera, that scene is half as long—plus Puccini wrote the beautiful “Humming Chorus,” followed by an incandescently beautiful orchestral sequence, for that scene.)

Publicity photo of the final scene from Belasco's Madame Butterfly, with Blanche Bates as Cho-Cho-San, Frank Worthing as Pinkerton, and an unidentified child as Trouble. Puccini and his librettists changed the child's name to "Dolore" (Sorrow).

I’ve always been intrigued by Belasco, and I was thrilled to find a delightful Life of David Belasco biography (written by the playwright’s friend William Winter in 1915) when I was rooting through boxes of completely random, ultra-cheap books at last year’s “Friends of the Seattle Public Library Book Sale at Magnuson Park.” (This spring’s sale is in two weeks). I knew Belasco was born in San Francisco in 1853—in fact, most of the characters and events in The Girl of the Golden West are based on his experiences growing up among the ‘49ers—but I had no idea that he also spent some of his youth up here in the Pacific Northwest, chiefly in Victoria. Two episodes of Belasco’s eventful boyhood in British Columbia are simply too bizarre and fascinating not to share with you here, so let me quote from the biography by Mr. Winter, first the tale of Belasco's early schooling:

"He was early sent to a school called the Colonial, in Victoria, conducted by an Irishman named Burr, remembered as a person whose temper was violent and whose discipline was harsh. Later, he attended a school called the Collegiate, conducted by T. C. Woods, a clergyman. When about seven years old he attracted the attention of a kindly Roman Catholic priest, Father --- McGuire, then aged eighty-six, who perceived in him uncommon intelligence and precocious talent, and who presently proposed to his parents that the boy should dwell under his care in a monastery and be educated. Strenuous objection to that arrangement was at first made by David's father, sturdily Jewish and strictly orthodox in his religious views; but the mother, more liberal in opinion and more sagaciously provident of the future, assented, and her persuasions, coincident with the wish of the lad himself, eventually prevailed against the paternal scruples..."

As an adult, Belasco's habitual clerical dress earned him the moniker "The Bishop of Broadway"

But by the time he was ten, young Belasco was done with the monastery. Mr. Winter continues the tale:

"He had inherited a gypsy temperment and a roving propensity, he became discontented with seclusion, and suddenly, without special cause and without explanation, he fled from the monastery and joined a wandering circus, with which he travelled. In that association he was taught to ride horses "bareback" and to perform as a miniature clown. A serious illness presently befell him and, being disabled, he was left in a country town, where he would have died but for the benevolent care of a clown, Walter Kingsley by name, who remained with him,--obtaining a scanty subsistence by clowning and singing in the streets for whatever charity might bestow,--and nursed him through a malignant fever, only himself to be stricken with it, and to die, just as the boy became convalescent. Meantime Humphrey Belasco, having contrived to trace his fugitive son, came to his rescue and carried him back to Victoria, to a loving mother's care..."

Belasco's early career as an actor had him performing roles large and small, classical and contemporary, including King Louis XI of France, a popular villain in nineteenth-century melodrama

For any writer, the most important rule is “Write what you know,” and little wonder that successful writers like Belasco, who created over a hundred plays and crafted the structures behind two extraordinary operas, led wild lives. The more a writer has experienced, the richer his or her writing.

Butterfly's Child Continues the Story

This weekend, to prepare for today's first day of Madama Butterfly rehearsal, I read the new novel (published by Dial Press in 2011) by Angela Davis-Gardner, Butterfly’s Child. This page-turner picks up the story where Puccini’s opera leaves off, and follows Butterfly’s Child—here called “Benji” after his dad—on his journey to America with his long-awaited Papa-san and new mother, their life on an Illinois farm at the turn of the century, and what happens a few years later when a suffragist comes to town. We also find out how the story of Benji’s parents made it all the way to Puccini. I don’t want to spoil it, so I won’t tell you any more about the plot, but suffice it to say that Ms. Davis-Gardner kept me guessing all the way to the end—and I’ve been obsessed with Madama Butterfly, and with speculating about how else the story might have turned out, for thirty years.

