DETROIT – Madame Butterfly is fluttering to Detroit Opera, but maybe not in the way you might remember it.
Giacomo Puccini’s renowned opera from 1904 is getting reimagined over a century later, while keeping its text and music completely intact.
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Led by director Matthew Ozawa and all Japanese and Japanese-American creatives, this Madame Butterfly breaks many of the traditions that this opera is typically presented in.
Ozawa, a fourth generation Japanese-American whose father was born in an internment camp, explores the work through the lens of an Asian-American in what is routinely directed and performed through a Western perspective.
We chat with the director of Detroit Opera’s latest production about the changes made and why the themes and conversations presented in this Madame Butterfly need to happen now.
Why do you think Madame Butterfly needed to be reexplored through this new lens?
We found after years of dissecting and working on this piece, looking at its historical implications, where the piece has sat in the opera context, what the problematic traditions are, and then seeing it through a new lens, one of the big questions we kept asking is, “Is it actually our story? Is this our narrative?”
And something that we found was that it wasn’t. We are seeing the piece through the lens of a Caucasian man’s fantasy. The piece itself has always existed through a Western lens, both within Puccini’s telling of the story, but also in the performance practice of those directing and creating visual worlds for Butterfly and those performing in Butterfly.
I will say that for myself, and this team of all Japanese female designers walking into our concept, we’ve always felt distanced or othered by the work itself. I’ve directed more traditional versions of it, exploring what yellowface and appropriation really is in that traditional context.
Were any changes made to the libretto or music to adapt for this new perspective?
We have not changed the music, we have not changed the text. We are accepting the problems that are inherently in it. In us delving into it, we have this moment to reclaim the narrative for the Asian community to reimagine it, to reinterpret it, to explore it, to also completely accept it for what it is.
We, of course, have taken it apart as we’ve explored it in the rehearsal room, only to put it back together with the goal of enabling the most diverse audience to be able to engage with this production. A production where those that love the tradition can find their way in and love what they love about it, while perhaps thinking and seeing the work in a different way and seeing how they are accountable to these negative stereotypes and perceptions. But, also, helping those that have never been to this opera, or those that have felt distanced by this piece, to see a version where they can actually see themselves in it.
By stating that this is not our story, by stating that this is a fantasy perception of our culture, of our community, this was the boldest and best way for us to actually have a dialogue and to bridge the world of those who love the tradition and those who feel distanced by it.
What are some of those new perspectives in this version that haven’t necessarily been present in others?
How do you give Butterfly more agency? In going back to the second version (of five) Puccini wrote of Madame Butterfly, she actually has a lot more strength. In a scene that got taken away for the standard version is this big scene between Kate and Butterfly in the final act where these two women realize that their fate is controlled at the hands of this Caucasian man. By ultimately stating that this is not a real version of a Japanese community, that this is a Western fantasy of it, we’re able to pull away from it so that the suicide is actually the death of the fantasy, not the death of a Japanese woman. It’s an escape and reclaiming of her space and her identity at the very end of the show.
This has been the most shocking for audiences, and I think the most empowering for everybody at both sides of the table to realize that the thing has a much greater complexity to it. And that by we, as artisans and practitioners, have always reduced the piece down to bare essentials that essentially just stereotyped this country and people.
Much of this cast coming to the Detroit Opera production have already been in some form of Madame Butterfly. Did you have to work with them, or even challenge them, to see things differently?
My mission as a director is seeing that story through a contemporary lens and asking questions as to how does this piece relate to our everyday lives? How does this relate to society? What are the conversations that we are having? That inevitably leads to singers having to reinvestigate the performance traditions of any work that I’m doing with them.
What’s been exciting about it is that in Cincinnati, there was a lot of unearthing, exploring and questioning for everybody because some of the aspects of the staging were very traditional, while some aspects were very nuanced. We learned a lot about what was working, what was not working and have been able to look at it again here in Detroit, which has been really exciting.
While everyone has had to delve into it and question the performance, tradition and practice, everyone has done so with such an open heart, generosity, compassion and excitement that has really enabled this production to soar. I think this group of artists are so invested. They’re so specific, mindful and cognizant that what they’re doing is actually different. They seem to be consistently excited by the prospect of delving into these roles in this particular production.
Bringing the story to modern times, does the aspect of technology add an additional layer to the story?
Pinkerton is a contemporary guy. We see him in his modern-day apartment. We see his room filled with an obsession with all things Japan, manga, Geisha dolls and all of the gaming that would exist in any one in America’s world.
Essentially, Butterfly and the music of Puccini do not start until he puts on that VR headset. That fantasy is actually a VR fantasy where he can become the avatar of Pinkerton where he puts on the naval jacket and can go into this colorful world that’s completely larger-than-life. Ultimately, he is beating each level to get to where he wants, which is to be with Butterfly alone in bed. Now what happens in Act II and III is that the game starts to have a life of its own and he starts to lose control over it. What’s interesting, and what may be very different than what other productions that have existed in Detroit in the past year, is that when we say technology, we’re not actually using any video or digital electronics in this production. So we’re showing all of the VR world through old school theatrical means.
What do you hope audiences get out of viewing your version of Madame Butterfly?
Ultimately, to create unification for those who love tradition and those who feel distanced by it. The true hope is that all parties will have their perspective awakened to this piece, to opera, and to the broader conversation that we’re having as a community and society. When we think about everything that we’ve gone through with COVID, everything that that AAPI community has gone through, a piece like this and upholding a tradition is dynamic, damaging and can perpetuate the stereotypes which perpetuates the violence against our community. That we have a accountability to help each other and to see each other in all of our intersections and nuances versus reducing each other to bare bone stereotypes.
Madame Butterfly will be performed at the Detroit Opera House Saturday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 15 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit DetroitOpera.org.