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After six months, the State Opera opened its doors on Monday, not only for a “new” Madama Butterfly, but also for new musical director Philippe Jordan and for the first performance of the Bogdan Roscic era. But not everything previously hailed as a sensation leads to it.
It remains to be seen if Roscic’s concept of extracting outstanding productions from the background of the past will work. Like tonight, you go to the museum with Anthony Minghella’s 15-year production. There is no doubt that this production has overwhelming aesthetic qualities, playing with forms of Japanese theater (of puppets), combining them with timelessly colorful scenery and magnificent costumes (Michael Levine and Han Feng) and telling the story without great interpretive flourishes. It is questionable if the staging is still in force.
It remains to be seen if “Madama Butterfly” is really a debut opera for a new musical director, because it is one of Puccini’s most delicate scores and all did not go well. The European vision of the sound of the Far East could be elaborated more intensely, the subtlety of some passages could be increased with more tension and the dynamics could not only be oriented towards emotional climaxes. It was a successful evening from the orchestra pit, but not a sensation.
That was largely absent from the singers. As fascinating as Asmik Grigorian was compelling at the Salzburg Festival, her limits could be felt here like Madame Butterfly. Freddie De Tommaso as Pinkerton also displayed splendid vocal material, which, however, needs to be heard in a more focused and dynamically clearly refined way.
Conclusion: An evening that impresses with its scenic aesthetics, but that can be expanded musically.
Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini Opera, Vienna State Opera, September 7