The author, an Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University, has also lived and taught in Tokyo, and her familiarity with both America and Japan—plus lots of careful research—gives the book a cultural and historical authenticity that Puccini would have envied. She’s obviously a great devotee of the opera, as well, and has even patterned her book structurally after Puccini’s three acts (with musical interlude between parts two and three). Her characters remind me a great deal of the personalities in the opera—Keast is as well-meaning and gentle as Sharpless, and Digby Moffett should be sung by the same singer who sings Goro—and as for her hero, it’s easy to root for Benji. Told in Davis-Gardner’s lyrical, occasionally luminous prose, his story is a compelling read and should delight those already familiar with Madama Butterfly as well as those who are new to this great masterpiece.

Madama Butterfly: Creating An Opera Geisha

Visit the Madama Butterfly dressing room with Costume Design Coordinator Melanie Burgess, Hair & Makeup Designer Joyce Degenfelder, and Lead Hair & Makeup Artist Shelby Rogers as they take you thru the process of getting a "geisha" ready for the stage. Puccini's serene "Humming Chorus" helps set the scene.



Learn more about Madama Butterfly on the Seattle Opera Website

Seattle Opera Announces Free Simulcast of Madama Butterfly!

Seattle Opera opens its production of Madama Butterfly next month on May 5, and that day will mark a huge occasion in our company history: our first-ever HD simulcast! While the drama of Madama Butterfly plays out at McCaw Hall that evening, an additional 8,000 people can enjoy Puccini's masterpiece for FREE, just steps away at KeyArena, where everything from the orchestra warming up in the pit to the final curtain call will be shown on 50 x 80-foot screen.

The public may reserve priority seating for the Madama Butterfly simulcast beginning a week from today—Monday, April 9, at 9 a.m.—by visiting http://seattleopera.org/keysimulcast. Priority seating on May 5 begins at KeyArena at 6 p.m., with the performance beginning at 7:30. Madama Butterfly is 2 hours and 45 minutes long, including one 30-minute intermission.

We're really excited about this event, which has the potential to bring together the largest opera audience in Seattle history. And we think Madama Butterfly—a tragic love story about a Japanese geisha and a U.S. Naval officer—is the perfect choice for our first simulcast. It's one of the world's most beloved operas, with gorgeous music that many people will recognize, even if they've never seen a Butterfly production before.

Help us share the beauty and magic of opera by inviting your friends and family about this event, and by joining the conversation here on our blog, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter by using hashtag #OperaAtKey.

For more information on our production of Madama Butterfly, which stars soprano Patricia Racette on opening night, visit http://www.seattleopera.org/butterfly. For more details on our free simulcast at KeyArena, visit http://seattleopera.org/keysimulcast.

KeyArena as set up for a screened concert.
Photo by Roy Berris

For the Press
Press who are interested in attending the simulcast of Madama Butterfly at KeyArena should contact Tamara Vallejos (tamara.vallejos@seattleopera.org) for more information. A PDF of our simulcast press release is available online here.

For Social Press
We’re also looking for Seattle’s tech-savvy social butterflies—those who know their hashtags from their pinboards—to join us for a VIP Madama Butterfly experience. Those on our Social Press guest list can watch Puccini's masterpiece in style from Seattle Opera's "Tweet Suite" at KeyArena, where they'll get to enjoy free food, drinks, and a special gift bag. Plus, our Social Press will have an opportunity for exclusive perks leading up to May 5, like a backstage tour of McCaw Hall and a visit to our Costume Shop. Click here for more information, and fill out the form to be considered for an invitation. Space is very limited.

Upcoming Opera-tunities for Children

Looking for some fun activities for your children this spring? How about having them perform in their own mini-opera…or on the McCaw Hall stage as part of Seattle Opera’s season-ending production of Madama Butterfly? Have a look at the following exciting opportunities for young people to be involved with opera, and keep an eye on our calendar for new activities and events for people of all ages.

Madama Butterfly Audition

Timoney Moyer and Sheri Greenawald in Seattle Opera's 2002 Madama Butterfly.
© Gary Smith photo

Seattle Opera is holding auditions for two child supernumeraries to portray Butterfly’s child in the upcoming production of Madama Butterfly.

We’re looking for two Asian children, 3-5 years old, who are small for their age and have good focus and concentration. The two children will alternate between the 8 performances, which run from May 5-20, 2012. This is a volunteer position, with rehearsals beginning April 9.

For more information or to sign up for an audition, please call Paula Podemski, Seattle Opera's Production Supervisor, at (206) 676-5812.

 

March 16: Opera Time Day Camp for 1st-3rd Graders

Is your child or grandchild out of school on Friday, March 16th? We’re offering a one-day Opera Camp that includes singing, acting, arts and crafts, and movement, which culminates in a mini-opera performance that your little one helps to create! The camp costs $40 and runs from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., with aftercare available for an additional fee. For more info and to register visit our website.

Other Upcoming Opera Camps

In April, we’re offering two Murder... and other Foul Play opera camps: April 9–13 with Bellevue Youth Theatre for grades 4–10, and April 16–20 with Seattle Public Theatre for grades 6–12.

Planning ahead for the summer? Young people grades 4–10 are invited to take part in a Youth Opera Chorus Camp, held at McCaw Hall from July 9–13. From July 30–August 25, we partner with Seattle Public Theater for a Sweeney Todd camp, targeted at grades 7–12.

Info on all these camps is available here, or contact Barbara Lynne Jamison at 206-676-5564 or Barbara.Jamison@seattleopera.org.

Eat Drink Sing #5: ART Restaurant & Lounge/Madama Butterfly

Seattle Opera offered a challenge to five top chefs at local restaurants: create an appetizer and cocktail inspired by one of this season’s operas. We've been posting with recipes for the creative, mouthwatering pairings they invented all week long, and this is the final one. So blast your favorite opera recording on your sound system and get cooking!

Madama Butterfly Recipes created by ART Restaurant & Lounge

Chef Kerry Sear
Four Seasons Hotel Seattle
99 Union Street
206.749.7070

With Pike Place Market's bounty as inspiration, executive chef Kerry Sear and his team serve urban Northwest cuisine in a welcoming and lively atmosphere at ART Restaurant & Lounge. Order from a carefully crafted wine list; try a TV or Tasting Tray, four courses, served at once; then finish with dessert prepared by the restaurant's pastry star.

Kerry Sear

Breakfast: 6:30 am – 11:00 am; brunch: Sat and Sun, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm; Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:00 am – 2:00 pm; Dinner: 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm; Happy Hour: Sun – Thu, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm; Lounge: 2:00 pm – Midnight

Appetizer: Sake Cured Arctic Char, Quail Egg, Radish, Mache, and Pickled Plum Vinaigrette
Serves 6-8


Cure:
1 lb Arctic char fillet (skin on, scaled)
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
3 tbs kosher salt
3 tbs sugar
1 tbs fresh shiso leaf, minced
1 cup sake
8 quail eggs hard-boiled and sliced
½ cup radish, thinly sliced
1 cup Mache lettuce

Vinaigrette:
2 tbs Japanese pickled plums, minced
1 tbs ginger, grated
1 tbs scallions thinly sliced
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tsp mirin
6 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper

Heat black peppercorns and coriander seeds in a small skillet over medium-high heat until spices are fragrant, shaking skillet constantly.

Crush spices in mortar pestal. Transfer spices to small bowl and add in sugar and kosher salt.

Using a small knife, poke small holes through skin of the Artic Char. Rub 1/3 of spices on skin. Sprinkle shiso on the bottom of a baking pan. Place Char skin side down on top of shiso. Rub remaining spices on top of fish. Pour sake over the char and rub into the fillet. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing onto fish. Place a plate on top of plastic and weigh it down with heavy cans. Refrigerate for 2-3 days.

In a small bowl, mix the ginger, scallions, pickled plums, rice wine vinegar, and mirin together. Slowly whisk in the olive oil blend until the vinaigrette starts to emulsify and combine.

To serve, slice thinly 5-6 pieces of Arctic char and place on a plate. In a small bowl, mix the Mache and radish together with dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Place the salad mixture on top of the char. Add the hard-boiled quail egg on top and serve.

Patricia Racette as Madama Butterfly at the Met

Cocktail: Melon Butterfly
1½ oz honeydew melon juice
½ oz simple syrup
¾ oz limoncello
2 oz Hou Hou Shu Sparkling Sake
Add juice, simple syrup, and limoncello to mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Top with chilled sparkling sake. Garnish with orchid and fresh mint sprig.



Seattle Opera's EAT-DRINK-SING Recipes are also featured in the company's 2011/12 Souvenir Book, a glorious treasure-trove of information about the company, the operas we'll be presenting this season, and the art form of opera. Subscribers receive their complimentary copy of the Souvenir Book beginning in July 2011; CLICK HERE for subscription information.